Dynamo Kiev v Arsenal

Dynamo Kiev: Bogush, Betao, Diakhate, Mykhalyk, Nesmachniy, Vukojevic, Yussuf, Yeremenko, Aliev, Ninkovic, Bangoura. Subs: Shovkovskiy, Ghioane, Morozyuk, Shatskikh, Kravets, Olexander Romanchuk, Asatiani.

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Song Billong, Denilson, Van Persie, Adebayor. Subs: Fabianski, Vela, Ramsey, Wilshere, Djourou, Bendtner, Eboue.

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)

Everybody, including Wenger, is comparing Fabregas with Scholes.


"The frame, intelligence in the game, passing ability and knowing when to go into the box.
He is only 20 and people forget that." Said Wenger in his Portsmouth post match conference.


They are indeed similar players. They both play in central midfield and they are both playmakers of their respective sides.

Excellent football players.


But Fabregas is a better footballer for Arsenal than Scholes is for Manchester United.
A very bold statement you might say especially coming from a very biased Arsenal supporter.


Well, is it however?


Because they occupy the most influential parts of the pitch, midfielders are more likely to influence the outcome of a match than other positions, especially if they have vision for a good pass or ability to score.


It is generally accepted that outstanding midfielders need to posses a number of attributes on top of fitness: technique and ball skills, tackling, retaining possession and distribution, shooting and scoring as well.


We have managed, with great difficulty, to find statistical data for each player's performance on most of the above attributes.

They are presented in the table at the end of this article.


Now on which of those do you think Scholes is better than Fabregas?


Technique and ball skills


I would place Fabregas above Scholes in this area. Scholes is more of an energetic type of player who possesses average technique and ball skills. And by average I don't mean that he is not good at it. He is average and Fabregas is above average.


Scholes does tend to release the ball much earlier than....



Read more at our friend at Arsenal Analysis

The news coming out of Prague is that Tomas Repka's knee is a lot better. The swelling seems to have eased and this allowed him to be included in the squad that travels to London.


The Czechs are taking this game very seriously as Pavel Horvarth has postponed.......




Read the rest from our friend Arsenal Analysis

Arsenal 2 v 0 Juventus


Cesc Fabregas is 18 years old, and he bossed this game. The guy scored one goal, assisted on the 2nd and is quite simply the best talent I have seen.
Big games want big players, you learn a lot about who has it from the big games, who freezes, who can play, HE HAS IT. You have to pinch yourself to remember how old he is. To be fair this again was a team performance, but I am going single him out, because today he showed we have someone special.


What a phenomenal result this was! Confidence is a big part of football, this team now knows, as do the fans, that there is no reason we can't win this trophy - tonight proves it.


I am now going to go off and have a few beers, with the other Gooners, I hope you all do the same, I will give some form of a match report tomorrow , but its time to celebrate. One thing I will leave you with, all the talk before this game was about Patrick Viera coming back to Highbury, I can only assume that all the talk will now be about Cesc Fabregas.



Enjoy your night Gooners, it was special.

Half-Time at Highbury: Arsenal 1 - Juventus 0.


Thierry Henry takes possession of the ball after an ongoing tussle with Vierra. Henry sends Francesc Fabergas through who sends it home on the 40th minute with a right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner!


Mauro Camoranesi gets slapped with a yellow card for Juve in the 23rd minute, in a first half marked by 18 fouls.


Not pretty, but effective for Arsenal.


C'MON GOONERS!


Starting Line:
Arsenal

J Lehmann, E Eboue, K Toure, P Senderos, M Flamini, A Hleb, G Silva, F Fabregas, R Pires, T Henry, J Reyes
Subs: M Almunia, V Diaby, D Bergkamp, R Van Persie, A Song Billong, T Walcott, J Djourou


Juventus

G Buffon, J Zebina, L Thuram, F Cannavaro, G Zambrotta, M Camoranesi, P Vieira, F Emerson, A Mutu, Z Ibrahimovic, D Trezeguet
Subs: C Abbiati, G Chiellini, R Kovac, F Balzaretti, M Blasi, G Giannichedda, M Zalayeta


Ref: Peter Frojdfeldt


Other Game: Half Time Benfice 0-0 Barcelona

More later !!!