Bad news first, City has been catching up lately and are only 3 points behind us in the table. Though they have played a game more, you don’t want them breathing on your neck.
With years of experience of winning ‘titles’, Pep and his team knows how to handle themselves under pressure. We, on the other hand, have folded 3 seasons in a row and are trying not to repeat it one more time.
Now, the good news – it’s in OUR hand. We win against Brentford today and we will go back to a 6 points lead with only 12 games to play.
We have few injuries but we have enough bench strength to not to worry about it. Both Saka and Odegaard will be assessed before the game. Mikel Merino will be out for some time after his foot injury. Kai Havertz has picked up another injury I’ve heard and is a doubt for next 2 weeks (rumoured).
Back 4 is sorted, but the midfield is going to be a mess for Mikel. Rice and Zubimendi are starters, and he is left with only Eze to fill the spot. His favorites, Merino and Havertz are not available for selection while Odegaard is both out of form and half-fit for the games. Eze – it’s your time to shine man.
If you ask me, I would stick with the usual back 4 with a midfield of Rice + Zubimendi and Eze in an advance role. Madueke and Martinelli on either side with Gyokeres in the middle would be the front 3. You can pick Trossard over Madueke, I wouldn’t complain.
Every game from now onwards is a final. Carabao Cup is a literal one, but with City closing the gap, we have to make sure we don’t drop points in Premier League. We have a game in April against them at their home ground, and we surely won’t want to leave it to beating them at their home to win.
We are in the knockout stage of Champions League after winning all our group stage games. Every game would be a one to win to move forward.
But hey, if you can’t keep your head down for 2 months and beat the likes of City and PSG, you don’t expect to win a trophy.
Right, that’s me done. See you during the game.
Also, it’s sad to see Thomas Frank getting sacked. His Tottenham Legacy lives with us in the form of the cup.
Fucking yes, yes, YES!
Come on you rip roaring reds!
Gyok’s hold up play tonight has been top notch. Reminiscent of Alan Smith.
I understand his thought-process, with Palace being so messy over the summer (and beyond) and the manager not re-upping, but I think he didn’t fully understand what was going on here…he got catfished by all the headlines regarding our supposed desire to become a much more clinical side, which were clearly not coming from the manager
btw nice header by Noni
some little brother, big brother shit
on a side note, somehow Ode hurt himself kicking Potter in the junk
Didn’t Ode have a knee injury earlier in the season where he stayed on, struggled and then missed a chunk of games?
I applaud Brenford for making positive subs, but that might open the door for us, as they’re looking a bit tired on the backend…not like we deserve jackshit out of this performance thus far
Gabriel’s a lucky boy there with some of the yellows the ref’s already dished out.
Kroenke prediction was close to coming true there.
what a tackle by Mos
Mosequera’s signing for 15 odd million euro’s is looking like an absolute bargain – not often you see that under Arteta.
another big intervention, this time by Rice
Marc—tbf Mos made the mistake that led to his stellar tackle
Brentford should be winning by at least a couple by now
TRVL
I can’t wait for Wicksy to explain how we dominated the match chances and deserved the 3 points.
Your reaction will make a a most enjoyable read!
Same old story. We worked hard to get control and get ahead and then failed to keep up the momentum. You’d think they’d have worked out that conceding throw ins near our touchline was not a great idea.
Meanwhile back at the wicksy household a distressed wicksy has turned the picture of a bare chested El B around so that it faces the wall.
Oh no not again he mutters under his breath.
Cunt.
Some doubted Andrews would be able to step up after Franks move to the Lillywhites however it appears he was the driving force. Despite losing top players he has reached the magic milestone of 40points with 12 games to go and with a team valued at over 60% less than Arsenals.
So we are back to where we were 2 weeks ago before City drew with Tottenham ….4 points clear at the top…
Tough , physical match last night , the sort we could do without what with the amount of games we have played.
It was a night when playing calm , composed football was very difficult as Brentford never allowed us to control the game for any length of time, even when we went one up I was never confident we would hold on to the lead as we never quite found a way to stem the tide.
I believe we made an elemental tactical error in the way we were set up for the throw in that led to the Brentford goal…..it is very rare that you will see a goal scored with a direct header from a throw in , the danger comes from the flick on and that is where we made the error of not having an aggressive defender like hincape or Timber in a position to defend the flick on …whoever thought that putting Odegaard in the position to defend the flick on should be questioned as Odegaard is as weak as piss in those situations , he is not a natural defender, his body shape was wrong and he allowed the goalscorer to wander in unchallenged to plant a header past raya.
I do not necessarily blame Odegaard for this , the mistake should lie at the coaching staff or manager who thought that Odegaard would defend that crucial area as well as a defender.
Gabriel could have seen red though I thought his first yellow was soft as was the yellow given to gyokeres, maybe the ref knew that he was a little hasty with the cards in the first half sa he was put under pressure from the home crowd and the Brentford manager.
Before the likes of TRVL and Norg gloat too much at Arsenal dropping points against the team that has just beaten villa and Newcastle away , I will point out that we are playing wolves away next Wednesday and city haven’t a game , so we could easily be sitting 7 points clear and then the narrative will change again as the pressure will be back on city , though of course anything other than a win v wolves will see the vultures circling and probably rightly so.
TRVL
“Ode has had more service and time on the ball in the first 4 minutes than Eze did in the whole first-half…Ode has a defined role whereas Eze is treated like a periphery figure”
The fundamental difference between the 2 players is that Odegaard likes to move towards the ball when we are in possession whereas Eze moves away from the ball, hence why he is on the ball more.
Our risk-averse football doesn’t suit Eze as although he is comfortable taking the ball under pressure his team mates are reluctant to pass to him when marked in fear of losing possession.
I have said before that Eze could easily be utilised in a quarter back type role and pick the ball up in deeper positions and look to hit long diagonals to our wingers to stretch the play, Eze is the one player in the side who can put the ball on a sixpence from deep positions as he has already shown a couple of time this season in making goals for martinelli against city and Munich, 2 of the best sides in Europe.
Crouch believes Arsenal will never have a better chance to win the title.
“Man City are not the Man City of old, Liverpool aren’t, Manchester United aren’t what they have been, Chelsea the same,” he said. “There is a lack of quality in the top areas [of the league]. The bar has been set high in the past years. Now is a real opportunity for Arsenal. If they don’t get over the line, there needs to be more questions answered.”
from Arteta’s lying-ass mouth: “Something I learned, you can have an idea but the players’ qualities are the most important thing. Asking them to do something they’re not comfortable with won’t work long term.”
The fact that this is coming from the King of shoehorning is fucking hilarious
as for yesterday’s affair, that was a classic under the gun toothless away performance that has become an all too familiar refrain in the second-half of seasons under this particular manager…when you’re in a title race for the 4th year running and the only team who appears to be in your way had a massive come from behind victory on the weekend, then followed that up with a decisive mid-week win, that can’t be your fucking response…we were outchanced by a vastly inferior side and if it weren’t for Raya and a few timely blocks, we would have been slinking home with a meagre 3 point lead in the standings…I applaud Andrews for having the gonads to make a concerted push for all 3 points, as it’s a rare commodity nowadays, especially around these cunty parts