A Bad Night For Arsenal In Rennes

It’s hard to overstate the importance of Arsenal staying in the Europa League as long as their chances of finishing in the top four are in the balance. It offers a route to the Champions League for next season and we have already spent two seasons away from Europe’s top table. There’s the financial rewards to consider too and of course players will be more inclined to sign for a team who can offer Champions League football.

Unai Emery only made four changes from the team which were more than a little unlucky to only draw away to Spurs last Saturday with Petr Cech, Lucas Torreira, Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang coming into the team. I thought he would have made more changes with the hugely important game against United coming up on Sunday, but the team selection showed his intent in this competition. It was certainly a strong enough side to do enough on the night to get a result and that’s exactly how things started off at least.

Alex Iwobi scored very early on when what was really a cross evaded everybody and went in at the far post. It was the start Arsenal wanted and they continued to make chances as the half progressed, but unfortunately Torreira, Aubameyang and Shkodran Mustafi didn’t take those chances before the game turned hugely in Rennes favour. I’m very fond of Sokratis Papastathopoulos and I thought both of his yellow cards were harsh, but he needed to be more careful after getting the first one.

I thought the second yellow was more of a fifty fifty between him and the Rennes player with their player then falling at just the right time to fool the referee. With Arsenal down to 10 men they had to consolidate and hold out until halftime, but they conceded from the resulting free kick. The first attempt was blocked, but when it came out to the taker again he blasted it through the remanents of the Arsenal wall to bring Rennes level. The Arsenal players in the wall didn’t cover themselves in glory as they shirked to avoid the nasty ball hitting them and Cech didn’t stand a chance in the Arsenal goal.

The tide had turned in Rennes favour, but at least we struggled through to half time in the hope the manager could give the players the instructions they needed to get out of the game with their chances of reaching the last eight intact. Bizarrely he didn’t make any substitutions though as he moved Henrikh Mkhitaryan to right back with Mustafi moving to the centre of the defence. I thought he would have taken Ozil off as he looked for a stout defensive performance from the 10 players he had left.

I’m a big fan of Ozil, but a backs to the wall defensive performance is not the ideal scenario for him. I can only assume the manager wanted to keep him on to try to keep possession and maybe help to nick another away goal. It almost worked a couple of times, but the chances Arsenal created in the second half were far outweighed by those created by Rennes. It didn’t take them too long to take the lead when a cross deflected off Nacho Monreal and looped over Cech with more than half an hour still to play.

Matteo Guendouzi had replaced Alex Iwobi before that goal, but it was a substitution which really didn’t work. He was caught in possession too often and I’ll discuss the part he played in their third goal shortly. He talked about always giving 150% before the game, but his lack of experience was there for all to see. I still think he’s going to be a great player, but he still has an awful lot to learn.

Sead Kolasinac and Aaron Ramsey came on for Ozil and Aubameyang and it looked like Arsenal would get away with a one goal defeat despite Rennes making some good chances. Granit Xhaka really should have been sent off too after making a ridiculous challenge when he was already on a yellow card, but we were on the good side of a bad refereeing decision for a change recently. With the game almost over Arsenal did what we seem to do best and pressed the self destruct button once again.

We pushed players forward for a throw in far in their half and when we lost possession we were caught awfully out of position. As Rennes broke with five on four Ramsey sprinted past Guendouzi to try to make up the difference, but he couldn’t get there in time to stop a free header at the far post putting Rennes 3-1 up. Ramsey made about 20 yards on Guendouzi in the space of 80 yards and Guendouzi certainly didn’t give “150%” when it was needed most.

The manager and the team completely failed to deal with going down to 10 men and his decisions were strange to say the least. It’s difficult when you look back at Arsenal teams who knew how to play with 10 men and actually went on to win games. The lack of leadership on the pitch and bench last night was not a pretty sight.

We’re still not quite out of the competition though, but we will have to be an awful lot better next Thursday night if we’re going to progress. We have another huge game before that on Sunday and many people are saying this will be the defining week of our season. Defeat against United on Sunday will certainly be a blow, but it won’t end our top four chances as long as we can bounce back and play well in our final eight league games.

Out biggest problem could be our away form as we’ll probably need to win four of our remaining five away games. We have only won twice in our last 11 away games in all competitions and those games were against League One side Blackpool and Premier League also-rans Huddersfield. I thought we had turned the corner against Spurs last Saturday, but last night proved me wrong once Sokratis got his marching orders.

As a football fan hope always springs eternal and I still think we can overcome Rennes on Thursday night. They are not great in defence and we can put them out as long as we can keep our defensive discipline while putting in a strong attacking performance. Our home form suggests it’s still quite possible, but that home form is about to face a huge test against a rejuvenated United on Sunday who just cannot stop winning games away from home.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Goodbye FA Cup My Old Friend

Well the good news is Arsenal won’t have any pesky FA Cup games to get in the way of our quest for a top four finish and the Europa League after losing at home to United in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The two teams who have won the trophy more than any other team met last night and Arsenal went down 3-1 with an all too familiar performance. There was more than a hint of bad luck at times, but the better team on the night progressed to the fifth round.

Unai Emery picked a strong team with only three changes from the 2-0 win at home to Chelsea last week. Petr Cech came in as the “cup” goalkeeper with Alex Iwobi replacing Matteo Guendouzi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles getting the nod to play at right back with Hector Bellerin out for up to nine months. It meant a change of formation from the one which worked so well against Chelsea last week.

Arsenal started off quite well, but not as well as they did against Chelsea. The signs were positive early on, but they took a turn for the worse when Sokratis Papastathopoulos went down with what looked like an ankle injury after only 20 minutes. He had to go off with Shkodran Mustafi replacing him and not only did we lose the pace in the centre of our defence, but we also lost our momentum.

United gradually came back into the game and they took the lead just after the half hour mark when ex Arsenal man Alexis Sanchez finished from a tight angle after our defence made a mess of trying to play him offside. It was a bitter pill for Arsenal fans to swallow and it wasn’t made any easier by his replacement being unable to play due to injury. What we couldn’t afford to do was gift United another goal right away, but in true Arsenal style that’s exactly what we did.

The ball was lost too easily as we tried to push forward and when United attacked there were gaping holes in our defence. Romelu Lukaku squared the ball to Jesse Lingard who couldn’t really miss and we were two down to a counter attacking team after conceding two goals within two minutes of each other. The signs were ominous and I struggled to see how Arsenal were going to get back into the game without leaving themselves so open at the back that United would take advantage of them yet again.

We did manage to regain our momentum though and we got back into the game shortly before the break when Pierre-Emireck Aubameyang tapped home from close range after great work from Aaron Ramsey. We piled on the pressure as half time approached and it was United who were glad to hear the whistle. I hoped we could approach the second half in a similar vein to which we started and finished the first half.

I got my wish with Arsenal again taking the initiative and going in search of an equaliser. It was Ramsey who came closest with a header which was well saved before fate intervened to rob us of yet another player. This time it was Laurent Koscielny who suffered a facial cut when Lukaku accidentally stood on him and the injury was too much for him to continue after eight minutes of treatment on the pitch.

We were only an hour in and we had lost both of our central defenders to injury which also robbed the manager of the ability to affect the team from the bench. With the departure of Koscielny we also seemed to lose our momentum and impetus again. Mesut Ozil came on for Alex Iwobi at that stage while Guendouzi replaced the injured Koscielny with Granit Xhaka dropping back into defence and Guendouzi coming into the midfield.

While we had the upper hand our attacks kept breaking down on the edge of their box as we cried out for a wide player to punish a defence that was just as bad as ours. With just under 10 minutes to go United put the game to bed after Paul Pogba ran right through us after a clumsy pass saw them overturn possession in midfield. Cech could only push his shot in the direction of Anthony Martial who finished with relative ease and ended the game as a contest despite their being eight minutes of normal time and 10 minutes of added time to go.

Arsenal barely managed an attack of note in those final 18 minutes as they ended the game with a whimper rather than banging on the door to try to break open a porous defence. Ozil did very little after promising at first when he came on while we played absolutely everything down the left, but couldn’t get a good ball into the box. I have no doubt the injuries played a large part in limiting the manager’s hopes of changing the game from the bench if needed.

It’s hard to be too critical of a team who lost their two central defenders to injury after losing their right back in the previous game. We were still too open in front of our defence and maybe the midfield we played against Chelsea would have coped with United’s counter attacking a lot better. It’s hard to see how a team with a central defence of Mustafi and Xhaka can be expected to be able to defend I suppose. Also we are really struggling to break down teams who sit deep and let us attack them while they wait to hit us on the break.

With the transfer window nearing closure we are in dire need of additions to our squad and the injuries are piling up too. We’re without Bellerin, Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck for the rest of the season at least while it looks like Koscielny might be out for a while with a broken jaw too. We’ve been told the cupboard is bare and we’ll have to hope for a loan move or two if we’re going to bring anyone in. It’s hardly an ideal situation and it looks as if the manager will have to work with the squad he has minus the injured players.

We play at home to Cardiff in midweek and we quite simply have to take the three points to try to keep pace with Chelsea and United and especially as we travel to City next weekend. I can’t see us getting anything from that game which makes the Cardiff game even more important. At least we won’t have the pesky FA Cup to worry about any more and we know we have a maximum of 24 games to play if we make it as far as the Europa League final.

While I would like to have seen us progress and it’s never nice to lose at home to any team, never mind United and even more so with Sanchez scoring, but the FA Cup should not be where are priorities lay this season. We are losing more money with each season out of the Champions League and we have to concentrate on the competitions that can see us qualify for it. Luckily for Arsenal they’re the only two competitions we still have an interest in and hopefully one of those interests will come to fruition.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Spurs: NLD Preview

Arsenal are unbeaten in 11 league games and in 18 in all competitions going into the first North London derby of the season today. They haven’t exactly been impressive in all of those games, but Unai Emery has found a way for his players to get results in each of those games. Today is going to be a really big test of his progress so far and he needs to find a way for his players to get a result from this game too.

So far he hasn’t done too well against the rest of the top six after losing the opening two games of the season at home to City and away to Chelsea. We did better at home to Liverpool with a well deserved draw, but a win against one of those top six today would be the boost the team needs ahead of a very busy December. Of course his first win against one of the other top six teams coming against Spurs would ingratiate him further with the Arsenal fans.

He has a few decisions to make ahead of the game, but the players should be well rested at least after a team made up mostly of the youngsters and fringe players won 3-0 away to Vorskla on Thursday evening. It was a long trip to a game which had to be moved to Kiev and a very good result and performance too. That win meant we will top our group and we can look forward to a favourable draw in the last 32 despite having one group game left to play.

We played three central defenders against Bournemouth last week and the manager may be tempted to do so again today. If he goes with two it has to be Rob Holding plus one other despite Holding playing on Thursday night. I know we have been more than a bit dodgy in defence at times this season, but Holding has been our best central defender for me.

In midfield the axis of Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka is sure to continue and I can’t wait to see Torreira get stuck into Spurs. The boss has to decide what other players he will play in the advanced roles ahead of those two and those choices could make or break the game for us. I’d be very surprised if Mesut Ozil wasn’t back in the team and I’d like to see Alex Iwobi play too.

If Iwobi plays it has to be on the left and the inclusion of both Pierre-Emireck Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette would prevent that. Lacazette missed out through injury last week and the chances are he will play if he’s fit today. It wouldn’t surprise me Aubameyang started today though with Lacazette maybe getting the nod at United on Wednesday night.

If we play Aubameyang centrally today and leave Lacazette on the bench it would mean Ozil could play his preferred and best role behind him, but the question is who plays on the right then. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has played there at times this season, but with little success and it’s a position we don’t really have a player to fit at the moment. Mkhitaryan has the ability to take any team apart, but I don’t think he’s best suited to playing wide on the right.

That still leaves Aaron Ramsey on the fringes and it looks like it could increasingly become his role as the season progresses. His contract negotiations seem to have finished and it looks like he will be on his way at the end of the season. Maybe that’s why the manager is keeping him in the fringes at the moment or maybe he thinks others have more to offer to the team.

With Aubameyang up front we have the ability to hit Spurs on the break, but we have to be very aware of their ability to do the same to us. Heung-Min Son is very quick and we have proved to be far more vulnerable on the break than I would like this season. We have to be aware of that threat and do all we can to cut it out wherever and however we can.

We’re 13 games into the season and we still haven’t led a game at half time, but thankfully our second half performances have been a lot better. It would be great to get that first half statistic out of the way today of all days and to do it in some style too. If the first half doesn’t go our way it’s good to know we can and have done so well in the second half of so many games.

I won’t say three points are a must have today, but they would be a huge boost to a team starting to find it’s feet under the manager. We have the ultimate goal poacher in Aubameyang and given the chances he can be the player to beat Spurs today. We need the right tempo and commitment from first minute to last and the players need to understand how much this game means to the fans. If the players can do just that then they will have those fans right behind them and it could be the catalyst we need ahead of a month with so many games.

Iwobi, Ozil, Miki, Ramsey

Aubameyang, Lacazette 

Them on the break

Set pieces

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

10 Of The Best As Arsenal Beat Leicester

Arsenal faced Leicester last night as they looked to keep their winning run in all competitions going. They had won nine in a row which included six Premier League wins and a win would have brought them within two points of City and Liverpool. In a game that could have gone either way in the first half in particular they ended up winning 3-1 and they played some delightful football at times.

Unai Emery made two changes from the team which won 5-1 at Fulham in their last game two weeks ago. Stephan Lichsteiner came in for the injured Nacho Monreal and Mesut Ozil came back from his injury to replace Danny Welbeck who was on the bench. It meant Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on the bench again despite scoring twice when he came on for the last 20 minutes in that game against Fulham.

The first half belonged more to Leicester than Arsenal as they continually got behind our high line and we were probably lucky on a couple of occasions that they didn’t score. When their goal came it was a trifle unfortunate as a scuffed cross from Ben Chilwell clipped Hector Bellerin to roll past Bernd Leno into an empty net. Leno had done very well up to then to keep Leicester out, but there was very little he could do about the goal.

That goal sparked Arsenal into life and they scored in the crucial last few moments of the half. In a flowing move down the right Ozil played a huge part in the build up and he was on hand to guide a cross from Bellerin into the corner of the net via the far post. It was a typical Ozil finish and it was exactly what the team needed to set them up for the second half.

Arsenal came out in a much more positive fashion in the second half and Leicester were very quickly doing everything they could to try to slow the game down and take the sting out of Arsenal. It looked more and more likely that we would go on to win, but there was a scare when a header from a Leicester corner hit the bar with Leno struggling badly to get anywhere near it. The boss decided it was time to change things on the hour mark and his substitutions worked almost immediately.

Aubameyang and Matteo Guendouzi came on for Lichsteiner and Henrikh Mkhitaryan which meant Granit Xhaka was playing at left back. It was a bold move considering Xhaka was already on a yellow card, but he did very well in that position for the rest of the match. To be honest Arsenal were in so much control Xhaka didn’t have an awful lot of defending to do and within six minutes of making the changes they were 3-1 up.

The first of those goals came at the end of a flowing move when Aubameyang was on hand to tap the ball home from another Bellerin cross after more great play from Ozil. Before Leicester even knew what was happening they were two behind when Aubameyang was again on hand to finish off a magnificent move in which Ozil was sublime. I don’t think I could find the words to describe how great it was to watch that move as it was a thing of absolute beauty.

I don’t subscribe to those who say we’re getting our Arsenal back though and I think it’s more than a little disrespectful to Arsene Wenger. The football they claim we are getting back is the football he brought to the club, but it was time for him to go though. We’re on a great run at the monent and I’m really enjoying it, but I’m not naive enough to believe we are anywhere near the finished article.

We have some pretty tough challenges coming up and they might not go as well as things are going at the moment, but our current run is absolutely fantastic. Our second half against Leicester was probably the best we’ve played so far this season, but the first half left a lot to be desired. We won’t get away with playing like that against the better teams in the league and we’re going to be facing three of them over the next six weeks.

We still have an awful lot of work to do defensively, but we are getting better in attack with each game. We have some very good finishers in our team and they are proving to be the difference between us and the opposition at the moment. If we can improve our defence we have a real chance of finishing in the top four and qualifying for the Champions League and that has to be our first priority this season.

Our third goal reminded me of my favourite song by The Cure which goes by the name of “How Beautiful You Are.” Every time I watch it again I can’t help smiling and I just want to watch it again and again. As good as Aaron Ramsey’s goal was against Fulham, I thought that goal was so much better and the parts Ozil played in it were fantastic.

We’re off to Portugal on Thursday night to play Sporting in our Europa League group. It looks like the group is between us and them already and the results of our games against them should decide who wins the group. At the moment the Europa League is all about getting through to the knock out stages while keeping our first choice players out of the picture as much as possible.

Playing in the Premier League on a Monday night is hardly ideal preparation for a trip to Portugal on a Thursday night, but the manager will be making a fair few changes for that game. He might not have too many options in defence at the moment, but he should be able to put out a fairly strong team. It will be interesting to see if he goes with a slightly stronger team in this game than he did in the other two group games as Sporting will definitely be tougher opponents. I’ll look into that a little more in my preview of the game on Wednesday.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Premier League Trip To Fulham Previewed

Things couldn’t be going too much better for Arsenal at the moment with eight wins in a row in all competitions. Some might point to the quality of the opposition in those games and also to the defensive performances in particular from the team. While we might not have beaten any high profile teams in the current run it’s infinitely better than some of the results which we had away from home in particular last season.

The real tests will come against the better teams and while I still don’t think we’re up to those tests yet it’s very important we take as many points as possible against everyone else. We’re through to the last 16 of the Carabao Cup and looking very healthy in our Europa League group too. Most importantly we have won five Premier League games in a row after losing our opening two games against City and Chelsea.

After we lost those games I said we needed to get some points on the board quickly with a run of eight winnable games in a row before we face Liverpool. I hoped for 20 points from those games and Unai Emery has already delivered 15 with three games to go. We have the opportunity at Fulham today to make up more ground on some of the teams above us with Liverpool playing City. A win for us would see us close to within one point of whoever loses that game or to within two points of the league leaders if it’s a draw.

Fatigue shouldn’t be a factor after the long trip back from the 3-0 win away to Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday night. Most of that side won’t start tomorrow except for Bernd Leno and Nacho Monreal and the possibility of Rob Holding, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Alex Iwobi. The players who came off the bench should all start too, but their game time on Thursday night should mean they are OK. I said before that game that I think Holding might be doing enough to keep his place and I wouldn’t be surprised if he started today. If Holding does keep his place I would prefer to see Sokratis alongside him with Shkodran Mustafi on the bench.

Iwobi is another player who is really pushing for a regular first team place and seems to be blossoming under the new manager. If he is to keep his place it would mean one of our high profile players missing out with Aaron Ramsey the most likely candidate. Of course if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doesn’t recover from his knock it opens the way for either Iwobi or Henrikh Mkhitaryan to play.

Aubameyang has been pushed out to a wide role because of the form of Alexandre Lacazette and as frustrating as it might be to see our record signing striker played wide it’s hard to argue with the decision. I would still like to see Aubameyang through the middle on occasion and particularly away to teams who will put us on the back foot, but give us opportunities on the break. His explosive pace is something we haven’t got to see too often, but hopefully we will see it in some crucial games.

Fulham haven’t had the greatest start to their return to the Premier League and they need to get a few more points on the board quite quickly. If we think our defensive record is poor then theirs is an awful lot worse and it’s something we can take advantage of today. We have become rather good at taking our chances when the opposition don’t and emerging with wins despite our opponents having just as many good scoring chances as us.

While that statistic won’t hold up forever and the better teams will punish us for poor defending we are profiting from having good finishers in our team. Fulham have a very good finisher at the moment in Aleksandar Mitrovic and we could be in trouble if he is presented with the sort of chances others have missed against us recently. Even if Mitrovic does his job I still think we will create enough at the other end to take the three points and head into the international break in very good nick.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v FC Vorskla: Europa League Preview

With three Premier League wins in a row behind them Arsenal make the jaunt into Europa League football again tonight when FC Vorskla come to the Emirates Stadium. I can’t profess to knowing too much about tonight’s opponents and no team can be taken too lightly in European football as City learned to their expense last night. Whatever our opponents might be like we are again one of the favourites to win the trophy and we have a manager who knows what it takes to do it.

Arsene Wenger used the group stages to blood young players and give game time to those more senior players who weren’t getting it last season. I expect Unai Emery to do exactly the same this season with the team gradually improving as we go further into the competition. He has plenty of good players on the bench at the moment and he should add them to a few youngsters who could do with a game too.

We can expect to see Bernd Leno make his debut in goal after we spent so much money on him in the summer and I'm looking forward to seeing how he copes with how the manager wants the team to play. Petr Cech is struggling with the ball at his feet at times, but it seems we bought Leno because of his ability to use his feet among other things. If it goes well for him tonight I still don't expect him to dislodge Cech for a while yet, but the day must surely be coming.

In defence injuries mean we might have to play Nacho Monreal and one of either Shokdran Mustafi or Sokratis Papastathopoulos alongside Rob Holding and Stephan Lichsteiner who will be making his full debut tonight. Lichsteiner is a very strong defender who would get in a lot of Premier League teams, but Hector Bellerin will probably keep his place due to his youth and his attacking ability. It's good to know we have a player of Lichsteiner's quality available if Bellerin is injured or has problems with his form.

In midfield we should get to see the full debut of Lucas Torreira and he's a player who must be chomping at the bit for his first start. He has been very impressive in his substitute appearances so far and he has to make a first team place his own very soon for the good of the team. As much as I like Matteo Guendouzi I think Torreria has the ability to drive the team forward from midfield and he is exactly what we need in the team at the moment.

We should also see Mohamed Elneny get his first chance to show what he can do this season while Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will probably play too as they didn't start at Newcastle last Saturday. It looks like a pretty strong midfield to me and certainly one which should be able to dominate the game. I wouldn't be surprised if Torreira doesn't last the 90 minutes with Sunday's game against Everton on the manager's mind.

That should leave Danny Welbeck to lead the line with Emile Smith-Rowe playing somewhere between the midfield and attack unless the manager decides to pick Eddie Nketiah instead. I'm a big fan of Nketiah and I think he has a very exciting future in the game, but it's very hard for a young player to break into a team with strikers like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette ahead of him. I'm a big fan of Smith-Rowe too and from what we have seen before I don't think either player would be overawed tonight.

Hopefully we can get the campaign off to a good start in front of a fairly good crowd, but the Europa League group stages are hardly the things dreams are made of. We need to get back to the main table of the Champions League as soon as possible for the good of the club and for the money it brings in which cannot be overstated. It's much easier to attract top class players to the club with the promise of Champions League football and the longer we're out of it the harder it will become to get back in. One way to do it is to win the Europa League of course and we most certainly have a manager who knows how to do just that.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Some Promising Signs As Arsenal Lose To Chelsea

I suppose we all expected the first two games in charge for Unai Emery to get off to a rough start and that’s exactly what has happened. The fixture list was far from kind to us with a home game against City and a trip to Chelsea to start the season as our new manager looks to change almost everything about the way we play. While the City result seemed almost inevitable the defeat against Chelsea on Saturday really could and probably should have been avoided.

The main response I have seen from Arsenal fans seems to be that we would have lost both of those games under Arsene Wenger too. We actually hadn’t lost our opening two league games since 1992 so Wenger certainly wasn’t around then and he did manage a point away to Chelsea early on last season if I remember correctly. Comparisons miss the point though because it was time for him to go and we have to build for the future under the new manager.

He made a couple of changes from the defeat against City with Nacho Monreal returning from injury to replace the injured Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Alex Iwobi coming in for Aaron Ramsey. The formation was the same as last week though and the game started in a similar fashion with Chelsea getting the upper hand and taking the game to us. 

The first fairly good chance fell to us when a cut back from the left was flashed wide by Mesut Ozil and we paid the price very quickly. Within a minute Chelsea were ahead when a simple ball in behind us put Marcus Alonso in and his ball across the goal was finished with ease by Pedro. It was too easy to get behind us because we played a high line without putting pressure on the ball and that is a recipe for disaster.

After that goal Chelsea dominated and we were lucky to be only one goal behind. Despite their domination we still managed to get into good positions to cut the ball back and it was from one of these that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed an absolute sitter. It was the sort of chance you would expect a player of his pedigree to put away, but he missed it and almost immediately we paid the price again.

Another simple ball over the top from a player who wasn’t closed down put Alvaro Morata in a one on one with Shkodran Mustafi and he turned him inside out before finishing with ease. Where Sokratis Papastathopoulos was during this is anyone’s guess, but he certainly wasn’t there to help his central defensive partner. At 2-0 down I feared the worst and Chelsea had already missed a couple of chances of their own at that stage too.

However Arsenal continued to get in behind Chelsea and cut that ball back and it was Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s turn to miss a great chance next from almost the exact same position as Aubameyang’s miss. The first Arsenal goal came from an attempted cut back from Iwobi which was blocked and fell to Mkhitaryan who drilled it home from the edge of the area. The Chelsea keeper probably should have done better, but Arsenal were back in the game and sensed the fear in Chelsea.

Not long after that we were level and it was Iwobi who scored this time from yet another cut back and in almost the exact same spot that Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan had missed from. There was another chance for Iwobi before the break from that exact same move again, but it wasn’t as clear cut as the ball bobbled badly. There was a near post miss from Aubameyang in there somewhere too and we could easily have gone in at the break two or three goals up despite not playing well for so much of the first half.

The manager changed things at the break with Lucas Torreira coming on for Granit Xhaka as Xhaka had struggled badly when Chelsea were on top. When we were on top Xhaka had performed better though and that’s something that has to be considered in games we are expected to dominate. The full backs also dropped a little deeper after the break and we struggled badly to make an attacking impact.

It looked like we might be content with the point we had and maybe hoped to hit Chelsea on the break. We didn’t have the possession in the right places to do that though and Mesut Ozil couldn’t make any real impact on the game. Ramsey came on for Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette replaced Iwobi, but we continued to look toothless in the second half.

Just as it looked like we might get a point we handed Chelsea another goal with Lacazette firstly giving the ball away and then putting in a half hearted attempt to tackle Eden Hazard. His cross was met by Alonso who had given Torreira the slip and he put it through Petr Cech’s legs from close range. We never really recovered from that goal and our only real attempt to pull it back was a long range effort from Ramsey which went just over the bar.

There were plenty of positives in the game, but our defending was just as bad if not worse than it has been for too long to remember now. At least we had much more threat in attack than we did last week and we created so many chances despite our playmaker not having a good game. A point would have been a fair return I think, but if you defend like we did against a top six side you rarely get anything from the game.

The new manager has pretty much got a free pass for the first two games because of the opposition, but that will end now. We’re one place above the bottom three with no points to our name and six points behind the early pacesetters after only two games. We quite simply have to start winning games and nothing short of three points in our next game will be acceptable.

Thankfully that game is at home to West Ham next Saturday and they lost at home to Bournemouth on Saturday after losing their first game 4-0 at Liverpool. We’ll get to welcome Jack Wilshere back to the Emirates in that game, but there can be no room for sentiment. We need to start clocking up the points in that game and in the seven games that follow before we play any of the top six clubs again.

There will be distractions in the meantime with the Europa League coming up soon and pesky international breaks too, but we have to concentrate on the most important job which is taking league points and trying to keep pace with the top four. It’s going to take a lot of hard work in training to get the team to a point where they can perform the way the manager wants them to perform and there will be a lot less chances to do so in training with all of the other distractions.I think we have to try to target 20 points from the next eight games and if we can get them we will be close to the top four.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Update As The World Cup Gets Real

When the World Cup started Arsenal were represented by nine of their players at the tournament and now with half of the 32 teams on their way home that figure has been cut to five players. The four players on their way home all managed to see some action with varying degrees of success, but at least they will be available to play for Arsenal sooner than the players still caught up in the tournament.

The big surprise among the players on their way home is Mesut Ozil as the reigning champions exited at the group stages for the third World Cup in a row. Germany picked Ozil from the start against South Korea and he created enough chances to win the game for them, but their 2-0 defeat saw them finish last in their group. As usual the Ozil haters were out in force blaming him for the failure of his country and just about anything else you care to think of. For me I think their demise was probably down to a little bit of over confidence and the lack of a striker to put away all the chances they (and Ozil in particular) made.

Joel Campbell will join Ozil on a beach somewhere no doubt and he managed to get his first start of the World Cup as Costa Rica managed their first point in a 2-2 draw with Switzerland. He actually had a very good game from what I saw and he had s huge part to play in both of their goals. He probably won’t be an Arsenal player next season, but his performance against Switzerland should at least mean sone interest is shown in him by other clubs.

Both Mohamed Elneny and Alex Iwobi are on their respective ways home too as their countries bowed out at the group stages. Egypt lost all three of their games with Elneny playing all of those games, but it’s probably a tournament they would prefer to forget. Nigeria lost two of their three games, but it took a very late winner from Argentina to see them off on their merry way. Iwobi didn’t see an awful lot of game time after starting their first game and failing to impress.

We still have the Swiss pair of Granit Xhaka and Stephan Lichsteiner involved as their country face Sweden in the last 16 on Tuesday, but they will have to do so without Lichsteiner as he got his second yellow in that game against Costa Rica and has to serve a one game suspension. He set up their first goal in that game and Xhaka played quite well too. Lichsteiner will be hoping the team can progress to the quarter finals so he can come in again and share in some of the glory.

David Ospina gets the thrill of playing against an England team which will see Danny Welbeck on the bench once more although he did manage a few minutes off the bench in their last group game. The defeat against Belgium sees England in the supposed easier half of the draw, but they will have to get past a Colombian team who have won their last two games without conceding a goal and only lost their opening game because they had to play for 87 minutes with 10 men. I’m not saying Colombia are favourites, but England could underestimate them at their peril.

As Arsenal fans we all know Ospina’s weaknesses and England would do well to try to exploit them. They have been very good at set pieces so far and I expect the ball to be put right in on top of Ospina at every chance. I also expect to see him go down injured on at least three occasions and who knows he might actually be injured on one of those occasions.

The final Arsenal player is Nacho Monreal who looks highly unlikely to get a game at all unless someone else is injured or suspended. As I write this Spain have just gone out on penalties in their round of 16 game with Russia and yet again Nacho is on the bench watching.

It does look like we will have a few players in  the quarter finals, but maybe only because England are playing  Colombia and we are guaranteed at least one player in the last eight.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Latest Arsenal World Cup Update

The World Cup continues apace and the Arsenal players at it are continuing to make very little impact. Of the nine players who are there to represent their countries only four started in the second round of games after five of them had started in the first round.

The first Arsenal player to make a real impact was Granit Xhaka when he scored a fantastic equaliser to get Switzerland back into the game against Serbia. A late Xherdan Shaqiri goal gave them the three points and they will qualify for the knockout stages once they don’t lose to Costa Rica. They could even win the group if they can outdo Brazil’s result against Serbia, but I’m sure they’ll be happy enough once they progress. Xhaka nearly got himself in trouble with FIFA for his goal celebration, but they decided not to press charges for him, Shaqiri and Stephan Lichsteiner.

Xhaka was joined in that Swiss team by Lichsteiner for that game and the more I see him the more I like him. He looks like he has the mentality we seem to be lacking and hopefully some of that can rub off on his new team mates next season. 

David Ospina kept a clean sheet for Colombia as they bounced back from their defeat against Japan with a convincing 3-0 win against Poland. He played his part in that victory with some good saves and he even managed to go down injured three times during the game as per usual. Colombia will have to beat Senegal in their final group game to progress, but they have every chance of doing so if they play like they did against Poland.

The last Arsenal player to get a game from the start was Mohamed Elneny and he has played his third game as I write this. Unfortunately Egypt lost all three games to finish last in their group and the tournament is over for them despite having Mohamed Salah among their ranks. On the plus side from an Arsenal perspective at least Elneny will have some down time before he’s back to pre season training.

The tale of the rest of the players doesn’t play too well with Nacho Monreal and Danny Welbeck still to kick a ball for Spain and England respectively even though both of their countries have progressed to the next round. 

Mesut Ozil didn’t play for Germany as they managed to bring themselves back from the brink of elimination with a 2-1 win against Sweden and a victory over South Korea should be enough to make the last 16 for them. It doesn’t look like it was injury which kept Ozil out, but you can’t be sure and I would be very surprised if we don’t see him back in the German team before too long.

Alex Iwobi came off the bench very late on as Nigeria beat Iceland 2-1 to boost their chances of progression. They should make the last 16 if they don’t lose to underperforming Argentina, but that still won’t be an easy task. Iwobi will find it hard to get into the team if they continue to perform like they did against Iceland, but he might still have a part to play too.

Finally Joel Campbell didn’t see any action as Costa Rica went down very late on to Brazil. They’re out of the tournament and they won’t find it easy to get anything from a Switzerland team looking for a result to make the last 16. With their tournament over they might just be tempted to give Campbell a chance to play from the start in that final game.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Players At The World Cup

With the World Cup only just around the corner it’s time to take a look at the Arsenal players who we will get to see playing in it for their countries. There are nine on show overall and I’ll go through them one by one starting with the ones with the best chance of actually lifting the trophy.

The Arsenal player with the best chance of winning the World Cup is probably Mesut Ozil considering Germany are the reigning champions and second favourites to lift the trophy. They have a very strong squad and Ozil is an intrical part of their team as long as he can recover from the injury which hampered his end to the season with Arsenal. If any Arsenal player is going to take a World Cup winners medal home it’s Ozil and it would be a real surprise if Germany didn’t at least make it to the semi finals. I’d give Ozil a rating of 40/100 for his chances.

Nacho Monreal has had a very good season for Arsenal despite the club having it’s worst season defensively under Arsene Wenger. He’s not a definite starter for Spain, but he can be depended upon if he gets the call to give his all. With Spain’s hopes in turmoil after the last minute sacking of their manager they might find their chances of regaining the trophy they won in 2010 that bit more difficult. After the events of this week I think his chances of lifting the trophy have drifted out and maybe they at about 20/100.

Despite playing for England Danny Welbeck is probably the Arsenal player with the third best chance of winning the World Cup. After recovering from his latest injury he finished the season well and he will be hopeful of getting a chance to make an impact in Russia. England should get out of their group, but their record in the knock out stages in tournaments isn’t good and they will have to raise their game to have an impact on this competition. If they reach the last eight they will have done quite well and for that reason I think his chances should get a rating of about 7/100.

David Ospina might not be the first choice goalkeeper for Arsenal, but he is most certainly the first choice for Colombia with nearly 100 caps to his name. They don’t have an easy group though, but their chances of making the last 16 are still pretty good. On the other hand their chances of winning the trophy are fairly long and even longer if Ospina insists on standing behind his line. They might be rank outsiders compared to the big boys, but only 10 other teams are a shorter price which means I should give them a chance of about 3/100 of winning.

Granit Xhaka can divide opinion among Arsenal fans, but he’s certainly one of the star players in a Swiss side that tends to qualify with ease and disappoint at tournaments. They will have to finish ahead of either Brazil or Serbia to make the knockout stages and that could prove to be more than problematic for them. If they’re going to make an impression they will need Xhaka to be at his best, but the chances are they will struggle for the goals they need to progress. I think Xhaka can make an impression at the World Cup, but his hopes of lifting trophy are probably about 1/100.

Stephan Lichsteiner has only just joined Arsenal after a very successful time at Juventus and he will be key to Switzerland’s chances too. He’s a vastly experienced defender at the very highest level in the game and he will make his 100th appearance for his country in their opening game against Brazil on Sunday. Like Xhaka he will be hoping to at least make the knock out stages in what will surely be his last chance to impress on the biggest stage of all. Like Xhaka his chances have to be 1/100.

Mohamed Elneny got injured towards the end of the season, but it looks like he will recover in time to represent his country at the World Cup. They’re in a group with the hosts, but it’s a group which gives them a great chance of progressing to the knockout stages. If they do make the last 16 they might need a bit of magic from Mo Salah to have a chance against any team, but who’s to say that won’t happen. With a ranking out of 100 it’s not easy to rank Egypt’s chances, but I can’t really go any lower than 1/100.

Alex Iwobi is another player who divides Arsenal fans, but it’s difficult to deny that he is very talented. How he puts that talent to use for Arsenal seems to be the issue, but he is certainly making an impact for his country with five goals in his 19 games and some good performances too which were topped off with two goals in a 4-2 friendly win against Argentina. They have a very tough group though and it will be a huge task for them to progress to the last 16. That means I can’t give them any more than the minimum 1/100, but in reality it should probably be less.

Joel Campbell is still an Arsenal player despite being out on loan for what seems like an awfully long time. Costa Rica are in a very tough group though and only four teams have a lesser chance of winning the trophy if the bookies are to be believed. It would be a huge deal for them to make the last 16 from such a tough group, but it’s something I just can’t see happening. Again their rating should be a lot less, but I’ll give them the minimum of 1/100.

With Ireland not qualifying for the World Cup I’m not sure who to support, but I will at least enjoy watching the Arsenal players playing for their countries.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Nottingham Forest Previewed

It’s FA Cup third round action for Arsenal this afternoon when they travel to Nottingham to face managerless Forest. Arsenal are the cup holders and have won it three times in the last four seasons as well as winning it more times than any other team. Add to that Arsene Wenger’s record as the manager with the most FA Cups to his name and it’s obviously a competition which means an awful lot to us.

We face into the game in the middle of a very busy two month schedule which sees us playing almost twice a week from the start of December to the end of January. Our squad is fairly stretched as it is and we have the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi final at Chelsea coming up on Wednesday night too. Chelsea’s schedule is just as busy as our’s and I’m should they could have done without drawing their third round game at Norwich yesterday and adding a replay to that schedule.

With the league already beyond us the cup yet again takes on added significance although we still have the Europa League and the chase for a top four spot to contend with. Of them all I see the Carabao Cup as being the least important, but we cannot take a two legged semi final against Chelsea too lightly with a Cup Final so near and also because of what defeat could do to our already brittle confidence.

I think we could see a fair deal of squad rotation today and I wouldn’t be surprised to see up to eight changes from the team which drew 2-2 at home to Chelsea in the league on Wednesday night. David Ospina will surely start while I would expect Per Mertesacker and Mathieu Debuchy come into the defence too. In midfield there could be starts for Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny with Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi all likely to play too. That would probably mean Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Rob Holding and Calum Chambers staying in the team unless the manager switches to a back four instead of the usual three central defenders.

Playing that team would certainly risk our continuation in the competition, but it’s a risk we probably need to take. Forest are sitting in mid-table in the Championship after a fairly unimpressive season so far, but I have no doubt they will relish a home game against on the “big teams” and FA Cup holders. It’s a chance for some of their players to shine and maybe make an impression on whoever their new manager might be.

Despite the Carabao Cup being of secondary importance up to now I think it will take more prominence at this stage of the competition and that’s another reason why so many players will possibly be rested today. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a strong bench though just in case we need to add some firepower late on to get back in the game or go on to win it. It’s certainly a chance for those who start to make an impression, but Maitland-Niles is the only one who has really grabbed that chance when it has presented itself so far this season.

I would love to see AMN in his natural position in the centre of the midfield today and it could happen if we play a back four. The problem would be finding a left back, but I would suggest Debuchy is capable of playing there while Chambers can certainly play at right back if required. With so many changes in the team already I don’t think we will see a back four with those full backs though and there central defenders is the most likely formation.

No matter what personnel have been in our defence this season we haven’t defended well against the bigger and better teams in particular. Forest may not fit into those categories, but one of the reasons we are doing even worse than last season is our comparative lack of goals. We scored so many goals last season that it quite often got our defence out of trouble, but we’re just not scoring as many this season. I just hope we can find our shooting boots from here on in because I cannot see our defending improving judging by what we have seen this season and for far too many seasons to want to remember. I think the chances are we will progress in a tight game today, but we might have to empty some quality from the bench to do so.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Red Star Belgrade Preview

Arsenal's busy schedule continues tonight when they play at home to Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League. It's a competition that has gone quite well for Arsenal so far with three wins from three games and qualification for the knockout stages looking fairly certain at we stand. As I've said before it's a competition we can win and we should be looking to do just that with a Champions League place for the winner besides the nice shiny trophy.

Of course as important as this competition might become as the season progresses it's nowhere near the top of our list of priorities at the moment. That means we're going to see a mixture of fringe players and youngsters tonight and they have done very well so far. Besides the three Europa League wins they have also progressed to the last eight of Carabao Cup where they will meet West Ham a week before Christmas.

To be honest the team is being thrown together by Arsene Wenger with players having to fit into positions they're not accustomed to most of the time. That's most obvious in the defence where the only recognised defender playing in position has been Rob Holding in the centre of the back three. He has had Matthieu Debuchey and Mohamed Elneny in the center of that defence with him and that's something neither of them are used to and it shows at times. They have done well all things considered though, but we are vulnerable to a quick break right through the middle of our defence. 

You have to feel for the two players at wing back too because both Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles must be delighted to get so much time in the first team, but it has to be tempered by where they are being asked to play. Nelson looks like he might really make an impression in an attacking role while Maitland-Niles would love the chance to display his wares in the centre of midfield. They are being asked to play out of position because of our lack of options in the wing back roles and it's difficult to understand why we didn't bring in cover in those positions if we were going to continue with five at the back this season.

We will of course get another chance to see Jack Wilshere ply his trade as he continues to try to regain a place in the first team. It's a little odd to hear the manager suggest he should be on the radar for the England team when he can't get a genuine look in at Arsenal. I still think he has a long way to go to fulfill his potential, but it's not easy to shine in a team without the club's real stars. I would like to see how Wilshere performs in a team with Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and others rather than the makeshift one he's currently having to perform in.

These games are an opportunity for players to let the manager know they still exist or even to try to make an impression. As I said it's not always easy, but Eddie Nketiah showed in the Carabao Cup against Norwich that it's most certainly possible. His two goals from the bench to turn the game back in our favour made a name for him instantly and he'll be dying to get another chance as soon as possible.

A win tonight would put us through to the knockout stages and we're one of the favourites to win the trophy at the moment. That should leave us in a situation where we can rest a few players if needs be, but we're already resting the first choice players anyway. It's a good situation to be in and long may it continue.

If we do progress to the last 32 I would imagine the manager will gradually reintroduce the first choice players as the opposition improve. I suppose it could depend on what the league table looks like at that stage and whether we're still challenging for a top four spot. If we are the team could be stretched with the FA Cup to contend with too and given the choice I think the rewards of the Europa League outweigh those of the FA Cup.

Red Star were unbeaten before we beat them 1-0 a couple of weeks ago and they will still be hoping they can progress to the knockout stages. They made plenty of good chances against us at their ground and they will be looking to exploit our jumbled team tonight again. It's something that's quite possible given the team we will have out, but they have come through every challenge so far. I'd love to see Wilshere or Alex Iwobi grab the game by the scruff of the neck tonight and maybe Olivier Giroud or Theo Walcott could show us why they think they should be in the first team. 

As usual it's going to be difficult to get to see the game in my part of the world. BT Sport will be showing it live on one of their channels I suppose, but it's not a package I subscribe to. Hopefully I will get to see it, but it's not the end of the world if I don't which is probably an indication of how the group stages of the Europa League are judged. 

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Norwich Preview

After a fairly comprehensive 5-2 win in the Premier League at Everton on Sunday it's Carabao Cup action for Arsenal tonight with a home game against Norwich in the last 16 of the competition. Sunday's win was the best performance of the season so far for me even if we did hand the two goals to Everton. Not only did we score five goals, but we had 30 attempts on goal with 14 of them on target.

We looked a very different team to the one which had only scored one away goal in four games before Sunday and we finally managed to punish a team we had on the ropes. I'm not saying it was a perfect display, but we could have done with a lot more of that attacking intent in the defeats against Stoke and Watford. I don't think it's any coincidence that we performed so well in attack in the first game that Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette all started together.

Of course we'll have a very different team tonight as we had in the 1-0 win at home to Doncaster in the last round. Our Europa League and Carabao Cup team has done pretty well so far with four wins out of four. Considering it's a team made up mainly of fringe and reserve players with many of them playing out of position that's an impressive record.

With David Ospina injured the chances are Matt Macey will play in goal as I would be very surprised if Petr Cech filled in like he had to do at Red Star Belgrade last Thursday. The defence will probably be pretty similar to the one which managed to keep Red Star scoreless and I don't expect too many changes at all from Thursday night. It's the fifth chance for those players to show what they can do and I certainly think they have every chance of winning tonight.

Olivier Giroud will lead the line hot on the heels of winning the "Puskas" award for the best goal of the year as voted by the public. We all know how adept Arsenal fans are at voting for their team or players in online polls and he was the most prominent player up for the award. His "Scorpion Kick" against Crystal Palace on New Year's Day won him the trophy and he wasn't too far off repeating it with a fairly similar goal to beat Red Star last week.

I would imagine we will see Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi in the front three with Giroud while Jack Wilshere and Francis Coquelin should man the midfield and the defence will probably be the same as it was against Red Star. The defence struggled at times in that game, but they somehow managed to keep a clean sheet. To be fair the only one of them playing in his actual position was Rob Holding and he's still quite raw and inexperienced. 

Norwich have started the season reasonably well and they're in the play off places in the Championship after 13 games. Promotion to the Premier League is their goal for the season and anything outside of that would be a huge bonus for them tonight. I am sure they will bring a large contingent of fans to the Emirates and they should make themselves heard as long as their team are in with a chance.

As with the Europa League games so far there isn't a huge amount of interest in this game compared to the Premier League, but it is good to see how those fringe and reserve players fare. Jack Wilshere is the one who could be closest to getting into the first team considering the issues we have had and continue to have in midfield. It will be interesting to see how he gets on tonight and if he can keep himself off the treatment table long enough to make a real impact on the first team.

All in all I won't be overly bothered if the result goes against us, but it would be good for the players given a chance to progress. There's a Wembley final to play early next year and it will be interesting to see if the manager strengthens the team a little if we do manage to go through tonight. The more game time each of those players get the better for the first team I suppose and long may it continue so.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal's Trip To Watford Previewed

The second international break is finally over and when the third one finishes next month we can actually have uninterrupted real football until next March. It wasn't without it's problems for Arsenal though as Shkodran Mustafi picked up an injury and it looks like he'll be out until December. Despite the club's apparent desire to sell him in the summer he is still an intrical part of our defence and I can only assume we attempted to offload him as we had a replacement lined up.

It's a trip to Watford for Arsenal today in the evening kick off which will of course be live on BT Sports. Live TV games are a part of life for football fans and the switching of kick off times to suit the TV stations. On that point the prospect of Arsenal's home game against Liverpool on December 23rd looks almost certain to be switched to the next day.

It's a decision that takes no account of the wishes of the fans if it goes ahead and it just shows those TV companies care not a jot about about the match going fans. Besides those possibly attending the game I would be surprised if they get a good TV audience on a day when most people in this part of the world already have too much to do. 

Back to Watford and it looks like the bad news about Mustafi will at least be countered by the return of Mesut Ozil, Danny Welbeck and Francis Coquelin. None of them play in the center of defence, but at least our options in other positions will be increased. The manager has a few decisions to make ahead of a game which is a very important one for me. We have recovered somewhat from our poor start to the season and we now need to push on to try to keep pace with the top four.

United and City have started really well and will be hard to catch, but United's season gets underway today when they start to play some of the other contenders. City are a different matter and we need to have as many points as possible on the board before we play them in a few weeks. We need to target three points from today and follow it up with a maximum haul against Everton and Swansea before that trip to City on November 5th.

Watford have started the season very well under Marco Silva and their only defeat came at home to City a few weeks ago when they were thumped 6-0. They haven't won at home yet though and they have conceded more goals at home than any other team too. That statistic is somewhat skewed by the loss to City and as I said already that's their only defeat.

On the other hand Arsenal's turnaround has been fairly impressive and we have managed four clean sheets in a row in the league. It's been a long time since I can remember four clean sheets in a row for Arsenal. That run included an impressive 0-0 draw at Chelsea, but the three wins in it were all at home to teams we would be expected to beat.

Our only away point so far came in that game at Chelsea and we are one of only two teams who have failed to score away from home with the other one propping up the table without a point to their game. Our away form in the second half of last season was just not good enough and if we can't get it right this season we will not finish in the top four again. Only the top two took more points at home than Arsenal last season and we have started this season with four wins out of four on our own patch.

It looks like Laurent Koscielny will be fit to play and if he is the only change from the 2-0 win over Brighton might be a replacement for Mustafi which would be one of Per Mertesacker or Rob Holding. Ozil might come back in too of course which would probably see Alex Iwobi miss out unless Alexis Sanchez isn't up to the task after his late return and World Cup qualification disappointment. I suspect we will see both Holding and Ozil in from the start and we should have a bench with some real quality options. It's going to be a busy few weeks with with Premier League, Europa League and League Cup games to come and the strength of that bench will be tested in those games. 

As good as Watford might have been so far we still have the quality to dominate them and take the three points. I think the first goal will be crucial and I hope we can get it because I'm not sure how we will react to going behind. Besides the defeat to Liverpool we also lost at Stoke and I thought we did well in trying to get back into the game after they scored.

For me the equalising goal was coming until the manager made some quite bizarre substitutions and he should have kept faith in the players he had out there. There's no point in making changes just for the sake of it in a case like that and I hope he remembers that if today's game follows a similar pattern. If we score first and keep up our momentum I think we will win and anything other than three points would be a real blow for the team's confidence and the morale of the fans which is slowly improving. It's never easy to lose, but losing to teams you are better than is very hard to take and I think that's something that has happened too often in this calendar year.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Leicester City Preview

After a great FA Cup semi final victory over Manchester City on Sunday it's back to Premier League action when reigning champions Leicester City come calling to the Emirates Stadium. Leicester haven't exactly defended their title in style and it's only in recent weeks where they have managed to pull away from the relegation zone. As it stands they are six points above third from bottom Swansea and Swansea only have four games left to play. They did of course reach the last eight of the Champions League and only went out to last year's runners up Atletico Madrid by a single goal. 

They did better in the Champions League than Arsenal have done in seven years, but they struggled badly to live up to the heights they reached last season. Their home form hasn't been too bad, but they have only won once in 16 away games with only Hull and Bournemouth conceding more goals away from home. If Arsenal are going to keep their top four hopes alive Leicester are a team they quite simply have to beat.

The teams drew 0-0 when they met in Leicester earlier in the season and there are plenty of points of interest in the game. Jamie Vardy came very close to joining Arsenal from Leicester last summer and I have no doubt the Arsenal fans will give him the reception they feel he deserves. Leicester only lost three league games last season and two of them were against Arsenal, but a mid season collapse meant Arsenal had to settle for second place in the end.

This season hasn't gone as well for Arsenal and they will have to finish very strongly if they are going to retain their regular top four place. They have seven league games to go before they play Chelsea in the Cup Final and seven wins would guarantee them a top four finish. Some of those games are decidedly difficult though and to win all of them would be a tough task if Arsenal were playing at their very best.

They have been far from their best for a long time now though and it would be a brave person who truly believed they will win all seven games. Their record against the rest of the top seven this season has been abysmal with only one win in nine games and three of their last seven games are against teams in the top seven. After Leicester they make the short trip to Spurs on Sunday and they still have to play at home to both United and Everton.

The experiment with three at the back seems to be progressing nicely and we certainly looked like a stronger unit against City than we have done in quite a while. The players also showed some belief and mental strength to come from behind to win even if they did ride their luck a little at times. Those qualities will have to be shown in abundance for the rest of the season if the team are going to reach the goals they have left.

The extra time the players had to play on Sunday could have an effect on some of them and could lead to a few changes in the team. While we were working our socks off to repel City the Leicester players were taking it easy and preparing for this game. I'm sure they would be more than happy to get one over on us and more or less put the final nail in our top four chances.

Arsene Wenger has a few options available to him with players like Mohamed Elneny, Danny Welbeck, Francis Coquelin, Alex Iwobi and Theo Walcott all looking to get a chance. I don't think he will make too many changes from the City game though and hopefully the players can show more of the spirit they showed on Sunday. It's going to be very tough to finish in the top four and I honestly don't think we will make it, but I don't think our chances will be killed off in this game.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal's Champions League Trip To Basel Previewed

Arsenal face a trip to Basel tomorrow night in their final Champions League group game. Despite being unbeaten and level on 11 points with PSG their chances of winning the group are somewhere very far south of slim. After the 2-2 draw at the Emirates a couple of weeks away they fell behind PSG on their head to head record as they had drawn 1-1 in Paris back in September.

The way the head to head rules work away goals come into play and PSG are ahead on that count. The only way they can finish ahead of PSG is if the French champions fail to win at home to Ludogorets and it's something that I just cannot see happening. Arsenal put six goals past them at the Emirates and I cannot see PSG slipping up with the prize of first place in the group so close at hand.

It means Arsenal will probably finish second in the group yet again and with second place comes a last 16 game against a group winner. At the moment the choices for them are Napoli, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Monaco, Borrusia Dortmund and Juventus, but not all of the groups are decided yet and a few of those teams might not win their groups. It would be a brave person to bet against Arsenal drawing Barcelona and I will not be at all surprised to see them come out of the hat together.

As for the game against Basel it seems Arsene Wenger is taking a full strength squad for the game and it looks like he will possibly play the strongest team he has available. The 5-1 win at West Ham on Saturday was a great result and it moved Arsenal up to second in the table behind Chelsea. There's a lot to be said for keeping a winning or unbeaten run going, but I suppose you could also say that run ended when Southampton put us out of the EFL Cup last week.

I wasn't too upset with that exit as it's a competition we're not going to win using just the reserves and fringe players. The value of resting players for that game was shown in the win at West Ham while our conquerors were beaten 3-0 at Palace after playing a strong team against us. Maybe a second string side would be the way to go against Basel with a Stoke team on a good run coming to the Emirates on Saturday.

I think the boss will go for a bit of a mixture and maybe rest one or two players who might just need a bit of recovery time before Saturday. I wouldn't be surprised to see Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud and Alex Iwobi play and of course David Ospina will play in goal as he has done in every other Champions League game this season. I doubt if Hector Bellerin will be risked even if he is fit to return as we need him back in tip top shape for the Christmas games.

Basel are no pushover on their own ground and they need to get at least a point from this game to have a chance of finishing third and qualifying for the last 32 of the Europa League. At the moment they're behind Ludogorets on their head to head records and can only beat them by taking more points off us than Ludogorets take off PSG. They have done very well against English teams over the last few years and will hope for more of the same in this game.

They've not as good as they were in previous season's though and we should be able to beat them even with a few changes to the team. Ideally I would like to see Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil rested, but we are pretty blunt in attack without them and I wouldn't be surprised to see them play. I hold no hope of PSG dropping points so our result won't really matter too much, but it would still be good to finish the group unbeaten with 14 points in the bag. As I said before the Southampton game last week though, it's more important to see all the players come through the game unscathed and ready to go over the festive period.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v PSG Preview

Arsenal play at home to PSG tomorrow night in a game which will probably decide the outcome of their Champions League group. As it stands both teams have already qualified for the last 16 and it's just a matter of which team wins the group and which one comes second. If either team wins the game the group is theirs and the permutations become a little more complicated after that.

A scoreless draw would give Arsenal the advantage as they drew 1-1 away to PSG, but any draw higher than 1-1 gives that advantage to PSG. It gets really complicated if it finishes 1-1 because then their head to head results will be even and their results against the rest of the group will come into play. The easy way for Arsenal to win the group is to beat PSG and not have to worry about anything else after that.

Of course it's fairly seldom that Arsenal do things the easy way and I wouldn't be surprised to see them get a draw and then fail to win away to Basel in their last game. The importance of winning the group can be seen by looking at the teams winning the other groups and the desire to avoid all of them in the last 16. Of course most of the groups are not settled yet and it could be that a runners up slot is almost better than winning the group. At the moment Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus are all second in their groups and we would certainly want to avoid any of them in the last 16 if possible.

I don't think Arsenal are strong enough yet to win the Champions League, but maybe they could go as far as a semi final with the right draw and some good performances. They always get past the group stage, but it's been far too long since they made it into the quarter finals. It's become a real burden for the team and just maybe this season they can rid themselves of that burden.

Arsenal drew their first group game 1-1 away to PSG, but they were more than a little lucky on the night. If Edinson Cavani had his shooting boots on that night he could easily have scored four or five goals from the chances he had. He missed most of them though and Arsenal very nearly snuck a late win to boot. Since then Cavini has scored plenty of goals and I don't think he will pass up so many gilt edged chances if they come his way this time.

Arsenal haven't played at all well in their last two games when they drew with Spurs and United and they will have to do a lot better to get a result against PSG. The formation against United was all wrong for me with the combination of Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny not offering enough creativity in midfield and Aaron Ramsey most certainly not suited to playing in a wide left role. I would like to see Ramsey play with Granit Xhaka in midfield as long as Santi Cazorla continues to miss out through injury.

Arsene Wenger has some big decisions to make with his team selection and the midfield choices could be crucial as they will set the tempo for the rest of the team. Xhaka has not cemented a slot in the team yet since his big money move in the summer, but surely the time has come to give him a chance. I think the boss is a little worried about his discipline and the prospect of him picking up a yellow or red card any time a player goes past him.

The defence more or less picks itself with Carl Jenkinson continuing to fill in for the injured Hector Bellerin and David Ospina getting the nod in goal as he has done in the previous group games. I'm still worried about Jenkinson, but it was Nacho Monreal who struggled on the left of the defence in Paris. Ospina proved his worth that night with a fantastic display and he was the main reason behind Arsenal managing to get a draw that night.

The attacking trio gives the boss a few headaches too with a couple of tough decisions to make. If Alexis Sanchez is fit he has to play, but the question is whether he will play wide or centrally. If he doesn't play centrally it would surely mean a return to the starting line up for Olivier Giroud. He has to have a good chance of starting, but his lack of pace is what has kept him out of the team so far.

I can't imagine Ramsey will play a wide role again which will mean we will see one or both of Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi in the team. I would be fairly sure Walcott will start regardless and Iwobi could be the best option on the other side if Alexis is central.

I like Iwobi and he has the ability to make things happen, but he needs to improve his finishing. He doesn't look confident in front of goal and I can only hope he's putting in lots of extra work to remedy the situation. He's certainly put himself in the manager's plans ahead of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain despite his tender age, but who knows the boss could surprise us all and throw Chamberlain in from the start.

Even with Bellerin, Cazorla, Per Mertesacker and Danny Welbeck injured there are still plenty of options for the boss to mull over. If we're going to get the better of PSG he will have to find a combination of those available players to inject some tempo into the team and bring a bit more desire than we have seen recently. The players to do so are certainly there, but finding that right blend is the trick Arsenal are missing out on at the moment. They haven't found their mojo for too long now, but maybe we might just see one of those occasional scintillating European performances which we get treated to every so often.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal's Trip To Ludogorets Previewed

It's back to Champions League action again for Arsenal tonight when they travel to Bulgaria to play Ludogorets. Arsenal are in a very strong position in their group with seven points from three games and they won 6-0 at home to Ludogorets two weeks ago. If they can win tomorrow night and Basel don't beat PSG then Arsenal will be through to the last 16 with two group games to spare.

It's been far too long since Arsenal got past the last 16 stage and the best way for them to do so is to win their group. If they can beat Ludogorets their group fate will come down to the home game against PSG later in the month. After drawing in Paris in September Arsenal have to be favourites to top the group, but it's still all to play for.

Despite beating Ludogorets 6-0 a couple of weeks ago it took Arsenal a while to get control of the game and Ludogorets caused them plenty of problems in the first half in particular. Ludogorets have proved to be a tough cookie to crack at home in previous seasons and they will see this as their last chance to take a big scalp in this season's competition. Arsenal cannot afford to take the game or Ludogorets lightly and their biggest problem could be the fact that they beat them 6-0 only a few weeks ago.

In team news Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott and Nacho Monreal are still not fit to return and Hector Bellerin has been added to the list of those unavailable. It means there won't be too much change from the team who won 4-1 away to Sunderland on Saturday, but we could see the return of a few players. Carl Jenkinson will fill in for Bellerin while there's also the possibility of Olivier Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka playing from the start.

Xhaka is now over his domestic suspension and must be a consideration particularly if Cazorla won't be back in time for the game against Spurs on Sunday. Both Ramsey and Giroud came off the bench on Saturday to make their returns from injury and it's quite possible they will play tonight. One or two players might just need a rest after a pretty hectic schedule and perhaps Arsene Wenger will be tempted to avail of the chance tonight.

I know there have been calls from various quarters for Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil to sit the game out, but I hope the boss resists the temptation with five days to spare after tonight before the Spurs game. We don't want to give Ludogorets too much encouragement and a look at our team sheet without those two names would surely give them some hope.

I think Alex Iwobi has looked tired recently and it could make sense to rest him with Alexis pushing wide and Giroud going up too. Maybe Ramsey can come in beside Xhaka in midfield and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can get another chance to impress on the right. That looks like a team more than capable of getting the three points and wrapping up our place in the last 16 to boot.

If we can muster anywhere near the attacking flair we showed in the second half of the last game we should be too good for them. We are unbeaten since Liverpool beat us on the opening day and we must continue that record before playing Spurs. We have a strong squad with plenty of options, but I often think too many changes from one game to the next can backfire and affect the fluency and form of the team.

It doesn't make sense to risk losing a game which offers us such a good reward and the continuation of our unbeaten run is of paramount importance. Too often we have crumbled in November and stumbled from one bad result to another after one poor performance. With three really big games in a row coming up we need to keep ticking over by getting the right result tonight.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal's Trip To Burnley Previewed

Arsenal have played some really good football in the last week which led to victories at home to Chelsea and Basel. Their first half performances in particular were scintillating and very few teams can live with them when they play like that. It's taken them a little while to get into the groove this season, but it was certainly worth waiting for.

Of course a trip to Burnley will be a different prospect for them as Burnley are expected to get nothing from the game and will be perfectly content to defend in numbers. They did just that against Liverpool a few weeks ago and ended up beating them 2-0. If they can get the first goal it will give them something to hold on to and things could get fairly tough for Arsenal.

Arsenal have struggled to break down teams who sit very deep against them and it can require a lot of patience. The speed of their attacking trio can be nullified if there is no space to run into and long range shooting is rarely an option which Arsenal go to. However, it will take a defensive performance of mammoth proportions for Burnley to keep Arsenal out if Arsenal play like they have done recently.

From a team selection perspective I can't see any changes from midweek except for the return of Petr Cech in goal in place of David Ospina. The injury to Francis Coquelin last week doesn't seem to be as bad as it was feared and he should be fit to return quite soon, but it means Granit Xhaka will continue in midfield. The more I see of Xhaka the more I like him and he is the one player who is fond of shooting from distance as he proved against both Hull and Forest.

It's all about the form of Arsenal's attacking trio though and the goal threat posed by each of them. I was dead set against Alexis Sanchez in the central role, but he is growing into it and proving me wrong game after game. His ability to link up with others and bring them into play allied with his pace and eye for goal are proving invaluable.

As well as Alexis this season has seen the rebirth of Theo Walcott. His attitude seems to be so much better and he is far more involved in attack and crucially he is sticking to his defensive duties too. Added to that he has found some real goalscoring form and he looks worth his place in the team which is something we haven't said often enough in the past. 

The third player in the attacking trio is Alex Iwobi and he has shown great maturity since breaking into the team late last season. His interplay with others is fantastic and he so often seems to be in the right place when the ball pops up in the opponents area. I think he still needs to do some work on his finishing, but hopefully that will come.

I could go on about the support from the rest of the team and the defensive understanding which is developing between Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi. I don't want to go overboard though because there's still a long way to go this season and the team need to play this well game after game. A comprehensive win in this game and a performance to go with it would certainly increase the belief that we can challenge for the title for real this season.

Recent history has taught me it's dangerous to place too much belief in Arsenal as it all seems to go wrong just as we look to have made the breakthrough far too often. That belief is building at the moment though and I just hope it's building in the players too because they most certainly have the required ability. Today's result will certainly give us an insight into their mindset and whether they can play that well when it's not such a high profile game. 

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.