Blackburn v Arsenal | Rob Smyth

• Press refresh or turn on the auto-update for the latest • Email rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Keep up with all the goals across the UK Team news There are debuts for Andre Santos and Yakubu, while Jason Lowe makes his first Premier League start. Jason Lowe is a child of the 1990s. When Jason Lowe was born, this little epiphany-inducer was top of the UK hit parade . This fact makes me feel very old. Blackburn (4-4-2) Robinson; Salgado, Samba, Dann, Givet; Rochina, Lowe, Nzonzi, Hoilett; Formica, Yakubu. Subs: Bunn, Olsson, Grella, Petrovic, Vukcevic, Roberts, Hanley. Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Szczesny; Sagna, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Andre Santos; Song, Arteta; Arshavin, Ramsey, Gervinho; van Persie. Subs: Fabianski, Walcott, Djourou, Gibbs, Chamakh, Benayoun, Coquelin. Referee Andre Marriner Not this game department Wolves v QPR may be off because of a power cut . A power cut! It’s obviously very bad for the paying punters, blah blah etcetera, but of far more importance is whether I should remove Matt Jarvis and Stephen Ward from my fantasy team before the window shuts at 12.30pm. Previously on Blackburn v Arsenal… I wanted to link to Kevin Gallacher’s fantastic goal at Highbury in 1997 – what a crazily underrated player he was – but I can’t find it. So instead, from the same season, here’s a devastatingly economical through pass from Dennis Bergkamp , part of Arsenal’s scary 4-1 mauling of Roy Hodgson’s side at Ewood Park. Preamble Hello. Everything’s BIG in football these days. Teams are never “in trouble” or “enduring a mildly chastening period of strife”; they are invariably “in crisis”. Blackburn and Arsenal, who meet today at Ewood Park, have been the two crisis clubs of this burgeoning Premier League season. And what crises they are: Arsenal may finish as low as fifth, while Blackburn are a point from safety. For what it’s worth (absolutely nothing), I reckon Arsenal will finish fourth and Blackburn will stay up. That said, the latter is dependent on who they appoint if, as seems inevitable, they sack poor old Steve Kean. Given the judgement of Blackburn’s owners thus far – particularly the sacking of the exceptional Sam Allardyce and this finger-lickin’, toe-curlin’ video – they will probably appoint James Corden, Jedward or, more absurd still, John Gregory. Premier League 2011-12 Blackburn Rovers Arsenal Rob Smyth guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 17, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.