Before we begin with our business, here’s some interesting things that has happened around the world of football. Madrid and Mbappe humbled the great Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland. Aston Villa made sure Liverpool lost 2 very important points at this stage of Premier League. We won, thanks to a double from Mikel Merino, against Leicester and things are looking a wee bit better at the moment. Lets dive into it.
Liverpool dropping points against Aston Villa has put us back into the mix. We are 8 points behind them with a game in hand against West Ham. And they have to play Man City away next. If things go our way and City decides to take Madrid’s revenge against Arne, we can bridge that gap to 5 points with a game in hand. To top it off, the next to next game of Liverpool is against Newcastle so yeah, lets hope the stars align.
We have been given several lifelines throughout this season, and the season before and we have always failed to capitalise. We can fix it by winning our game against West Ham. We must remember that we will visit Anfield in the last stage of the league, and we need to make sure that we accumulate as much as points as possible. If it goes down to getting a win at Anfield, that lot can make it very difficult for us.
Champions League – Round of 16
The draw for round of 16 is today, 11 AM English time. As we finished third, we could only play against the winners of PSV v Juventus or Milan v Feyenoord. PSV eliminated Juventus on a 4-3 aggregate while Milan lost Feyenoord in a penalty shootout. That narrows it down either PSV or Feyenoord for us. Considering that there’s Bayern, Madrid, PSG in the mix – I am sure every one of us will be happy with our next fixture.
If we managed to win against one of the Dutch sides, we will be facing one of the Madrid, Bayern, Leverkusen, and Atletico in Semis – so yeah, round of 16 is the easiest one we could get. Road ahead will be much tougher.
Injury List
Ben White is back. That’s some relief in the defence considering we were walking on a thin line and had to reach out to a 17 old MLS to save us. MLS has been very impressive though keeping Calafiori on the bench.
Tomiyasu finally went for the knee surgery. I was cheering for that lad because he was very good defensively, was a work machine and had those runs in him but the injuries has not let him play at Arsenal. Unfortunately, he won’t be back before the summer window, just like Jesus and we are stuck with 2 players costing us 350k+ / week wages for the rest of this year.
Martinelli and Havertz are still far away from a return, so we have very limited options upfront. Nwaneri is holding one side, Trossard the other and we discovered a CF in Merino. Sterling has been so poor, we needed to move a CM in front of the goal, and he scored 2 in 30 min. It sums up our problems in the attack.
Arsenal financials
Not that it’s my money or I am too concerned, but we did well financially this year. Thanks to the Champions League money and finishing 2nd in the Premier League, we have managed to lessen our losses. Our revenue increased by 31%, broadcasting revenue increased, profit on player sales increased, and we didn’t need to spend 18m GBP for letting players leave. Even after all these, we made a 18m GBP loss, thanks to the increase in wages from 234m to a whooping 328m. We had renewed some contracts (Martinelli, Saka, Ben White) and we brought in players on higher wages. It’s still okay, if we shed some of it in the summer. Zinchenko is a candidate, Tierney will leave and lets see what else happens.
Having a positive net spend on transfer means we will have money to spend in summer. Mikel and the club already confirmed they want to keep the money for the summer and for the right person. That’s a positive for the next season, while we manage with Merino as our local Mbappe.
Right, that’s me done. I hope I didn’t miss anything. I will be back with the match day blog tomorrow. Hope you are having a good time.
Hi Ambarish
Financials – will Arteta Splash the cash – only if Stan lets him. Our Stan is a bit disappointed we do not have a PL trophy and understandably so – who else would spend over 800million to come second – perhaps the mug at Chelsea. We are still 8 points behind Slot in his first season having no influence on the players he has at his disposal.
If we cannot manage a first place this season we never will with El B as manager. All of his stars have aligned but a fucking great asteroid is sure to send them flying like skittles.
Ambarish
Harland wasn’t even on the bench for the RM game being rested for the Pool game I suspect. City were never in the game where maybe Pep expected lose. Not his MO I know, but he needs CL next season and could well miss out. So beating Liverpool will be top of his agenda this weekend.
LIR
Both teams need the points badly, so as I said before I see this one getting feisty with maybe a red branded as results go against either side and tempers flare.
Was the first time I saw Slot get animinated on the line against Villa: he’s normally calmness personified, so the pressure is getting to him, too. His biggest issues is Dawin Nunes being Havertz’s twin needing too many guilt edge chances to score.
Looks like Pep is having a clear out with 8 players earmarked for the City door with Grealish being chief among them. I didn’t think Grealish would fit into a big team like City. He’s more the hero for a middling team, such as Villa were.
He’d suit Forest or Bournemouth or go back to Villa for me. Big fish in small pond kind of player for me.
Bringing in a raft of PL newbies may well right off City’s PL winning ways for next season, but they should get CL for 2026 if they buy right. Now they have freedom to buy with impunity, expect more swing and misses from MA in the transfer window with both United and City needs squad overhauls and the Chavs still building. Sterling is MA’s level these days: better players want better managers. So we either pay way over the odds as we did with Rice for the 9 MA wants. Isak MA’s top choice has a £150m escape clause we would be crazy to pay.
Are we going to get a new DOF or TD or someone to do our checks and balances before the summer TW?
I think MA will have one more big clubs’ disjointed season to win the league next season, so has to win the PL in his 6th season or leave if he fails.
Assuming MA doesn’t overhaul our points deficit this season with Pool where history is not on MA’s side, we still need that miracle we all hope for.
I’m not a White fan and never had been; I wanted an 8 when we bought him, and would happily sell White now for an elite 8. For me Timber is the better RB by a country mile. Solid in defence and a pit-bull in the opponents’ final third where he links up better with who is playing up top.
What will Aeteta do with White now? If he is still a MA coveted pet we may well see Timber over on the left again to accommodate White’s inclusion.
I doubt whether Cala will be happy with that or Skelly who is our best LB currently, because he’s an 8 who can invert as a LB, which MA needs to keep his old repetitive, boring tactics going on long after Pep dispensed with inverted full backs.
I can see MA’s Pets and square pegs in round holes being implemented again as it’s MA’s MO. Will that cost us the PL trophy, as it has the last 2 seasons? That and poor TW dealings!
We should get 3 points against a depleted West Ham, but as in Wenger’s days WHU can cause us issues.
Who do we think will be playing 9? The failed Trossard experiment again, Cala, Merino, White or Rice with Partey holding at 6? I might be tempted to play Jorginho as our 9. No pace, but has better ball playing skills, but also possibly aerially limited at 1.78m.
That said Havertz is what 6′.3″ but can’t jump.
Looks like we has agreed a deal for a 17 year old Scottish sensation. How will he get minutes when it took so long to get Skelly and Nwaneri game time?
Will he be another Chobi Manure like acquisition when he can’t get a start or minutes?
Big weekend for us where 3 points is the only outcome if we want to keep pressure on Pool.
As for your CL exploits for the next round, I feel RM are unbeatable by a PL side with Mbappe being in unplayable form. If he stays fit, RM should win the CL again.
What do you think TRVL?
our*
KP
Good to read your posts again. Saliba comes across as a really nice guy in that clip.
See your Haveford west boys are playing the Met today. Be funny if someone got into their changing room nicking all their valuables.
Are you going to that home game or others this weekend?
We got PSV in the next CL round.
3 other great games to watch are:
Athlectico Madrid vs Real Madrid
Bayern Munich vs Levakusan
PSG vs Liverpool
Full draw of CL next stage
Club Brugge vs Aston Villa
Borussia Dortmund vs Lille
Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid
Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen
PSV Eindhoven vs Arsenal
Feyenoord vs Inter Milan
Paris Saint-Germain vs Liverpool
Benfica vs Barcelona
Yeah Tony,
Stewarding tonight. It’d be more amusing if Cardiff Met were a police team, but CM is actually one of three universities in the capital. They’re a weird team with zero fans and an atmosphere free ground where they play home games. Many students in the team but also players from other sources. They kicked a guy out of their team last year who was a lecturer at Cardiff Met – apparently, the players and staff thought he was a pain in the arse! I’ll post the highlights afterwards.
The draw is OK. I’d rather we played PSV than PSG.
Been very busy didnt get to look at the CL draw. PSV is a very good draw and with weekend Pool Vs Man City gives Arteta ample opportunity to catchup. Lets see what happens. with a favourable draw in CL and Liverpool looking through a set of difficult matches, looks like MA has a lifeline thrown at him. Even with a depleted side we are still in a chance to do something in the league and CL. Lets see how we go about it. Ball is firmly in MA’s court.
Tony—agree with your Grealish assessment…it reminds me a bit of what I said about Wood, not in style of course, but they both seem to thrive on middling sides…btw Haaland wasn’t rested midweek, as he injured himself in the waning minutes of their Newcastle waxing…he might not even be available this weekend…as for Pool, this is their trickiest set of fixtures, with 4 PL matches in a span of 11 days, but after this weekend they play 7 of their last 11 at Anfield…I think i would still prefer Nunez over Havertz, as I think with the proper guidance Darwin could figure his shit out…he’s got the requisite height and pace, plus he’s not a flopping clown…he’s just a bit of a emotional basket case at times, which just needs to be tamped down/properly channelled…in regards to Real, they could be had, although I would much rather face them in a one-off than in a home-and-home…Mbappe looked to be at his best the other night and they really worked well as a team, which hasn’t always been the case, but they’ve likewise had spells where they’ve struggled for consistency at both ends of the pitch…regardless, they’re the favourites and rightly so…Cheers
I keep hearing stories about plans to expand / upgrade the stadium – anyone heard anything more solid?
Liverpool have had a wobble but to be honest right now I’m not sure City have it in them to beat them unless its a complete fluke.
Quite something to consider when you bear in mind the level they were at only a season ago.
Marc
The one thing City can do best is neutralize Salah. And they are good at it.
Liverpool is nothing without Salah.
Drawing PSV is good luck for Arteta. Though if we manage to win, we would be playing Real Madrid kr Atletico in semis and Liverpool or PSG in finals….
I don’t get it why the fucktards decided to make ONE draw for the CL. During that ONE draw you are confined to a side and the rest is predetermined. I have heard it called the Silver Side which we are in including ALL the EPL teams. WTF is that? On the other bracket, the Blue side, It will be either Inter or Barca in the final because the rest are pants according to their present form and respective league standings, while we are facing the 3 teams that are leading their leagues. What a bunch of fucking imbeciles.
This has to change to a draw after each round not a fuck up draw that has your destiny predetermined. There can’t be an all English final but there can be an all Spanish final. Those brain dead ones that decide the format of drawing ONLY once need to go. We had this problem before when there was no separate draws for quarters and semis were done. What a bunch of fucktards.
Ireland to win against Wales is a given one, unlike Arteta versus Potter. In addition here is to Scotland retaining the Calcutta Cup.
I’m not sure that city will just want to roll over for Liverpool, they have too much pride in themselves to allow that to happen.
Yes City were toothless against Madrid in the week but I prefer to believe that city have another performance in them similar to their 4-0 victory v Newcastle last week.
City now need to qualify for the champions league next season by finishing in the top 4/5 , so there is no way they will be taking it easy..they do have a few injuries but their squad should be big enough to still put out a team to give a game to a Liverpool side that is beginning to show a few cracks.
PSV in the champions league last 16 is a decent draw but no walk over as they tend to be very strong at home so it is in our favour that the 2nd leg is at the Emirates.
It is being said that the last 8 is a far as we will go due to having to play one of the Madrid sides in the quarters, I don’t necessarily agree with that , if you look at real’s domestic form it is poor with draws against osasuna and atletico and a defeat to espanyol in their last 3 league games,.although as we know they do tend to raise their game for the champions league..
Atletico have only won one of their last 5 league games so again not exactly flying either .
Against West ham tomorrow it is important we start the game with a high tempo and put their back 4 under pressure, we should be fit and fresh after only one game in 16 days so there should be no excuses, my money is on a 2-0 victory and then we can sit back and watch the drama unfold at the etihah on Sunday..
Killroy—from a purely optics standpoint I couldn’t agree more, but I believe everything went a bit sideways when so many unexpected sides required a further round to qualify for the round of 16…this likewise eliminated a few sides that would have been considered tougher outs than some who advanced (I could be wrong but I believe there was a “reseeding” of sorts before the knockout phase) now if I’ve misread the room the whole setup needs a complete rethink, unless the whole point was to greatly increase the likelihood of a Barca/Real final…maybe we’re overthinking it because the “weaker” bracket does include the top 2 sides from the Bundesliga, the defending Italian champions, the defending Premeira League champions(before they crashed out) and Barcelona(albeit this isn’t Messi’s Barca)
Tony—Callan Hamill is actually 15 (turns 16 in March)…I don’t know much about the kid except what I read since the announcement, but the following quote did raise one fairly obvious concern:
“The talented and versatile youngster has shown big promise as either a defender or defensive midfielder, so it will be interesting to see what ends up being his best position in the long term”
it’s quite difficult to predict future success based on past performances especially when it comes to defenders/DMs, as so much depends on variables that aren’t completely within their control, like one’s ability to “fill out” so that the player in question can best handle the rigours of the professional ranks(he looks to be a buck 40 soaking wet) without it negatively impacting their overall positional development…that said, it probably doesn’t matter if MA’s still around, as one’s “best” position means fuck all to him
Cheers