‘Did you think you had Eze’ – asked a reporter from Thomas Frank. Thomas, appointed only recently as the manager of a shite club, responded in an attempt to create some humour by asking back –
‘Who is Eze?’
Well, he just scored a hattrick in a NLD after 47 fucking years and by the time 90 mins were done, Spurs fans were already at home, probably sobbing and blaming the cold. If you are one of those and delusional enough to think you own North London, let me just say that even with a 4-1 win, we were more frustrated than you lot because we couldn’t keep a clean sheet. You are used to losses so that was just a regular day for you.
Right, that was a brilliant evening for us Gooners. A 4-1 victory over Spurs, at Home, hat-trick from the man who had almost joined Spurs but the club brought him to Emirates in the last minutes, Saka dancing and fans staying and singing once the match was over. And we did all this without our first choice striker, and our best defensive player while Hincapie started his first game in place of Gabriel. Our captain was missing too.
We took the lead in the 36th minute when Mikel Merino set up a beautiful ball to Trossard who, very precisely, put it into the nets. Eze, doubled the lead in 5 minutes when he put the ball into the nets courtesy of Rice’s assist. We went into the break 2-0 and Frank made some changes hoping he could turn it around. I am pretty sure he is aware of the spursy nature of that team but hey, he is paid enough to at least try. Eze made it 3-0 only 1 minute into the second half, assisted by Timber but that lad was dreaming of something more.
Richarlison scored a good one from far away. When you play a high line and your goal keeper is involved in setting things up, this can happen. I don’t mind it more than Raya, who would be furious to not add this game to another one of his clean sheets. Frank made some more changes but Eze scored his 3rd in the 76th minute and made sure that no one but the red and whites celebrate the day.
Spurs were so shite we didn’t even need to use set pieces to beat them.
We had finished 2nd, three seasons in a row. We lost points in dead games, injuries derailed us and there were some very odd decisions from the manager. This season, we lost our best defender and yet Hincapie finished his 1st full game with a 9.5/10. Odegaard is out injured but Eze comes in and does better. I was doubting Trossard but he has proven that he can play better than Martinelli when he is given a chance. We have a saucy striker who looks adapted now, was out injured but we didn’t miss him. Saka was world class and will remain so.
Now, onto the next game in Champions League tonight against Bayern. Only 3 teams are with a perfect score so far, and two of them are playing each other today. Bayern sits at top of the table with equal points and same goal difference but have scored 3 extra goals than us. That also means we have conceded 3 less than them, in fact, we have conceded fuck-all so far in 4 games in the group stages and Bayern will test that today. We will be without our best CB partnership but Hincapie dropped a bombshell of a performance against Spurs so I am not really bothered.
To finish in top 8 and avoid 2 extra qualifying games later, we have to win at least 6 of the 8 games. After today, we will be playing Club Brugge, Inter and Kairat. Inter Milan is the third team with all wins so far. Frankly, it’s not a do or die situation for us but there’s always some uncertainty in Champions League. We saw Chelsea beating Barcelona last night, and Newcastle losing to Merseille thanks to 2 goals from the ex-Arsenal man, Aubameyang. Anything can happen, so make the most out of what’s in front of you.
Martinelli and Madueke are back in the team. Odegaard might also be available, though I doubt Mikel will bench the hattrick man for him. Mikel, when asked about facing Bayern, had to say this –
For sure, this is the kind of game in the competition that we want to face, and we’ve been very consistent in both competitions; they have been as well, and tomorrow is a great test for us to see where we are.
source:Arsenal.com
A very challenging game indeed, and the one which will highlight whether we have progressed to win something of importance of this year. Beat Bayern today and the boys will go home in confidence. Also, there can be only one team sitting at the top and we would love to be the one.
See you during the game.
BBC showing the lineup without Saliba and Gabriel even in the squad?
Not what you want when you’re away at Chelsea and it hurts us at both ends.
Has anyone heard what the issue is?
KP—now you.know why I refer to Pricksy as a know-nothing blunt instrument…good on you for giving him a good verbal thrashing!! Chances are your attempts to educate him on the facts will fall on deaf ears, as per usual…Cheers
Interesting fixture…how it’s started will likely place too much import on the refs, as it’s going to be a scrappy one…with that early yellow, I’m sure the odds of a red card being issued at some point today went up exponentially
Marc
Probably some rest to Saliba. Hate to not see either of them in the line up but hoping Hincapie and Mosquera can do the job.
Competitive game so far. ..
the fact that Cucurella hasn’t been sent off more is kind of bewildering…both of his fouls on Saka were totally unnecessary, as Saka had his back to goal and in a non-threatening position…I get the notion of setting a tone, especially against someone of Saka’s ilk, but to needlessly put yourself on a yellow so early seems daft…could be good for us if he continues to be so reckless
Marc—thankfully Palmer is unavailable, as he would definitely try to take advantage of our CB situation…both defenders have performed decently, especially when it comes to ball distribution, so maybe we’ll see a couple of longer balls for fucking once
as should always be the case against this particular Chelsea side, we should make Sanchez have the ball at his feet as much as possible…he’s an accident waiting to happen
it’s hard to believe Marts hasn’t started a PL game since August
First foul throw of the season? Anthony Taylor?
You know the Chelsea player is guilty of a bad tackle because he’s feigning injury.
TRVL
Palmer’s on the bench.
The more you see that tackle the worse it looks.
Caicedo might be upgraded to red for studs challenge
Hoopah
I don’t think Chelsea can complain. He knew what he’d done hence him rolling round like he was injured.
He knew it so over reacted a second later
Problem now is the ref will look to even things up.
Took Taylor full 5 minutes to do the obvious…
Hincapie a soft yellow to balance ?
huge mistake by a side that seemed to be dictating play…this could be a big boon for us, especially with this being an away match against our biggest challengers for the title…that might not be the last red we see…hopefully we’re not stupid enough to even things up
it also might be the first time Merino was justified in his flopping about…his pathetic behaviour is likely why Taylor didn’t see it as a straight red.from the off
He is on yellow already.