Arsenal Look To Avoid Potential Banana Skin Against Brighton And Hove Albion

Arsenal will play at the Falmer Stadium this Sunday for the FA Cup fourth round match against Brighton and Hove Albion. The former are at the fifth position on the Premier League table and the latter are currently 19th on the league table in their fourth consecutive season at the Championship.

Brighton and Hove Albion have had a disastrous season so far. They had to let go of manager Sami Hyypia in the middle of December and replace him with Chris Hughton. Under Hyypia Brighton had won three league matches in five months. Under Hughton they have already managed two league wins and a FA Cup third round victory. In the league cup they were ousted by another north London club, Tottenham Hotspurs.

Arsenal should use this opportunity to give more game time to players returning after long injury layoffs. The three players who should benefit most from this work out is midfielders Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and winger Theo Walcott. With Lukas Podolski and Yaya Sanogo loaned out to Inter Milan and Crystal Palace respectively and Danny Welbeck out injured Walcott might fancy a run out as the central striker with either Olivier Giroud or Alexis Sanchez starting from the bench.

With Ramsey and Ozil out for months Santi Cazorla had made the central midfielders position his own. With Cazorla most probably being rested for this match Ramsey or Ozil should get that position back and they would most definitely want to stake a claim at the starting eleven in the next Premier League match.

With defensive cover running very low one should expect a first team back four to start the match. Manger Wenger must have his fingers crossed and pray that they come out of this match unscathed. With this match out of the way Wenger must concentrate on the transfer market and sign at least one centre-half before the January transfer window closes.

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