Latest Arsenal Transfer Update

With the transfer window only open a few days it looks like Arsenal are attempting to get the much needed business of squad building off to a quick start. With European football to look forward to next season it will hopefully be an attraction to players we are looking to sign even if it’s only the Europa League. We are going to need a bigger squad with more quality in it so we can expect more arrivals than departures. 

Most of those that were surplus to requirements made their ways out of the club in January while there are also a few players out on loan who will ideally make those loans permanent too. I would like to see William Saliba return and fight for a place in the team because he looks like he could be a central defender of the highest quality for a long time to come and from what he has said today he will be at Arsenal next season. Of course we need to collect fees for Matteo Guendouzi, Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Pablo Mari and Runar Alex Runarsson with Reiss Nelson possibly making his way back to the club.

Alexandre Lacazette has already as good as left on a free transfer with his contact almost up while Eddie Nketiah looks all set to sign up on a much improved contract from the same situation. If we are going to improve on the goals tally (or lack thereof) our strikers contributed last season then a top class striker will be a requirement. In addition we have signed Matt Turner as a back up to Aaron Ramsdale which should mean Bernd Leno is surplus to requirements too.

Youri Tielemans is currently looking like he could be Arsenal’s first purchase of the summer. The need to strengthen in the centre of our midfield is there for all to see and Tielemans would certainly improve our midfield as it is and give us more options there too. He only has one year left on his contract at Leicester City so we could get him at a decent price, but that would of course mean he will be expecting a pretty hefty wage from Arsenal.

If we can convince the player to join us I think he would be a very good addition to the team/squad as long as we keep Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka too. Albert Sambi Lokonga still has a way to go before he’s ready to hold down a first team place and I just don’t think Mohamed Elneny is good enough at the level we want to play. Tielemans would definitely give us the strength in depth and options we need to challenge on four fronts next season.

Gabriel Jesus is the striker who’s name keeps coming up when Arsenal are mentioned, but it could be difficult to pry him from Manchester City. His chances there will be limited with the arrival of Erling Haaland which looks to be a done deal, but with the money behind City they don’t need to sell. If he is available I’m still not convinced he’s the striker to solve our problems, but Mikel Arteta seems to think he’s the man for us.

Oleksandr Zinchenko is hardly a first choice at City and again he could be available if they decide he’s surplus to requirements. As it stands Kieran Tierney is our first choice left back and Zinchenko would find it difficult to dislodge him, but Tierney’s constant absences through injury worry me and I imagine a lot of other Arsenal fans feel the same way too. If Nuno Tavares is loaned out next season we will need cover for Tierney and Zinchenko might even think he can make the position his own given a run in the team so it might make sense for him to look our way if he is going to make a move.

Aaron Hickey is another left back who seems to be making his way onto the Arsenal radar and like Zinchenko he’s an interesting option. He’s third choice for his favoured position with Scotland with Andy Robertson and Tierney both ahead of him, but he might feel he can make the position his own at Arsenal for the same reasons as Zinchenko. He’s had a good season at Bologna and he could well be an option for us, but I have no doubt he will have offers from elsewhere too.

Serge Gnabry left Arsenal six years ago and his departure and subsequent move to Bayern Munich just didn’t feel right at the time. If it’s true that he is available then he would be a fantastic addition to the team as he has shown himself to be a top class player since joining Bayern. His goalscoring record is very impressive for a wide player and I would be more than happy to see him in an Arsenal shirt again.

There will be intense interest from elsewhere I’m sure as his price should be reasonable enough given he only has one year left on his contract. Of all the players I have mentioned so far I think he’s the one who could make the biggest impression at Arsenal which makes me think it will be very difficult to get him. He’ll be 27 in a few weeks so this will probably be his last big move and we will have to offer him an awful lot of money to get him back to Arsenal.

Finally it looks like we have secured the services of Brazilian teenager Marquinhos from Sao Paolo despite a possible legal challenge from Wolves. I can’t say I know too much about him and I assume he’s one for the future with the three cup competitions being lined up to give him some first team games. Hopefully he’s going to be as good a signing as Gabriel Martinelli and we can look forward to watching him for years to come.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Can Arsenal Progress Under Arteta

This season has been a strange one so far and it’s been a pretty frustrating one from an Arsenal perspective. Every club has had to deal with the worldwide pandemic and it’s affects on revenue and it’s been no different for Arsenal. While all of this has being happening we’re in the middle (well actually still pretty much near the start) of our rebuilding process under Mikel Arteta.

He hasn’t been at the club a year yet and we can’t expect miracles given the squad he has and the limits imposed on transfers by the pandemic. Luckily Arsenal have a very talented crop of young players coming through and some of them have been able to step up when required. He did deliver the FA Cup against some pretty tough odds and it looks like the defensive side of our game has improved for the first time in a few years.

Our problems at the moment lie in attack though and our inability to score goals is hurting us badly. So much was made of our lack of victories away to any of the “big six” in almost six years that it was a huge relief to finally end that run at Old Trafford last month, but that 1-0 win was the only points we have taken and the only goal we have scored in our last four league games. As it stands only the bottom four clubs and Wolves have scored less goals in their first eight games despite Arsenal possessing one of the best strikers in the world.

While a large part of our problem might be the inability to make chances at the moment it’s very hard to look beyond why Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is being played on the left when it seems obvious to one and all that he should be played as the central striker. With him in the middle we can surely play two attacking players, such as Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka in the wide roles and they can supply him with the chances he needs. For me Alexandre Lacazette isn’t good enough to hold the position ahead of Aubameyang and playing him there is hurting us at the moment.

Of course the failure to sign a creative player in midfield has had an affect on our creation and the demise of Mesut Ozil hasn’t helped either. The signing of Thomas Partey has given us some real class in midfield, but we need someone to play in front of him and whoever else is chosen to play alongside him in a defensive role. I think the manager might hope Willian can play there, but he’s looking less likely to do so with each passing game. 

With Ozil completely out of the picture it could mean the only real option is promoting Joe Willock to first team duties. Willock has looked the part in our Europa League games so far, but it’s a big step up from the Europa League to the Premier League. He offers us something different at the moment though and that’s something this team is badly missing. 

When our strikers struggle to score goals it’s a real problem for the team because our midfield just doesn’t have enough goals in it. Willock could possibly be the player to get those goals and it might just be the time to see what he can do.

In the latest 2021 odds to win the Premier League, Arsenal sit just below Leicester at 50/1. The Gunners had an upset defeat at home to Villa in their last game and Villa are listed below them at 66/1. It’s difficult to understand how we have reached a point where Leicester are shorter odds than us to win the league and Villa’s odds aren’t much longer. I know it’s early days in the season, but it’s not easy to argue with those odds.

For me a big part of our problems besides the lack of goals is the lack of pace in our game. We’re too comfortable just to keep possession and work the ball through the team with nobody willing to take an opponent on or make something happen. We’re really struggling to open teams up and the ability to take players on and beat them is one that cannot be underestimated.

We only have to play two of the big six in our next 12 games and that run has to give us an opportunity to make up some ground on the teams ahead of us and put some points on the board. We’ve been out of the Champions League for far too long and there’s a real chance of making the top four this season, but only if we can find some attacking flair. The players may have reacted well to how the manager wants them to play, but now he has to concentrate on improving our attacking options and getting that across to the players.

I think he’s the right man for the job, but it’s not easy watching Arsenal at the moment. When so many fans are left sitting in their homes because of the pandemic it appears that every little problem with the team is under the microscope and that’s understandable with so little else to do at the moment. He needs to keep the fans behind him and he could be in danger of slowly losing them if he can’t solve our attacking issues and make watching them more enjoyable.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Have To Beat Newcastle Today

It’s been two long weeks since Arsenal played a game and the lack of anything resembling real football in that time made it drag. Thankfully they return today when they play at home to Newcastle United in what I can only describe as a must win game. It’s the first of three home Premier League games in a row which give us a chance to make up ground on the teams ahead of us in our quest to finish in the top five.

With the news of Manchester City’s two season ban from European football that top five place has become an awful lot more important. Despite Chelsea struggling for quite a while now they still look odds on to finish fourth, but City’s problems should mean the team who finish fifth take their place in the Champions League next season. City will of course appeal the decision and fifth place might fade into insignificance again, but for the moment at least our hopes can be raised.

As it stands we have eight points to make up on Sheffield United who currently hold fifth spot, but we have a game in hand. Our next three fixtures provide us with that opportunity to take nine points and the table will look an awful lot better if we can do just that. Considering our current run of results it’s far from an easy task, but considering the opponents it’s certainly not one that’s beyond us either.

After Newcastle today it’s Everton and West Ham at home in our next two league games and neither of them are much to be afraid of either. Everton have improved under their new manager, but West Ham are in real trouble and could find themselves in the Championship next season. First things first though and the need to beat Newcastle cannot be understated.

We have made plenty of progress since Mikel Arteta took the reins, but too many of our games have ended in draws and it’s time to turn those draws into wins. We have only won four of our 12 home games so far this season and even more worryingly only one of our last eight. There was a time not so long ago when teams feared coming to the Emirates and we beat the majority of Premier League teams without having to even perform at our best.

The defensive improvement under Arteta has been absolutely great, but it has been partly at the expense of our attack. It will take a while for him to find the right balance between them in the team, but from what he has said recently it looks like he’s more than well aware of the situation. I expect him to give the players a little more attacking leeway today and hopefully it will be enough to unlock a very defensive Newcastle team. Despite their defensive set up they have only kept one clean sheet away from home and only Villa have conceded more goals on the road.

Arteta has a few decisions to make in his team selection today and the first of them surely has to be whether to persist with Alexandre Lacazette or not. He hasn’t scored in his last eight league games, but all of his goals have come at home and the manager has stated how he sees him as a vital part of the way he wants the team to play. Like quite a few other fans I would like to see an attacking trio of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with Nicolas Pepe on one side of him and Gabriel Martinelli on the other side.

That trio offers us the pace and goal threat which I think we need so badly, but I’m not so sure we’ll see it. Who supplies the ammunition for them is another thing and as much as I like Mesut Ozil it’s hard to argue with the stats which show he just isn’t the player he used to be. Maybe a home game against Newcastle might be the perfect game for him to perform, but there’s a very real prospect of him warming the bench yet again today.

We have missed Aaron Ramsey’s ability to arrive late in the box and score the goals this team is so badly missing and we didn’t manage to replace him when he went on his merry way last summer. Joe Willock has shown glimpses of a player who might be able to fill that role, but he’s certainly far from the finished article. We don’t have the midfielders to add to our goals tally that we had in previous seasons and it’s really hurting our results.

In our seven league games under Arteta we have only scored eight goals and while we have only conceded seven goals in those games it’s still a pretty poor return. Arteta has addressed the defensive issues to a certain degree and now it’s time to address the attacking issues. With the right team today we can at least start to bring some joy back to a season that has been almost bereft of it since the opening day.

As poor as our results have been we have been no worse than any of the other teams chasing fifth place and an improvement from us could be enough to make fifth place ours. To have drawn more than half of our 25 league games is quite incredible and surely we’re due a few wins starting with Newcastle today and followed by a run of six games where the three points are ours for the taking.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Burnley Preview

The 2-1 FA Cup win at Bournemouth on Monday night was very welcome for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, but it’s back to the bread and butter of the Premier League with a trip to Burnley this afternoon. While our performances under Arteta have been very encouraging and we’ve only lost one game it’s time to start turning all of our draws into wins. At this stage we’re so far off the top four that our target has to be to finish high enough to qualify for the Europa League.

It might not be the glamour trophy of European football and the rewards are not the same as those from the Champions League, but not qualifying would be an absolute disaster financially. We’re already struggling with the loss of income from three seasons without Champions League football, but at least we got to play seven home games and a final in the Europa League last season and seven games without the final the previous season. Losing the income from those games as well as TV money and prize money would limit our capabilities in the transfer market even further.

As it is we’re playing catch up on the teams who qualify each season and missing out on the Europa League would only worsen our position. I really wish we weren’t playing in it, but at the moment it’s our best source of extra income as we try to keep pace with the rest of the “big six.” There’s even the added bonus of Champions League qualification for the winners and we haven’t been too far off that in the last two seasons.

We have a run of eight league games coming up where on the face of it we could win them all and set ourselves up very nicely for a very difficult run in. That run in is very difficult with four of our last six games against the better teams in the league. We need to rack up as many points as possible before then and see where it leaves us.

We don’t play for two weeks after the Burnley game due to the Premier League’s very strangely operated mini-break which isn’t really a break for half of the clubs. I can only imagine they decided to stagger the break to keep the TV companies happy, but at least we’re one of the teams benefiting from it. All of the teams still involved in European football are the ones to benefit which makes sense

Transfer deadline day saw the arrival of a couple of defenders at the club with Pedro Mari and Cedric Soares both signing on loan. With the defensive issues we’ve had they’re welcome additions to the squad, but I don’t think we’ll see either of them involved today. Soares can play at right or left back although right back is his preferred role while Mari is a central defender.

Both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and David Luiz will return to the squad after serving their respective suspensions and I expect both of them to go straight into the team. The return of Aubameyang means someone else has to miss out and given the choice I would keep Gabriel Martinelli in the team ahead of Alexandre Lacazette, but I’m not sure Arteta will do so. Martinelli is on fire at the moment and surely a player with his momentum must play while Lacazette just can’t get a break in front of goal and he hasn’t scored an away goal in the league in almost a year if I’m not mistaken.

That’s the biggest decision Arteta has to make ahead of the game, but a few others did enough against Bournemouth to be pushing for a place too. I think the centre of the midfield is strongest with a combination of Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka, but Matteo Guendouzi did very well against Bournemouth and it looks like Arteta could be having a very positive influence on him. I still think Xhaka and Torreira will play, but I will feel more comfortable when I see Guendouzi starting or coming off the bench in future.

The other big decision could be whether Mesut Ozil starts or not and it’s difficult to see how that one will go. We all know how often he has been “rested” or “unwell”away from home in difficult games and the performance of Joe Willock against Bournemouth was very impressive. With Dani Ceballos back in the reckoning too there are definitely options for Arteta and it’s not easy to predict which one he will opt for.

A few weeks ago a trip to Burnley looked like it wouldn’t the most difficult of games for us, but their last two results suggest otherwise. They came from behind to win 2-1 at home to high flying Leicester before they went to Old Trafford and beat United 2-0 in their last game. We may have a very good record against Burnley, but those two results certainly suggest it will be far from easy for us. 

I still think we have enough to take the three points, but I have no doubt Burnley will make it difficult for us. A win would put us within three points of fifth place as the teams directly above us continue to be as inconsistent as we are. Let’s just hope the players can continue with their improvements under Arteta and bring us a result to keep us cheerful as we wait for the next game in two weeks time.

That’s it for today.

Arteta’s Arsenal Slowly Improving

Mikel Arteta hasn’t been in charge at Arsenal too long, but the signs are already very encouraging. We might have only won once in his six league games at the helm, but we have only lost one game too. The trick is to start turning some of those draws into wins and that’s when the real progress will be evident.

The draw at Chelsea on Tuesday night had to be a huge boost for Arteta and the players too. To twice come from behind to get a 2-2 after playing for over an hour with 10 men showed real strength of character and commitment from the players. While we can be unhappy with both of the goals we conceded the players defended very well when under a lot of pressure.

The contribution of Gabriel Martinelli in the absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was a huge boost and Arteta has to now consider him as one of the first names on the team sheet every week. His 67 yard run and finish for our first goal was simply magnificent and it’s been too long since we saw a goal to raise our spirits as much as that goal did. Thanks to Hector Bellerin’s late equaliser that Martinelli goal got some reward on the night and we took a very unlikely point given the circumstances.

There is no doubt we have some real issues in terms of personnel, but we also have some very good players to call on. I’m still longing to see a front three of Martinelli, Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe and the options it will give us in terms of pace and finishing ability. Playing those three players together would leave no room in the team for Alexandre Lacazette, but it has to be something for Arteta to try as he looks for some balance in our attack.

It’s our lack of goals and goalscoring opportunities which is holding us back at the moment and I think those three up front might help to solve that problem. The fact we have virtually no scoring potential in our midfield is a real worry too and it’s not something which can be easily solved with the players we currently possess. Maybe Joe Willock could be the player who can make runs from the centre into the box to offer that threat, but he would have to start ahead of Mesut Ozil to do so given our current formation.

Arteta is going with two more or less holding midfielders which is perfectly understandable as it gives us a platform to build on and some added protection for the defence. The current first choice duo don’t offer too much in terms of scoring intent though except for the very rare screamer from Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira occasionally breaking free of his defensive shackles to pop up in the box. It’s an issue which will probably be best solved in the transfer window and that probably means waiting until the summer.

The Liverpool model has been looked to as one to aspire to with their midfield adding very few goals, but their front three scoring heaps of them. To be honest Aubameyang, Martinelli and Pepe (if they were the trio) would have to add about 50 league goals a season between them to match the output of the Liverpool trio. It’s a big ask for them and they might get there, but it will take time.

For them to do so we need our two fullbacks to contribute as much as their’s do and we’re currently a long way off that. The return of Hector Bellerin is very welcome on that count and getting Kieran Tierney fit again would be an added bonus for that target. Even with those two back they would have to improve their final ball an awful lot to match the assists Liverpool get from their two full backs.

The one place where we’re actually getting a good return is from our set pieces with our central defenders doing their bit in front of the opposition goal. Our corners have been very good in the main and I don’t think any other team has more goals from corners in the league so far this season. If only they were as good at keeping the opposition out at the other end.

Overall I am really hopeful with the direction we’re going in, but the signs are it will be a slow and laborious task to try to get us back among the elite teams of Premier League football. Arteta certainly talks the talk and the signs so far are he might just walk the walk too.

We face a trip to Bournemouth tonight in the fourth round of the FA Cup and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him put out a fairly strong team all things considered. With Aubameyang serving the last game of his suspension I’d be surprised if Martinelli didn’t start and we might see Eddie Nketiah at some stage too. I imagine Matteo Guendouzi will come into the midfield while Emiliano Martinez will play in goal with Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles probably getting a look in too.

It’s been almost a week since our last game and the players have plenty of time to recover after this game too so fatigue shouldn’t be a factor in team choice. Bournemouth managed to win their first game in quite a while last week to climb out of the relegation zone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they rested a lot of players tonight with that relegation battle in mind. They’ve struggled to score goals for a long time this season and their defence has become very leaky too.

We should see whether we have improved since we drew 1-1 away to them very early in Arteta’s reign and I hope those results will be positive. We’re still struggling to create chances away from home and every player other than Aubameyang has struggled on the road. A strong display tonight should give us even more optimism after the result at Chelsea last week.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Chelsea Previewed

Life is still pretty miserable for us Arsenal fans despite the arrival of Mikel Arteta last month. The hoped for change in results still hasn’t appeared, but at least the performances are more promising. As it stands we have only won twice in our last 15 games and despite the promising performances it’s difficult to be optimistic going into any game.

We played Chelsea a few weeks ago and it was definitely one of those promising performances, but ultimately we couldn’t hold on to our lead and two goals in the last 10 minutes saw us beaten. That was the only defeat so far under Arteta, but we have only won once in the league too. The draws against Bournemouth, Palace and Sheffield United were all very costly to us and particularly when you consider that we took the lead in two of those games.

In fact we have dropped seven points from winning positions in the five games under Arteta already and it’s a very worrying trend. We don’t seem to have the legs to last the full 90 minutes which has to be a throwback to our fitness levels before he arrived. I think it has a bit to do with lack of confidence too as we become obviously more nervous as the games progress.

The other reason we’re not winning enough games is our inability to stick the ball in the back of the net. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang suspended again tonight the onus to get those goals should fall on Alexandre Lacazette, but Gabriel Martinelli is far more likely to do so despite his tender age. When Aubameyang is back I think Arteta has to seriously consider keeping Martinelli in the team because he’s our only other consistent goal scorer.

I expect a fairly similar team tonight to the one which drew with Sheffield United on Saturday as Arteta’s options are limited at the moment due to injuries and that Aubameyang suspension. We have struggled badly to control games and it’s still too easy to play against us under Arteta so far, but we can’t expect miracles overnight. I am much happier with the attitude and commitment of the players under him though and hopefully the results will start to follow soon.

I would imagine Chelsea won’t make too many changes either despite losing 1-0 away to Newcastle on Saturday evening. That was a game they really should have won, but they paid the price for missing too many chances when Newcastle got a last gasp winner. I really don’t think we have a hope of finishing in the top four, but a win tonight would put us only seven points behind Chelsea with 14 games still to go.

While that’s a gap that could of course be bridged we would have to win tonight to have any hope and that’s a huge ask for this team. I had hoped the win against United would bring the confidence needed to improve our game and dictate the play, but it hasn’t happened. Maybe a win away to Chelsea will be the catalyst we need to finally kick start our season and deliver the football the fans crave.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Sheffield United Preview

As the season progresses it’s becoming more and more obvious that the only way back into the Champions League for Arsenal is by winning the Europa League. Any real hopes of a top four finish have disappeared as we have dropped further and further off the pace with each passing game. Incredibly we have only won two of our last 14 Premier League games and have the points haul of a team fighting relegation in that run.

Of course things have changed a lot during that run with the exit of Unai Emery and the short term run of Freddie Ljungberg while we waited for Mikel Arteta to take the reins. The signs are very promising so far under Arteta and I genuinely think he can be the man to lead us into the future, but results haven’t taken the massive upturn they needed so far to correct the damage done. Our only league win so far under Arteta was at home to United and we lost at home to Chelsea after taking the lead.

We are still struggling away from home with draws against Bournemouth and Palace under Arteta too and we had the lead against Palace, but at least we did manage to come from behind against Bournemouth to get that point. As poor as our away form has been it’s our home form which has us lying in 10th place at the moment. In the last few seasons as we struggled desperately away from home it was our ability to continue getting results at home which kept us close to the top four. 

This season has been completely different and the win against United was our first win in seven games at home. We have struggled against teams fighting against relegation and have been nowhere near putting any team to the sword on our own ground. In fact our best home league win so far this season was that 2-0 win against United and it was our best performance too. 

If we’re going to beat Sheffield United tomorrow we’re going to need more of the same as they have proved to be a very effective outfit since getting promoted last season. We’ve already lost 1-0 away to them and they have shown themselves more than capable of giving any team in the Premier League a real run for their money. They won’t try to change the way they play against us and it’s up to us to find a way to break them down at one end while keeping them out at the other.

Make no mistake this is a game we quite simply have to win because the rot that has set in cannot be allowed to continue under Arteta. We saw some of that rot in the first half of the FA Cup game against Leeds and Arteta at least managed to get much more from his players in the second half. That first half showed these players are still more than capable of failing to show up no matter who is in charge and that still worries me.

If we can get the better of Sheffield United then we go to Chelsea in midweek knowing a win would close the gap on fourth place, but realistically hoping to close in on at least challenging for fifth. While we have become more difficult to beat away from home we have only scored 12 goals in 11 away games with nine of them coming from the suspended Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. I don’t think there was any malice intended in the challenge which saw him sent off at Palace, but it was very difficult to argue with the colour of the card. The glaring inconsistencies of red card decisions (or not) are another matter altogether.

With Aubameyang suspended for three games the spotlight will definitely switch to Alexandre Lacazette and he currently couldn’t hit a barn door from five yards. His overall play and ability to win the ball back has been very good at times recently, but he seems devoid of confidence in front of goal. I think he just needs one goal to get him back on track and hopefully he can get it against Sheffield United tomorrow.

I hope Gabriel Martinelli is the player to benefit from Aubameyang’s suspension as he is our next highest scorer in all competitions this season after Aubameyang. He still hasn’t seen an awful lot of action in the league, but he might just be the man to net the goals we need in the next three games. If he does play on the left tomorrow it will probably be in front of Bukayo Saka who looks like he will have to fill in as an emergency left back again with Sead Kolasinac and Kieran Tierney both injured.

We certainly have our injury issues at the moment with Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira, Rob Holding and Callum Chambers all unavailable too. For me Torreira is a real big miss for the way Arteta wants to play and Matteo Guendouzi is not a direct replacement. It’s going to be a tough slog in midfield, but Guendouzi and Granit Xhaka need to get a grip on the game whilst also protecting the defence.

I hope Arteta can come up with a solution to the problems Sheffield United will cause with the players at his disposal. If we can come up with someone capable of putting the ball in the net then Sheffield don’t score too many goals and a victory is well within our sights.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Vitoria: Europa League Preview

After the disappointment of the Premier League defeat away to Sheffield United on Monday night it’s back to Europa League action for Arsenal tonight. It’s hard to overstate how disappointing the defeat on Monday night was with the chance to stay in third place in the league lost. Vitoria Guimares come calling tonight as the team have a chance to put Monday’s game out of their minds and continue their impressive Europa League form.

We have already won 3-0 away to Eintracht Frankfurt and 4-0 at home to Standard Liege and a win tonight would almost guarantee a place in the knockout stages with three group games still to play. Vitoria have lost their first two games and they’re probably the weakest team in the group, but they are fourth in the Portuguese league and cannot be underestimated. Our midweek cup performances so far have been really good and more of the same would do very nicely tonight.

As has been the case so far this season Unai Emery will make wholesale changes to the team that lost to Sheffield United and hopefully those players can take the opportunity they’re given again. We might well see 11 changes from that game and it shows the manager has plenty to choose from, but he doesn’t seem to know his best team. I would definitely argue that quite a few of those in the team tonight should have played on Monday night and maybe their inclusions could have helped us to get a better result.

Emiliano Martinez will play in goal and the back four will probably consist of Kieran Tierney, Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Shkodran Mustafi. The sooner Tierney, Bellerin and Holding are playing regularly in the Premier League the better as far as I’m concerned and I have no doubt the majority of fans must feel the same way too. 

In midfield Lucas Torreira and Dani Ceballos should start and I wouldn’t be surprised if Ainsley Maitland-Niles played too which would again more than likely leave no place in the team for Mesut Ozil. In a team who are crying out for some attacking creativity it beggars belief that Ozil cannot get a game. However, it seems the manager is not keen on him so it doesn’t matter whether the team suffers as a result or not.

I imagine Gabriel Martinelli will play on one side of the attack with Reiss Nelson on the other which would leave Alexandre Lacazette to play centrally now that he’s fit again. He looked like he needed to find some sharpness to his game when he came on on Monday night and hopefully playing tonight will help that. I’m still not sure whether he can always be accommodated in the team with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but he is certainly a very important player for us.

I expect another good cup performance and probably a comfortable enough win, but it’s not overly important in the grand scale of things. It’s the home game with Palace on Sunday that matters most and the manager has to find a way to make the team perform in the league. We lost at home to them last season in one of the games which cost us a top four finish and they are perfectly set up to play away to us.

Belief in the manager is fading fast among the fans and performances like Monday night would suggest the players might not be too far behind. I still expect the fringe players to do well tonight, but when the going gets tough all too often we get going or don’t if you get my meaning.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Is The Arsenal Glass Half Full

With the second international break of the season nearly over it’s time to consider how the season has been going so far for Arsenal. We’re currently third in the Premier League as well as on top of our Europa League group and through to the last 16 of the Carabao Cup. Our only defeat came away to a Liverpool team who look set to break the record for the most consecutive wins in the Premier League and they didn’t absolutely thrash us for once in recent seasons.

I’m usually a glass half full kind of person, but I’m finding it difficult to believe things are as good as they appear on the surface. I know performances aren’t the most important thing in football, but it’s hard not to believe our return so far outweighs our performances. Those things tend to balance themselves out over a season and the chances are we will suffer later in the season unless we improve.

Last season started in a similar vein after initially losing out first two games when we went on a 22 game unbeaten run when the performances were far from convincing too. Plenty of fans believed we could continue to outperform the statistics, but they almost always catch up with you in the end and so it was for Arsenal. In the end it was a very poor late run of results which cost us a top four spot and the Champions League football that comes with it. 

In the second half of last season our away form went to pieces and we finished too far down the “away results” table for a team with top four ambitions. Our home results held until the last few games when points dropped at home to teams at the wrong end of the table cost us dearly. The similarities with the performances this season cannot be ignored and I think we should be very worried about how our season might go.

With United, Spurs and Chelsea all having troubles of their own the opportunity for us to take a top four spot is better than it has been in quite a while. We’re not going to catch Liverpool or City even if City are only a point ahead of us, but we just have to outdo two of the other three big six teams. It’s crucial that we take advantage before United and Spurs in particular change their fortunes and at least we are taking points at the moment.

It’s our away form which worries me the most though and I’m not sure we can change it. We won our first away game at Newcastle, but we were wholly unconvincing and we followed it up with that 3-1 defeat at Liverpool. The 2-2 draw at Watford was a game to forget when we let a two goal lead slip in the second half and were lucky to escape with a point. We didn’t have the confidence or belief to take the game to one of the worst United teams I have seen in a long time in our last away game and we missed a great chance to get our first league win at Old Trafford in 13 years. 

If it wasn’t for the finishing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the moment we would be in a much worse position as the rest of the team are struggling to find the net. The return of Alexandre Lacazette from injury should help to ease the burden on Aubameyang, but we still need our wide players and midfielders to chip in with more goals. For us to have more of an attacking threat we need someone who can pull the strings in midfield and make the chances that others thrive on.

I find it difficult to believe Mesut Ozil has nothing to offer the team, but it seems Unai Emery has decided to discard him. It’s scary to think of how much money we pay him and to get absolutely no return for that money makes no sense. The manager seems to want to play with three defensive players in midfield and for whatever reason Ozil does not fit into his plans.

We’re all hoping the returns of Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin will improve our defence, but as much as I want that to be true it’s difficult to believe they will have that effect. It’s how we defend as a team and have done for far too many years now that’s hurting us and I can’t see anything changing in that respect. In fact we are inviting opponents on to us even more this season and that’s a recipe for disaster for a team who just cannot defend properly.

I guess we’ll know pretty soon if Tierney and Bellerin can make a difference or if we continue to concede more shots per game than almost every other team in the Premier League. I just can’t see the ability in the team for us to control the game and take it to our opponents and surely that has to be the way forward. It’s much easier to defend when you have the ball and opponents certainly find it tougher to score without it.

We don’t play any of the other big six teams in our next eight league games, but there are definitely a few banana skins in there. I think we’ll have a better idea of where we stand after those games and hopefully it will be in a good place. Like I said the glass is looking more on the side of half empty to me at the moment, but maybe we can get a refill over that run of games.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Watford Previewed

With the first of far too many pesky international breaks out of the way it’s back to Premier League football for Arsenal as they travel to Watford this afternoon. After yesterday’s results a win today would move us up to third place behind second placed City on goal difference and possibly level on points with Everton depending on how they do against Bournemouth in the early game. The table is already starting to take shape and it looks like Everton and Leicester will be the two teams looking to break into the top six from last season.

Arsenal came from 2-0 down at home to Spurs in their last game to take a point and that was a very important result for them. After losing 3-1 at Anfield the previous week they couldn’t afford to lose to another team chasing a top four place. A draw might not have been what we wanted prior to the game, but at 2-0 down I was more than happy not to lose.

Unai Emery will be without the services of Alexandre Lacazette who is out for approximately a month with an ankle injury. Lacazette‘s absence leaves the squad a little light of strikers with a lot of games coming up in the next month. It does mean that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will play in his favourite position in all of our league games, but we will most certainly miss Lacazette.

The manager has a few decisions to make ahead of the game with Lacazette’s place to be filled as well as what midfield lineup to choose. With Aubameyang through the middle of the attack we might see Reiss Nelson play on the right while Nicolas Pepe will be on the right. Pepe is slowly settling into the team and I think we’re going to see the best of him very soon.

After his performance against Spurs Matteo Guendouzi has to be nailed on to play in the midfield while Granit Xhaka will more than likely start too despite the ridiculous penalty he gave away in that game. I know he is extremely error prone and those errors are very often costly, but he appears to be one of the first names on the team sheet once he’s fit. If those two are nailed on it leaves one of Dani Ceballos, Joe Willock and Lucas Torreira to choose from which isn’t easy on the other two. 

The boss could always opt for a different formation I suppose, but I doubt it. He could even decide to bring in a fit again Mesut Ozil to the team, but I would be very surprised if he gets any further than the bench at the start of the game at least. We have an abundance of options in midfield at the moment and our defence could be following quite soon.

I imagine we will see the same back four as we did against Spurs, but we have a trio of players on the way back from injuries who will be looking to get into the team. Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney are all part of the long term plans for our defence and the sooner we have them available the better. There are plenty of games coming up for those returning players to blood themselves in between the Europa League and the Carabao Cup. 

Watford are stuck on the bottom of the table with only one point from their first four games and that came in their last game away to Newcastle. Their poor start cost Javi Gracia his job and Quique Sanchez Flores has taken over the reins again. Hopefully they won’t get the traditional new manager “boost” and we can add to their woes by taking the three points.

I have no doubt they will try to get about us and put the boot in where they can in an attempt to unsettle us. We had an awful record away from home last season and we let in far too many goals for our own good. They will look to play on that defensive vulnerability if they can and we need to stay strong and repel them.

It’s all about taking the three points today and while it would be great to put in a performance to remember too it’s the points that matter. We won our first away game at Newcastle despite a pretty poor display and we were well beaten at Liverpool in our last away game. If this season is going to be any better than last season then we have to improve our away performances and results too.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Spurs: NLD Preview

After winning their first two games Arsenal came crashing back to earth last week when they lost 3-1 away to Liverpool. While it wasn’t as bad a defeat as we have suffered at Anfield in recent seasons it still showed we have a long way to go to match the pacesetters in the Premier League. However, our aim this season has to be returning to the top four and the Champions League football it brings.

A defeat at Liverpool might not have helped that cause, but a home game against Spurs is far more important for it. They are definitely one of the other four teams looking to take one of the two places available in the top four as Liverpool and City look set to fight for the title again. There are those who think Spurs will challenge both City and Liverpool this season, but last week’s home result against Newcastle showed exactly why they won’t.

Unai Emery has taken some stick for his formation against Liverpool last week, but it might have been different if either Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Nicolas Pepe had taken their good chances to put us ahead in the first half. I don’t think his tactics were right for the game, but at least he tried something he thought might work even if it did seem like the players were unsure of how to enact his plan. I doubt if we will see a formation like that at home to Spurs and I think he has a much better idea how to beat them.

We beat them 4-2 at the Emirates last season and would have won away to them too if it wasn’t for a last minute penalty miss. Interestingly that penalty would have been retaken if VAR had been around due to encroachment from the Spurs player who eventually stopped Aubameyang scoring the rebound. With VAR in use at all Premier League games we can only hope it will catch the serial divers and cheaters that abound in the Spurs team.

The manager has a few decisions to make in his team selection and the toughest one could be about Nacho Monreal. It looks like he could be on his way back to Spain with the European transfer window still open, but he is currently the preferred left back of those available for selection. If he lets Nacho leave it means playing Sead Kolasinac on the left of what will probably be a back four and he seems more than hesitant to do so. 

When Kieran Tierney is back to full fitness he looks destined to make that position his own and it makes economic sense to let Nacho leave. Do we keep him until at least January for just one game, but then again it’s a very important game and one we just cannot afford to lose. It’s a complicated call for the manager to make and he has to be conscious of so many factors when he’s making it.

Other than that decision it appears the rest of the back four picks itself with David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Ainsley Maitland-Niles keeping their places in front of Bernd Leno. Luiz showed exactly why there were doubts about us signing him at Liverpool last week when his errors led directly to two of their three goals. He can be a very good player, but he also has that ability in him to cost his team goals in big games in particular. I just hope we won’t see that side of him on Sunday.

The full debut of Pepe last week gives the manager a real selection headache up front. I’m one of those fans who believes we have to play Aubameyang through the middle if we’re going to get the best out of him. If he plays through the middle it doesn’t really leave any room in the team for Alexandre Lacazette, but he’s exactly the type of player you want in a local derby.

It’s a tough call for the manager to make, but I think he has to play both Aubameyang and Pepe with their pace and Spurs vulnerability to the ball over the top. Their defence is a little short on numbers at the moment and looking probably as vulnerable as ours. I think power and pace could be the key against them even if it means leaving Lacazette out of the team.

Winning the midfield battle could be crucial for us and getting to grips with the Spurs midfield won’t be as difficult as getting the better of Liverpool’s last week. Dani Ceballos looked very good in his debut against Burnley, but he didn’t find it as easy against Liverpool. I think he might just relish the chance to play against Spurs at home and show us exactly what he can do.

I would like to see Lucas Torreira alongside him as I think it’s a combination which could be very effective for us and surely Torreira must be ready to start by now after returning from international duty much later than the rest of the squad last month. As much as I like Matteo Guendouzi I would like to see how a midfield trio of Ceballos, Torreira and Joe Willock would fare together.

If the manager were to follow my advice he would have one player left to pick and that would depend on the formation he opts for. There are so many to choose from with Lacazette, Reiss Nelson, Mesut Ozil, Guendouzi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Granit Xhaka all looking for a chance to prove themselves. I think we will see Xhaka in the team, but probably at the expense of one of the midfield trio I prefer and the last place is still a toss up.

As much as getting the right personnel is important it’s also very important to get the tactics and attitude right on the day. If we can approach the game in the same vein as our home games against Spurs, United, Chelsea and Liverpool last season I think we will be on the right track. I hope the players will be anxious to put last week behind them and get one over on their local rivals yet again.

They have only won away to us once in the Premier League since 1993 and that was nine years ago. In the eight games since that defeat we have scored 20 goals against them and only conceded nine including scoring five twice and four once. When we turn it on at home against them the goals flow and that’s exactly what we need on Sunday.

If we can go into the international break five points ahead of Spurs on the back of a victory over them it would be a huge boost for us. While I could take a draw to keep us ahead of them a win is infinitely superior and well within our grasp. Let’s just hope the players can find the level of intensity and commitment needed in a local derby to take those three precious points and the bragging rights that go with them.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Burnley Preview

Arsenal may not have been overly impressive in their 1-0 win at Newcastle last week, but the got the job done and that was of utmost importance. They were rarely bothered in defence and that can’t be a bad thing for a team who only kept one clean sheet in their 19 League games away from home last season. Newcastle didn’t have an awful lot to offer in attack, but that didn’t stop Arsenal conceding to every team in the league except for Watford on their travels last season.

Unai Emery went with quite a few youngsters and fringe players on the day as lack of match fitness among other things deprived him of much of his strongest 11. Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac missed out for security reasons, but thankfully it seems they are clear to play tomorrow and hopefully their “situation” has come to an end. Both Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira sat the game out while both Nicolas Pepe and Dani Ceballos came off the bench late on. 

Those six players could all reasonably expect to be among the first names on the team sheet and we’re still awaiting the returns of Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding from long term injuries. Both of them would be among the first names on the team sheet too when they return so it looks like the manager will be spoiled for choice with a fully fit squad. I still haven’t mentioned David Luiz and he will be hoping to start tomorrow, but it won’t be easy to shift either Sokratis Papastathopoulos or Callum Chambers considering how comfortable they looked last week.

I have no doubt Burnley will offer more of a challenge to our defence and they certainly like to “put it up ‘em” given the opportunity. Ashley Barnes is a well known wind-up merchant and we can’t allow him to get under our collective skin. They had a very good 3-0 win at home to Southampton last week and Barnes grabbed himself a couple of goals in that game.

If memory serves me correctly Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is fond of a goal against Burnley and scored twice against them in both of our encounters last season. Whoever the manager brings in I hope he keeps playing Aubameyang through the middle as he’s proven to be a top class goalscorer in any team he has played in. We have a host of players capable of making chances for him and he has the ability to become the top scorer in the Premier League this season.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ozil and Kolasinac return while I think a home game is probably the best place to give Pepe his full debut. Either Ceballos or Torreira could come into midfield and the decision on who to leave out could be made easier if Granit Xhaka isn’t passed fit to play. With those changes it won’t really leave room for either Reiss Nelson or Joe Willock in the starting 11 which is harsh on Willock in particular after his performance last week, but I have no doubt we will see plenty of them over the coming season.

I’m not sure if Henrikh Mkhitaryan will keep his place either and he can be a very frustrating player at times. He played a few very good passes last week and we could or maybe should have scored from at least one of them. He had to be the most wayward player on the pitch when it came to passing at times too and it can be tough to see so many passes go astray or the ball lost so often. I’m not sure whether the output or input we get from him matches up with his game time or his incredibly high wages either.

I think, once we work up a head of steam, we will make plenty of chances against a Burnley team who conceded a lot of goals last season. I’m still not too sure exactly what our style is, but with the players available we are more than capable of playing free flowing attractive football while still being able to protect our defence. It’s that defence that’s still the real worry and they need to work on the best understanding they can ahead of two very tough games in the next two weeks.

Hopefully we can put in a performance to build plenty of confidence ahead of a trip to Liverpool and a home game against Spurs. If we can win tomorrow and come through those two games with two points or more I think it will be a pretty good start to the season. 

David Luiz

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 

Aubameyang against Burnley 

Chance to temporarily go top

2 tough games coming up 

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Kick Off The New Season At Newcastle

It’s hard to argue with what’s been a very good transfer window for Arsenal and hopes are relatively high going into the new season. It didn’t start too well with Aaron Ramsey leaving on a free transfer after the season had ended on a low as Arsenal lost the Europa League final to Chelsea as well as failing to finish in the top four. It didn’t look like we would be an attractive destination for any prospective signings with no Champions League football for the third season in a row.

With a couple of weeks to go it didn’t look too good, but the club worked tirelessly and managed to pull off some very good signings. Nicolas Pépé and Dani Ceballos will be real assets to the team even if Ceballos is only on loan for the season while Kieran Tierney looks like he will be a great fit too when he returns from his current injury. I’m still not sure about the deadline day signing of David Luiz, but I’m hoping he can help to improve a defence which badly needs improving.

We also signed Gabriel Martinelli and while he might get a few chances this season he’s definitely seen as one for the future. William Saliba was signed from St. Etienne too, but he’s being loaned back to them for the season as part of the deal and again he’s been bought with the future in mind. Of course it’s important to keep an eye on where we’re going and the future of the club is very important, but from here on it’s how this season goes that matters as our quest to return to the top four begins.

The ongoing situation with both Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac hasn’t helped with both players left out of the squad for “personal reasons” after the attempted carjacking a couple of weeks ago. If the rumours are to be believed there have been further threats to the players and it would be difficult for them to concentrate on football when the scum of the earth are targeting them and those they care about. The sooner the situation is sorted the better and it certainly does say a lot for the state of law and order in London at the moment.

We probably won’t see too many of our new signings from the start today with Pépé still short of match fitness and Luiz only arriving at the club late on Thursday. Tierney is of course injured while Martinelli is unlikely to play which just leaves Ceballos as a contender. I imagine we will see him in the team and he’ll probably play alongside Granit Xhaka in the midfield.

With all of those absences Unai Emery doesn’t have too many choices to make today. I’d be surprised if he included Shkodran Mustafi in the team considering he has told him he can leave the club which would mean we will most likely see Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Callum Chambers in the centre of defence with Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Nacho Monreal as the full backs in a four man defence. With the midfield duo already sorted that will probably leave Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on one side of the attack with Reiss Nelson on the other and Henrikh Mkhitaryan behind Alexandre Lacazette.

It’s a team more than capable of going to a Newcastle team who have lost their best two players from last season and winning. Newcastle have of course brought in some new players themselves, but they will have to be gradually worked into the team just like our new arrivals. They have a new manager too and it’s up to us to start on the front foot and make sure they don’t have a chance to get a foothold in the game and build some confidence.

I think we will more than likely get a narrow win and I hope to see Pépé come off the bench and make a contribution too. Of all our new players he’s the one I’m looking forward to seeing the most and the one most likely to have a real impact on our season. 

A win is a must for us followed by a home win against Burnley next week before two very difficult games ahead of the first pesky international break of the season. There’s no point in thinking too far ahead though and I’ll be more than happy with three points ahead of that Burnley game and the Liverpool and Spurs games.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Tour Of The U.S. Comes To An End

Arsenal have spent the last two weeks touring the United Srates and it’s hard to view the tour as anything other than a success as the they return home to play the Emirates Cup this weekend. They played four games against teams of different qualities and ended up with three wins and a draw although they did technically lose that game in a penalty shootout. We also got to see a good sprinkling of the younger players we have at the club and a few of those players have been added to the first team squad this season.

First up there was a fairly comfortable 3-0 win against Colorado Rapids as we put Stan Kroenke’s American team to the sword. Unai Emery went with a fairly young team and they didn’t let him down with Bukayo Saka and new boy Gabriel Martinelli among the goals. The games were coming thick and fast and it was only two days later when our opponents went up a lot in class.

The manager played a stronger team against Bayern Munich and they managed to squeeze out a narrow 2-1 victory. The goals came from an own goal and a late winner from another youngster as Eddie Nketiah got his name on the scoreboard. He’s one of the young players who has been added to the first team squad, but there’s still a possibility he could go out on loan. If he does I think it has to be a loan where we can recall him at any time in case either Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Alexandre Lacazette were to get injured.

We followed the win against Bayern with another relatively comfortable 3-0 win against Fiorentina and that man Nketiah bagged a brace with yet another youngster who has been added to the first team squad scoring too as Joe Willock grabbed himself a goal. Of all the youngsters added to the squad he might just be the one to have the biggest impact this season. 

Our last game came against Real Madrid and even though we drew 2-2 they won on penalties for whatever that’s worth. Lacazette and Aubameyang were the scorers, but we gave up a 2-0 lead as both teams ended the game with 10 men. In the grand scheme of things the results don’t matter too much, but it’s always nice to get a few wins under your belt.

So it’s back to home turf on Sunday afternoon as we take on Lyon in the Emirates Cup before heading off to play Angers and Barcelona in the final two warm up games ahead of the new season. There’s still plenty of work to be done in the transfer market before the window closes ahead of our first game away to Newcastle. In true Arsenal fashion we still haven’t signed anyone of real note even if there are high hopes for Martinelli, but he must surely be followed by others.

We do seem set to capture William Saliba from St. Etienne, but he will also be loaned back to them for this season too. Dani Ceballos also looks to be on his way to us on loan from Real Madrid for the season, but there is no real update on our other supposed targets. Our chances of signing Kieran Tierney and Wilfried Zaha seem to be fading while we might be in the market for Everton Soares if the Zaha deal fails to materialise.

As it stands our squad is wafer thin with genuinely experienced players and some of those young players added to the first team squad might get some very good chances to prove their worth this season. I do think we will add to the squad though and the sooner we do it the better.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Where Now For Arsenal

It’s been a week since Arsenal forgot to come out for the second half of the Europa League final against Chelsea and ended up losing 4-1. That defeat condemned them to another season of Europa League football and also meant their transfer budget for this summer is severely hampered. With a squad that needs a huge overhaul it means we have very little wiggle room and will have to offload more than a fair share of the players we already have to give us more spending power.

I fancy myself as a bit of a pundit when it comes to predicting the results of football games and a few friends like to ask my opinion before placing their weekly bets. As an Arsenal fan they always think I have some sort of insight into my club, but my advice is almost always to steer clear of Arsenal because you just don’t know what you’re going to get. The Europa League final was a case in point where we most definitely could have beaten Chelsea, but ended up on the end of a 4-1 drubbing.

Before the game I said Unai Emery’s first season at the helm would be judged by the result of it after the late collapse in the Premier League saw us miss out on a top four finish. Our failure to finish ahead of both Chelsea and Spurs when they struggled to get over the line was a direct result of making the Europa League final in my opinion and the sacrifice was not worth it given the outcome of that game. To have ended up with all of our eggs in one basket and then to have failed so miserably in the final was a damning indictment of both the players and the manager.

I can’t say I’m anywhere near sure Emery is the man to lead us forward considering how the season finished and also considering our progress throughout the season. I can’t honestly say I have seen any sort of improvement in any of the aspects of our game which had become so unacceptable in the later years of Arsene Wenger. Our failure to make the top four and in the Europa League final would surely have been easier to take if there were any genuine signs of progress.

Instead we were treated to comical defending week after week with Arsenal leading the way in goals conceded from defensive errors in the Premier League. When we went behind away from home we only came back to take one point in our 19 away games which tells us so much about the character of the players when sleeves needed to be rolled up. The manager didn’t have the faith in his players to continue their early season attempts to play the ball out from the back and they lost anything resembling a style of play as the season progressed.

With Aaron Ramsey on his way out of the club this summer and Mesut Ozil seemingly unable or unwilling to perform consistently under Emery we are a team bereft of creation. Our lack of genuine width and players to take on the opposition is worrying with the full backs expected to do that work all too often. If it wasn’t for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette we probably would have found ourselves a few places further down the table.

When we went on our 22 game unbeaten run early in the season the stats people told us it couldn’t last as we were defying all the stats which generally even out in a season. Those stats did nearly catch up on us in the end, but thankfully our goal conversion defied them enough to at least finish fifth. It’s impossible to say things were any better than last season though and the late collapse made them feel worse.

The only saving grace was Spurs losing the Champions League final to Liverpool though as they yet again finished the season with their trophy cabinet bare. They will have Champions League football next season though and the money that goes with it as we make our way to the extremities of Europe for meaningless games against nothing teams. It’s no barrell of laughs being an Arsenal fan at the moment and yet we have played in five cup finals in the last six seasons and won three of them.

If we’re going to get anywhere near the level we need to reach to challenge for a top four spot next season we need to invest heavily this summer and we will have to raise a lot of money through sales to do so. There are so many players who are or should be surplus to requirements in the squad, but selling them and getting a good price for them won’t be an easy task. If we can add a few quality players to those that are good enough to stay and bring through a few of our really promising youngsters it might just give the squad the the balance and impetus it so desperately needs.

The manager showed little faith in those young players this season just passed, but he has to make Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson, Bukayo Saka and possibly Eddie Nketiah a bigger part of his plans next season. They can save us so much money in the transfer market and hopefully fill some of the squad places vacated by players who need to move for our sakes and theirs too. I’m not saying they should all be in the team week in and week out, but surely they can play a bigger part than a few minutes at the end of a game that’s already won or too far gone to get back.

I can’t say I have the faith in those in charge at the club to do any or all of this and it’s difficult to believe we’re anything other than an afterthought to our owner. He has never shown any interest in putting a single penny into the club and it’s difficult to believe he was the man the board thought would uphold the values of the club when they all decided to jump ship. At the time he seemed the better alternative and I’m no lover of Alistair Usmanov, but surely he couldn’t have done any worse than Stan Kroenke is currently doing.

I wish I was looking forward to a summer of rebuilding for a brighter future for Arsenal, but it’s hard to believe it. I hope we can make the changes that are needed and move the deadwood on, but I remain to be convinced by the owner, the manager and quite a few of the players too.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Chelsea: Europa League Final Preview

It’s been a fairly eventful first season as Arsenal manager for Unai Emery and the real judgement on that first season will come in Baku tonight. We finished one place higher in the league with a few points more, but our inability to finish fourth due to an awful run at the end of the season means we didn’t qualify for the Champions League. We do have another route to the Champions League though and that route comes to a culmination tonight.

It’s hard not to think the players left an awful lot of what they had left towards the end of the season for those Europa League quarter and semifinals and ultimately that’s what cost us in the league. If that’s the case they need to make sure they have done enough in the last two weeks since the end of the domestic season to make sure they take the trophy and the Champions League place that goes with it tonight. Any other result will surely see Emery’s first season in charge judged as less than a success.

The absence of Henrikh Mkhitaryan has already been gone into at length and it was the player’s choice to stay at home despite assurances of his safety. When you see Arsenal fans in the streets of Baku been stopped by the local police for wearing a Mkhitaryan shirt it’s easy to see why he felt those assurances weren’t enough. If Arsenal are to fail tonight the Mkhitaryan excuse will be offered by some and UEFA will certainly be partly to blame.

However we still have some very good players who have shown already this season that they can beat Chelsea. We won 2-0 at home to them in the league in January thanks to goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Laurent Koscielny and we lost 3-2 away to them in the league in August. If we can create as many clear cut chances as we did in that August defeat tonight I think we will lift the trophy.

The rumours of unrest at Chelsea are rife with Maurizio Sarri apparently off to manage Juventus at the end of the season while star player Eden Hazard is entering the final year of his contract and should really be sold to get some money to reinvest in the team. They have a transfer embargo though thanks to their dodgy dealing in the past and they cannot afford to sell a player of his ability if they’re unable to buy a replacement. Hopefully all the supposed unrest can have an effect on the way they play, but really it’s up to Arsenal to go out and win the game.

I assume the manager will stick with Petr Cech as his cup goalkeeper despite him being off to Chelsea as a coach when he retires after this game. I can’t see that making a blind bit of difference to a keeper with a career like Cech’s behind him and I have no doubt he will give his best if selected as expected. However if it came to a penalty shoot out I think I would prefer to see Bernd Leno in goal given Cech’s abysmal record at saving penalties.

I think we’ll probably see three central defenders deployed as playing two worked better when we had Aaron Ramsey as one of the midfield trio, but sadly we’ll never see him in an Arsenal shirt again as he’s injured for tonight and on his way to Juventus shortly. He might have been just the player we needed tonight given his form when he has played this season and his penchant for cup final goals. Certainly missing him as well as Mkhitaryan tonight will decrease our creative abilities from the midfield as well as taking two players who know how to find the back of the net out of the reckoning.

In midfield I expect an axis of Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira with Mesut Ozil playing behind Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The front two have been crucial for us this season and surely we will be depending on them again tonight. I know he misses his fair share of chances, but Aubameyang might just be the difference between the teams tonight.

At the other end if we can keep the ball from Hazard and stop him when he has it Chelsea will struggle. He is by far their biggest threat and we have to be fully aware of his ability to go down very easily in our box. I’d hate to lose this final to a dodgy penalty, but there are few players more capable of fooling a referee than Hazard.

It’s been 13 years since our last European final and that didn’t end well despite us leading for so long with 10 men. We only have two European trophies to our name and it would be so sweet to add to that tally considering we have lost four European finals too. Two of those finals went against us on penalties and I really hope this game doesn’t go to penalties too as I don’t have the greatest confidence in our ability from 12 yards.

There’s an awful lot at stake for us tonight when you consider how big this game and it’s rewards are. Playing in the Champions League and the money that goes with it is so important as well as making it easier to attract new players it would also mean we can afford to spend more on them too and maybe get a better class of player. There’s also a big shiny trophy to be won and after all surely that’s what football is all about.

COME ON THE ARSENAL !!!

Formation 

5 at back

4 with Ramsey 

Arsenal Show Some Backbone As Baku Beckons

Arsenal went to Valencia last night for the second leg of their Europa League semi final knowing nothing short of qualifying for the final would do in their quest for Champions League football for next season. After winning the first leg 3-1 at home last week they had a lead to protect, but their recent Premier League form gave us real cause for concern. I was far from confident of making the final and the early goal to Valencia looked like it might be just what they needed to overcome the deficit.

I hadn’t factored in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang having his best game in his 16 months at the club though and he equalised soon afterwards. Half time came and went with the tie still in the balance before Alexandre Lacazette gave us the lead on the night and left Valencia with a huge hill to climb. They did manage to equalise, but enter Aubameyang again with two more cracking goals to give us a 4-2 win on the night and a 7-3 win on aggregate.

In the other semi final Chelsea scraped through against Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties to set up another all English final in Baku on May 29th. Playing the final in Baku has it’s problems for Arsenal as UEFA can’t currently guarantee the safety of Henrikh Mkhitaryan due to the ongoing political situation between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It’s comical that UEFA have allowed the final to be played in a country with some much hatred for others and it’s not as if they couldn’t have seen it coming.

Mkhitaryan didn’t travel when Arsenal played away to Quarbag earlier this season for the very same reason. Officially Arsenal chose not to pick him in the squad for that game, but ultimately it came down to his nationality. UEFA have had time to consider a solution since then in the knowledge that Arsenal have been second favourites to win the trophy all along. 

Personally I think the game should be moved to a country where you don’t need to get assurances of player safety for a European Final because the locals can’t be trusted. I have no doubt the game will go ahead in Baku though and Arsenal will have to do without a very good player which will surely be an advantage to Chelsea. With so many travel arrangements already made I doubt if the game could be moved, but UEFA have a lot to answer for.

Back to all things bright and beautiful though and the attitude and commitment shown by the players last night was magnificent. I wondered beforehand if they had being saving their best performances for the Europa League and I don’t think we need to wonder any more. Without a doubt we would be in with a much better chance of finishing in the top four if the players had performed in the league in any way similar to any or all of their last five Europa League games.

If we win the final and qualify for next season’s Champions League all will be sweetness and nice, but failure to do so will lead to some very serious questions being asked. Option one is obviously my preferred option and we can worry about the state of our squad and style of play when we have a trophy in the cabinet. Hopefully that will be the case and we will have the whole summer to start work on the rebuild that is so badly needed, but at least it will be from a position of strength. It has to be a lot easier to attract the players we will be chasing if we have that trophy and the prospect of Champions League football next season too.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

It’s Do Or Die For Arsenal Tonight

After last night’s events in Amsterdam the impending sense of doom as an Arsenal fan increased by at least ten fold. What Spurs did to come back and win that game was something that is so far beyond Arsenal that it’s not even comprehensible. It means they will play Liverpool in the Champions League final on June 1st while we have our chance to make it to the Europa League final tonight.

I for one will be wholeheartedly behind Liverpool on that night, but Arsenal need to do their part too. If we can progress tonight we will play the final in Baku three days before the Champions League final and it would give us a chance to get something on the board before Spurs play. For us to end the season with a European trophy when they have had their best season in 58 years would be some consolation and it would be even better if Liverpool beat them.

I’m fairly confident of Liverpool doing just that, but my confidence in Arsenal living up to their part of the deal is considerably less. My confidence in them progressing to the final isn’t even all that high and who can blame given our recent performances. Four points from our last six games against teams below us in the league has blown our top four chances and left us with the Europa League as our only realistic route to Champions League football for next season.

Third place was well within our reach with all the other contenders faltering too, but we blew it big style. With United playing at home to already relegated Cardiff on Sunday the chances are we will finish sixth if we don’t win our game at Burnley at the same time. My confidence in the team winning that game is hovering somewhere around zero at the moment and it could go even lower after tonight.

Unai Emery has made some big mistakes in team selection, tactics and substitutions recently, but he has a chance to make some amends tonight. We went to Napoli in the second leg in the last round with a two goal lead and progressed after winning 1-0 on the night. We have a two goal lead tonight too, but crucially for Valencia they managed an away goal at our place last week.

There is going to be an awful lot of pressure on the players tonight to put in a performance to get us to that final, but pressure isn’t something they have coped with well recently with the exception of our European games. Valencia aren’t a bad side, but Napoli were better and we rose to the challenge in both legs against them. Even in the home leg against Valencia last week we came back from 1-0 down to win 3-1 despite almost always falling to pieces when we have gone behind in games recently.

We need to be really tight at the back tonight and it’s something these players struggle to do on a regular basis. With Valencia needing to push on we can hopefully exploit any space behind their defence with the pace of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Despite missing his fair share of chances he is still right up there with the leading scores in the Premier League and the goals both him and Alexandre Lacazette have scored this season have gotten us out of a lot of tricky situations.

It’s the lack of goals from our midfield that has been our real attacking problem for me, but our biggest problem is undoubtedly our defence. When the same players make the same stupid mistakes time after time it beggars belief, but it just keeps happening anyway. The penalty Granit Xhaka gave away against Brighton on Sunday was a case in point and there can’t be too many of us who didn’t know exactly what was going to happen when he attempted to break up the Brighton attack. Sure he wasn’t helped by the terrible pass from Henrikh Mkhitaryan to gift them possession, but he didn’t engage his brain for a single second in how he dealt with it.

Shkodran Mustafi has the ability to do exactly the same thing to us at any given time, but I have no doubt both of them will be playing tonight. To be honest the manager has very few options due to the squad size and the players he has absent through injury so we all have a fairly good idea which players will be playing. Maybe he’ll pull something out of the hat, but with so much resting on this game and I would be very surprised if he did.

As I said already my confidence isn’t high, but I live in hope. The events of the last two nights have shown us anything can happen in football and maybe that will include us making it to the final. I know Valencia will take heart from the comebacks of Liverpool and Spurs, but I choose to hope for those games giving us hope of what would be a reversal in our fortunes. 

I really worry how we will react if they score first, but last week did show we are capable of keeping our heads at least. Our reaction to going behind in away games has been different though and it has made us all question the mental strength of the players. Maybe they can show tonight that it is something that they do possess. I had wondered before last week if the players had been saving their best performances for the Europa League and they showed as much in that game. It’s time for them to show us how much it means to them again tonight and maybe raise our hopes just a little after such a dismal end to the season.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Get A Little Closer To Baku

With our top four hopes marginal at best Arsenal have nearly all of their eggs in the Europa League basket and they took another step towards the final at home to Valencia last night. It was a night that started badly with Valencia scoring first after only 11 minutes, but Arsenal were ahead within 15 minutes of that goal and they added a crucial third goal right at the end of the match. While a two goal advantage going into the away leg is quite good the away goal Valencia got is definitely worrying.

While the defensive performance from Arsenal wasn’t great the front two certainly made up for it with excellent performances. Both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were really up for it and besides scoring the three goals between them they also harried and chased the Valencia defenders from the first minute to the last. Like quite a few others I’ve been critical of both players recently, but then again I’ve been critical of most of the rest of the team too.

I wondered before the game whether the players had been playing so badly recently because the semi finals were weighing on their minds and after last night that seems quite possible. They definitely showed an awful lot more desire and commitment than they did in their previous three league which all ended in defeat. The chances of a top four finish aren’t dead just yet though and a win at home to Brighton on Sunday mighy just reignite them if Chelsea drop any points at home to Watford earlier in the day.

I thought we were good value for our win last night despite Valencia having a few chances of their own. It’s easy to be critical of our defence, but at this level you have to expect the opposition to make chances and we had the best of the chances by a long way last night. It remains to be seen if we can create enough chances away from home to get an away goal which might just prove crucial to our hopes. From the evidence of last night I think our pace in attack is a real asset in that away game and performances anything like last night from our strikers should hopefully be enough to get us through to the final.

Looking towards Sunday it’s really a matter of who’s up to playing as the hectic schedule looks to be taking it’s toll on the players. Laurent Koscielny looked like he had to go off last night as he had nothing left after giving his all yet again and I thought the team as a while looked very tired towards the end with the exception of the two strikers. It’s been a very busy time for all the players recently which hasn’t been helped by our wafer thin squad.

The long term absences of Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck as well as the recent loss of Aaron Ramsey denied us of four players who would have been crucial to the squad at such a busy time. The fact that the arrivals of Stephan Lichsteiner and Denis Suarez didn’t work out denied us two more players and those losses have added to the work load for other players. I really don’t know if they have enough in the tank to keep our top four hopes alive until the final day of the season by beating Brighton on Sunday.

On the face of it we should have an easy task against a team with only one goal in their last seven games, but it might not be so. They will either be playing for the result they need to assure their Premier League survival or free of any shakles if Cardiff don’t win their game against Palace. I hope we can get the win and a few goals to go with it would be great, but keeping players fit for next Thursday night is fairly important too.

We’ll have an idea of what we will have to do before the game depending on how Chelsea do against Watford earlier in the day. They have to go to Leicester on the final day and that’s no easy game either, but our trip to Burnley is a tough one too. Despite looking dead and buried I think we will fall behind United if we don’t win our last two games as they have two easy games and it would be a real blow to finish sixth again so we really need to win our last two games.

Finally with the Europa League final in Baku it’s a serious haul for Arsenal fans if we do make it. My brother in law spends half of the year in Dubai and he got himself a ticket as he’s actually nearer to Baku than London is. I hope he gets to use that ticket watching the team he has supported since he was born next to the stadium play in the final and lift the trophy.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Europa League Trip To Napoli Previewed

Our Europa League quarter final first leg at home to Napoli last week couldn’t have gone much better with a two goal win and a clean sheet to boot. It leaves us in a healthy situation going into the second leg tonight, but we still have a fair bit to do to guarantee a semi final spot against the winners of the Eintreacht Frankfurt and Benfica tie. Normally you would think we’re in a very healthy position, but our away form has left so much to be desired this season.

Our cause wasn’t helped by having to play at Watford on Monday night in the Premier League, but playing on Sunday wouldn’t have been much better as we had played our first leg against Napoli last Thursday night. It’s that time of the season where teams challenging for trophies have to try to get the best they have from the players available twice a week. After playing Napoli we have to play at home to Palace on Sunday and away to Wolves on Wednesday night. 

Unai Emery has to judge which players are up to starting against Napoli and which ones need a rest to prevent possible injuries. At the same time he also needs to pick a strong enough team to insure qualification for the last four while keeping the games against Palace and Wolves in mind too. Our chances of a top four finish are probably a little better than our chances of winning the Europa League, but I have no doubt the manager would like both and who can blame him if that is the case.

We have to hope Laurent Koscielny will be fit to play after taking a knock at Watford on Monday night while Sokratis Papastathopoulos is bound to start as he’s suspended from domestic games. With both Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles starting on the bench against Watford you would imagine they will both play, but a lot will depend on the formation. If he’s up to it hopefully Lucas Torreira can start too with one of Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka partnering him in midfield. The midfield axis will need to offer support to our defence quite often even if we play three central defenders.

Alexandre Lacazette sat out that win at Watford on Monday night which could well see him lead the line tonight. With Mesut Ozil starting that game on the bench he might be in line for a call up tonight even if he did play the second half on Monday night. It’s going to be a tough night for us and Ozil’s ability to hold on to the ball and make chances for others could be crucial. With Napoli having to push for goals I would have thought Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s pace on the break would be crucial tonight so we might see him play up front or out wide as well as Lacazette.

That win at Watford was far from impressive considering they had 10 men for almost 80 minutes of the game, but it was a hugely important three points. They moved us into the top four and our chances of staying there are increasing with each game at the moment. I’d be surprised if we catch Spurs considering their run in, but we can stay ahead of both United and Chelsea as they both have to play each other and have some other tricky games too. I think we will finish ahead of Chelsea if we win three of our last five games while we might need a point more to see off the challenge of United.

Back to tonight and our chances of making the Europa League semi finals for the second season in a row. The events at the Etihad last night showed how unpredictable football can be, but they also made our need to make the semi finals even more important in my opinion. Spurs might just make it to the Champions League Final before bottling it and it would be simply magnificent if we could win a European trophy when they fail to do so regardless of which trophy it is.

I can’t imagine we will try to defend too deep tonight because it really isn’t our strong point and I think we might have to score in order to progress. I wasn’t impressed with Napoli defensively last week and I think we will make the last four if we can take just one of the chances which come our way. We certainly go into the game in a very strong position and I am optimistic about our chances despite the evidence of our away form in the majority of our games this season.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.