49, 49 Undefeated

It was a very good weekend for Arsenal considering they didn’t play and they went out in the last 32 of the Europa League on Thursday night. Firstly only one of the teams ahead of us in the fight for fifth (or maybe even fourth) place managed to win and we have to consider ourselves in with a shout if we can put a decent run together. Secondly what seemed inevitable for Liverpool this season suddenly ended as they fell short of matching the “Invincibles” unbeaten Premier League season.

Liverpool might have the league as good as won already and the pressure was mounting on them to beat all sorts of records on the way to lifting the title. Three of those records went by the wayside when they lost 3-0 away to the team in second last place in the league on Saturday evening. Not only did they fail to match our unbeaten season of 2003/4, but they failed to better our record of 49 unbeaten games and 55 continuous games in which we scored.

The detractors will say there is nothing special about going a season unbeaten and Liverpool have already won as many games as Arsenal won that season. Their points haul so far is certainly incredibly impressive, but the level of consistency we showed to go unbeaten for the whole season was an incredible feat too and Liverpool learned how you cannot let your standards slip for even one game if you want to match it. I have no doubt they will go on to win the league, but you can’t deny their form has dipped since their two week mid season break.

There have been a few times since that incredible 2004 season when I thought others were in with a chance of matching Arsenal as Chelsea and Manchester City in particular seemed almost certain to do so. Each of them failed in their attempts just like Liverpool did and our incredible achievement remains ours alone with the exception of a 19th century team doing so well over 100 years before us. In a season full of disappointments so far that has to be one that we can at least celebrate.

It’s FA Cup action for Arsenal tonight when a place in the last eight is up for grabs at Portsmouth. They’re two leagues below us and on the face of it we couldn’t have asked for a better draw unless it was at home, but Fratton Park is never an easy place to get a result. The result from Thursday night will still be fresh in the memories of the players and they have to show a reaction to that result by advancing in the FA Cup tonight.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mikel Arteta make wholesale changes to the team, but he has to be sure he has enough strength and quality in the starting 11 to get the job done. If he does make a lot of changes I hope he has a very strong bench to call on in case it is needed to get us over the line or back into the game. The FA Cup might not be the most glamorous trophy any more, but it’s still a route to the Europa League and we’re struggling on that front at the moment.

Champions League qualification might be our goal for this season, but the FA Cup is our only back up plan if our hopes of making it or the Europa League through our final league position fail. I hope to see the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi and Rob Holding staking a claim for more game time tonight and given what happened last Thursday they should all believe they have a chance of getting it. I’ll be happy to progress to the next round however we do it and then let the players concentrate on putting some league points on the board over the next few weeks.

That’s it for today.

Arsenal Ride Their Luck To Beat Everton

Yesterday was a very big day for Arsenal in their quest to finish in the top five or possibly even the top four in the Premier League this season. They’re in the middle of a run of games which they can and probably should win, but Everton looked to be the toughest of those opponents. Since they installed Carlo Ancelotti they have climbed the table steadily and harbour the same ambitions as Arsenal in the league this season.

After Spurs lost to Chelsea on Saturday it gave us the chance to move to within four points of fourth place and only three behind our local rivals. The teams fighting for the possible Champions League place that goes with fifth place are all packed very tightly and we just couldn’t miss an opportunity to get right amongst them. It wasn’t going to be easy though after our exploits on Thursday night in Greece where we got a very good away lead in our Europa League round of 32 leg.

Mikel Arteta made six changes from that game on Thursday night with Sead Kolasinac, Hector Bellerin, Dani Ceballos, Nicolas Pepe, Mesut Ozil and Eddie Nketiah all coming into the team. We got a fair idea of which players he sees as crucial to his plans with the five players who remained in the team and those five could be asked to do an awful lot between now and the end of the season.

I suppose Hector Bellerin and Bukayo Saka could be added to that list too, but he had good reasons for Bellerin not playing on Thursday and Saka not starting yesterday. Bellerin isn’t back too long since his injury and overplaying him could be dangerous while Saka is still only 18 and probably deserved a rest. As it was Saka was called on early in the game to replace the injured Kolasinac and the crowd were very happy with his introduction.

We were already 1-0 down at that stage after what can be best described as shambolic defending saw Everton take the lead inside the first minute. Dominic Calvert-Lewin did very well with his overhead finish, but I wasn’t the only one who thought VAR should have intervened as his foot made slight contact with the head of David Luiz which surely made it dangerous play. At least we had the full length of the game to make our comeback.

We didn’t really seem to be making much of an impression until Saka came and found Nketiah with a fantastic cross. The finish from Nketiah was pretty good too and we took control of the game for most of the rest of the first half. It didn’t take us too long to go ahead when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang raced through to finish in Thierry Henry fashion after a fantastic pass from Luiz.

Unfortunately we pressed the self destruct button again in added time at the end of the first half. Maybe Richarlison’s studs were a bit high when he finished, but Bernd Leno probably could have done more to prevent the goal too. Everton had played well in the first half, but it took two errors from us for them to score their goals.

We started the second half even faster than Everton had started the first half as Aubameyang headed us in front again from a pinpoint Pepe cross. I hoped we would continue to press forward and add to our lead, but the players appeared to tire badly as the game progressed. I have no doubt Thursday night’s exploits played a part in that and I was happy we managed to hold on to our lead despite some scary moments.

We play our second leg against Olympiakos on Thursday night, but we don’t have a Premier League game this weekend because of the Carabao Cup Final. Our next four league games are against teams in the bottom half of the table and they give us a great opportunity to get right into the battle for the top four. We need to do everything we can to win those four games if we are to have any chance of qualifying for next season’s Champions League through the usual route.

It’s quite amazing that Aubameyang is now the joint leading scorer in the Premier League as he’s part of an Arsenal team who are still searching to find their attacking identity. Until yesterday they had improved defensively under Arteta, but at least they managed to find a way to win the game when their defending let them down. Players are stepping up when the team needs it and it really looks like we’re beginning to find an identity as a team. There’s a long way to go and the squad needs to be strengthened in the summer, but we do have some players who can go a long way with us and the manager is showing with each passing game that he looks more than capable of doing so too.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Beat Bournemouth To Reach The FA Cup Fifth Round

Last night went pretty well for Arsenal all things considered as they won 2-1 away to Bournemouth to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup. Mikel Arteta picked a mixture of youth and experience with Bukayo Saka, Matteo Guendouzi, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah, Emiliano Martinez and Gabriel Martinelli all getting a chance from the start. He also played the recovering Hector Bellerin who was the captain on the night as well as Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Granit Xhaka and Nicolas Pepe.

The young players approached the game as if they had something to prove as Arsenal went on the front foot from the very first minute. A great 22 pass move involving all 10 outfield players ended up with Saka blasting the ball past the Bournemouth keeper to give us the lead after only five minutes. Rather than sit on their laurels Arsenal continued to dominate despite being away from home and a second goal seemed almost inevitable.

That goal came 20 minutes later when Nketiah had the easy task of stroking the ball home after Arsenal played through the attempted Bournemouth press. It was that man Saka who set it up for him, but yet again it was another great team move from back to front. As the first half progressed Bournemouth gradually came out of their shell, but Martinez wasn’t called upon until shortly before the break and he was up to the task.

Bournemouth took a more agricultural approach after the break as they attempted to “put it up ‘em” and put the frighteners on this young Arsenal team. Enter Guendouzi who was simply having none of it as he got stuck in winning tackles and giving as good as he got. I don’t know if it’s Arteta’s influence which was showing in him last night, but whatever it was he was very impressive.

A word for Joe Willock too who I said yesterday might be the player in our midfield to break into the opposition box given the chance. His ability to carry the ball towards the Bournemouth defence was very impressive too and there is a real case for him to play in that role more often. With so many young players willing to give it their all when they get a chance the future certainly looks promising.

I haven’t forgotten Martinelli or Nketiah with the former putting in another great shift and the later doing what he does best and putting the ball in the back of the net. When they were backed up by a disciplined Xhaka the team had a great shape although Xhaka still managed a couple of his usual lapses. He’s being asked to play a deeper role than previously and he’s growing into it as well as regaining the respect of the fans after the incident against Palace earlier in the season.

Bournemouth came into the game a lot more after the break, but for all their huffing and puffing they rarely threatened the Arsenal goal. We were a little vulnerable on crosses as Martinez struggled to impose himself and he got away with a couple of poor punches from those crosses. There wasn’t a lot he could do about the Bournemouth goal when it did come, but at least it was late enough to cause us little bother for the rest of the game.

The goal came in the fifth of almost 11 added minutes at the end of the game and the main reason for all that added time was a very unfortunate injury to Mustafi. He was actually having a very good game on the night and I can’t remember him putting a foot wrong at any stage. The traveling fans were so impressed they were even singing his praises at one stage which is surely something we haven’t heard in a long time.

The injury to Mustafi only increases our need to add a central defender with Calum Chambers already out for the rest of the season and Rob Holding still looking like he has a way to go to get back to form after his injury. We have been linked with a couple of players and it looks like a deal might be on the cards before the transfer window closes on Friday night. If it happens I think it will probably be the only deal we do.

The draw for the fifth round was made before the game and we will face another trip to the south coast to play League One side Portsmouth in early March. We’re getting towards the business end of the FA Cup and a win against Portsmouth would put us through to the last eight if we can do it. I won’t quite say I can smell the sweet air of a Wembley final, but who knows where we might end up come May.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Leeds United: FA Cup Preview

With their first win under the stewardship of Mikel Arteta under their belts Arsenal head into FA Cup action tonight when Leeds United come calling. It’s the only competition we have won since 2004 and the three wins in the last six seasons were a welcome boost to our morale and our trophy cabinet. During that time the greatest Spurs team since who knows when failed to win a single trophy of any significance, but I suppose that’s nothing new for them at least.

There’s two trains of thought on the FA Cup this season I suppose with the prospect of one of the major trophies always something to be aspired to, but we also have to be conscious of our requirements on other fronts. Finishing in the top four has to be our number one priority, but it’s going to be very difficult for us considering how the season has gone so far even with the hope Arteta’s arrival has brought. If we can’t finish in the top four the Europa League is the only other way of getting into next season’s Champions League and it has to be prioritised too.

That doesn’t leave much consideration for the FA Cup no matter whether we have won it more times than any other club or not. The thing is though as it stands we won’t even qualify for the Europa League for next season and it might just be a good idea to treat the cup seriously as a back up plan for Europa League qualification. It’s not exactly a nice thought to consider finishing outside the Europa League places in the Premier League, but it’s one that has to be considered at least.

I still think a top four finish is within our grasp as those above us have been almost as inconsistent as we have so far until you reach the top three. It’s going to be a big ask though as we still have to travel to City, Chelsea and Spurs as well as playing at home to Liverpool and Leicester. It’s hard not to be optimistic though after the performance and win against United and even the performances against Chelsea and Bournemouth.

I don’t think we have to go all out with our team selection tonight, but I think we need to make sure we have plenty to offer from the bench in case things aren’t going our way. Leeds have a pretty good away record so far this season with eight wins in their 14 games and they have scored more goals on the road than any other team in the Championship. They’re currently on top of the table and a return to the Premier League has to be their primary concern so they could be tempted into a fair few changes tonight too.

There’s a possibility we’ll see up to four players returning from injury tonight with Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Dani Ceballos and Gabriel Martinelli all possibly available. Those four will all be pushing for a place in our strongest team so they will add real strength to the squad and some quality to the team tonight if they start. We could also Eddie Nketiah play up front after he was recalled from his loan spell at Leeds and he has a lot to offer too.

Otherwise I expect to see Matteo Guendouzi and Nicolas Pepe both start tonight. Guendouzi is currently seen as being behind both Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka in our strongest 11 and he needs a bit of game time while Pepe has been out of favour so long that he can’t be suffering from the fatigue others might have from the busy festive schedule. I wouldn’t mind seeing Pepe and Martinelli on either side of the attack with Nketiah through the middle and Ceballos behind them.

Whatever team we play we will be expected to win though because we’re at home to a side from the league below us. With Leeds likely to rotate too I think we should be strong enough to win through to the next round and we definitely don’t want a replay. Most of all I hope to see the players continue the progress they have shown under Arteta and for those who get a chance tonight to really try to make an impression as well as winning of course.

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.

Arsenal’s FA Cup Trip To Blackpool Previewed

Arsenal face a tricky FA Cup third round trip to Blackpool this evening. With fourth place in the Premier League their first priority and the Europa League in second place it leaves the FA Cup a distant third. It’s a competition we have won more than any other club though and we have won it three times in the last five seasons too.

I have no doubt Unai Emery will make a few changes from the team that struggled to find any rhythm against Fulham, but still managed to win 4-1. The festive schedule was very tough for every team and the players are bound to be tired so he has a chance to rest a few weary legs as well as giving some game time to those on the fringes. Our next league game isn’t until next week so there is plenty of time for players to regroup and regain their strength.

I imagine we will see Petr Cech in goal with Ainsley Maitland-Niles in defence and maybe even Zach Medley too. The rest of the defence will probably be made of more first choice players, but I would hope Laurent Koscielny is rested as he clearly needs a little more recovery time from his long injury lay off. We might see Carl Jenkinson too, but I have a feeling he doesn’t really feature in the manager’s plans.

In midfield both Mohamed Elneny and Matteo Guendouzi should feature and Aaron Ramsey must be a shoe-in seeming as he didn’t start against Fulham. If the reports are to be believed he has more or less signed a pre-contract agreement with Juventus and will join them on a free transfer in the summer. It has also been reported that he turned down a bigger offer from PSG and we turned down a cash offer from Juventus to take him immediately. I would be surprised if we turned down a good fee considering he will go for free in the summer, but our squad is very short at the moment and he certainly has a part to play for the rest of the season.

If all three of those players do play it doesn’t leave too much room for Bukayo Saka, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith-Rowe. All four of them would hope to play from the start today, but we might only see two of them with the others possibly coming off the bench. I wouldn’t be surprised if Alexandre Lacazette was in the team too as he might have a little more in the tank than others considering how often he has been substituted recently.

We beat Blackpool 2-1 at the Emirates a few months ago in the Carabao Cup and it won’t be too easy to repeat that on their patch. They’re a mid-table League One team and we can’t take them too lightly, but equally it’s a game we should win. There’s talk of a boycott by the home fans which means there might well be more Arsenal fans than Blackpool fans at the game which would be a little odd to say the least.

I imagine the manager will have a strong bench in case he needs to call on a few first teamers to rescue the game. Arsene Wenger made the mistake of giving himself no real options from the bench at this stage last season when we went out 4–2 away to Nottingham Forest. The FA Cup might not be our first priority, but I would be very surprised if the manager didn’t want to go as far as possible in a competition which has been out only route to silverware since 2004.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Road To Nowhere For Arsenal

With qualification for the last 32 of the Europa League already in the bag Arsenal face the long trek to play FC Vorskla in the Ukraine tomorrow night. Due to the current political climate and the introduction of Martial Law in some parts of the Ukraine the game has been moved from Vorskla to Kiev and even then it’s not certain to go ahead. It’s a crazy situation and who knows what the outcome will be if the game doesn’t go ahead.

With not too much to play for and topping the group a certainty if we win our final game at home to Qarabag Unai Emery has opted to rest most of his first choice players. The only players from Sunday’s starting 11 against Bournemouth who have made the trip are Rob Holding and Henrikh Mkhitaryan and I can only assume they will be in the team. It looks like Holding is the one player who the manager has decided he needs in every single game.

Petr Cech should return to the team with Bernd Leno still at home while Stephan Lichsteiner and Karl Jenkinson should both be in the defence too. In midfield we should see Matteo Guendouzi paired with Mohamed Elneny while I assume Aaron Ramsey will play too. With Danny Welbeck injured it looks like Eddie Nketiah might get the chance to show what he can do from the start.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Emile Smith-Rowe as the final player in the attack which only leaves a central defensive partner for Holding to find. If Ainsley Maitland-Niles can be snuck into the team somewhere that would finalise the lineup and it’s possible he could play in midfield with Elneny dropping back to play in defence. I don’t pretend to know enough about any of the other youngsters in the squad to predict which of them might play, but I’m sure we’ll see one or two at some stage.

Up to now the manager has had a pretty strong bench in our Europa League and Carabao Cup games, but he will have no such luxury in this game. If things are going awry he won’t have any cavalry to call on and he will have to hope the players he has brought can get the job done. With Premier League games against Spurs and United coming up in the next week the manager has to cut his cloth to suit his measure.

We were too strong for Vorskla in the game at the Emirates, but a couple of late goals from them made it look a lot better for them than the final 4-2 scoreline. Vorskla still have a slight chance of qualifying from the group, but only a win will do for them at this stage and even then they would have to win away to Sporting in their final group game. It’s a highly unlikely scenario, but I have no doubt they will give it a go and of course they would like to get one over on Arsenal.

It’s really all about getting this game out of the way for Arsenal and moving on to the important business of Spurs and United. A win would be great, but avoiding defeat would be perfectly acceptable too given the travel and the squad we have brought. The most important thing is that the first choice players will have had plenty of time to prepare for Sunday and hopefully that will pay off.

We are unbeaten in 17 games though and it would be great to continue that run ahead of two huge games for us. All good things must come to an end though and if we have to sacrifice that unbeaten run for the sake of being ready to face United and Spurs then so be it. I have a feeling that run won’t come to an end though and we will get at least a draw from the game.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Brentford: Carabao Cup Preview

The 2-0 win against Everton on Sunday made it five wins in a row in all competitions for Arsenal and four of those were in the league. I’ve always thought you need to average two points per game to have any chance of making an impact in the league and we’re on that average with a good run of games coming up. We had a great home record last season, but we struggled away from home against almost every single team in the league. Two away wins from three games so far is very encouraging with the only defeat coming away to unbeaten Chelsea.

It’s the Carabao Cup for us tonight when Brentford come calling and it’s a competition we reached the final in last season. The less said about that final the better though and it will be interesting to see Unai Emery's take on the lesser of the three domestic trophies we play for. Arsene Wenger used the competition to blood young players for many seasons and gradually strengthened the team as we progressed through the rounds. He never managed to win it though with defeats to Chelsea, Birmingham and City in the final during his reign.

The new man might just be tempted to give it a shot and he certainly played a stronger team than his predecessor would have done in our first Europa League group game last week. He has a great track record in winning trophies and I have no doubt he would love to get first trophy at Arsenal as quickly as possible regardless of the perceived value of the competition. The Premier League has to be our first priority, but trips to Wembley for cup finals are usually a pleasant sideshow.

I would expect a fairly similar team to the one which played last Thursday night, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Alexander Lacazette was the man leading the line this time with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench. Maybe Matteo Guendouzi might start in midfield with Lucas Torreira now looking like the man to anchor the midfield of our first choice 11 and we should see Stephan Lichsteiner, Bernd Leno, Mohamed Elneny and Danny Welbeck play from the start too. With doubts over the fitness of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Sokratis Papastathopoulos I would expect both of them to sit the game out which would see Rob Holding, Shkodran Mustafi and Nacho Monreal in defence and probably Emile Smith-Rowe play in an attacking role. The manager might opt for a slightly less experienced line up and I for one wouldn’t be averse to see Eddie Nketiah and one or two others get a run out from the start or at some stage during the game.

It’s certainly a fairly strong team and which would probably be expected to progress, but you can never take these games for granted as Derby showed us against United last night. Brentford have started the season very well and from the little I have seen of them they play some good football. They will ask plenty of questions of us and the players will have to be on the ball from the start.

We have looked far from at the races in the first half of games in particular this season, but the manager is adept at finding ways to adjust our style and performance. Progression to the next round would be nice and so would making it six wins in a row in all competitions, but ultimately the Carabao Cup is of little importance until we reach a stage where we can smell the chance of a trophy. If we’re going to play a strongish team in the Europa League then it could be at the cost of progress in the Carabao Cup and that would be understandable. 

Of course I want us to win tonight, but the result is not going to make a whole lot of difference to a season which is starting to show a little promise at this stage. Hopefully we’ll win well with the youngsters and fringe players making an impression and none of the players we depend on in our strongest team picking up any knocks. We have some momentum in the Premier League and that’s what has to be of upmost importance to us right now.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v FC Vorskla: Europa League Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Watford Preview

Things took a very pleasant turn for the better for Arsenal on Thursday night when they won 2-0 away to AC Milan in the Europa League. That result leaves them in a very strong position ahead of the second leg on Thursday night and they can concentrate on trying to get a positive result today. They haven’t played well in the Premier League since the 5-2 win at home to Everton a few weeks ago and they need a similar performance today.

It’s been a dreadful year so far for Arsenal with defeat after defeat which has seen the Europa League as their only chance for a trophy this season. The top four and the Champions League football that comes with it is gone too and again the Europa League is the only route back to Europe’s elite competition available to the club. They have to make sure they finish high enough to play in next season’s Europa League though because the teams behind them are closing fast and putting sixth place under threat.

It’s a sad state of affairs for the club when we are looking over our shoulders at Burnley closing in on us in sixth place as we enter the final stages of the season. For the sixth richest club in the world to be struggling to hold on to sixth place in their domestic league is completely unacceptable and it shows how far we are from our true potential. We need to win enough points between now and the end of the season to finish comfortably in sixth starting with today.

We owe Watford one too after they came from behind to win at their ground earlier in the season. We weren’t helped by some bad refereeing decisions, but we were still the architects of our own destruction on the day. We also owe one to Troy Deeney after he told all who would listen to him after the game that we had no “cojones”. 

It will be interesting to see how our players react to him today because if it was me I would certainly “let him know I was there’ early on. As a team we don’t particularly resort to the Spurs tactic of rotational fouling, but I would love the players to decide themselves to do just that on Deeney today. It’s something I can’t see happening though, but I will be pleasantly surprised if we kick him from one end of the pitch to the other.

Having played on Thursday night away from home Arsene Wenger will have to consider making some changes today to keep players fit for next Thursday. If they’re fit again I would expect Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal to play as their replacements both went off injured on Thursday night and would be better off on the bench today for their own sakes if they make the squad. Petr Cech will return in goal, but maybe it’s time for David Ospina to get the nod over him after his two mistakes helped Brighton to beat us last week. I’m not Ospina’s greatest fan and I doubt if the manager will go with him, but the more I see of Cech the more I believe he’s too far past his best to continue as our first choice keeper.

Up front Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is sure to play as he’s a top class striker and was ineligible on Thursday night. He has two league goals to his name since he joined the club at the end of January, but a player with his ability has the potential to destroy the defence of any team in any league given the chances. We need to make those chances for him today and for the rest of the season too and if we do he could well get us plenty of much needed goals.

With Aubameyang sure to play it makes sense to keep Danny Welbeck on the bench as he is going to be the first choice striker on Thursday night. With his injury record I think it’s a big risk to play him too often and playing him today could easily rob us of his services against Milan. If that was the case we would be forced to play Eddie Nketiah against Milan and maybe that might just be the break he needs.

Elsewhere I doubt if there will be too many changes to a winning team that needs to find some consistency. The away game against Watford summed up so much that is wrong with this team and the home defeat against them last season did the exact same thing too. We cannot afford to let Watford beat us for the third time in a row and we need to see more of what we saw on Thursday night if we’re going to take all three points.

As bad as we have been this season our home league form has still been pretty good with only the two Manchester clubs winning at the Emirates. We have drawn with Liverpool and Chelsea too, but we have beaten every team below us we have played and Spurs also.

Watford’s away form is in the bin at the moment with only one point and two goals in their last seven away games. They have kept clear of the wrong end of the table by improving their home form, but it’s up to us to make sure they continue that away form. 

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To AC Milan Previewed

The last few weeks have been even tougher than usual in what has been a very tough season for Arsenal. We’ve lost the Carabao Cup Final to City, lost our last three league games and even lost at home to Ostersund in the second leg of the last round of the Europa League. We did progress despite that defeat though and that leaves us with a last 16 tie with AC Milan which starts with the first leg in Milan tonight.

We go into the game devoid of any form after four defeats in a row and with performances that seem to get progressively worse with each game. Our only remaining route to success this season is the Europa League and winning it is the only way we will qualify for the Champions League next season too. That might seem like an incredibly unlikely scenario at the moment, but it’s one we have to hope can occur.

To make matters worse Alexandre Lacazette is injured for tonight and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is ineligible so our striking options are severely limited. Danny Welbeck is the most likely candidate for the role, but to say he has been poor since his latest return from injury is a massive understatement and I just don’t think he’s up to the task. There is a train of thought that young Eddie Nketiah might get the nod and it’s a choice I think might just be bold enough to pay off, but I would be very surprised if Arsene Wenger chose anyone other than Welbeck to play up front.

Both Hector Bellerin and Aaron Ramsey were rested for the debacle at Brighton on Sunday although Bellerin did come on late on and I would imagine we will see both of them in from the start tonight. With Nacho Monreal injured it means Sead Kolasinac will probably play on the left unless Ainsley Maitland-Niles plays, but he seems to have fallen out of favour since he got 45 minutes in his favoured central midfield role against Ostersund a couple of weeks ago. David Ospina will be back in his usual goalkeeping role for cup games and he surely can’t do much worse than Petr Cech did against Brighton. 

I would like to see us set out to keep things tight like we did away to Chelsea in the league and the Carabao Cup. That tactic worked well in both games when we came out with two respectable 0-0 draws and that would be a perfectly acceptable result tonight. If we’re going to do that tonight the players will have to work their socks off and that’s something that we haven’t seen far too often this season.

We have it in us though and we have to hope the players realise this is their only hope of any glory this season and can raise their game accordingly. If they can work hard and give their all from first minute to last the result will be a lot more acceptable no matter what it is. Even a one goal defeat would leave us still in the tie ahead of the second leg next week and we have a pretty good record at home this season despite our recent results.

It’s an awful lot to expect from players who have let us down time after time, but as a fan you need that hope and you never want your team to lose no matter what. The manager has seemed utterly incapable of getting his players up for games or of changing things in game when it’s not working, but he has to try to influence their performance tonight somehow. We have had some fantastic away wins in Europe under Wenger over the years and tonight would be the perfect time for another one. I have little to no expectation of a good result, but I will always live in hope until the players prove me wrong at least.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal V Ostersund Preview

Things are a little odd at the moment for us Arsenal fans with a game last Thursday night and another game tonight, but no weekend game in between. The FA Cup exit to Forest was the reason we didn’t play last weekend and our sojourn in the Europa League is the reason for a season interspersed with Thursday night football. There’s still a way to go in the Europa League, but if we can finish the job we started last week we will at least be through to the last 16.

After a 3-0 win in Sweden last week we have a great advantage going into tonight’s second leg. Last week’s game wasn’t exactly a classic, but the 3-0 win leaves us nicely set up to progress to the last 16 where we can probably expect a tougher opponent. That doesn’t mean tonight is a forgone conclusion, but anything other than Arsenal progressing to the next round would be a disaster at this stage.

With the Carabao Cup Final against City on Sunday you would expect Arsene Wenger to rest whatever players he can tonight. I would be surprised to see Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Ozil and Nacho Monreal in the team, but otherwise I think he will pick a strong enough team. Ostersund gave it a go when they went 2-0 down last week, but even a team without those three players should be too strong for them.

The manager has been talking Danny Welbeck up ahead of the game and it’s another chance for him to show what he can do. His career at Arsenal has been severely hampered by injuries and he’s just back from the latest of those. He has shown promise at times, but I’m not sure he’s at the level we require going forward.

With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ineligible and Alexandre Lacazette injured he’s our best option in the Europa League unless Eddie Nketiah was to be given a shot. He certainly looks like he could be the future of the club and the game tonight might just be a big chance for him. Maybe Welbeck will start in a wider role with Nketiah through the middle, but I doubt it as much as I might want to see it happen. 

I can’t see Aaron Ramsey playing either as he’s only just returning from injury and I suspect everything will be done to make sure he is available for Sunday. It will be interesting to see whether it’s him or Jack Wilshere selected to play alongside Granit Xhaka agsinst City. I think we will get another look at Ainsley Maitland-Niles in midfield tonight and maybe we might even see the elusive Sead Kolasinac at left back.

David Ospina will be in goal again and he will more than likely play there on Sunday too. Whatever about rotating our keepers or giving Ospina a chance in cup games I think we have to play our strongest team in a cup final. It’s a decision which could cost us dearly on Sunday (unless it goes to penalties), but I would be very surprised if Ospina didn’t play.

To be honest tonight is a game we really want to get out of the way with the minimum fuss so we can concentrate on Sunday. The Carabao Cup might not be the biggest trophy in terms of credibility, but it’s our best chance of a trophy this season at this stage. The Europa League still offers another chance, but we will have a long way to go after tonight just to reach the final and an awful lot of good teams stand in our way.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

It's Ed, Edd & Eddy Time As Arsenal Beat Norwich

Arsenal took on Norwich last night in the last 16 of the the Carabao Cup with a place in Thursday's draw for the quarter finals as a reward for the winner. As he had done in the previous round and in the three Europa League games to date Arsene Wenger used his squad as he rested the players who beat Everton 5-2 on Sunday. He had the luxury of making 11 changes from that team despite being short of a few players thanks to injuries.

Matt Macey got his first start of the season in goal with David Ospina still injured and Alex Iwobi played instead of Joe Willock, but otherwise the team was the same as the one which won 1-0 at Red Star Belgrade on Thursday night. There were plenty of players out there looking to impress the manager or at least that was what we hoped. Norwich were going to be no pushover though and they will be pushing hard for a return to the Premier League at the end of the season.

The less said about the game the better I suppose up until a point at least because Arsenal were wholly unimpressive for the vast majority of the game. Our defence was a mish-mash and it showed as Norwich found a way in behind us far too often for comfort. They took the lead from such a move when the impressive Josh Murphy ran right past the centre of our defence and finished with a deft touch in the 34th minute.

Try as we might we never really looked like getting back into the game and Norwich had the better chances on the break. There was no cohesion to our play and it seemed like more than a lack of effort on the part of some players. Jack Wilshere was clearly frustrated by the inaction of some of those around him, but he didn't exactly have the best game either.

As the game wore on and we searched seemingly in vain for an equaliser I resigned myself to the fact that we were going out of the competition. I just couldn't see a goal coming from anywhere and I considered how bad the Europa League must be if this team had a 100% record in their first three games. There was one thing I hadn't considered though and we had to wait until the 85th minute to see what that was.

Reiss Nelson was replaced by Eddie Nkietah as Arsenal were about to take a corner and he just jogged forward into their box and poked home from close range as the ball from the corner dropped at his feet. He was only on the pitch 15 seconds at that stage and he could not have asked or hoped for a quicker impact. Arsenal had been improving before that goal and they took control of the game as they went in search of a winner.

They didn't manage it in normal time, but six minutes into the first period of extra time that man Nkietah rose to head home a corner to give them the lead. I had said in my preview that players needed to take their chance to make an impression and Nkietah most certainly did just that. He's only 18 years old, but there can't have been too many players from our youth system who have made such an impression so quickly when the chance has come their way.

There were chances at both ends before the game ended and Norwich felt aggrevied not to get a penalty after Mathieu Debuchey raised his arm across one of their players to hold him off. I still don't quite understand how an arm raised across your face causes your legs to go from under you, but maybe that's just me. They were probably a little unfortunate not to get the penalty and also Mohamed Elneny was a little lucky not to get a red card for a foul in the first half when he was the last line of defence. They're the breaks sometimes though and Arsenal have had their share of decisions go against them in recent games.

I'm not sure what the manager will make from the performances of most of the players, but he cannot have failed to have been impressed by Nkietah. Whether he'll get any more game time or not is another thing because dropping Olivier Giroud or Theo Walcott from our second string would be a real insult to them and I can't see him doing that. I think he should get a chance after a performance like that though as he showed far more desire and willingness to make runs in his 35 minutes on the pitch than both them did between them throughput the whole game.

We're through to the quarter finals where we will play one of United, City, Chelsea, West Ham, Bournemouth, Leicester or Bristol City. The draw will be made tomorrow and the funniest thing is the lack of Spurs in the pot after they put out a strong team at home to West Ham and blew a two goal lead to lose 3-2. I still don't think the team we're fielding in this competition can win it for us, but making it to the last eight isn't too shabby. 

I thing other clubs will probably play stronger teams with Wembley in their sights and it could make it difficult for us in the next round. For the moment though we can revel in the splendour of a great performance from a young man who is hopefully starting out on a long and illustrious Arsenal career.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.