Will Chelsea be knackered and does Wenger have any choice but Ramsey?

By Avenell Dave

Arsenal have had some poor midfielders in our time.

Even just thinking back to the Wenger years, Remi Garde, Gilles Grimandi, Stefan Malz, Amaury Bischoff and others have failed to impress or live up to the standards of so many of the greats that have come before or since.

And so it seems, at the moment, Aaron Ramsey is the player targeted as the fall guy whenever anything goes wrong at Arsenal.

The young Welsh Captain was played all over the place when he first arrived and then made an impressive role for himself in the centre of midfield.

The brutal assault by Ryan Shawcross that threatened his capacity to ever walk again clearly tempered his career but the way he came back, scoring the winning goal against M*nure last season no less, was some proof of his overall determination.

Ramsey's problem has been not a lack of talent or knowhow, but the weight of expectation and responsibility put on his shoulders.

People forget how much Arsene Wenger was criticised by media and fans alike after Arsenal's slow start to the season with some kid called Cesc Fabregas playing instead of the departed Patrick Vieira in midfield.

All that changed one night in the Champions League against Juventus but Cesc had good players around him, wise heads who had won things.

Ramsey has no such support and has to fend for himself in a midfield where teamwork and resilient determination is sometimes in short supply.

Still coming back from his injury, he's had to carry the team, and understandably struggled to do so, when it has been shorn of experience.

His cause hasn't been helped of course by the decision by Wenger to play him on the wing, a position he adjusted to when he first arrived but really doesn't suit his game.

With every poor touch or misplaced pass - and there have not been as many as you might think, so the fans have criticised him more and helped shatter the confidence of a player too young and raw to be able to cope with it.

When the boy needs us to back him, to get behind him and rediscover the form we know he can show, the fans have turned on him and it's a sad sight to see.

Thankfully on Saturday we have enough other targets to have be the focus of our ire - Ca$hley, T£rry and Divba to name just three and hopefully, if Ramsey plays as I expect him to do, the fans will realise he needs us to get behind him and on the backs of his opponents.

I can't see any other changes from the team that started against Wigan apart from the Ox or Gervinho coming in for the ineligible Yossi Benayoun and I hope the Ox gets the nod for his drive and adventure, even though sometimes he's guil of naivety.

After the Wigan debacle, we simply cannot lose this game and hopefully the players will once again rise to the occasion.

Win and we're almost certain of the top four. Lose and we could be out of it with Stoke away to come.

Let's hope Wednesday's victory over Barca hasn't helped Ch*vski and that they're exhausted from putting their all in European Champions. Di matteo has got them winning again and we simply cannot let them get past us in the biggest game we have left this season.

Addict XI

Szczesny

Sagna Koscielny Vermaelen Santos

Rosicky Song Ramsey

Walcott RvP Oxlande-Chamberlain