EPL - Fabregas "I want to beat Man U more than anyone else."
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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger backs Sol Campbell to shackle in-form Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney
Arsene Wenger has every confidence veteran Sol Campbell can produce the 'big game' required should he be needed to stand in for Thomas Vermaelen and shackle Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Belgium defender Vermaelen, who has impressed since his £10million summer transfer from Ajax, is struggling to be fit to face the Barclays Premier League champions after picking up a knee injury in the midweek goalless draw at Villa Park.
Former Gunners captain Campbell came on as Vermaelen's replacement to make his first league appearance since rejoining the Gunners on a short-term deal.
Wenger has no doubt the former England centre-back can step in again should he be called for.
Changing of the guard: Sol Campbell replaces Thomas Vermaelen at Villa Park
'Sol is ready, if he has recovered well. I have to assess him today, but normally he will play if Vermaelen doesn't play,' said Wenger, whose side are now back in third place, two points behind leaders Chelsea following the midweek games.
The good news we have on Vermaelen is that there is no fracture. We have to assess his knee today, there is still a small chance that he plays on Sunday.
'We will do the maximum to get him fit, but at the moment it looks unlikely. It should be a very short-term injury, and at the latest he should be ready for the Chelsea game.'
Campbell, 35, led the Gunners through their unbeaten league championship campaign of 2003/2004, when rivalry between Arsenal and United was at its height.
Wenger added: 'Sol has experience and he likes the big games. He can turn up if needed and experience helps in these kind of games. Sol can cope with Rooney.
'I believe Sol has worked very hard and credit to him, every day he was motivated to push himself and he is quite fit, he looks fit.'
Red devil: Chris Smalling will join Manchester United in the summer
Meanwhile Wenger admitted he was disappointed to have missed out on the capture of defender Chris Smalling.
Manchester United won the race to land the highly-rated 20-year-old centre-half from Fulham, who plucked him from non-league Maidstone.
Despite his disappointment at being unable to convince the youngster to come to the Emirates Stadium, as he had done with United target Aaron Ramsey, Wenger believes Smalling has a bright future.
'Manchester United got Smalling in the end. I am sorry because we were very close to getting him and we were on the case very early,' said the Gunners boss. 'I wish the player well.
'At the end of the day it is important he has a good career. In both clubs he has a good chance to make a great career. The most important thing is he does that.'
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Channel 27 (LIVE)
31st Jan, 12 AM.
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manu's game very easy to read...mark rooney tight tight and game over....
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Man U 3, Arsenal 1
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Fabregas signs for The SUN
NUMBER ONE ... Arsenal superstar Cesc Fabregas with your favourite footie read
CESC FABREGAS last night joined The Sun. And the latest addition to our big-name line-up of columnists roared: "I want to beat Man U more than anyone else."
The Arsenal skipper and top scorer is raring to go in tomorrow's showdown against the Reds at the Emirates.
The Spanish midfielder, 22, admits United clashes overshadow all the others - even the local derby with neighbours Tottenham.
Fabregas said: "Manchester United surpasses all the other matches for me. "As a player it is the one game I really look forward to playing in every season.
"Chelsea is really good, Liverpool too and Tottenham is special, particularly for the fans who get really excited. "But if you have to pick one game from 38 then playing against Man U is the game.
"For me it is definitely the most special game to play in the Premier League."
- To highlight the start of the Sun's Cesc Fabregas column in association with 888sport, we've got some great odds on Arsenal and Cesc this weekend. 888sport make Cesc Fabregas 10/1 to score the first goal - that's the biggest price anywhere - and he's just 11/4 to score at anytime, while he's 100/1 to get a hat trick! Or you might be interested in the 8/5 that Arsenal beat their old foes Man Utd!
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as an arsenal fan, i think that i want to beat Arsene Wenger more than anyone else for being such a disillusioned manager. he keeps finding excuses saying that the team is maturing and predicting that the otherteams will drop points. initially, the excuses are acceptable but after 5 years of waiting for a trophy, the fans hate him to the core
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ask yourself this, who is the most Arsenal successful manager of all time in terms of trophies won? then which arsenal team in any era played the most pretty football?
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Arsene wenger would find job within one week if he were to quit arsenal
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he always fail to perform against the big teams.
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
ask yourself this, who is the most Arsenal successful manager of all time in terms of trophies won? then which arsenal team in any era played the most pretty football?
haha, from another angle, maybe a new manager can even be more successful?
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
ask yourself this, who is the most Arsenal successful manager of all time in terms of trophies won? then which arsenal team in any era played the most pretty football?
if you compare arsene wenger to the previous managers, then of course wenger is the best. that's only because you are not comparing to the best managers in the world like mourinho, ferguson and ancelotti. if arsenal wants to improve, they cannot keep thinking we have the most goals scored, our strike rate is good, we need no strikers. imagine if they had added 2 strikers, they could have netted many more goals -
Originally posted by mlmersrlosers:
Arsene wenger would find job within one week if he were to quit arsenal
yeah, he can find a job at some smaller club, but not at a big club. Joan Laporte is doing extremely well at Barca, Mourinho and Inter Milan, Ferguson at Man Utd and Ancelotti at Chelsea. No big club needs Wenger. -
Joan Laporte? Shouldnt it be Pep Guardiola?
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Originally posted by mrvictor:
if you compare arsene wenger to the previous managers, then of course wenger is the best. that's only because you are not comparing to the best managers in the world like mourinho, ferguson and ancelotti. if arsenal wants to improve, they cannot keep thinking we have the most goals scored, our strike rate is good, we need no strikers. imagine if they had added 2 strikers, they could have netted many more goalshe almost won the UEFA cup in 2000 and the CL in 2006, but almost is not good enough, cos no one remember runner up position. but he won 3 league titles over 10 year period, plus 4 fa cups along the way. the only manager whose record towers wenger is Fergie. tell me, since the inception of EPL in 1992, besides fergie, anyone record is better than wenger's one? keegan? bobby robson? houllier?
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Fabregas said: "Manchester United surpasses all the other matches for me. "As a player it is the one game I really look forward to playing in every season. -- agree.