Coventry, completed. Aston Villa, completed. Chelsea, completed. Napoli, completed. Sunderland, is probably the toughest
We have the first real challenge of the season, against Sunderland, away from home. We have already beaten Coventry, Aston Villa and Chelsea. We escaped with a narrow win against Napoli in Champions League, thanks to a late strike from Odegaard.
We only managed a point last season when we played Sunderland on their home ground. They took a lead early in the game but Saka and Trossard’s goals kept us in the lead. It was unfortunate that we conceded in the final minute of the game and Sunderland were more than happy to settle with a draw against the future Champions. We don’t want a repeat of that; I’m sure we would be looking to take the lead and hold onto it till the last minute. I am pretty sure Raya wants to keep a clean sheet.
There have been some new faces in the starting line ups this season, and they haven’t disappointed. Konsa is a brilliant player and we haven’t missed Saliba so far. Ben White is good in doing his job and though Timber is a clear upgrade on him, White is not a bad RB and does what he is asked for. MLS, in the midfield, is keeping Guimaraes on the bench and Tzolis has a dream start of his Arsenal career. Things look great as an Arsenal fan. The only thing to worry about is the Gyokeres treatment from Mikel, Havertz has not been bad so far, but Gyokeres must be wanting his place back.
I think Declan Rice can get the day off, and Bruno G can get his start today alongside the superstar Lewis-Skelly. We are playing against in 3 days in the Carabao Cup and we must keep him fit and well rested. Saka is built differently and I won’t take him off for Madueke, that’s a very big drop in performance.
I was hoping Mikel would give Max Dowman more minutes this season, but apparently he is playing U19 so it’s not going to be today. Ipswich Town in the Carabao cup next could be his moment. Not much worried though, that kid has immense potential and he will make his own way, just like Saka and MLS.
Only 3 games (including today) before we go into the break, and we can win them all. I wanna see some fireworks today, and I wanna see a fight between Bruno Guimaraes and Granit Xhaka, though Xhaka won’t be playing for Arsenal and Guimaraes won’t do his theatric against Arsenal. What a time to be alive, lol.
Right, see you during the game.
By the way, Everton did Spuds dirty by putting Maitland Niles on their poster for today’s game.
Looks like that Tzolis kid has some fight in him as well.. absolutely brilliant.
Tsolis
What a tackle
Timber’s back!
This ref is a fucker. He has to book xhaka there.
Willian is coming on with his baby!
That’s 3 more points Raya saved.
Scumderland are like Argentina. Not a compliment you understand.
They were like Stoke during Wenger’s time. But on this occasion we won.
Good to see some on here tell it as it is, Sunderland were allowed to pull shirts , foul with impunity and take their time on long throws without punishment.
We had a number of players booked for minor things plus a penalty conceded despite it being obvious that Ballard was pulling konsa over , how the Var never overturned that god only knows
enough with the constant conspiratorial nonsense…there was a point when we were pegged in and Gabs took a dive then clapped with a smile on his face when the call went his way…that’s some sinister calculated bullshit…not to mention, Saka’s was clearly fouled outside the box, then he fucking triple jumped his way into the box and somehow a penalty was given…if the shoe was on the other foot and anything but a free kick was given you would have gone absolutely fucking mental…I will say this, Xhaka is still a cunt, so watching him unravel and lose is always amusing
simply put Raya saved our blushes once again…he’s the only world-class player we currently have on staff, which isn’t to suggest that both Saka and Rice don’t have that level in them, it’s just that one is trapped within a tactical system that sees him face constant double-teams and the other is being played out of his best position far too often…that said, Rice has been sitting a bit deeper when Skelly starts opposite of him, which wasn’t the case with Zubi in the first 11
as for Bruno, what a glorious strike, which wasn’t really in his repertoire until last season, when he tallied 4 similar-type goals…prior to that it had only happened twice in the entirety of his professional career…maybe you can teach an old dog new fucking tricks…lord knows we could sure use a sprinkling of that sort of magic in this side…still not sure why we haven’t devised a way to get Eze in those shooting positions far more often, or fucking ever…I very much doubt that will be in the cards while he’s being shoehorned out wide though…why did we even buy him if we didn’t have a logical plan in mind…maybe it had more to do with keeping him away from someone else, just in case he flourished like Olise once he had better talent around him
Vera
I noticed you never mentioned the Sunderland penalty award, the pgmol could open a can of worms if they don’t come out and say that it was the wrong decision or we will find forwards dragging down defenders in the box and expect to be given a penalty.
As for Arsenal’s penalty, yes the grabbing of Saka’s shirt started outside the box but the rules say that if it continues into the box (which it did)a penalty should be awarded..obviously you haven’t played the game or you would understand that running at speed with a player tugging your shirt will inevitably lead to a loss of balance.
You rightly said that Bruno’s strike was “glorious “ but questioned why Eze doesn’t get into those positions , obviously your memory is short as last season Eze scored a number of goals with exceptional strikes from similar positions, though of course this season due to Odegaard’s fine form Eze hasn’t played centrally so is being given minutes out wide.
6 wins on the bounce, one goal conceded and we have hardly seen Eze, Dowman , Madueke, Gyokeres, Zubimendi, Merino, Timber, Hincape and Saliba , this bodes well for the rest of the season as the squad can be utilised in the league cup and Europe.
A couple of days I did make the point that the during this run of 4 away games on the bounce that the Napoli game could prove to be our easiest game physically which shows the strength in depth of the premier league.
Ben white has been good this season but the return of Timber will elevate us to another level , keeping the full backs fit is crucial to our season..
first of all, you know-nothing fucktard, the.reasoning behind the awarding of the penalty wasn’t simply the pull-down, which happens on almost every fucking corner, it was because the ball was on a direct line to where the infraction occurred…it’s called nuance you twat
as for Saka’s supposed penalty, the contact clearly happened outside of the box and should have been called as such…anything that happened following that initial foul wasn’t worthy of a penalty…it was so awkward looking, which is why I said he “triple jumped” into the box
now that 90% of the calls are going our way you don’t know what the fuck to do with your conspiracy-loving self…btw your constant attempts to try and goat me into some sort of back and forth regarding my athletic endeavours simply so that you can attempt to dispute that they ever existed won’t work you fucking dickhead…it’s really quite sad you piece of human shit
Its a red for Foden you can’t kick out like that but Fernandes kicked Foden when he was on the floor. For Fernandes to not even be booked is poor.
Not sending off Fernandez is fucking madness. They both kicked each other.
Oliver has got that badly wrong. His card will be marked after that. I don’t give a fuck about either team but there has to be balance and fairness.
personally I can’t figure out why Foden is still at City after another woeful season last year and considering his body language/sourpuss antics, which are on par with several other supposed English “superstars” who’ve not lived up to expectations, such as Grealish and Rashford…for him to fall for Bruno’s dark arts nonsense speaks to his inability to handle himself on a PL pitch…tbf I think it’s his first red card, but there’s no way he didn’t fully understand the consequences of kicking out while on the ground…good for us though, as I would assume that this will lead to City dropping points
This could be one of those matches where the ref tries to even out a red card decision by giving a second.
What was your take on the actual incident Vieira? To me, it’s as clear as day that they should both be off. There’s a massive credibility issue to come out of this game. I’ll be surprised if all of that is allowed to stand. Oliver has seriously fucked up.
United are missing a trick against city , they should of watched how Arsenal dismantled city with late runs as their back 4 usually defend along the 18 yard line ,so a late run run from deep to break the line will reap dividends, aimlessly pumping balls into the box is futile unless Sesko comes on .
Vera
“ now that 90% of calls are going our way”
Obviously you didn’t watch yesterday’s game, the penalty was a farce and no doubt will be regarded as an error by VAR .
Also , We were penalised for time wasting at a throw in (18 seconds) whilst Sunderland had as many as 8 throw ins that took over 20 seconds with 4 over 30 seconds and not penalised once…
The fact that Sunderland spent the whole game pulling shirts didn’t bother me as I enjoy those physical types of games but to suggest that we had 90% of decisions is an indication of your naivety when analysing the game.