It was always going to be a balancing act for Arsenal in the second Europa League quarter - final against CSKA Moscow, with a 4 - 1 lead almost securing progress but
the other midweek games offering a telling reminder of what can happen in football.
Not exact matches
Others could point to injuries — key players like Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and David Alaba sat out the
game in
midweek, while
other members of the squad were not fully fit after only recently returning.
No Chamions League qualifier and no
other midweek cup
games for a good few weeks into the season.
Now we are entering December, and the Arsenal starting XI have played 5 intense
midweek games less than every single
other rival in the Top Six, as all of them have had tough Champions League matches to contend with.
plus when we have 2 WC at each position, we can play 1 in
midweek w / o causing the the
other to have to play 3
games in 8 days: thats how it should work.
It's baseball and, more than any
other sport, sometimes the better team loses, like the last two
midweek games.
City on the
other hand will welcome back most of their regulars in starting lineup after Guardiola made 8 changes for a
game against United during the
midweek.
Tottenham on the
other hand started their season on a quiet note, but have recently stepped up their
game and will be going into the clash at the Emirates Stadium on the back of three straight wins — including their
midweek Europa League victory against Anderlecht.
Liveprool on the
other will be without Danial Sturridge but Coutinho, Lallana, Skrtal and Lucas will return after being rested for the Europa League
game during the
midweek.
Starting up the
midweek shoesaw of highlights from Gamasutra and our
other sites, there's a pretty large amount of neatstuff already - headed off by retired Supreme Court Justice O'Connor (pictured) frontlining an educational
game about American courts (we'd like to think she'll be a bit like an EA Sports cover - star), and Insomniac revealing new East - Coast digs.