You didn’t expect Wolves, who are sitting in 20th position, to do you a favor, did ya? Man City closed down the gap by 3 points today and it’s now in our hands to extend the lead back to 7 points by beating our legacy rivals. Man Utd are crap, lets be real. But they still sit at 5th position, ahead of Chelsea, Newcastle and Spurs. They are only a point behind Liverpool and they know few wins could get them into the Champions League. They have something to play for, so do we – and we will find out tomorrow who wants it more.
Calafiori and Hincapie will be assessed before the game but it’s fine to say we will have a fully fit squad for the first time this season. Mikel will have everyone in front of him to pick for his playing XI, and our next game in a not important CL games against Kairat. So, yeah – lets go for everything.
If I have to pick, I will do the usuals. Raya in goal, with Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and Calafiori in defence. A midfield of Odegaard, Zubimendi and Rice will do where Rice plays in a more advance role. I would pick Saka, Gyokeres and Martinelli as front 3, but won’t mind Trossard if Mikel finds him more contributing to our game.
16 games left. 7 points lead (4 but then City has played one extra game). A Premier League trophy we have been dreaming of since THE INVINCIBLES. That was in 2003-04, about 23 years ago. There are some Arsenal fans who can vote, marry and have a kid but haven’t seen us lift the trophy.
And then, we have a billion dollar squads, most of which have finished 2nd three seasons in a row. Most of them had the heart breaks, some of them were exhausted, some would have punched a wall. Some of them are on big fat wages, some renewed, some joined from other clubs to be a part of red and white in the hope of winning something. NOW IS THE TIME. Mikel and the team does all the talk, but we need to walk the walk.
I know there is still a long way to go, 16 weeks of Premier League football and we would see a lot of ups and downs, but I am not wrong to say it’s ours to lose now. Man Utd, under Carrick, will try their best to stop us. Can we sustain the pressure? Can we keep our winning run?
We will find out. See you in the comments.
Cosying…sorry.
KP
Part of a very large organisation is 8% owned by the Chinese. A long way off they have invited me to visit them (and others) in November. I must say I am wary – they are probably reading this.
NORG
I’d say you were right to be circumspect. The Chinese government is all about acquiring intellectual property for its own state capitalist ends. If you’ve got something unique, they’ll surely be interested. I’d get as much trade related advice as I could. A bit of legal advice also would not go amiss. And if you take the plunge and engage, keep your legs firmly closed and avoid hotel bound pissing sex workers (which did for Donald Trump when in Moscow). I’m sure they love Kompromat just as much as Putin. There’s probably a paragraph or two in the musings of Confucius that covers this…
Wearing my old crumpled civil service pinstripe suit, I don’t know whether it would help to contact the department for business and/or the embassy. Beware though, they’ll possibly try to charge you a sum of money for advice that bears no relation to it’s (very limited) value.
Bonne chance mon ami. If all else fails, your local takeaway may have some stale fortune cookies sitting in a box under some out of date menus.
Finally, I dredged this from my emoji bank just in case it helps clarify anything. 🈯
Shout out to international Gooners planning to tune in at the glorious Elland Road tomorrow. If anyone can recommend a local channel in their country that I can tune my fire stick to, I’ll be very grateful. Cheers.
‘Isn’t it strange that all the voices who said Maccabi Haifa shouldn’t even be playing in the CL haven’t uttered a word about Kairat.
Its almost as if there’s a different agenda.‘
I’m guessing most of those voices wouldn’t care about Maccabi Haifa playing in Europe either if their travelling supporters weren’t such a massive cunts.
That, and the indiscriminate killings of civilians by their government of course.
Just a wild guess.
KP
I often use staff at various British Embassies and havent been charged for their time (yet). Some are better than others and a couple have been excellent.
In the bad old days one of the best links for games was VK – the Russian broadcaster or one of the Middle eastern channels.
Come on Leeds.
Marching all together and kick the cunt where it hurts and one step nearer out the club.
Leeds should be a relatively straightforward match for us, the Spud’s could be a potential banana skin for City and have picked up some results over the last few seasons but if the gap increases again after us losing last week it will take a huge amount of pressure off Arteta.
If I had to bet I’d expect both to teams to win. It does look like we’re going to get an interesting 3 way battle for 4th – would Slot survive missing out on a CL spot?
NORG
That’s reassuring. Chargeable services always seemed ‘de trop’ when I was a lowly second secretary in the 90s. I’m glad they’ve given you advice and that it was fruitful. And good luck if you decide to take the plunge with that company (who’s only part owned by our inscrutable friends from the east).
Leeds strike me as a bit lightweight up front and occasionally wide open at the back.
I take your point Art but I’m still an Arsenal sentimentalist. Plus it’s been so long…
Strong team on paper…should be capable of forcing at least one OG and two set piece corners! 3 nil.
Eze and Ode relegated to the bench – almost makes you think creative players struggle / underperform / don’t improve under Arteta.
In an interview with Joao Pedro the player spoke about the differences between his old boss and his new one…Enzo, who preferred a similar course of action to our current manager, was turfed because Chelsea was unwilling to give him 5 or 6 years to figure out how to properly incorporate set piece/own goals into his increasingly predictable and overtly boring style of play…of course, switching the manager doesn’t guarantee success, but I at least applaud them for not ignoring the problematic nature of pursuing such a thin margins course…on a bit of a side note, Slot, who won the PL title some 8 months ago has taken more heat since that time than MA has faced in all his years combined, which speaks to the fact that both Chelsea and Pool have considerably higher standards than our own
“He wants us to play with more intensity and compact. He wants us to come low to be connected to create the space to run behind. Enzo [Maresca] is more with the ball, he’s very good as well.” It’s a nice attempt to be kind to both of them, but it’s clear what JP prefers – and it’s the same thing that most fans would prefer. An intense style over a more considered, passive one. If there was one thing we would criticise about Maresca’s system above all else it would be the way that it struggled to get strikers into the game and scoring. We saw JP so isolated so many times, with slow possession allowing defenders to get around him, and no threatening deliveries from out wide”
Anyone know what happened to Saka in the warm up?
“which speaks to the fact that both Chelsea and Pool have considerably higher standards than our own”
Either that or Slot doesn’t have pictures of one of the Liverpool owners with a Shetland Pony.
Marc—there’s no time ever when both Eze and Ode should be on the bench…it’s back to Havertz being shoehorned into the 8, which never made sense, combined with MA’s relatively new wrinkle, having Zubi take up more advanced spaces…never has a side relied so heavily on “non-scorers” for their goal production…the fact that we continue to get away with these pedestrian tactics speaks to the weak state of the PL(we have the 5th lowest XGs from open play—I don’t know for sure but I find it difficult to believe that any team has ever won the title with those kind of piss-poor stats)
Marc—Saka has a hip injury
by year’s end Rice is going to be pissed that Zubi has replaced him up top
Poor from Leeds GK . Just shows what we been struggling against in last 26 minutes
Ref does not seem adept at at catching sophisticated dives
Hoopah—agree with your GK assessment…several times he’s whiffed on simple punchouts…as we speak he does it again