We shifted to Emirates from Highbury more than 18 years ago in 2006. In these years, we have won 335 of our games at Home with a win percentage of 67%, shared points on 93 occasions and has 71 defeats. Our shifting also coincided with the rise of Chelsea under the Russian billionaire while Manchester United still dominated the league. Our position in the league shifted from winning and competing with Man Utd to qualifying for Champions League. Arsene Wenger was adamant in keeping the books clean, made money for the club by sending our prized possessions and spending little to nothing to compete. Man Utd had their own downfall in post-Ferguson era and they are in a much worse situation compared to us at the moment. The leagues, in last 10 years, have mostly been dominated by Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool while the two biggest clubs in Premier League fought for the scraps.
But… that doesn’t mean the rivalry has died down. One part of Manchester still believes Arsenal are their biggest rivals even with their neighbour winning 4 seasons in a row and we, at Arsenal, call them ours because hey, Spurs don’t count.
So, here we are, two of the fiercest rivals, competing again today at our 500th game at Emirates.
Man Utd has appointed Ruben Amorin and it’s too early to say if he can sort out their problems. For us, we are in a good state after winning last 3 games but some injuries are going to make life difficult for Mikel.
In the team news, we have some set backs. Calafiori is out injured so Zinchenko starts at LB. Gabriel has also picked up a knock and Kiwior gets a shot at CB along side Saliba. Timber keeps his place. Odegaard, Rice and Partey starts in midfield with Saka and Havertz up top. Martinelli is back in place of Trossard.
I am a bit worried about the back 4. Having 2 players who have hardly played this season start against Man Utd is not a good thing, and when you are chasing Liverpool who has 9 point lead against you, you can’t afford to lose. Now, I would have personally preferred Ben White to start in place of Kiwior but he is also out and can’t even make the bench. We didn’t have much options, Tierney is back but he shouldn’t be starting for us. Lets see if Mikel knows what he is doing.
Addition of Martinelli brings the chaos at left side but having Zinchenko behind him is not going to help him in any way. We need our right side to perform, Timber / Odegaard / Saka are developing a very good chemistry, Timber has picked up where White had left and our Right Side game is a treat to watch on it’s day. Havertz needs to step up because in a game like this, you might get only a limited chances and no matter who is the manager and what state your club is in, anything can happen in a game of Arsenal v Man utd.
Right, I will keep it short. It might be an ideal time for the UK viewers, a 8.15 PM show on a Wednesday but I don’t like a midweek late night (1:45 AM IST) show that ends up by 4 AM in morning. I am sure I can make the first half, and if the game’s interesting, who knows.
See you during the game.
minor correction—Pulis actually never won the FA, he was the runner-up in 2010-11…so kudos to MA for superceding his managerial mentor
Good morning all Dear Gooners. Are we talking about snow? Oh God glad I don’t miss it. I spent 3 and half years in Edmonton Canada where temp in winter used to be -48 at least for couple of weeks. We had snow for 9 months of the year. Going from a tropical country like India and seeing snow for 9 monthly used to be depressing to say the least. But human body is a miracle and adjust itself to everything. It used to be a challenge to get you car ready for drive in the morning. The engine would take at least 10 min to warm up.
On the flip side I spent 4 years in las Vegas where summer temps were +40 and that was another exp. Great place to live and drive though. Locals hardly visit the strip as there are multitude of other things to do in Vegas.
TVRL- on the stoke city comparison I am afraid thats spot on. It’s not that getting goals from set pieces is bad but we seem to struggle in open play. Thats very disappointing with such high priced acquisitions. Yesterday watched Fulham and Bridgton game. It’s was so pleasing to the eyes with two teams playing excellent football. Guess fans will say don’t care as long as we win. Well let’s see but watching us has been a real bore save couple of matches.
Tony
No snow here in west Wales but bracing myself for a bit of Welsh wind and and rain. Amber weather warning here but the football authorities are so terrible it’ll probably still go ahead. I think Jed (or ‘Jedi’ as I call him) enjoyed his time with me and got a lot from watching us beat Manure and the joy that flowed from the result. His ‘dad’ is a Hammers fan so he’s not used to seeing so much human happiness.
You’ve got snow in the midlands Madhu? Good to read about all the places you’ve worked in. You watched the wrong game last night. Spurs v Bournemouth was a terrible game but brilliant result. Postecoglu got some serious abuse afterwards – a few more ordinary results and he’ll be sacked I think. As a club, they always succeed in making ordinary players look terrible. How the fuck did they beat City 4-0?
I saw bits of Fulham v Brighton and was equally unimpressed. In essence, both results good for Gooners.
only blue sky and sunshine in Norfolk today and the strong winds previously forecast are mainly in the early hours of tomorrow morning and tomorrow night. How will AFC fair against the AFC old boys? Iwobi seems to have a new lease of life and Leno is playing well. Fulham played reasonably well in the wind last night – they may be praying for similar weather that could disrupt our team – especially set pieces when the ball will be hard to place with fluctuating winds in a stadium.
New post.
Interesting Ode stats. As it says across the web page 1 goal and 2 assists from 6 games. Double digits for both metrics would represent at least 20 goals from both. With Kai often awol our midfield needs to weigh in with more goals and assists.
https://one-versus-one.com/en/players/Martin-Odegaard