Saturday 9 September 2017

Arsenal v Bournemouth Preview

It's been almost two weeks since Arsenal played thanks to the international break and those two weeks have seemed like an eternity. That last game was an unmitigated disaster when Liverpool destroyed a disinterested Arsenal 4-0 and we were probably lucky it was only 4-0. Since then we've had the shambles of an end to thr transfer window and the pressure on the manager has already reached higher heights than at any time last season.

Last season was our worst league finish since Arsene Wenger took charge in 1996 and like so many I thought it was the ideal time for him to go with his contract up and yet another FA Cup in the bag. He convinced himself to sign on again though with the belief that he could return the team to the glory days of his first 10 years at the club. That hasn't started so well though with two defeats in our first three games and team selections and performances that beggar belief.

Of course those performances don't really beggar belief as we've seen them too often before, but the team selections were more than puzzling. I have no doubt Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was accommodated to try to convince him to stay at the club, but that didn't work out as he is now a Liverpool player and I don't think he will be missed too much.

After seven years at the club he had never made himself a first team regular and never made a position his own. My only issue with his sale is how late it was done and the fact that we didn't come up with a replacement. The emergence of Reiss Nelson could negate Chamberlain's departure, but it remains to be seen whether he will get the call up to the first team and if he can make that step up.

The three central defender's that the manager switched to late last season isn't looking so good now and the consensus is it might be ditched today. If we do switch to a back four again we might see a player sitting in front of them to shield them from nasty teams who try to attack us and exploit our weaknesses and tactical nativity. The most obvious choice would be Francis Coquelin who played in that role when he broke into the team a few years ago and he's certainly more suited to it than Mohamed Elneny.

Whatever formation we go with we quite simply have to play both Alexander Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac from the start and the decision to leave them out against Liverpool was ridiculous. Kolasinac was voted the best left back in the Bundesliga last season and Lacazette is supposedly the striker we have needed for far too many years now. If we going to have any chance of making headway in the Premier League this season we need to play our strongest team in every game.

We don't have to worry about upcoming Champions League games with only the Europa League to play in and the teams we are chasing are all playing in the Champions League. I would be very surprised if we didn't play a weakened team against Cologne on Thursday night with a trip to Chelsea in the league next Sunday. After our bad start we need to consolidate and anything other than a defeat at Chelsea next week would be a great result. 

All that depends on today of course and it goes without saying that we have to win today and win well too. If we don't put on a performance that shows we can play and play well today then it's a very bad sign. As bad as the results and performances against Liverpool and Stoke were they were both away from home. We're at home today and we just have to put a performance to warm the fans and show we are still a force to be reckoned with.

Our away form went to pieces after Christmas last season and while it did improve towards the end of the season we ended up missing out on the Champions League thanks to that away form. Our home form still held up with only one defeat after the opening day last season and it has to hold up again this season. As bad as our start has been, Bournemouth's has been worse with three defeats out of three and only one goal scored.

We need to go at them at full pelt from the first minute and punish their mistakes. There is no place for taking it slowly and letting the game develop. If we attack them from the start I think the goals will come and I think we should be looking to win with a few goals to spare.

I heard both Charlie Nicholas and Phil Neville on the TV last night saying they think Everton will finish ahead of Arsenal and they think the best we can do is seventh. It's very early to write off a team with our talent and with the amount of goals we can score and I hope the players can use those opinions to galvanise them and make them play better. I hope that will start today, but I suppose it's only hope when you consider what we have seen so far this season. I do think we will win today though and I think will score three goals at least, but the real tests will come next week and as the season progresses.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

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