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Portsmouth v Arsenal - EPL

Position :Portsmouth (7th EPL, 30/54 pts, Form - DWDWLL) Arsenal (1st EPL, 43/54 pts, Form - DLWWWW)

Kick off date :Dec/26/2007

Kick off Times:UK - 19:45 ; US Eastern -14:45; US Pacific - 11:45Telecast:UK - Sky Sports 1; US - Fox Soccer

Portsmouth haven't won against Arsenal for 49 years and its unlikely to be broken any time this year . Some reports suggest Wenger has traveled without RvP and Theo. This game will mark the half way point of the Premiership campaign, one which Arsenal were expected to struggle but now are at the top of the table. Fratton Park is a tough place for top 4 under Redknapp's command. The Portsmouth record against top 4 in the premiership after Harry took over is a impressive W5-D5-D8. They have managed to hold El'pool and ManYoo to draws this season.Arsenal play well on Boxing day. In the past decade they have dropped points just once on Boxing Day, a fantastic achievement. The game is on the South Coast with temperatures diving with each passing day. Arsenal are favorites at 4/6 with a draw at 9/4 . The odds say a 1-2 scoreline in favor of Arsenal.

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Some reaction for the game


....Arsenal didnt play there best football against spurs .Even if we are not at our best we can still make three points.If the statistics are right .The team which leads the EPL during Christmas time has a greatest possibility of winning the premiere league title.Arsenal this time they travel to Fratton park to take on a good portsmouth side.Yesterday at Anfield Portsmouth where sloppy defensively.Portsmouth form away has been good .But at home they have only won twice.Currently they stand 7th in the league.For me this wouldnt be the greatest of matches.But i would expect arsenal winning this one by 1-0 to stay on top .Rosicky to score for the gunners..Last five meetings against pompey PL, 02-09-07 Arsenal 3-1 Portsmouth PL, 13-05-07 Portsmouth 0-0 Arsenal PL, 16-12-06 Arsenal 2-2 Portsmouth PL, 12-04-06 Portsmouth 1-1 Arsenal PL, 28-12-05 Arsenal 4-0 Portsmouth Head to head P 65 W 28 D 23 L 14...

....... wenger- a manager genius"I think we have resulted by having Bendtner, 6ft 4ins, good in the air. He scored a great header. It is strange because when a guy comes on, you organise your team. For example Tottenham makes individual marking - 'you take him, you take him, you take him'. And there's a fraction of a second where you cannot communicate when a guy comes on, and you could see he was completely free. That's what happens sometimes because nobody on the pitch says 'you take this tall guy', and we scored.".....

......The only changes as far as i can see are Eboue dropping to bench and RVP coming in as striker with Hleb shifting to the right hand side of midfieldAnd maybe rosicky might be rested and Walcott might get a run,i doubt it thoughWalcott will get a sub appearance,same goes for Bendtner(who scored with his first touch)Adebayor better be careful,cause Bendtner is knocking on the door.......

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2 tough games coming up one this and then everton but we need to win and keep up the winning streak. RVP and probably theo to start , crucial question is will be how we keep benjani and the wily kanu quite, portsmouth will play an open game which should help us provided we play better than what we did against spurs. 2-1 to arsenal and how about a sublime goal from Eduardo late in the game. ..

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1 game gone,now 3 left in almost one and a half weeks,if Arsenal really want to win the title,then they should be aiming for 9 pts out of next 3 games,but i would be happy if they managed to get at least 7 as i expect to Man utd to drop pts in 1 of these games.Coming to Portsmouth match,i guess there may be some changes,i expect RVP,Walcott and Diaby to start and maybe even Denilson.The reason is Wenger really needs to rotate his squad.He cant be playing with same 11 for 4 consecutive games in one and a half weeks.Its gonna be a tough game for gunners,but i expect Arsenal to bag 3 pts.Portsmouth 0-1 Arsenal,Diaby to score ...


....expecting Ade to score cuz our BRother from Togo always scores two games in a row.and once he scores we never lose so thats one headache out of the way will be nice to see our old mates Sol,Lauren and Kanu.....

....Their record at Fratton Park isn't too impressive against the record they have away from home. Seems like they should give away more tickets to Arsenal fans for the 'away' feeling. Anyways, Arsenal should win comfortably otherwise it will be a problem to face Everton and WHU after that because of fatigue. ...