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Alan Smith: Arsenal must deal with Manchester United's wingers to stand a
chance

Sir Alex Ferguson took a few people by surprise when he picked two wingers
for last weekend’s game against Chelsea.

   Arsenal must find a way of stoping Manchester United's in-form winger
   Antonio Valencia
   Catch me if you can: Arsenal must find a way of stoping Manchester
   United's in-form winger Antonio Valencia  Photo: EPA
   Alan Smith

   By Alan Smith

   10:00PM GMT 02 Nov 2012
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   But the good news for Wenger is that Jack Wilshere is back, meaning
   Arsenal now have more than one player who can quickly see the pass.
   After so long out, it would be unreasonable to expect Wilshere to hit
   the heights straight away, but he can still make a big difference to
   this Arsenal side.

   Also make a difference, perhaps, to Theo Walcott who must stand a
   chance of starting this game after boosting his confidence with those
   midweek goals against Reading. Walcott, we know, wants to play through
   the middle. It’s the main reason, apparently, he hasn’t yet signed a
   new contract.

   If I was him, though, I wouldn’t get too preoccupied with his starting
--

   In many ways, this is an easier way of finding space than playing
   directly up against two central defenders who can cover for each other
   when you make a run. In any case, Walcott isn’t exactly restricted
   within Arsenal’s shape. He can always move across to get involved.

   And with Cazorla and Wilshere about, that should lead in theory to some
   excellent service, as long as Walcott learns the ropes to this
   important role (Fig 2).

   That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start on the bench today,
   with Aaron Ramsey used instead to give the team a more solid feel.
   Arsenal, after all, have a dreadful recent record at Old Trafford, even
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