Arsenal welcome Sunderland at the Emirates on Sunday with a lot of respect to the man in charge of the Wearsiders. The man who used to do much damage to the Gunners on the pitch and his encounters with Patrick Vieira were often in fiery nature.
Roy Keane will bring his Sunderland side with a rather mixed form in September. They forced Man United to the edge before losing to a solitary goal, then won against Reading at home, came away from the local derby against Middlebrough with a point but lost at home to Blackburn in their last match.
Arsenal meanwhile have won their last nine matches and unbeaten in twelve competitive matches so far this season. The football displayed by the Gunners was every football fan's dream of watching.
For the supporters, the new found resilient in the team was a bonus after the departure of Thierry Henry, with wins at Sp*ds and West Ham offering ample evidence of the mental toughness the current Arsenal team possess.
For Arsene Wenger, the return of Jens Lehmann and William Gallas to training is a welcomed headache on who would be selected in the first eleven. The duo are unlikely to feature on Sunday thus we would continue to see Manuel Almunia in goal with Phillipe Senderos partnering Kolo Toure at the centre of defence.
Bacary Sagna and Gael Glichy will offer supporting runs for the wide men. In Bucharest, Wenger opted for Manu Eboue on the right with Alex Hleb on the left. Perhaps this is a better option even though Vassiriki Abou Diaby has not let anybody down with his performance on the left so far.
Matthieu Flamini should get the go ahead to continue his partnership with Cesc Fabregas, while Manu Adebayor and Robin Van Persie who combined well to produce the winner against Bucharest on Tuesday should play together again. A run out for Niklas Bendtner is certainly a good option if the score is already very much in favour of the home side.
The return of Lehmann could spell the end for Almunia sojourn between the sticks this season. It would be very ironic if he turns up for Germany against the Czech Republic and gets himself injured again. But in football you just never know.
One player that I wish to see more often is former Arsenal player, Anthony Stokes. So far he has made three starts for the Black Cats and four substitute appearances. Despite being a prolific goalscorer during his loan spell at Falkirk in the Scottish Premier League, Wenger agreed to let him go when Keane enquired about him in January.
The main reason I believe, is the choice Wenger has to make between him and Bendtner, with both of them being similar to one another. In the end, Wenger put his faith on the big Dane, who so far has a good start to the season, starting the Carling Cup match against a full strength Newcastle United and scoring the first goal with seven minutes to go.
Though I am optimist that Arsenal would collect another three points, but as always football is so unpredictable that a win for the visitors could materialise, as it did way back in 1982 when Mark Prudhoe produced a blinding display in goal for Sunderland in their 1-0 win at Highbury.
Craig Gordon, who became the costliest goalkeeper in Britain after his £9 million move from Hearts in the summer; could be the biggest stumbling block for the Gunners as he did against Man United until he was beaten by Louis Saha late in the match.
Thus, it is important for Arsenal to play their usual brand of football, create a number of chances which I believe with team, would eventually find their way to the back of the opposition's net.
Go Gooners!!!
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