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
I’m only after realising Calvert Lewin is available on a free. Please God no. He strikes me as a poor man’s Chamakh and that’s saying something. Him or Havertz up top every week could push me over the edge!
Congrats to County KP, at least two nights out in Europe for you! Have my fingers crossed that Charlton can get past Orient,that’s a Souff Landan derby with an edge. No love lost there.
As for champs lge,city in deep trouble if Bournemouth take something from the Etihad tonight. I’d love to see Villa,Forest and Newcastle pip City and Chelski.
Controversially I’m cheering on the spuds tomorrow night. Utd were,are and always will be the ultimate enemy as far as I’m concerned (forgive me KP I know I’ve sinned) . I also like Ange even if his suicidal brand of football is hard to defend there’s something genuine about him,not much of that going around in professional football these days. When utd are down,keep them down!!
“What I can promise is that I will do my very best (to win a trophy) and I will give my life, and get every drop of everybody here to squeeze it and get the best (out of them).”
what a twat…Arsene never said it but we all knew that Arsenal was his everything, which had profoundly negative consequences on his personal life, so this drama queen’s clearly attempting to evoke a similar sentiment to appease those within the fanbase who have wrongly annointed him as the second coming…once again this blunt instrument of a man has revealed his true plastic self, as this was done purely for his own self-interest now that some more dissenting voices have emerged…no one expects him to “give his life”, which btw makes me respect the first-term Wenger even more for never uttering such farcical words, all we want from him is to stop with all the self-absorbed nonsense and to grow a pair from both a tactical and recruitment perspective…what a tangled web he’s weaved
Marc
Wicksy will be happy and try to tell us what a genius Arteta is and they’ll be a competition between me, TRVL and Artfraud on who can call him a cunt first.
I will be disappointed, if I don’t win this competition.
What slags like Wicksy don’t understand, is this manager is a cunt full stop. A cunt yesterday, a cunt today , a cunt tomorrow
Even if he wins the league( he won’t) he will still be a CUNT.
No other player or manager comes close.
I was reading a snippet of Duncan Fergusons book at the airport today. He has some interesting observations about our cunt as well and how he got this mystery status.
Basically they all think he is a cunt
Almunia—I know you’re half-joking but I certainly wouldn’t put it past us to go bargain hunting when only top drawer will suffice…actually I heard that Lewin could end up at the Spurs, who are likely looking for cost effective options so as to help them get their financial house in order…btw I too have an affinity for Ange, but I do think he hurt his cause when he went full Tin Cup and refused to change his tactical course even when their injuries continued to mount and those who remained couldn’t handle the high tempo brief
anyways, this is why those of us without blinders on get a sick feeling in the pit of our stomachs whenever a half-measure option enters the market on a free or at a reduced rate…of course I get the financial implications of such a maneuver, but none of that matters if the player in question can’t get the job done…a half-price shitty player is still a shitty player…right now I’m worried about David or some other cut-rate sullied option, like Vlahovic, coming in simply to check a box and balance the books…this isn’t to suggest that David, who I’ve watched on countless occasions, is a hack, it’s just that this isn’t the kind of acquisition that’s likely to move our championship needle, unless he’s one of two new Striker options…if that’s not the case, I fear if we don’t get a world-class readymade option MA will fuck the pooch again, as anything short of this won’t close the door on Havertz being a primary option up top…plus this rinse and repeat fuck would undoubtedly waste all the money that was saved on LBs and backup Keepers
AF—I can just imagine how a fame thirsty fuck like MA rubbed a man of the people-type, like DF, the wrong way…talk about worlds apart…now sometimes none of that matters, as there’s always a diverse collection of personalities in any locker room, but this duo is giving off a real Jake Taylor v. Roger Dorn Major League vibe…I can only hope that you can fully appreciate that reference
TRVL
I have not a fucking clue, who these people are. But I get your point.
We need someone like big Duncan Ferguson as manager.
Real passion, down to earth , not a smarmy arrogant cunt and a much more tactically astute than the current cunt in charge.
But it’s all about image,branding and marketing slogans around the game now.
That’s how we have ended up with this cunt who wins fuck all every year and plays the worst football I have seen at the club since late George Graham reign.
Art Fraud
I’m having nightmares about the chances of Arteta going for Grealish now he’s been told to find another club.
So is Grealish.
Art Fraud
I’m not sure he’d find a club who’d pay him silly money in a major league outside of Arteta.
I can’t see him going to Saudi.
Marc—i’m fearful about a whole bunch of overpaid and underperforming fucks that might peak the interests of our settling manager, especially a couple of the usual Bayern transfer suspects who are on ridiculous wages and will undoubtedly demand assurances…as for Grealish, I want to say that not even Arteta is dumb enough to entertain such a proposition, but that’s certainly not a given considering the wages he’s gifted to both Havertz and Jesus…if not JG, don’t be surprised if he goes full gaga over the possibility of landing Rodrygo, who hasn’t impressed me for some time…now Rodrygo has some sneaky good numbers when he’s been deployed out wide left, 23 goals and 16 assists in around 70 appearances, but it’s not the greatest sample size…of course, he’s facing some pretty stiff competition out there with Vinicius Junior being the presumptive starter…regardless, it’s exceedingly more likely that he becomes Havertz 2.0 than the second coming of Henry
imagine a 2nd year coach of a 17th place side moving ahead of MA when it comes to silverware collected, as a Europa title carries more weight than a.FA Cup during covid with an inherited squad, and they too will be in the Champions League next season…that said, what a fucking shit match!!
Big Ange on the phone to El B : Hey Mike I thought I would give you a call to thank you for your advice.
El B: Advice???
Big Ange: yeh Man – we looked at loads of tapes of your boring football and thought we would give it a try. It worked – we bored the pants off Man U , and everybody who watched and hey presto we won a bigger cup than you. See you next season unless one of us is sacked.
Rumours going round today that Martinelli is on his way – you watch Artea make his attacking signing a left sided forward just so he can keep Havertz in the team.
Marc—you know I’ve been banging that drum for some time…there’s a reason why we’ve been linked to a plethora of fake-ass Strikers like Cunha, Joao Pedro and now Rodrygo…this reeks like a classic “positionally flexible” 2-for-1 transfer shit show, which will enable MA to continue on with his whole shoehorning tactical facade that has Havertz and Rice as our most advanced players far too fucking often…not to mention, if we were to get rid of Marts that would likely mean Tross would be re-upped, which would be incredibly short-sighted in my estimation…that said, short-sighted is kind of what he does best
ever since MA has left Marts on isolation island, with little no help from the ever-present inverted backer, his MV has dropped from a high of around 90M to 50M…now Marts has to own some of that, as his finishing hasn’t been up to his previous standards, but I don’t think anyone would have thrived in that wide-side role under those conditions
TRVL
” but I don’t think anyone would have thrived in that wide-side role under those conditions”
I think the opposite because most teams look to overload against our right side as saka is regarded as the biggest threat , consequently when martinelli receives the ball he is often one on one against the full back with space to go outside or inside, which is a situation he should thrive on.
He does suffer a little from not having an overlapping full back to help create more space but generally he is in an enviable position when receiving the ball but often his decision making let’s him down.
The price for martinelli should be 60 million plus as he is young , quick and can play anywhere along the front line, though Arteta has strangely been reluctant to use him as a striker.
With the emergence of Nwaneri who has shown that he is a natural playing on the right side it shouldn’t be forgotten that Saka was/is an excellent left winger and came through the youth teams playing on the left.
I likened saka to the great John Robertson of forest back in the day , who could drop his shoulder and whip in or cut back the perfect cross without having to beat the full back. It probably won’t happen but if martinelli did leave I would have no qualms about seeing Nwaneri on the right and saka on the left as both play with their head up , can score and assist and would give the team great balance.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure Arteta trusts Nwaneri enough to start him on a regular basis, there is obviously something in Nwaneri’s game that Arteta is not keen on and that could have a detrimental affect on Nwaneri’s confidence and he could go the same way as Smith Rowe which would be a criminal waste of talent .
Marc—-even though the author of the following article was convinced that MA was hellbent on competing with Europe’s best on and off the pitch, if you take out all the editorialized nonsense some concerning words are revealed:
“What is clear with the amount of injuries that we had in the front line is that we need a goal threat and we need firepower,” he said, emphasising that tactical ambition must be backed by quality reinforcements…Depth matters, especially in a campaign where injuries have repeatedly disrupted momentum…This is not about reckless spending, but about calculated recruitment — identifying players who can elevate the squad’s quality without disrupting its identity”
this doesn’t have anything to do with injuries, as neither Havertz nor Jesus were going to change our fortunes domestically or abroad, this has everything to do with MA’s unwillingness and/or inability to acquire the most talented options to join his little multi-phased project…Cheers
Pricksy—as per usual, you couldn’t be more wrong…just check the tape…maybe you haven’t actually been watching our matches since the advent of the inverted back experiment…as a result of MA’s cut and paste sideways tactics we’ve faced a shit ton of low block looks, which has oftentimes included double-team help on both sides…prior to that Marts saw a lot more iso opportunities, which enabled him to get to his favoured right foot…that was when he was at his goalscoring best…btw he received considerable more support during that period because we employed a wide-side backer
nowadays his primary task is to add width in order to stretch opposing defences, thereby keeping them honest, so as to provide pockets of space for our shoehorned 8 & 9…this is why Rice finds himself unmarked in and around the box so often…he simply waits until the secondary defender slides wide then replaces that now vacant spot…this is likewise why Marts tends to attack far more with his left foot, towards the endline, as that’s the only way to negate the double-team without the requisite help…as such, he’s become more of a facilitator than goalscorer, which can be a thankless task considering our lack of clinical finishing
conversely, when Tross is on the pitch he typically tucks inside, as he lacks the requisite pace, which is why he sees more higher grade scoring chances…to help compensate for the lack of width and to help maintain MA’s desired offensive shape, Rice will often take up positions out wider on the left…so when Marts is playing, Rice actually gets more opportunities in the kind of spaces where Marts used to excel, whereas Rice takes on a more helper/periphery role when Tross is playing (WTF)…so unless Marts can tiptoe the endline and craft something out of nothing, he’s usually shit out of luck (keeping in mind that I acknowledged earlier that Marts hasn’t helped matters, as he hasn’t been near proficient enough with the chances he’s been given, so he’s not free from blame)…School’s out!!
TRVL
Basically a shit load of waffle from you stating the bleeding obvious, try and come up with something original occasionally as you have become very repetitive.
My argument still stands, Martinelli is in an enviable position on the left in that he has ample opportunities during the game in one on one situations due to our wide players being the main focus of our attacking play , you give the impression that Martinelli is like a lost soul on the wing who is isolated and starved of the ball which isn’t the case , personally I think it’s our striker who struggles to thrive in the Arteta system as very little is played through the middle and that is why I have my doubts about a y striker thriving under Arteta unless he tweaks the way we play to bring the striker into the game more , which of course would mean taking more risks with the ball and we know that the Arteta system is all about control with as little risk as possible….
Pricksy—talk about the pot calling the kettle black…so let me get this straight, you think Saka having Timber and Ode is actually a less favourable situation than Marts only having Rice, who certainly isn’t known for his ability to provide service in open play…that’s fucking hilarious…now we do seem to be in agreeance about the unlikelihood of a real Striker thriving considering MA’s risk averse tactics, but I’m not sure you actually want that latter narrative to change, whereas I feel entirely differently
TRVL
Martinelli having Rice as support doesn’t really help much (I like Rice and think he’s more capable than just being a DM) because Rice is right footed and will look to cut in the same as Martinelli.
What he desperately needs is the full back over lapping.