We are hosting Newcastle at Emirates in our penultimate game of this season. Our Champions League run came to an end in semi-final against PSG, and we have to visit Southampton next Sunday. We still have not secured the Champions League spot for next season and need a point to do so, even with 5 teams qualifying for Champions League from UK. None of these 5 teams competing for the place play against each other except us and Newcastle, and it can get very exciting on the last day of the season.
Arsenal will be playing Newcastle and Southampton, Newcastle has us and Everton to play against, Chelsea will go against Forest in their only game left, Villa against a very poor Man Utd on the last day, and Man City has games against Bournemouth and Fulham. If we lose both of our games, we will have to pray to the gods for other teams to drop points. If we share points in even one of the two games left, we qualify because of the healthy GD we have. Not losing today will be the key for us.
It’s also important because we are facing Newcastle, who has beaten us when we visited St. James’ Park in November, who killed our Carabao Cup run by winning in both legs in the semi finals and there’s a rivalry growing between both the teams – even though we are on the receiving end so far. We have been kicked, elbowed, dominated in the mid field. We had no answers to their fast paced counter attacks and we couldn’t restrain Isak most of the time. Today’s game is not only important for our qualification but it will also dent their chances to make it to top 5. That would be some revenge.
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There are some injury concerns for today. Declan Rice missed the game against Liverpool because of a hip-injury. Martinelli and Trossard were not 100% while Timber also looked shaky. All 4 will be assessed before the game, and Havertz can make an entry too afte he trained with the team. I think it would be too early to gamble on him even if he is fit. Mikel needs to learn to rotate not only when it becomes a necessity! A little bit of confidence to the likes of Nwaneri and MLS could have saved the injuries of Odegaard and Calafiori earlier in the season.
I am expecting a back 4 of Timber/White (depending upon Timber’s availability), Kiwior, Saliba and MLS. A midfield of Odegaard, Partey and Rice/Merino depending upon Rice’s availability will do. Saka will keep his place but the LW and CF positions posses a problem. If both Marts and Trossard are not available and Merino needs to be shifted to midfield, we will be left only with Saka as the option for 3 positions. If Merino starts up top, Jorgi might get a start today and Nwaneri has to fill the LW position. I am not confident in Jorgi against a physical Newcastle side but we have run out of options.
Hopefully, all of them makes it today and we start the best players in each position.
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Couple of transfer news – Zubimendi is almost confirmed while we look forward to renew Thomas Partey’s contract for 2 years (or 1+1 years). It’s not that bad because we are not going to offer Partey a 10m/year contract when he is in his decline and we can afford to let him go. It also allows Zubimendi to integrate into the team and he can play the role of Jorginho. The second one, Nuno Tavares is a done deal because of the obligation in his loan contract and we will fetch 7.5m GBP from Lazio.
There’s still no concrete leaks or rumours about our CF pursuit while the usuals – Sesko, Gyokeres remains the options. It’s going to be a very long window for us Arsenal fans, because we have some problems on the pitch and we need to address it immediately to not finish another season as a runner up. We also need a CB and a Martinelli’s rotation if Trossard is allowed to leave. I’m guessing we will see some major change because the team that has got us to No #2 three consecutive times (lets just say we finish 2nd this season, best case scenario), is lacking that edge to win the title.
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Right, that’s all for today. Hope you are having a good weekend and hope it gets better when we beat Newcastle 3-0 today.
Cheers
“Mikel needs to learn to rotate not only when it becomes a necessity!”
You might as well try and tell a dog he needs to learn to stop licking his balls.
For a neutral the season couldn’t have come to a better climax – Sky must be wetting themselves with excitement.
As for Arteta a manager who’s supposed to have sauce, has a billion £ squad and has seen a season where all but Liverpool (were Liverpool really that good?) out the candidates for the top 4/5 have had off seasons or parts of them and he could still fuck it up.
I suppose at least we can thank the football Gods for the fact that Arteta handles pressure really well and never bottles it.
Howe was Wengers choice to take over from him so if the barcodes win tomorrow Wenger will have a wry smile on his face. If Newcastle win and Isak scores Edu will also have a smile in his face and will mutter – I told you so.
Our cunts buy all the Real Sociedad players part from Isak.
And the media used to criticise Hag for all his Ajax buys.
If these Spanish players were actually any good , Real and Barcelona buy them.
Merino= wank
Odegaard =wank
Zubimendi =wank
Partey =not wank.
A real serious talent but wasted by this cunt who keeps putting him at full back and stifling his game. Could have been another Vieira with a serious coach.
Now will fuck off to Italy and have 3 or 4 good years.
I will fucking laugh my arse off, if Howe does the clean sweep tomorrow. 4/4
Art
Beyond the obvious CL place at stake Newcastle have some huge motivation for tomorrow. With the Saudi investment the expectation will be to compete at the very top, to beat Arsenal 4 times in a season and finish 2nd will send signals to potential new signings that they’re serious.
We’ll be sending the same old “we bottled it – again” signals.
SACK THE CUNT.
Did anyone else read that the financial shackles,however the hell they work,are now off Newcastle? This summer’s transfer window could be a bloodbath. But God help anyone looking for a dm or lb because our man has those markets cornered!
On an equally ptsd inducing note did you lads see Martinez saying his goodbyes to Villa last night? Where’s he off to I wonder? Utd,Chelsea,City,Bayern all in the market for a top class stopper. Or the lure of the Saudi money? Anyway it’s good to know that Arteta was right to sell him and keep Leno..and buy Runnarson…and buy Ramsdale…and buy Raya…oh fuck it.
Marc
SACK THE CUNT!
No fucking chance , he will be dragged out kicking and screaming with the contract he is on. You think he is getting another top job?
More chance of this cunt getting another dog in than winning the league.
Real Madrid have already sacked a manager, appointed a new one and bought a young player
We are pitiful in comparison.
I expect Newcastle to run us ragged.
If we do re-sign Partey, don’t be surprised if Zubi changes his mind again…why would a 25 year old of his supposed ilk want to play second fiddle to anyone…furthermore, if we likewise re-upped Tross, I strongly believe that we’ll acquire 3 defensive players, including a Keeper, and only one positionally flexible wanker up top…MA spoke of depth as the primary concern come the off-season, which is fucking hilarious considering his overreliance on his preferred 11, so we could quite easily end up running this shit show back with only one addition of any consequence
until we start shipping out those who get significant minutes, anyone who thinks that this rinse and repeat fuckstick is going to make the necessary changes is simply fooling themselves…I think it’s important to remember that if he were to radically alter our present side, by bringing in a wide side forward and a Striker of real import, it would be akin to him admitting that he fucked up once again…we all know full-well that this self-absorbed and exceedingly fragile prick will avoid any such storyline like the fucking plague…this is why these fake-ass narratives about the refs and our injuries derailing our title hopes are so damaging going forward, as they give the false impression that we could easily win next year if things are different on those two fronts next season…this could be Wenger v. Gazidis 2.0
Crystal Palace showing those cheating cunts that passion means much more than buying ten 100m players!
Ah shit, VAR ruled it out. Still 1-0 to CP.
CP is FA cup 🏆.
Ex – Arsenal Eze was the goal scorer. Niketia came in last 15 minutes. So got a trophy
Happy for Crystal Palace.
Good on Palace for picking up some silverware…I’ve almost forgot what that actually feels like
still not quite sure why Haaland didn’t take that penalty…regardless, Henderson was the MOTM with Eze a distant second…we’re like a hybrid model of these two largely ineffectual sides, as we’re too defensively-minded like Palace, albeit they have better finsihing options, and we’re too sideways-dependent like City, who’s manager continues to struggle with properly incorporating his best offensive players into his tactical plan…iound familiar…if I was Haaland I would have one foot out the door…at least Palace has a built-in excuse for their preferred tactics, whereas we’ve spent an absolute fortunate trying to create a similarly boring brand of football and we don’t even have anyone nearly as fun to watch as Eze, minus maybe Ethan, who rarely sees the pitch nowadays because of you know who
Palace’s win yesterday v City had many similarities to Wimbledon’s famous FA cup victory v Liverpool back in 1988, a back to the wall performance that included a missed penalty for the opposition and a reward for hard work and discipline.
. A superb goal from palace was the highlight with some superb hold up play from Palace’s own John fashanu(mateta) who looks as awkward and gangly as fashanu but has been equally effective this season.
Palace will do well to keep Eze, there will be many big clubs sniffing around including Arsenal (hopefully).
Newcastle have become a bit of a bogey team for us recently , they play a similar game to Palace with a higher class of player.
Isak has caused us big problems recently with his intelligent running off the ball , I’m sure he will target our left channel if skelly/calafiori play the inverted full back role , meaning kiwior has to be on his toes as Newcastle have a simple tactic of using their right winger to pull the full back out of position which allows isak to make those runs into the channel to put our defence on the back foot.
I do think we will manage at least a draw today, Newcastle won’t be able to use their bully boy tactics so much at the Emirates that is so obvious at St James park, I can see a very niggly , tough , fractious game with many yellows and probably a red as things get heated , though of course Newcastle there is a case for Newcastle not being over adventurous and settle for a draw with a final home v Everton to come to secure a champions league place.
A draw would probably suit both clubs though I would prefer to see both teams going for a win to make it a better spectacle.
I get the impression that TRVL is suffering from ADS (Arteta Derange Syndrome) , I’m sure that by and large it is the same people who suffer from this affliction who also suffer from TDS with Marc the exception who I presume is in agreement with many of President Donald Trump’s policies but has a dislike for the Arsenal manager.
Wicksy
Why do you worship failure?
There’s a stat – we have drawn 14 games this season while Liverpool has 8.
I think the reason is because a. We don’t have a lethal striker b. We play only one way and teams have found a way to not let us score.
This will be even more of a problem. Crystal Palace last night didn’t let us City score and Arteta plays a similar football. I have been saying this from some time, football is team game and we have developed into a very good team but in days when it’s not clicking, you need individual brilliance.
Declan Rice’s two brilliant free kicks got us into the semis. Can you expect a moment of brilliance from Odegaard? Trossard? Merino? Havertz? NO.
They can do well in a system designed for them, but unfortunately there is also a team on the other side with a different manager who can just ask everyone to sit back and be happy with 1 point.
Sticking to one way of playing football has it’s benefits. You get better into playing it, because there’s just one way. The only problem with that is, there will be even more low blocks next season, and you would struggle to score. A 0-0 scoreline is a win for the likes of CP, Wolves, Everton, Spurs, Fulham, Brentford and some more.
This is also the very same reason we have done pretty well against big 6 under Arteta. Big 6 do not sit back.
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The football is boring most of the time, because the opposition doesn’t want to play. The football is boring because you don’t have a plan B in such cases. Too much back passes, side ways passes ruins it a bit, and Victory Gyokeres needs freedom to excel.
That’s why we haven’t gone for him yet. Berta has been tracking Victor from Atletico’s days, and with Mikel preferring a Jesus/Havertz up top, let’s see who wins. If Gyokeres is not coming, we have replaced Edu with another Edu.
I am also seeing some of Arsenal fans in double mind for Gyokeres because what if it don’t work? If it don’t work, we would go back to playing Merino up top and finishing 2nd. It’s not like we don’t have an option and we are spending our last penny on victor.
‘what if it works’ wins you a trophy next season.
Marc
Is being the 2nd best team in the country and top 4 in Europe a failure…
It is often said that the amount of money spent by Arteta should guarantee trophies but as any intelligent supporter would know , that is easier said than done, there are many factors to take into the equation.
A surprising stat for me is that over the past 5 seasons Arsenal are the 4th highest spenders (net) in the league, one would have thought we would be at least in the top 2 the way the narrative is often portrayed.
Chelsea five-year net spend: £-783.58m. …
Manchester United five-year net spend: £-565.08m. …
Tottenham five-year net spend: £-472.31m. …
Arsenal five-year net spend: £-460.22m. …
Newcastle five-year net spend: £-350.18m.
Taking this into consideration one could say that Arteta has over achieved with 2nd place 3 years on the bounce.
And that is taking into account that city are not on the 5 year list as they spent 1.7 billion net over the previous 15 years .
So maybe the entitled fan should show a little understanding of what it takes to win the league and yes slot has won the league in his first season , though he did take over a side with number of world class players and had the rub of the green in that city faltered and Arsenal have been on the end of a crippling injury list and horrendous refereeing decisions….next season will be a different story I’m sure of that..
To finish top 4 in Europe and top 2 in England this season is acceptable taking into account the mitigating factors , so although I do not agree with all of Arteta’s methods and style of football , now is not the time to be questioning whether he should stay or go, you only have to look at chelsea, united and Tottenham to see what having a lack of patience from the fans and board can lead that club to the depths of despair …I know which club I would rather support at this present time and probably for the next 5 years or so as we will be dining at the top table unlike United, Chelsea, Tottenham and possibly city .