Of course I am pretty excited for the North London Derby tomorrow at Shite Hart Lane, hence the title. To make it more interesting, Manchester United has just beaten City 2-1 at Old Trafford. I have never been happy in my life seeing United win except for today. Not letting City have those 3 points means there will a minimum of 5 points difference after tomorrow’s North London Derby. I am pretty confident we gonna improve that point difference to 8 f*king points!
We need to win tomorrow and we will! We are in some great form, Spu*s have been shit and ESR is back. A backline of White, Gabriel, Saliba and Zinchenko.. fully fit midfield of Partey and Xhaka and the front 4 of Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli and Eddie will going to be too much for the Tottenham. Our Captain, Martin, has won the Premier League Player Of The Month and Mikel, the manager of the month for Nov/Dec; Saka and Martinelli has been high on confidence and playing some of the best football of their life; Eddie has been scoring and didn’t let us miss Jesus till now. I’m sure they would be buzzing for a North London Derby and I’m sure they all want to score tomorrow.
On top of that, we will have ESR on bench, who comes as a sub and makes an instant impact. We have a fully fit Tomiyasu and Tierney in case we need them. Midfield has been a concern but I am not in a mood to complain today.
There are couple of things to worry. We haven’t won against Spu*s in our last 8 PL games at Sh*te Hart Lane, having lost 6 and sharing points on other 2 occasions. We need to change that. The other concerning thing is the refereeing and Kane/Son going down like they love the smell of the grass. If you are an Arsenal fan, you know at some point there will a tiny touch from one of our players, a dive from Kane or Son and Referee pointing to the spot. VAR will not find it important to take a look, or even if they do, they will use only couple of angles which lets the penalty stand and they score. Unfortunately, that’s what happens!
Irrespective of it, I am excited for the Derby. A 4.30 PM start for our UK readers (10 PM Indian Standard Time) is a perfect way to end weekend with a win and 8 point lead at the top.
Lets do it, lets thrash them! Lets go for the league.
I get why people get caught up in the whole Xhaka trap, as he always seems to find space, but that’s because no one marks him, for good reason…now if he took proper advantage of what was afforded him, I would likely stop calling him out, but his finishing stats say everything…GD it, Eddie needs some f’ing top level shooting boots
Tony–get used to Marts being taken off for Trossard…it might not be long before I’m saying the reverse….god help us that’s not the case though
Yes…a very last minute ⚽
some real c**t hair decisions on that goal…we should all buy a lottory ticket tonight if this result holds
Was there not an offside in the phase before the Eddie goal?
Yes…we won… proud to be a table topper 🥰
Arsenal win 3-2
Eddie’s talent to stay in the direction of the ball got him 2
I’m still waiting for the goal to be disallowed even though I’ve heard the final whistle! What a finish from Eddie, this has to be our year lads,it seems inevitable. Daring to hope….
Actually Saka turned the match over. Arteta might have pointed out England manager in the audience
Brought back memories of this game
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pvmoe9Y43MQ
Very happy with that. 6 points from 2 big games.
crucial 3 points and a strong finish to boot…I must admit that I’m quite impressed by what Ten Hag has accomplished in such a short time….not surprised though, as at one point in time I was pushing heavy for both him and Overmars to takeover our once fledgling project…would have been rather troubling if we couldn’t overrun that midfield without Casimiro available for selection…5 points up and a game in hand is certainly nothing to sneeze at
Almunia
Dare away mate and have a top night. If it goes tits up from here for any reason, weve got this far. Terrific win. Remember that 97 game?
Great win with Xhaka and Ramsdale being our weak links. Trossard will do well for us. Not as fast as Martinelli but great quick twinkle-toes feet.
Certainly another confidence notch up on our title aspirations. Bring on City. Away form will be crucial and no complacency at fortress Emirates.
19 cup finals left. 🙂
Late here. Happy dreams lads.
Tony, Junior and Pumpkin
You did it lads. Never mind Saka and Eddie Unket. It’s the feline wonder kid that won that game.
Kroenkephobe,
Just finished watching those 97 highlights. You’re right,very similar game. And proof that a title winning goal doesn’t have to be scored on the day the league is won. Eddie’s goal could well be remembered alongside Platt’s. On a side note. Wreh and Grimaldi played that day?? Fuck me Wenger was even better than I thought!
Almunia
I liked Grimaldi. Hard as nails and did the ugly stuff well. Not a technician though. Wreh and Boa Morte were lightweights weren’t they. A bit like pre-Qatar Eddie Unket.
Did you see David Platt in the crowd at that Oxford game? Doesn’t look like he’s aged well (I’m giving myself the people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones lecture as I write this).
So many pleasing aspects to that game. I’ve almost forgotten Tets’s new low on touchline histrionics… Oh fuck, it’s come back to haunt me.
Phew. Looks like there were no offsides in the build up to our third goal.
Herbsarmy
You out there mate? Long time no hear. I’m getting eerie 89 type feelings this season. There must be a thing about 19 year waits for proper success at Arsenal.
I’m really chuffed for the boys for finding a way to secure all 3 points…still a long way to go, but anytime we can bank a result against a top 6 club we should rejoice…let’s hope that there’s no banana skin matches in our immediate future and we can use this game as a jumping off point for a proper title challenge…I still can’t help but think what we could better accomplish this goal if MA could find a way to curtail the playing time of his favourite son
Leading intellectual, all round national treasure, cuddly, avuncular, testicle examiner Troy Deeney offering punditry on our game on match of the day tonight.
Good morning lads and what a wonderful morning it is.
Couldn’t get to sleep with the game in my head flashing scenes at ridiculous speeds – welcome to my world of ADHD. Must have been gone 4am before entering the various levels of sleep and unconsciousness.
Am I revitalised? Am I fcuk! But I’m as happy as a turkey waking up intact on Boxing day 🙂 .
What a great footballing evening/night. K’phobe, Pumpkin will be elevated to Little Buddha levels in our house.
TRVL are you sure we’re not related? Our thinking is uncannily similar regarding Arteta and squad and other interesting facets of life. Your comments on Trossard/Xhaka particularly.
Always good to have you back at games and any time for that matter, Almunia. The Spuds game would have been less stressful, but as you rightly say that was a peak Wenger/GG performance where you feel there will be many more games to come like that. 19 in fact because teams will be queuing up to dent our hold on the top position.
That was a Tony Adams, Bergy, Keown, Parlour, Vieira, Petite, Henry et al performance. Just the players had changed. I could recall an actual game just many that flashed through my mind during the game.
Look guys we know Arteta can still be naive, too blinkered and ……….. But we can’t complain what he’s achieving on the field. I dare anyone here or who saw the game to say they weren’t kicking every ball, stretching for every tackle and shouting at the TV as if it could talk back. Pumpkin from his view under a chair in the next room would have found it too much to work out us humans so enthralled by football.
I was finally able to say that was like vintage invincibles’ on so many levels to Junior. There beauty of that is there”s very likely much more to come.
We laid down a marker and let it be known to the PL that we mean business that will not have gone unnoticed by Pep. I’m looking forward to Pep’s next meltdown, and I certainly don’t fear City not with the energized, high tempo performance from last night. City’s pampered elite won’t like that smothering pressure over 90 minutes.
Junior and I have watched a lot of Brighton because I lived along the south coast or at least had properties in various places along the coast – not al at once, of course, but highly desirable locations/hamlets for the property market for ex pats.
Brighton is known or was known as little London by the sea.
Trossard fitted seamlessly into the side as PL ready, good internationals should, as they are used to playing with different player groups at the highest levels. Trossard has been excellent for Brighton where thankfully we got him for a steal at £21m++ to 27m. Far better deal than White’s for twice the player. I’m not a White hater, far from it, he’s decent, just not £50m++ decent and wasn’t what we needed at the time.
Be interesting to know why White wasn’t at the races yesterday and being subbed at half time? Couldn’t handle Rashford?
I know I’ve been banging the Mitoma drum, but he’s perfect for us, Trossard and Martinelli. The lad has a tasty right foot curling balls into the top corner for fun after making just the tightest of space for himself. The quick footed Mitoma would sow up our left side from FB to the wing.
Now comes the $64,000 question, do we need to buy a forward with Bolagun coming back? For me, a hard NO. Wisely, we score collective goals across the team. Jesus’s absence has proved that with his injury.
We still need a Partey replacement although Jacob Kiwior can cover 6, so that could be left to the summer if we bought Mitoma.
Back to the game who dared won! Simples!
Ramsdale is not a title winning keeper 100% of the time. He can be paradoxical during games saving brilliantly one minute and doing something equally stupid the next that earns our opponents goals. He’s gaff ridden far more than Keppa or Ederson. Why we let the Australian go, I’ll never know. Ditto Martinez.
So many stand out performances yesterday smothering Manure for most of the game. The fact that they blocked 10 shots to our 2 tells a different story to their 5 shots on and 7 off target to our 4 on target with none missing their goal and working De Gea. The bottom line was we were more lethally clinical than Manure who really missed Casimero.
Eddie came of age last night where his past somewhat forced cockiness became a solid gut feeling confidence. At LG I backed Eddie with Pierre and feel Bolagun has just as much to offer if not more, but Eddie’s game is becoming far more rounded the more Eddie becomes grounded. Simply put, Eddie just needed game time where 12 from13 sends Arteta & Edu a strong message to keep their powder dry.
Big shout out to the team, but also Ode who is loving his football as he drive us forward. Always been an Ode Ultra so I’m biased. Gabs M put in an aerial master class while being defensively solid. Zinchenko was a stand out for me for his vision. It was great seeing Trossard and Zinchenko hugging at full time. They will make a scary pair in coming games.
I could go on for days eulogizing our win and will with friends and Junior.
Just to put icing on the cake for this past weekend would be Fulham beating Spuds.
I’m not going to jinx our title run so I’m just going to say it’s our to lose over the next 19 games but we are going to be very hard to beat home and away.
The negative intensity (toxicity for those with wokeitis) Arteta first brought to the club that lasted pretty much 2+ years is being replaced by a more calm Arteta with his players NOT I’m quick to add during games where he likes his one on ones with opposing managers. Real Jack Russel mentality snapping all the time at officials now collecting yellows and where getting a red card is a rite of passage for the Arteta to be with in with the Klopps, Mourinhos and Fergie’s of the managerial elite.
K’phobe Xhaka should be replaced by Trossard to play with Zinchenko, Martinelli or Mitoma if we bought him. Matching our right attacking strength from the left will be a nightmare for opposing back fours who will inevitably leave gaps as they get pulled all over the place.
Just like the Invincible’s did.
Happy days and a positive future if Arteta sees what we Gooners do regarding Xhaka and Ramsdale neither now are at the required level for my thinking.
Have a good week LIRs 🙂
I couldn’t recall*
Tony
That’s a brilliant, balanced write up. You’ve successfully captured what I suspect a lot of us are thinking today. I don’t mean to sound pompous but I reckon it should stand alone as an LiR reaction to such a big win. Just like Almunia has placed his pieces on here as actual articles, you should send an edited version (ie taking out the non-game related stuff) and send it to Ambarish for publication. Your version of events last night was a much more fulfilling read than was on the Guardian. Really well written piece mate. I’m impressed.
You mention flashbacks to an earlier game vs Manure? Was it 1997 (or was it the Lebanese resin playing tricks on your mind)? Almunia and I were discussing it on here post match last night. David Platt of all people, or old Mekon Head as we used to call him.
Poor old Pumpkin. I think he deserves some smoked salmon if you can get it in BKK!
https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/The_Mekon
An actual picture of the David Platt subbuteo figurine prior to being painted in either Crewe, Manure, villa., Sampdoria, Juve or Arsenal colours.
… Happy as a Turkey waking up in Boxing Day. Nice!
Thanks for the kinds words, K’phobe I’ll do that. Around that time and the Invincible’s. Ode has always reminded me of Bergkamp’s play. I know Bergy was a striker but he was far more as we all know.