We had an exciting match week so far, Man City failed to win yet again against the mighty Everton, Unai Emery’s dream run has come to an end, Ange’s pressing football has stopped working and Tottenham are losing against the like of Forest, Chelsea couldn’t win against a Fulham side at home, and a 14th in the league Man Utd lost against a 17th ranked Wolves. Brilliant except the Liverpool win which takes them 9 points ahead of us having played 17 games. We didn’t get the set back which we needed the most, but we can certainly closer that gap against Ipswich tonight.
Here’s how the table looks so far. Liverpool are on a great run, Klopp might be regretting another year when Pep has fallen off a cliff and we have been equally poor if not worse.
Arsenal v Ipswich Town
We are playing Ipswich Town today at home. It’s a must win game if we want to remain in the title challenge. We will move to 2nd if we win behind the league leaders and the Chelsea’s loss has made sure we remain ahead of them having played equal games.
In the team news, Bukayo is going to be unavailable for quite some time due to the hamstring injury he picked up against Palace. White and Tomiyasu haven’t recovered yet, Zinchenko is a doubt but has a slight chance to make it in the squad.
So far, Mikel had 2 problems – injuries in the defence and no goals from the main man i.e. Havertz. Gabriel Jesus has provided some relief to the later problem by scoring a hattrick in Carabao and scoring 2 more in the 5-1 win at Cottage and he would most likely start but the absence of Bukayo Saka and Sterling is going to create some more problems to Mikel. We have Martinelli available, Trossard and Jesus plays on the wings but everyone and their landlady knows that our attacking options are from the right and Saka is the sole reason we have been lethal from there.
If it comes to keeping the right side equally dangerous in absence of Saka, I would rather prefer Martinelli shifting to his position and would love to see how he performs when he gets all the support from the wing back and midfield. We would also know if it’s a drop in his form or if it’s the unavailability of support when he plays on the left. So, he moves to the right and we stick Jesus in his position. That would be starting line up against Ipswich Town today.
We need to beat Ipswich, Brentford and Brighton by 4th of January to make sure we don’t try to solve un-necessary problems in the January transfer window. Rumours suggest that we have been looking for an attacking midfielder, and a Central Forward but Mikel’s one of the earlier press conference suggested that he will be open to bring a Winger. Now, I have been asking for a Saka’s back up from god knows when, but now is not the time. A Saka’s replacement won’t do better than him and we are not winning the league even with Saka. We need a prolific goal scorer and a left side attacking midfielder in place of Merino to get past Liverpool. For the Saka conundrum, you were happy with Gabriel Jesus and you were happy loaning a washed out Sterling so do with it.
Defence will sort itself out in couple of weeks. Zinchenko will be back and he is still above average. Saliba and Gabriel covers the CB and you just need one of the Timber and Calafiori to fix things up. Well, Thomas Partey is doing that job as well, so I assume it’s a NO PROBLEM from Mikel.
Playing players out of their positions can get you some odd results, both positive and negative. We have been on the positive side so far with Partey at RB but it won’t last long. Stick them where they play best and do a like-for-like replacement when there’s an injury. Suggesting Havertz can play at the wings and cover for Saka is not going to help you, the team and Havertz himself. He wasn’t magnificent in the midfield and he won’t at the wings.
Right, a short one today as well. I am finally back from the cold and it feels great. See you during the game, it’s a late one out here but there’s no work tomorrow.
Hope you are having a nice festive season.
Ambarish
“Zinchenko will be back and he is still above average.”
I think we have a difference of opinions of the word average. He’d can’t defend and is a liability and gets in the way when inverting. Should have been sold last year.
On board with the rest Ambarish.
Marc
Me neither, I watched both Chav’s and Pool’s games this morning and always enjoy Slot’s rollercoaster of you-can-score-but-we’ll-score-more-by-the-end football. It makes for very entertaining viewing if you can forget it’s the Bin Dippers player.
Pool has got to drop points some time but they’ll probably be too far ahead by then.
The Chav’s are a different story.
The Palmer goal was sublime picking up the ball about 40 meters out and brushing off 2 tackles to find the keenest of margins to pass the ball into the next centimeters from the upright but too far for the keeper.
I see Ethan being more than capable of scoring that goal in maybe 18 months time, under a different manager.
The Chav’s defending is woeful at times, but midfield and up top they can be devastating and will be next season.
That leaves us to tonight’s game and 03:15 hours for me here so another coffee and watch on the computer in the morning.
Agree with you we should see Ipswich off and bag the 3 points to put us into 2nd one point above the Chavs.
I mean that should be a no brainer, right? Even without Saka, as we’re not a one man team. are we?
Hope you’ve had a great Xmas, Marc, did you do the cooking?
KP
Did you take your hip flask on a day out yesterday?
Madhu & TRVL
Hope the festive period continues to be fun.
Tony
May be average but that’s not a fight to pick up currently. We can wait for a Zinchenko’s improvement in defence for 6 more months. We need a CF who can score and a left side attacking midfielder who is surely better than Xhaka… Merino is not.
Got to say I don’t think Zinchenko’s even close to average (he may have been a very good player but not any more) last season everytime he went near the ball the crowd would groan in anticipation of how he was going to fuck up this time.
Its one of those strange things where because a players slipped down the rankings (what is he now 3rd or 4th choice LB which I could easily argue should be 4th or 5th choice) he doesn’t get as many games and people forget.
Ambarish
You been on the festive sauce?
Wasn’t suggesting we buy a LB. We just sold KT who is vastly better than Zinchenko at both ends of the pitch. Just wasn’t a MA pet.
You’r preaching to the choir and you know it. I called all last summer for both 8 & 9 repeatedly.
I also wanted Zinny sold at the same time to help recoup funds, as we are buying from the basement bargains, such as Merino, Sterling and Cala – none are PL or CL cup winning quality. Ditto Havertz when we needed and elite 8.
Now there is the press PR talk of an £80m striker and Nico Williams, but unlikely either will materials and MA will have his excuse for not winning the PL again.
materialize*
Tony
I’d be stunned if we spent £80 million in January in total let alone on a single player.
we’ve seen MA try to pursue higher priced talent in January, like with Caicedo, so it’s not out of the question, but when he wasn’t able to secure his services, due to his inability to attract in-demand options, he opted for a couple of half measures pieces, in Jorginho and Tross…so not only did we not properly address our positional needs, these maneuvers negatively impacted our ability and/or willingness to seek the necessary alternatives…we certainly don’t want a repeat performance
Tony – festive period has been lazy and trying to get some sleep. Nothing much going on with miserable weather as well. Football is keeping us entertained. Yesterday’s results makes it more interesting. All teams except Pool and Forest lost matches against their lower places opponents. Forest seems to be doing quite a job without anyone noticing them or considering them as a threat. But we hardly see anyone calling Thier manager generational. Frankly iam getting a bit tired of narrative around Arsenal. In my two and half decade of passionately watching all Arsenal games iam in a period where I don’t get too much excited about Arsenal playing. May be iam too old to get excited about these mundane things 😄
Liveup about as strong as we can go for an offensive mindset with the available players assuming Calafiori is being eased in.
Raya
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, MLS
Odegaard, Rice, Havertz
Jesus, Martinelli, Trossard
—
So, Havertz is back in midfield and we will find out who is playing up top – Trossard most likely than Marts.
Marc
Calafiori is on bench, so probably he is getting eased in.
Madhu
Can’t blame you if you have seen invincibles play.
Ambarish—of course Jesus will be up top, with Marts on the right and Tross on the left…exactly as expected from our right it back manager…there’s no reason why both Havertz and Jesus should be on the pitch at the same time, except that he probably felt that both could have a decent showing against such a poor side…it’s all about narratives for MA
hopefully without Partey on the pitch, Rice will play in his most natural position, DM, and the backers will be the more adventurous ones
this is likely going to be all about set pieces and crosses into the box, especially with Marts on the right…only problem is that Hevertz, who will be tucking in behiind Jesus and coming late into the box, hasn’t been that productive with his headers
already an issue, as you can see that MA would rather have Rice pushing forward than Timber, who’s far more effective in the final third
I feel for Marts, as it looks like he’s going to be left largely isolated and facing double-teams, even though he’s on his wrong side, as Timber can’t come forward if MA’s catering to Rice and Havertz in the final third
that’s a bit better, from a rotational standpoint, as Timber was allowed to come forward at couple times
Poachers Special—the Ipswich defenders should be embarassed for their lack of attention, as they had players on either side of him and no one else to concern themselves with
the fact that Ethan couldn’t get a start against this amateur hour side doesn’t bode well for him moving forward…if iI was his agent I wouldn’t allow him to re-up without some assurances