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.
City had Doku, Savio, Aka, stones , Foden ,Reijnders and gonzales on the bench yesterday and the narrative is that Arsenal should win the league due to the strength of our squad.
I don’t see a lot of difference in the strength of the squads, we are both going for 4 trophies and I don’t see a lot of difference in the sides performance wise, there was a 2 point gap at the start of the year and there is a 2 point gap now.
Will luck , injuries or favourable decisions play a part, let’s hope not, there is a very fine margin between winning a game or dropping points as City found out yesterday as they just about managed to get over the line.
Tottenham last week and now Chelsea today could prove to be perfect games for Arsenal at this stage of the season as neither Tottenham or Chelsea look particularly secure at the back.
Last week Arteta played Rice and Zubimendi in a double pivot in midfield which allowed Eze to push higher to link with gyokeres and saka and it worked like a dream, I see no reason for Arteta to change things, I liked the way saka played more narrow in the 2nd half v Tottenham to link with eze and gyokeres, those 3 must come into today’s game high in confidence, today may also be a game for Ben White if fit to allow Timber a few more days off as has looked a little fatigued recently, plus Ben white is more inclined to overlap and with cucurella out today left back may be their weak spot .
The season is building up nicely now, like city we have a close to a fully fit squad so I’m sure Arteta will rotate, especially for the fa cup game at Mansfield and maybe even for the first leg in Germany as their is little difference in quality when you think Arteta could bring in white, mosquera, calafiori, Skelly, Norgaard, Odegaard, madueke , martinelli, havertz and jesus….. Saliba and Gabriel are probably the 2 that Arteta would be reluctant to rest in Europe
Wicksy
You should really know to ignore the media’s building up / minimising the capability of teams.
They exist to sell – whether it be papers, subscriptions or to gets clicks you do that by building a narrative – the title is Arsenal’s / City are washed up and then running new stories if it doesn’t play out that way.
The simple facts are City are 2 points behind us and we have to go to the Etihad so on paper City are in pole position. The League Cup final could have a massive impact on the outcome from a
psychological perspective especially as Arteta still has to prove he’s not a bottle job. City also have the advantage of having the experience of been there done that.
That said they don’t look the same team of a few seasons ago.
On top of the above our fixtures after the League Cup final are as follows.
22/3 League Cup Final
5/4 FA Cup Qtr Finals.
11/4 Bournemouth H
18/4 City A
What odds we get City in the Qtr finals of the FA Cup?
Can I assume that Fulham are going to be everyone’s favourite 2nd team (Kroenke’s 3rd) for a couple of hours this afternoon!
Match day post is live.