Mikel wouldn’t be happy going into the biggest game of season – the North London Derby – after losing the first leg of a Carabao Cup final to Newcastle, crashing out of the FA Cup after a loss to Manchester United (of all), and dropping 2 points to Brighton when we needed a win to close the gap to Liverpool. He would also not be happy with the injuries and certain players’ form. But he knows a comfortable win today against Tottenham would make the fans forget the shite football we are playing and give him some relief. I always have a lot to complain, but not today because of the seriousness of the game and the opposition.
It’s the North London Derby Day!
First, when we had a chance to close the points gap twice this season, we failed to capitalise. In the previous match week, Manchester United restricted Liverpool to a 2-2 draw and it gave us a chance to close 2 point gap to the league leader. We gave it away by succumbing to Brighton. This weekday has been good again for us – Brentford’s 2 late goals made sure City shared points and Forest gave their everything to restrict Liverpool to a draw while Chelsea dropped points against Bournemouth at home. It has, again, come down to us to make the most of it. There’s 7 point difference with 20 games played between us and Liverpool, and winning us today will close the gap a bit.
And, what’s better than a London Derby at Emirates. Ange do not believe in a sit back and we love that as a team. Low blocks are a problem but not the one who likes to play ball.
Arsenal v Tottenham
Well, we haven’t lost to the Spuds at home in 14 years. Ange is having a tough time with only one win in his last 8 games. There are sitting on 13th position in the table, one better than Manchester United and that’s exactly where they belong.
In the team news, we have some set backs (probably for the good, let me be blunt). Saka, White, Nwaneri and Tomi are still not available for today while Calafiori will be judged before the game. Gabriel Jesus will be out for a very long time, and that’s a very bad thing for us – not because he is a star performer but we can’t sell him yet again this year.
I’m hoping a back 4 of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and MLS (or, Calafiori in case he makes it). We might see a midfield of Partey, Rice and Odegaard with Martinelli, Havertz and Trossard up top.
Coming to the Jesus injury, we should accept that it’s not going to work anymore. He is either injured (unfortunate this time) or in a bad form. I don’t see him winning us more than couple of games in a calendar year so what’s the point. The problem is we can’t move him now, not in this window, not in the next one.
NLD is the most intense game of the season and we are going to miss out best player in Saka. I seriously hope the young blood understand what it means to the supporters and everyone around the club, and we go on to win by 4 goals minimum. We have been on the down slope of confidence after the FA Cup loss, extra time means we would be leggy but today’s not the day to find an excuse. It’s a war and I don’t care if you die for it.
Wrapping up
I’m sorry for not being available recently. Some family obligations and travel made me miss some of our games and I couldn’t post anything. I have returned to my den now and you would be hearing from me a lot more.
See you during the game, and thank you for all the support.
Cheers.
Looks like we are enquiring about Benjamin Sesko from Leipzig. He is too young for my liking, I would rather get Gyokeres, who has a better stat and is of right age/profile.
Welcome aboard Wicksy…we can agree to disagree when it comes to the whole “unfairly” gig…Cheers
“Arsenal, as is their habit, made a very large meal of beating a mediocre Spurs, struck down by injuries but still well short of the standards expected. The door is ajar for Arsenal and Arteta, but they will struggle to open it any further unless they do what seems plainly obvious and sign a striker to give them a cutting edge”
simple and believable assessment of last evening and what’s to come, unless…
I’m starting to get what’s going on with MA’s thirsty as fuck Sociedad gig…his longtime footballing bestie Xavi Alonso was the Sociedad B team manager before landing at Lever, so he’s very familiar with their former and current players, which the two friends undoubtedly discussed at some length…now this wouldn’t mean that much if it weren’t for the fact that it appears as if Xavi is headng to Real come the summer and Zubi’s at the top of their priority list, which likewise includes Davies and Saliba…so the race is on…personally, I hope Xavi wins this one because if not it would mean that we wasted 100+M on Rice
Ambarish—it’s highly unlikely Sesko would be moving in this window as Leipzig restructured his deal last summer, after we expressed interest, which removed his 65M release clause…besides that, he had no interest whatsoever to come here so long as MA favoured Havertz as his number one option up top, which makes perfect sense, as who in their right mind would want to play second fiddle to someone who clearly has the ear of the manager, even though Havertz’s totally undeserving of this preferred status…now we might make another push in the summer, but by that time the fees will be substantially higher, so unless Sesko lights it up in the second half of the season we will never be able to justify their valuation
Ambarish
I think you will find Gyokeres favours working with his old boss. Once United have pushed a few unwanted players out of the door Gyokeres will be purchased.
Sesko has no interest in joining El B – clearly he doesnt want to play second fiddle to a giraffe.
I agree with you regarding Odegaard. Last season he went missing against our main opponents – this season he has slowed considerably – perhaps he is carrying an injury or his in game play has been slowed because of the coaching received?
when it comes to this particular window we simply must be cautious so as to not repeat the mistakes of past January windows…we can’t do what we did with Tross and Jorginho, who both should have been loans with options to buy, as neither of their former teams were in a position to outright refuse any viable suitors…I don’t say this because I don’t think they’re skilled players, but because they take up space on your roster that could be better filled come the following summer…when you make moves like that you tend to get complacent when it comes time to properly assess your positional needs…let’s face it, any side that starts either player on a regular basis shouldn’t be surprised if they were to finish well outside the top 4…now of course we had a much better lineup than their respective previous sides, so that wasn’t going to happen to us, but that’s the level of side each deserves
the tricky part of this situation is that we currently reek of desperation, especially following the injury to Jesus, and sides will act accordingly upon our approach…we’ve seen this set of circumstances before, which btw would apply to anyone in a similar predicament, but we still must find.a way to reinforce without cutting off our nose to spite our face…the best case scenario would see us acquire a world-class Striker who’s already at the top of our wishlist, like Isak or even Viktor, but I don’t see that happening unless we paid above the number and MA was willing to slow his roll when it came to notion of playing Havertz week-in and week-out…the second best option would see us get a player with goals in his boots on loan, without any obligations beyond season’s end…this might be a trickier needle to thread unless we can locate a transfer partner or two who had underperformed and were simply looking to trim their wage bill…the worst case scenarios would see us either pay a good chunk of change for a half measure Striker who wouldn’t solve our issues and negatively impact our off-season pursuits or we simply do nothing at all, which isn’t outside the realm of possibilities…frankly I’m more than a little worried about how it will all play out
Morning all
Welcome Wicksy; an interesting post where I agree with some of your opposition views.
The fact is with over £800M spent we should be good enough to beat the form newcomers. A discussion for another day. As are our repetitive tactics and MA’s round pegs in square holes’ penchant. Rice is a £100m 6 and a £30m 8. Big Gabs is our Haaland for set pieces.
Looking forward I have no idea as we have no noticeable identity other than Ode pulling the strings, but not scoring in the PL and with only 2 assists. Basically, his efforts are being wasted by those up top, limiting Ode to being a ball carrier more than big chance supplier: a false narrative if you like, if the many chances hadn’t been squandered by Kai, Jesus and Rice.
That said if opposition managers close Ode down and double team Saka, we struggle and need luck to win, as we did against Spuds; it wasn’t a corner that led to the winning goal, but I’ll take it even if I hate winning that way.
LIR has wanted Marts at 9 simply because others are failing continuously.
Like TRVL, Marc, KP and others here where we feel we have little chance of overtaking Slot’s Pool unless we bought a 9 of substance and even better if we bought an elite 8.
As the likelihood is slim to none of either player materializing in the Jan window, we will struggle to get a CL birth in my view because MA’s luck won’t hold out all season, and he is not going to change his right sided centric attack with Saka, Ode and Timber triangles that gives Saka a little space to work his magic.
Now after several warnings Saka has gone under the knife for playing too many minutes for us and England. Now we have to hope Saka’s hammy isn’t like Michael Owen’s was……..
I hope I’m wrong …………….
Not sure if we’re actually contemplating a move for Yoane Wissa or it’s just somehow connected to the fact that there’s been numerous rumours circulating involving his Brentford teammate Mbeumo…regardless I’m not convinced that either would be a good tactical fit…both of these players have done their best work in a side that relies heavily on countering with pace, which are words that aren’t even in MA’s lexicon…of course I highly doubt MA really cares about such logical matters, as he would likely deploy them as deep-lying midfield tandem anyways…all joking aside, sort of, Mbeumo would make the most sense as a makeshift Saka replacement, as that’s his preferred position and he has goals in him…whereas Wissa should only be contemplated if this was meant as a short-term fix up top, as his MV is considerably lower than our first choice options, and this wouldn’t derail our off-season Striker pursuits…it’s all probably bullshit anyways, as the only PL team that has actually made contact with Brentford about Wissa is Forest, according to SKy Sports
That’s City sorted up top with no fuss at all. Meanwhile, MA is ready to pay £80M+ for Viktor Gyokeres it’s being reported. I thought VG was a cert for Amorim.
The Guardian reported this:
Manchester City have verbally agreed a fee with Eintracht Frankfurt to bring their forward Omar Marmoush to the Etihad Stadium this month.
Agreeing a figure with Frankfurt has proved a protracted process for City, with the German club demanding more than €60m (£50.5m) during negotiations, given his exit will hurt their push for Champions League qualification, with the side currently third in the Bundesliga.
Abdukodir Khusanov of RC Lens during the French Ligue 1 match between RC Lens and Olympique Lyon at Stade Bollaert Delelis on Sept. 15, 2024
Next stop Manchester City: Khusanov ‘the train’ back on track after bumpy journey
Read more
Marmoush, 25, can operate across the frontline and has an impressive 20 goals in 26 matches across all competitions for Frankfurt this season. Fifteen of those have come in the Bundesliga, where he is one goal behind the league’s top scorer, Harry Kane.
The Egypt international will boost manager Pep Guardiola’s misfiring squad, who have hit an alarming dip in form in recent months, and fill a hole in the squad since Julián Álvarez’s £81.5m move to Atlético Madrid last summer.
Marmoush joined Frankfurt on a free transfer from fellow Bundesliga club Wolfsburg in 2023. He began his career at Wadi Degla in his homeland.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jan/16/manchester-city-agree-fee-with-eintracht-frankfurt-for-marmoush
Hi Wicksy,
Good to hear your views mate. League form isn’t bad you’re right (although it’s probably not going to be enough to top the table). But let’s not lose sight of the fact that we’re zero for two in the domestic cups.
It’s also questionable that the teams we’ve drawn against are somehow seen as tough opposition. We’re Arsenal, one of the richest clubs in the world playing in the highest profile league. Fulham, Brighton and Bournemouth etc. are there to be steamrollered. Once the club starts thinking that mid table teams are tough, fear sets in and the club is fucked.
I also don’t think we should go up to Newcastle and be meek, and accept that their 2 nil lead is insurmountable. Take them on physically and outdo them for energy and aggression. My vintage, ie the time I most treasure about the Arsenal, is the mid 80s to the end of the millennium and particularly the GG era when we took shit from no one. That’s the kind of attitude we need for the rest of this season rather than accepting setbacks.
Stick around mate. I’m sure we can have some fruitful exchanges on here.
our little smug MIT finally admitted that we’re actively searching for new recruits…that’s quite a commitment for someone who would typically rather gouge his eyes out with an ice pick than speak truthfully to us peons about anything club-related…with him it’s always a game and a poorly played one I might add…the only time we ever get even a sliver of the truth is when it’s selfishly-motivated, like with Auba or when it involved some other hump he wanted to get rid of…problem is these rare glimpses behind the curtain typically cost us a tidy sum, which is why you know that his intentions weren’t pure…the fact that this behaviour hasn’t raised the ire of a substantial segment of the fanbase, considering what transpired with a similarly smug Wenger during his post-Highbury era, speaks to the collective PTSD that has consumed us since Arsene’s departure…of course I’m well-aware that no club can air all their dirty laundry in public, but I’ve yet to see a team who exists under a completely manufactured bubble ever succeed at the highest of levels…it usually leads to a squad filled with thin-skinned, mopey pigeons and an excuse-happy manager…rant over
TRVL
It’s not just MA, but the club who is always secretive; it’s the Arsenal way.
Yet other clubs just go about their business most often with the transfers played out in the press where they get deals over the line with the minimum of fuss and easily in the TW. We, on the other hand, are the kings of protracted deals if, that is, MA can find any elite or elite potential who wants to play for him. None have come forward, so that says it all about MA, doesn’t it?
Is January TW going to be any different? Maybe a loan and with Sterling’s form, he needs to go back to the chavs, but won’t of course. More Chav’s garbage holding us back. MA is the king if sloopy seconds for over the hill or just not up to the level we need, as in Havertz – a decent utility player at best, where Forest, Newcastle, Pool, City, Chavs and Fulham have better.
The usual click bait is linking us with a plethora of good players, such as Williams and VG, but the only deal looking like happening is Zubi this summer to replace Partey, and yet Partey is much better in the opposition’s final 3rd.
Zubi as TRVL has stated with good detail that Zubi is a very good 6, so will release the delusional Rice further forward, as MA sees Rice as a bona fide goal scorer occupying the 8 and false 9 spots with very little return goal and assist wise: 3 PL goals in 21 PL games.
I’ve often wondered if MA’s back room stats are what we can see, as mentioned here?
Rice is a hot 1 in 7 goal to game ratio. I ask myself what returns we would get from an elite 8 or from the top 10 in this list:
https://www.90min.com/posts/the-25-best-central-midfielders-in-world-football-ranked
Oddly, Rice is not considered, and Merino is 18th and lucky to be included on his form this far. Says it all really.
McAlister is 3rd who we should have bought instead of Rice.
Then, when you consider our best midfielder by far: Ode, Martin only has 2 assists and NO PL goals, in 21 games. Why? Because Kia, Rice, Tross, Marts et al are fluffing their lines in EVERY game, and thus making Ode look very average in front of goal for assists and goals and just a skillful ball carrier with little output.
In short Ode is being Artetarised where he could be delivering far more if he only played in the final 3rd, and left defending to our back 4 and 6… or wait 6 is too often up top with no recovery pace. Back 4 then!
I don’t know about you all, but this weekend is pivotal in the PL points potential. Pool are away to Brentford, which we all know can be a difficult tie. That said, I don’t see Pool dropping points making our home game against Villa a must win.
We beat Emery at Villa 2:0 last August, but Emery has had the better of MA having beaten us twice last season in the League, and in several two-legged, cup games. What I’m saying is beating Emery at home tomorrow is no way a forgone conclusion. In fact I think it will be interesting what tactics Emery sets up Villa with to nullify Ode and big Gabs for set pieces.
We know exactly what MA is going to do, just not which players he wants to shoehorn into their unnatural positions. Ricehino will still be lolloping around in Villa’s final 3rd trying to convince himself he’s Paddy reincarnate.
The reality is the opposite: Rice is a CB & 6 and nothing else, where Rice is about as fleet footed as the hippo ballerina in Fantasia or the famed giraffe TRVL speaks so eloquently of in making his Declan comparison.
I don’t think Rice realizes it, but Partey is still the better 6, and adds more value in the final third, rather than getting in the way as Xhaka did or firing headers and shots high, wide and handsome, and then, making a big thing of his miss for the cameras, as if he always scores, but doesn’t – he just wastes chances ala Havertz; both need tap ins or for Kai in the air, Havertz must not be expected to get higher than 12 inches off the ground to head the ball.
Any higher than 12 inches and poor Kia gets a nose bleed from altitude sickness, and crumbles to the ground waving his arms at the ref trying to con a decision from him, forgetting there is VAR keeping the game honest – mostly these days.
My feeling is we might scrape a home win; however, it’s more likely going to be a draw with canny Emery producing better tactics, but still porous at the back with a -1 GD compared to our 21GD.
On paper the 3 points should be ours for the taking.
Have a good weekend LIR….