Preview: Birmingham City vs Arsenal
Arsenal will visit St. Andrew’s Stadium to play their 20th Premier League fixture of the season against Birmingham City on January 1, 2011.
Last Matches
Each of the two teams has drawn its last league match, and will be looking to get maximum points out of this fixture. Birmingham drew their last match against Manchester United at St. Andrew’s Stadium. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dimitar-Berbatov-c11254 scored the
opening goal in the second half to give Manchester United the lead. But Birmingham’s Lee Bowyer scored in the 89th
minute to deny Sir Alex Ferguson’s team all three points.
Arsenal were also denied all three points at the DW Stadium when Wigan Athletic forced a very late equaliser to grab a crucial point. Wigan Athletic’s http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ben-Watson-c7458 opened the scoring in the first half from a spot-kick. However, the
visitors bounced back through http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrei-Arshavin-c5771, who scored an equaliser with an amazing overhead kick. Then, Nicklas Bendtner scored just before the end of the first half to put Arsenal in lead. However, Sebastien Squillaci scored an own goal in the final minutes
and the scores were levelled. Despite having a one-man advantage, the Gunners failed to find a winner and had to settle for a point.
Teams
Birmingham City
Alex McLeish is poised to field an unchanged team against Arsenal on Saturday. The Birmingham boss looks set to keep faith with the same team which earned an impressive point against Manchester United. Birmingham City have no fresh
injury. However, former Arsenal player Alexander Hleb will once again start from the bench as he continues his return from a hamstring injury.
Birmingham (from): http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maik-Taylor-c23163, Nikola Zigic,
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Keith-Fahey-c20526, Alexander Hleb, Martin Jiranek
Arsenal
Arsenal will welcome back skipper Cesc Fabregas from suspension. Cesc Fabregas was shown his fifth yellow card of the season against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robin-van-Persie-c31380, Theo Walcott,
Samir Nasri and Alex Song, all of whom were rested against Wigan Athletic, will be welcomed back into the starting eleven. However, Arsenal attacking midfielder, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Abou-Diaby-c3453, has once again been ruled out for one month after sustaining a calf injury 15 minutes
into his appearance against Wigan Athletic. Arsenal defensive leader http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Kieran-Gibbs-c20945
are both injured and out of action.
Arsenal (from): http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wojciech-Szczesny-c36998, Tomas Rosicky,
Sebastien Squillaci, Andrei Arshavin, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nicklas-Bendtner-c27726, Emmanuel Eboue, Denilson
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