Arsenal’s Trip To Rennes Previewed

With the battle for a top four place in the Premier League in full flow Arsenal have the distraction of the Europa League knock out stages to contend with this evening. While the Premier League might seem so much more important at the moment they still have to give their all in the Europa League considering the rewards available in it. As well as a Champions League spot for next season for the winner there is also quite a wad of money to be made from the competition.

If I’m not mistaken Arsenal made close to €40 million from reaching the Europa League semi finals last season and winning the competition would increase that prize. They also played seven home games in the competition last season and a conservative estimate for match day income from those games would probably be another €25 to €30 million. While the Champions League offers more filthy lucre the amount available from the Europa League can’t be ignored either.

Of course they have bagged some of that money already with four games behind them and the return leg to come next week, but the further you go in the competition the greater the rewards become. The importance of the extra income from European football can’t be overstated as it adds greatly to the transfer kitty. While it might not be the most glamorous competition winning the Europa League could bring in somewhere north of €75 million from all sources and that would certainly buy a very good player or two.

Anyway to the game and Arsenal’s chances against a team who had no fixture last weekend so they could rest ahead of this game while we had to play a hard fought local derby. I can’t say I know an awful lot about Rennes, but this is a very big game for them and a chance to take the scalp of the sixth richest club in the world. They’re currently slap bang in the middle of their domestic league with almost as many defeats as wins this season.

We have another huge game on Sunday against a United team who got an unbelievably lucky penalty decision to put them through to the last eight of the Champions League last night. We lost at home to them in the cup already this season and it’s hard to believe Unai Emery won’t have one eye on that game with his team selection this evening. United have a lot of injury problems building up at the moment, but they have coped with them pretty well so far.

I think the manager has to go with Pierre-Emireck Aubameyang up front with Alexandre Lacazette suspended for both legs which should see Lacazette start on Sunday. In midfield Lucas Torreira will surely start in both legs as he has a three game domestic ban to serve. We could see the return from injury of Ainsley Maitland-Niles in defence with Petr Cech playing in goal.

There could be some more rotation from Saturday too and the manager might well be tempted to play the same team against United as the one that started against Spurs. With the exception of the Shkodran Mustafi mistake for the penalty (which was offside anyway) the team were very disciplined against Spurs and I think he’ll look for more of the same against United. That will surely influence his team selection tonight with those who missed out on Saturday quite possibly starting today.

We could well see both Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac come into the team and there’s even a possibility the player we signed on loan in January could get his first start. I’m still not sure why we brought Denis Suarez in, but we took one of the few players available I suppose and I remain to be convinced that it wasn’t a massive waste of time. Even with those six or seven changes we would have a fairly strong team and one which would belie our supposed lack of squad depth.

With three players on the long term injury list we could still draft in Aubameyang, Ozil, Torreira, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Cech and Suarez which would only leave only four of the team that should have got more than a point against Spurs having to play. Those four will probably be Mustafi in the centre of defence with either Laurent Koscielny or Sokratis Papastathopoulos getting a much needed rest, one of Matteo Guendouzi or Granit Xhaka in midfield and one of Alex Iwobi or Henrikh Mkhitaryan in midfield/attack. It’s a strong enough team to go there and get the win or failing that to at least leave us in with a very good chance ahead of the return leg next week.

Our chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League are still a lot easier through the Premier League, but the Europa League cannot be ignored as a back up plan as well as a chance of some actual silverware. After the United game we finish the league with eight games which are all well within our capabilities of winning and I have no doubt a good return from those games will give us a real chance of finishing in the top four. For the moment though it’s all systems go on the reserve plan against Rennes this evening.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Huddersfield Previewed

Arsenal’s defeat to City last Sunday saw them give up their brief hold on fourth place as Chelsea and United both moved above them. There’s a long way to go in the fight for that all important top four place though and Arsenal are still in with a fighting chance of making it their own. If they’re going to make it they’re going to have to improve their away form starting from tomorrow’s trip to Huddersfield.

As away games go in the Premier League this season a trip to Huddersfield is as easy as they come and nothing other than three points will suffice. Huddersfield have taken less points and scored less goals at home than any other team and they have lost their last six home games. If we’re going to have any chance of keeping pace with Chelsea and United we quite simply cannot drop any points against Huddersfield.

Unfortunately I can’t say I’m overly confident of winning the game though because we have been nothing short of a disaster away from home for the last couple of months. We haven’t won in our last six games on the road and we’re the only team in the Premier League without a clean sheet away from home. The second half against City last week was so bad that we never even managed a single shot at their goal.

Unai Emery came in to replace Arsene Wenger last summer and it was probably a change which was well overdue. I hoped he would instill his style on the team and we could see some genuine hope of progress, but it’s actually getting progressively worse at the moment. I’m not for one moment suggesting we should part ways with him, but I think he needs to stand by his convictions and build for the future rather than trying to stumble from week to week seemingly without a clue as to where we are going.

He can’t seem to settle on a syestem or get the best out of some of his players such as Mesut Ozil. He may have his detractors, but surely a team lacking creativity cannot continue to overlook their most creative player for almost every game. Nobody knows for sure what the manager’s problem is with Ozil, but it’s pretty obvious at this stage that he would prefer to play without him.

Of course our chances aren’t being helped by our current spate of injuries and we are really struggling to find a defence that fits the name. Rob Holding was just looking like he was ready to fulfill his potential when his season ended abruptly away to United while Hector Bellerin’s season finished prematurely only a few weeks ago. Bellerin was our main attacking outlet on the right side and we’re really struggling to find a half adequate replacement at the moment while Holding was the only central defender who looked up to the task this season.

We have to make do with the players we have though and the best way to overcome our defensive issues is to make sure we click in attack. In the last few games we just aren’t making enough chances away from home in particular while we’re still letting in far too many. We need to find a way to put more emphasis on our attacking away from home and there can be no better opportunity than the game against Huddersfield.

I think we have become too easy for others teams to play against away from home and we have to find the confidence to change that. When we attack we’re far too vulnerable on the break and when we try to defend we keep making individual errors time after time. When the opposition sit deep we really struggle to open them up and we really struggle when teams close us down. 

All of these are issues that have to be ironed out on the training ground and that’s where the frustration is with the manager. We thought we were getting a tactically astute manager who could shape the players in the way Wenger seemed unable to do, but instead it’s almost impossible to see any real change from last season. I know he has to deal with a squad that’s mostly not of his own making, but surely he can depart some sort of wisdom to them.

As bad as we have been away from home I still think we will take the three points and if we can win by a few goals we will probably get a lot closer to Chelsea as they travel to City on Sunday. I expect United to win their game and the way their season has turned since the arrival of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer we could really struggle to keep up with them. They do have some tough games coming up and we will need to beat them when they come to the Emirates in a few weeks.

The manager will probably have Henrikh Mkhitaryan available for selection tomorrow as he has recovered from the injury he picked up against Spurs and I think he might well be given the role behind Pierre-Emireck Aubameyang and/or Alexandre Lacazette. With Ozil out of favour and Aaron Ramsey on his merry way in the summer I think Mkhitaryan and new boy Denis Suarez could be his first options to try to add some creativity to the team. Whoever he picks we have to approach the game in a far more positive manner than we have done in recent away games.

We have tried to sit on a lead when we have had it and utterly failed against Brighton and Palace while we tried to keep pace with Liverpool and were taken apart. We just didn’t show up at West Ham which is what happened in the second half at City last week where we seemed content to keep the score as low as possible. Surely the manager can get the players confidence to a level where they can go out and dominate a team who are almost just waiting for relegation to be finalised.

I’m not trying to be disrespectful to Huddersfield, but the change of manager didn’t bring the kick it usually does for struggling teams and I can’t see how they can avoid relegation at this stage. They try to play attractive football though and they are to be admired for it, but they are toothless in attack which is why they have only taken one point from their last 12 games. If we approach this game in the right way then that should be one point from 13 games and we should get our fifth away win of the season.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Manchester City Previewed

Arsenal moved into fourth place in the league during the week when Chelsea were thumped 4-0 at Bournemouth after Arsenal had made a meal of beating Cardiff 2-1 the previous night. Their ultimate goal this season is a top four finish and the reward of Champions League football for next season, but it won’t be easy. Chelsea bounced back with a 5-0 win against Huddersfield yesterday and Arsenal need to match that scoreline to move above them again today.

Of course the season doesn’t end today and it’s where we finish in May that counts, but we can’t afford to lose too much ground either. As away games go they don’t come much tougher than a trip to the reigning champions who have won 11 of their 12 home games with the only blot on their copybook coming in a 3-2 defeat against Palace. If Arsenal can somehow match that performance from Palace that might be their best chance of getting something from the game today.

Trying to match what Palace did won’t be easy though because City surely can’t be as complacent at the back as they were in that game and we don’t have the players to take them apart on the break like Palace did. Maybe Denis Suarez will be that player now that we’ve got him on loan from Barcelona, but I’d be very surprised if he started today. I would be very surprised to see Mesut Ozil in the team too as he usually sits out tough away games for one reason or another.

We have so many injuries already that the losses of both Granit Xhaka and Ainsley Maitland-Niles will only make things worse and Unai Emery has a job on his hands to put together a strong defence. There will be players like Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal who are just back from injuries themselves and possibly Carl Jenkinson who has hardly kicked a ball for us in two years. Whatever team he puts out has to be disciplined in defence and that’s something we have not mastered away from home even once this season as we’re without a clean sheet on our league travels.

I’m not saying we can’t get a result of some sort today, but all the evidence would point to us losing and probably losing badly too. Let’s hope the manager can pull something out of the hat and surprise us all and astound the critics. I certainly don’t expect anything like that, but we can only live in hope.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.