A chance to finish the year on a high

Our cramped festive schedule continues with a trip to high flying Newcastle tomorrow and it certainly won’t be easy. The Magpies have been doing better than expected this season and are comfortably sitting in the top half of the Premier League table. We regained top spot on Boxing Day with a win against West Ham and we’ll be looking to be build upon that and start another winning run. Manchester City won today meaning they’re top of the league by 2 points so it’s absolutely key that we achieve a win tomorrow.

The game will see the feisty battle of Wenger and Pardew resume. Pardew has previously criticised Wenger of the way his team plays and the way he goes about his business. The comment Alan Pardew made about foreign players in the Arsenal side a few years back now has become rather contradictory considering so many of the Geordie side’s team is filled with Frenchmen. Despite that though, Wenger has had the much stronger hand over Pardew and Newcastle in recent years. We’ve lost just one out of our last twelve encounters against them but they have been strong at home this season so they could be difficult to break down.

The main dangers will come from Loic Remy, a previous Arsenal target, Yoann Gouffran and Yohan Cabaye. All French players and all stand out players recently for the Toon. Remy scored twice in his last match and has been a brilliant loan signing from QPR. Gouffran meanwhile has 5 in his last 5 home games and Cabaye is in a rich vain of form having scored 3 in his last 3 matches. Cabaye of course was an Arsenal target in the summer and we even had a £15m bid rejected. In a way I hope he shows why we did indeed bid for him, but I’d rather he didn’t do it in this match.

Matches down the years between these two sides have often provided thrillers. The 4-4 draw at St James’ a few years back provides memories whilst our last game of 2012 saw us win 7-3. In that game, Theo Walcott scored a hat-trick and he is one of the League’s in form players. He’ll be looking to take advantage of his form and hopefully guide us to a successive league win. The last time we met them was our last game of the 2012/13 season when a win was needed in order to qualify for the Champions League, a game that proved that we can play under pressure and certainly grab a win in their own back yard.

We’ll have to go there and win without Aaron Ramsey though. He is expected to be out until the middle of January now following a thigh problem picked up against West Ham. This is a tough loss but not as tough as it would’ve been without us having a talented array of midfielders. Jack Wilshere is due to return from suspension and should finally get a chance to play in his preferred role as the deep lying play maker. There could be a few rested but Cardiff on New Year’s day, in my opinion, would be the chance to rest players ahead of the FA Cup tie against Spurs. Laurent Koscielny is 50/50 but expect Vermaelen to continue at centre half with Rosicky coming back into the squad after missing the West Ham game completely.

For the second year running a game against Newcastle will be our final game of the calendar year. During 2013 we have amassed the most amount of points out of all the Premier League sides, notching up a 79 point tally before Sunday’s fixture. This is a great chance to finish the year on a high and hopefully sit on top of the Premier League come 2014.

Arsenal vs Chelsea preview

Tonight Arsenal will face one of their biggest games of the season so far as they entertain Chelsea at home. We've been going through a tough period of late and we haven't won since Hull on the 4th December so it'll be a tough test, but not as tough as Man City were last weekend. This marks the end of our really tough run of fixtures but it also marks the beginning of the cramped festive schedule of football. After this weekend's matches we are now 3rd in the table with a game in hand over Liverpool and City. If we win tonight then we'll return to the top and we'll be sitting pretty in first place on Christmas day. However if the Gunners do indeed suffer defeat then we'll slip down to fourth.

The battle of Wenger and Mourinho will resume and it'll be an interesting one. Mourinho won the battle when previously in charge but this Chelsea side, although they're still doing very well, look a shadow of their former selves. They've been poor defensively whilst their strikers have struggled to score goals. Their midfield, like ours, is a very good one and it'll be key that our midfielders win their own individual battles if we are to win. Arsene Wenger has never beaten Mourinho in 9 league and cup games, something that the Frenchman will be looking to address against one of his bitter rivals. We played them in the League Cup a few months back where they came out on top with a dominant display. Both sides will be putting out stronger line-ups this time around though. No striker has scored away in the Premier League for Chelsea this season, something that we'll be hoping doesn't change. Meanwhile, Juan Mata will be needed to have an eye kept on, the Spaniard has scored in each of his last 4 starts against Arsenal.

Arsenal will be looking to amend the mistakes they made against Manchester City and come out and produce a brilliant performance. The defensive issues will need to be addressed. Laurent Koscielny is out injured and it's a massive game for Thomas Vermaelen. He's been OK this season but when Koscielny came off against City you could tell how much of a loss he was. You could argue that the sides with the best midfielders in the league will be encountering each other. Ramsey and Hazard being the respective teams top scorers outlines that. Mesut Ozil has been surprisingly quiet in the big games this season and if we are to win then he needs to be on top of his game. He'll be up against his former manager in Mourinho so hopefully he'll take no mercy against his old boss.Wenger has said that there is a possibility of Ozil receiving a rest shortly but he'll certainly be in the squad for the Chelsea game.

The defensive midfielders in this game will be key to who comes out on top. I thought that Flamini should start against City in order to break down their creative players but we perhaps missed Arteta a little bit in the sense of distributing the ball quickly and getting the ball out of defensive areas quicker. I personally think that we should stick with Flamini and try and get him to hassle the likes of Hazard, Oscar and Mata. John Obi Mikel, not rated by quite a few people, could be key to breaking up our attacking play and will look to isolate Mesut Ozil.

In terms of the line-up there could be a few changes. Kieran Gibbs should come back in for Nacho Monreal after his poor display against City whilst Santi Cazorla may regain his place with Jack Wilshere out suspended for the next two games. Theo Walcott, fresh from scoring two in his last game, will surely start on the right. Especially considering his recent displays against the Blues. Lukas Podolski is also fit after injury and he should be on the bench. I'd like to see Tomas Rosicky who is usually a big game player maybe start out on the left. However, I think that Santi may get the nod.

My line-up: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Flamini, Ramsey, Walcott, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud. Subs: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Monreal, Arteta, Rosicky, Podolski, Bendtner.

As said, this is a huge game. It's about time we start stamping down our authority in these big games. I'm not sure why but the players seem to disappear quite often in these big games and it's time we stepped up. If we are to win the League, we need to win some of the games against teams around us as well as against the smaller sides. It's been 9 days since our last game so the players should be fresh. It will have hopefully given the likes of Giroud and Ozil a chance to recharge their batteries. I will accept nothing but a win from this game considering our recent matches. A win would do absolute wonders for the teams confidence, especially with a couple of key players out. Saying that, I wouldn't be disappointed with a draw.