Arsenal World Cup Update

With the first round of group games over it’s time for me to take a look how the World Cup is progressing from an Arsenal perspective. We have 10 players representing their countries in Qatar and some of them have made their mark already.

There was no Arsenal interest in the opening game as hosts Qatar lost 2-0 to Ecuador despite getting the benefit of possibly the dodgiest offside you will see this season. The other game in that group saw The Netherlands beat Senegal 2-0 and I would be surprised to see Qatar manage a goal or a point from their remaining games. Group A looks all set for The Netherlands to top it with Senegal and Ecuador fighting for the second spot in the knockout stages.

There was some Arsenal involvement in group B when England got their campaign off to a flier with a 6-2 win over Iran and Bukayo Saka grabbing a brace of goals. He was Arsenal’s star player last season and he has been one of so many exceptional players for us so far this season so it’s great to see him shine on the international stage too. The sooner we tie him down to an even longer and better contract the better as there looks like there will be a lot of interest in him.

Ben White and Aaron Ramsdale were unused subs in that game with Eric Dier coming on ahead of White when Harry Maguire had to go off. I’m not sure if either of them will see much action, but I have no doubt of their ability to impress given the opportunity. In the other game in that group Matt Turner played well in goal for the USA as they drew 1-1 with Wales and they still have every chance of progressing at this stage. There’s still a lot to be decided in the group and it’s not easy to judge until we know exactly how good or bad Iran really are.

There is no Arsenal involvement in Group C, but Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win over Argentina was the biggest shock of the tournament so far. With Mexico and Poland drawing 0-0 the group is still wide open, but Argentina will probably have to beat both of them if Lionel Messi is going to go any further in his final World Cup.

The only Arsenal player in Group D is France’s William Saliba and he was an unused sub in their 4-1 win against Australia. The other game in that group ended up scoreless between Denmark and Tunisia and it’s far from certain which teams will progress despite France’s win. 

Group E got off to a great start with Japan coming back from 1-0 down to upset Germany and Takehiro Tomiyasu played the second half of the game. I’m not sure why he was on the bench, but Japan must have some very good players if they can afford to leave him out of their starting 11. I suppose he could be carrying a knock as his time at Arsenal has been constantly interrupted by niggling injuries. Spain romped to a 7-0 win over Costa Rica in the other game in this group and Germany will have to beat Spain when they meet on Sunday or their World Cup will more than likely be over after only two games.

Group F has no Arsenal involvement either and the opening two games in that group had only one goal between them as Belgium just about managed to beat Canada while Morocco and Croatia shared the points in the other game. This group is still wide open with none of the teams impressing too much so far, but Canada will find it hard to progress despite probably deserving at least a point against Belgium.

Group G has three Arsenal players on show and the first of them to play was Granit Xhaka who captained Switzerland to a 1-0 win over Cameroon which leaves them in a strong position in the group. It’s been dubbed the group of death and the win over Cameroon gives them a great advantage over Cameroon and Serbia who lost 2-0 to Brazil in the later game. Arsenal have two players in the Brazil squad and both Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli came off the bench in the second half of that win.

Finally the only Arsenal player in group H is Thomas Partey and his campaign got off to a losing start as he played the full match for Ghana in a 3-2 loss against Portugal. There was no Arsenal interest in the other game in the group which ended scoreless between Uruguay and South Korea. Ghana will probably have to win their last two group games to progress to the knockout stages so we might see Partey on his way back to London in just over a week.

All in all it’s been a pretty good start for Arsenal players at the World Cup with eight of our 10 players winning their first game, one of them drawing and only one losing. Of course all of those players didn’t start for their countries with only four of them chosen for the first round of games and three more coming off the bench. Bukayo Saka was the standout player with his two goals for England making him the joint top scorer in the tournament so far.

There’s no rest for the players or supporters as the next round of games gets going immediately and the Arsenal involvement on Friday will all be in the England versus USA game. A win for England would almost certainly see them progress to the next round and top the group too. I would imagine both Saka and Turner will start with both Ramsdale and White on the bench again.

That’s it for today.

See you soon.

Arsenal v Southampton Preview

It’s been two weeks since we had to go through the torture of watching Arsenal player, but they’re back in all their glory tomorrow when Southampton come a calling. Since the players went off on their international break quite a lot has happened and not all of it in our corner of North London. That other lot up the road did what quite a lot of us fans think Arsenal should do when they decided to part ways with their manager.

Of course they managed to replace him the very next day when everybody’s favourite manager Jose Mourinho got the job. At least his appointment at Spurs means the rumours of him taking the reins at Arsenal if Unai Emery were to leave can be put to bed. On the face of it Spurs will hope he can bring them that elusive trophy, but I remain to be convinced that it’s a good appointment for them. They have bitten the bullet though while Arsenal seem determined to keep faith in their man despite results and performances indicating his time could and probably should be up.

I could take the results if the performances were at least showing some promise and of course just about any fan will take good results without the performances. We have only won twice in our last 10 league games though and haven’t won at all in our last four. We’ve dropped back to sixth in the table which isn’t the worst position to be in, but the eight point gap to fourth place is already looking difficult for us to make up.

In those last four games we have led in our two home games only to be pegged back by Palace and Wolves and we have lost our two away games to Sheffield United and Leicester. In those two defeats we were in with a real chance until the opposition scored first on both occasions and we were totally incapable of coming back. The exact opposite happened in both home games when the opposition managed to come back against us and Palace even pulled back a two goal deficit.

The combination of not being able to hold a lead when we have one or peg one back when we go behind is a very worrying one and it will cost the manager his job if he can’t change it. The rumours of player unrest persist with Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang among those who could be on their way out if things don’t change. They all have different reasons for wanting to go if you believe the rumours and I’m sure it can’t be doing much good for the squad morale.

As bad as things are we have a chance to make up some ground and maybe even turn things around a little in our next four league games. We play Southampton and Brighton at home while we travel to both Norwich and West Ham and to be honest we quite simply have to take 12 points from those four games. Anything less and the pressure on the manager will be almost unbearable as we play three of the rest of the big six in our following five games.

Southampton are on a very bad run at the moment with only one point in their last seven games, but they have taken seven of their eight points away from home. They have conceded more goals than any other team, but 21 of those 29 goals were conceded at home. They are there to be beaten no matter how poorly we’re playing at the moment and anything other than a win would be a disaster.

The manager needs to pick his strongest team and end his ridiculous trend of picking seven defensive outfield players in every game. We’re at home against a team who concede loads of goals and the way to beat them is to play attacking football and put our best attacking players out from the start. Mesut Ozil has been back in favour in the last two games, but for some bizarre reason Nicolas Pepe was left out of the team in those games.

We can’t defend to save our lives no matter who we’re playing against, but at least we should be able to dominate teams like Southampton enough to make sure our defensive inadequacies are relatively unimportant. If we’re going to make any progress we need players other than Aubameyang to step up and get their fair share of goals. He has half of all of our league goals so far and that’s just not good enough from the rest of the team.

I’m not saying it’s going to be a walkover against Southampton and I fully expect them to give us some problems, but the manager and the players must know things cannot continue as they are. If we’re going to turn things around under the current manager it has to start now and we won’t get a better chance than against Southampton. Three points won’t exactly herald a new beginning, but it’s an awful lot better than any other alternative.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers Preview

It’s back to Premier League action for Arsenal today as they have their first Saturday afternoon 3pm kick off of the season at home to Wolves. After the thrills and spills of Wednesday night’s 5-5 draw and penalties defeat at Liverpool we can expect to see a fairly different game today. As good as Arsenal were in attack at Anfield they were equally as bad in defence and that’s been our Achilles heel for far too long.

Unai Emery made 11 changes from the team that drew 2-2 at home to Palace last week for that game at Liverpool and he’s likely to make nearly as many changes today. There are a few questions to be asked and answered in his team selection, but we already know Granit Xhaka won’t be in the squad after the events of last Sunday. He hasn’t actually apologised for his reaction to the fans booing him, but he has at least explained his reaction from his point of view at least. Hopefully we’ll hear no more of it, but in the present climate I doubt that in the extreme.

The big question of course will be whether Mesut Ozil plays or not and at this stage who knows. He showed exactly what he can bring to the team in that game and his flick to assist Ainsley Maitland-Niles for the fourth goal was a real piece of Ozil magic. In my opinion his creativity is something Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe should thrive on and exactly what we have been missing, but what do I know.

Wolves are not an easy team to beat and have hit some good form after a slow start to the season. Like Arsenal they have midweek Europa League football to contend with and it can certainly stretch a squad as well as tiring the players who have to play twice a week. If memory serves me correctly we drew at home to them last season and lost away so that’s something we need to put straight today.

My feelings on the manager and his inability to find a style of play for the team or do anything to make us stronger defensively are well known at this stage. I hope Ozil plays today and helps us to find some sort of attacking fluidity which has been absent for so long, but it’s difficult to believe the manager will decide to show some belief in him overnight. If we’re going to try to keep chasing a top four place we cannot afford to keep dropping points and particularly from winning positions.

I honestly don’t know who will play in defence and it really doesn’t seem to matter with consistent basic mistakes from anyone who gets picked. I’d love to see Hector Bellerin, Kieran Tierney and Rob Holding in the team, but our setup does nothing to make me believe we would defend any better as a unit no matter who is playing. We have given away more penalties since the start of last season than any other Premier League team and we show no signs of remedying those errors.

As poor as we have been at times this season we are still unbeaten at home with six wins and two draws in all competitions. We might not be showing attacking fluency, but we have still scored our fair share of goals at home due mainly to individuals rather than a team effort with Aubameyang the main man so far. Wolves will certainly make things hard for us, but with the right team and tactics we should beat them.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Carabao Cup Game At Liverpool Previewed

It’s back to Carabao Cup action for Arsenal tonight as they travel to Liverpool looking to gain a place in the last eight of the competition. It’s a competition Arsenal haven’t won since 1993, but it’s not exactly at the top of their list of targets for this season. The game gives Unai Emery the chance to make quite a few changes from the team who drew at home to Palace on Sunday and presumably Liverpool will follow the same path too.

The manner of the draw with Palace was far from ideal considering Arsenal were 2-0 up early on and some of the events of the day would be best forgotten. The abuse Granit Xhaka got from some of the home fans when he was substituted was awful to witness, but his reaction was not what you would or should expect from our captain. I would be very surprised if we saw him in the team tonight and the manager has to decide if he should remain as captain and keep his place in the team.

We have a fairly big squad with plenty of competition for every position in the team, but the manager seems unable to find his strongest team or even a style of play. That’s probably the biggest issue with most fans at the moment as we look capable of being beaten by any team in the Premier League. It also renders us incapable of controlling a game which we witnessed yet again against Palace.

Patience is growing thin and the open hostility which was witnessed during Arsene Wenger’s final years has reared it’s ugly head again. We invested heavily in the summer and we have players who should be capable of at least finishing in the top four, but we are not getting the most from them. The finger is being firmly pointed at the manager and it has almost reached the stage where he has to be very seriously worried about his job.

Normally tonight might have been a bit of a free hit considering the competition and the strength of the opposition, but recent events have probably changed that. He would certainly buy himself more time with a victory tonight and I wonder if that will have an influence on his team selection. Even a sub-strength Liverpool will be tough to beat at Anfield, but a few of the players who played on Sunday might give Arsenal a slight advantage.

It looks like Mesut Ozil will be in the squad and it’s tough to know if that’s a direct result of so many fans singing his name on Sunday or the manager grasping at straws as he tries to save his bacon. I hope Ozil plays and puts in a magnificent performance, but it’s not easy to do so in a team that lacks direction from the man in charge. 

I think we have a chance tonight with so many probable changes in both sides and our second string have been impressive in most of their games this season. It’s a game that could go badly wrong though and we have suffered badly at Anfield all too often in recent seasons. I just hope for a good display and a show of some unity I suppose and who knows what the outcome might be.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Manchester United Previewed

The season has started reasonably well for Arsenal in terms of results even if the performances have been mostly far from convincing. They cruised to a 5-0 win at home to Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night despite Unai Emery making 11 changes from the team that just about took the three points against Villa a couple of days earlier. It means we’ve had almost a week to prepare for this game after playing in the previous three games in the space of six days.

Other results over the weekend mean we will have to beat United tonight to keep our place in the top four and we will have to win by seven goals to overtake third placed Leicester. While seven goals might be a bit of a stretch our aim tonight has to be to take the three points. It’s not going to be easy when you look at our away form which has continued on from the second half of last season into this season. The manager has a few choices to make ahead of the game in both his personnel and the team formation. 

First up he has to decide if Kieran Tierney is up to keeping his place from Tuesday night which was his first game for us having joined us injured. Tierney is going to move ahead of Sead Kolasinac in the pecking order very soon, but I’m not certain it’s going to be in this game. Much could depend on the formation and our away games to date suggest we will play a back four which surely would point to Tierney, but I still think Kolasinac will get the nod for the moment.

He has a choice to make on the other side too with Ainsley Maitland-Niles back from suspension, but Calum Chambers gave himself every chance with his performances after Maitland-Niles was sent off against Villa and again against Forest. He played well in both games and he did enough to give the manager food for thought. Of course the position will belong to Hector Bellerin who also made his comeback in that game against Forest, but only from the bench and I imagine he will be eased back into the team.

We have been treated to a central defensive partnership of Sokratis Papastathopoulos and David Luiz in our last five league games and it’s one which really isn’t working. We have conceded 10 goals in those five games and Sokratis and Luiz look uncomfortable beside each other to say the least. Rob Holding also returned from injury on Tuesday night and it’s hard not to believe he’s the future of the centre of our defence.

Unfortunately I think we’ll see Sokratis and Luiz again tonight when either Holding or Chambers might be a better option with one of them. The return of those three players on Tuesday night certainly gives us plenty of options in defence and hopefully they will help us to improve our defending. To do that we need to get the midfield right too and cut out the individual errors which are so costly to us game after game.

As good as Matteo Guendouzi has been at driving us forward to get back into games in recent games he has also been part of the problem. His tendency to dwell on the ball and get caught in possession has cost us dearly at times and he still has a lot to learn about the defensive side of his game. Having said that I still want to see him in the side because he has the ability and desire we need to help us to move forward.  

I have no doubt Granit Xhaka will be in the team too seeming as he is now our captain and I can see the qualities he adds to the team, but his errors and lapses have caused us so much heartache and he’s at the stage in his career where he should know better. Like any other player in an Arsenal shirt he deserves our support, but it won’t stop me worrying about his ability to throw the game away all on his own. I suspect the third midfielder will be Dani Ceballos which would make sense, but it leaves no room for Lucas Torreira or Joe Willock in the team and that’s without even mentioning Mesut Ozil.

I hope it’s a midfield trio we go with and we play a wide man either side of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to give as many problems as possible to a very average United side. It’s been far too long since we won at Old Trafford in the league and tonight we have a real chance of doing so if we can get things right. Besides the struggles United are going through at the moment they also have some injury worries and very little in reserve to replace anyone who misses out.

Of course our away form hasn’t exactly been something to write home about and the 2-2 draw at Watford a couple of weeks ago was one of our worst displays in a very long time. If we play like that against United we will lose and we could lose heavily, but with the right approach they are there for the taking. A win for us would leave them in a lot of trouble already in the fight for a top four finish, but it would leave us right on schedule. Having said that I’d still gladly take a draw when you consider how bad we have been away from home and our chances of actually changing that. 

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.

Premier League Fixtures Make For An Interesting Start For Arsenal

The Premier League fixtures for next season were released on Thursday and they present Arsenal with a few challenges. We had a very difficult start to our campaign last season with a home game against City and a trip to Chelsea, but this season seems a touch easier with a trip to Newcastle followed by a home game against Burnley. On the face of it those are easier games, but given our away form for the last two seasons it’s hardly surprising the game against Newcastle will be live on TV with the chance of an upset particularly high.

There were no real expectations of getting anything from those two opening games last season and it wasn’t too much of a surprise when we lost both of them. However, we will be expected to take a minimum of four points from the opening two games next season and we should really be aiming for six points. With a trip to Liverpool and a home game against Spurs to follow before the first international break it makes six points almost a necessity from our first two games.

After that game against Spurs we have a run where we have 12 games in a row against teams who finished below us last season before a busy and difficult festive schedule. During that 12 game run we will also have our Europa League group games to contend with, but four of those six games will be followed by home game in the league. With squad rotation we will hopefully be able to keep the players relatively fresh during that period and possibly get a good return from those games.

Our primary target for next season has to be a top four finish after missing out for the last three seasons and anything that can help us achieve that target is a good thing. We might have finished the season in a bit of a mess, but it can be argued that both United and Chelsea are in an even worse state. If Chelsea can’t overturn their transfer embargo they are in a whole heap of trouble with Eden Hazard already departed while United ended their season in disarray and it will take an awful lot to improve them.

Our actions in the transfer market will give us an indication of what to expect next season with players needed in so many positions. For a start we need to replace Aaron Ramsey, Danny Welbeck, Petr Cech and Stephan Lichsteiner after all of their contracts ended and they either left on free transfers or hung up their boots. Only Ramsey had any real impact on the first team last season and it will take an awful lot to replace one of the few players to come out of last season with any credit.

We didn’t see too much of Welbeck due to injuries and I think we can replace him with one or two of the younger players coming through while saving a lot on his wages. If he could have avoided missing so many games due to injuries in his time at the club I think we would have missed him more, but his injury record makes him a worry for any team considering signing him. Both Cech and Lichsteiner will probably be replaced from what we have already too as neither of them had too much impact on the first team last season too.

There are rumours of just about all of our defenders leaving, but I think we need to try to keep Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding while I think both Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis Papastathopoulos should be kept too. Like so many other Arsenal fans I think Shkodran Mustafi needs to be moved on while Sead Kolasinac and Callum Chambers are both rumoured to be surplus to requirements too. We definitely need to sign some defenders who can help to cut out the individual errors that lead to so many of the goals we concede.

In midfield there are rumours of Granit Xhaka being surplus to requirements or maybe even wanting to go to play in the Champions League while Lucas Torreira has made it known that he’s not too fond of life in London. I think we really need to hold on to Torreira while I’m not so sure on Xhaka. When he’s good he can have a real influence on our control of a game, but he just does not seem to learn from his mistakes as his lack of positional awareness and perpensity to give the ball away cost us dearly time after time.

I can’t say I’m looking forward to next season too much, but the troubles of some of our rivals could open the door for us. I can’t see us challenging for the title and I would be very surprised if it isn’t a two horse race between City and Liverpool like it was last season. I’m far from convinced Spurs can do any better than they did this season and I think they’re another team who could and probably should be in our sights.

While I’m still far from convinced Unai Emery is the manager to lead us forward I’m also pretty sure he’ll still be here come the new season. While our final position was marginally better than the previous season and we collected a few more points too as well as reaching the Europa League final it was still a failure because of our inability to make the Champions League. If we can break into the top four next season it will have to be judged as some form of success and it might well be enough for Emery to continue in the job.

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’s Trip To Wolves Previewed

It looks like the fight for a top four finish is going to go right to the wire this season with Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea and United all still holding out hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. As it stands Spurs are in the best position of the three and their run in is probably the easiest too. Arsenal are still in a pretty good position too despite losing at home to Palace on Sunday, but that defeat ended the room they had for an error with four games still to play.

They’re a point behind Chelsea with a game in hand and superior goal difference going into tomorrow night’s game at Wolves. United are a further two points behind Arsenal before they play at home to City tomorrow night and their goal difference is in a real mess. With United playing at home to Chelsea on Sunday one or both of them will drop more points and I will be very surprised if City don’t beat United too.

While the ball is still in our court we really need to get something from Wolves to move ahead of Chelsea and move further away from United. We still have three more games to go after Wolves and having three of our last four games away from home doesn’t help when you consider our away record this season. Those away results have improved a little recently with victories at Huddersfield and Watford and a draw at Spurs in their last four away games.

We also lost at Everton in that run and to be honest the only good performance was at Spurs. We were very lucky to beat 10 man Watford while the win against bottom club Huddersfield was far from convincing. The defeat at Everton was possibly our worst performance of the season and another performance like that will not be good enough to get anything from Wolves.

Our biggest problem at the moment is our fixture congestion added to a small squad and Unai Emery is struggling to put out a team that can get a result from game to game. Our midfield on Sunday just wasn’t up to the task while individual errors at the back handed Palace their goals. While the manager might have got his original team selection wrong he changed it enough at half time to get the win we so badly needed, but those errors proved so crucial.

If he can bring both Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka back into the team against Wolves I think we might exert enough control in midfield to give ourselves a real chance. At least we can recall Sokratis Papastathopoulos from suspension, but I would be very surprised if Laurent Koscielny starts again considering how much game time he has had in the last two weeks as well as his age and the fact he’s not too long back after a long term injury.

The manager has to balance his team selection enough to leave something for Sunday’s trip to Leicester while giving ourselves every chance of beating Wolves too. It’s not going to be an easy task and it’s made tougher by our upcoming Europa League semi final first leg at home to Valencia on Thursday of next week. After Wolves it’s Sundays and Thursdays for us until the end of the season unless of course we beat Valencia to make it to the final which is two and a half weeks after our last league game.

Our other two league games are at home to Brighton and away to Burnley and I think we will probably have to win them both to finish in the top four. We could lose to either Wolves or Leicester as long as we beat both Brighton and Burnley and more than likely still finish in the top four. If United lose to City it should take only seven points in our last four games to finish ahead of them while the same amount of points should be enough too if Chelsea were to lose to United next weekend. It’s all getting very tight and complicated, but at least it’s in our own hands.

I digress just a little from my Wolves preview and to be honest there isn’t too much I can say. They have a very good record against the top six teams in the Premier League and we were probably a little lucky to get a point at home to them in November. They will look to hit us on the break and that’s where we are probably at our weakest. Palace might have scored their three goals from set pieces, but until that game we had a very good record defending set pieces this season.

I can’t say I’m overly confident of Arsenal getting something from Wolves, but then again Wolves haven’t looked good since they lost their FA Cup semi final to Watford. They might raise their game against one of the big boys, but then again with little to play for they might not quite be at the races. It’s a game where the result is all important and performances aren’t overly important at this stage of the season with so many games, such a thin squad and so much at stake.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Napoli Preview

Arsenal face one of their toughest home games of the season tomorrow night when Napoli come to London for the first leg of their Europa League quarter final. Napoli are currently second in their domestic league, but they have absolutely no chance of catching Juventus and they will have to settle for the runners-up spot. They’re a very good team though and more than capable of causing Arsenal some very real problems on the night without even considering what might happen in the second leg.

Given Arsenal’s abysmal away form I think a win in the home leg is absolutely crucial and we really need to keep a clean sheet too. The game at Everton on Sunday showed just how disfunctional we are away from home and it left our hopes of finishing in the top four in real doubt. With four of our last six Premier League games away from home we might have to depend on the Europa League as our route into next season’s Champions League and progression to the semi-finals would certainly be a great boost for the team.

If we’re going to progress I think we will need to get a few of the players who missed the Everton game back and hopefully both Laurent Koscielny and Granit Xhaka will have recovered from their respective injuries in time to play against Napoli. Lucas Torreira will of course be available as he was only suspended on Sunday and that domestic ban has finished so he can hopefully have an influence in the final six league games too. Aaron Ramsey didn’t start on Sunday either as he was carrying a knock, but he didn’t appear to show any ill effects when he came on.

Unai Emery surely has to go with his strongest possible line up and we are at least helped by not having our next league game until next Monday when we pay a visit to Watford. Petr Cech is our cup goalkeeper so he will start, but after that I hope to see a Koscielny and Sokratis Papastathopoulos combination in the centre of the defence with Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles either side of them. If he opts for three central defenders I would prefer to see Nacho Monreal get the nod over Shkodran Mustafi, but I imagine Mustafi would benefit from that decision.

I think he will go with three central defenders which will put an onus on the full-backs to do an awful lot of our attacking and try to get behind the Napoli defence in wide areas. If there’s a midfield axis of Torreira and Xhaka I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ramsey and Mesut Ozil in front of them with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as the lone striker. The other option is to leave probably Torreira out and put Ramsey beside Xhaka with Alexandre Lacazette playing up front with Aubameyang.

All of those options would leave no place in the team for Alex Iwobi or Henrikh Mkhitaryan which would be tough on Iwobi who was one of the few players not to fail miserably on Sunday, but he only played for the final 15 minutes. Mkhitaryan hasn’t looked sharp since returning from his injury and he was in great form before it. Hopefully he can regain that form soon because there is no doubt we need his class before the end of the season.

We’re well and truly into the business end of the season now and Arsenal are still right up there in the fight for a top four finish as well as in the last eight of the Europa League. I still can’t say I’m overly confident of them achieving either goal due mainly to our awful away form and the amount of goals we concede. Before the last round we were second favourites behind Chelsea, but Napoli have moved ahead of us which gives you an idea of how serious a threat they are to us. The betting is very close though and anyone who has seen Chelsea in recent months would be equally apprehensive about their chances as I am of Arsenal’s.

What we need in the first leg is the sort of performance we saw at home to Spurs, Chelsea and United this season and those games proved the players have it in them. If we can keep that elusive clean sheet and get at least a couple of goals I think we have a real chance of making it to the semi-finals, but it’s going to take a monumental effort from every player from the first minute to the last. It would be great to make it that far though and maybe even welcome Santi Cazorla back to the Emirates if his Villarreal team can overcome Valencia in their quarter-final match up.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Newcastle United Preview

It wasn’t a great weekend in terms of results for Arsenal with both United and Chelsea scraping narrow victories, but crucially Spurs lost to a last minute goal at Liverpool on Sunday. That defeat for Spurs means that a point at home to Newcastle tonight will move Arsenal up into third place on goal difference while a win will move them two points clear of Spurs and United with Chelsea a further point back and seven games to play for all four teams. It’s staggering to think Spurs saw themselves as title contenders only five games ago and now they’re really struggling to finish in the top four.

It looks like it’s going to be an extremely tight end to the Premier League campaign at the top of the table as well as in the fight for the top four and the Champions League places that go with it. All of the teams involved in those battles have the added distractions of European quarter finals to contend with and it’s certainly going to be interesting for all involved. Arsenal have the chance not only of securing a crucial top four place, but maybe even putting a European trophy in the cabinet too.

Those aims are still a bit off though and they quite literally have to take it one game at a time. After tonight’s game five of our last seven league games are away from home and our away record is nothing to write home about so far this season. We’re going to have to turn that away form around if we’re going to achieve anything, but at least the signs were very encouraging in our last away game at Spurs. 

We play a Newcastle team tonight who have only won two of their 15 away games, but no other team has drawn more games away from home and they have a fairly impressive defensive record on their travels too with only the top two and Wolves conceding less away goals. Of course Arsenal are in pretty good form at home themselves with nine home wins in a row and 25 goals scored in those games. Only the top two have taken more points and scored more goals at home and they haven’t lost at home since the opening day defeat to City. 

As much as we have to be wary of this Newcastle team our home form suggests they have an awful lot more to be wary of. I know we haven’t always been at our best in those nine victories, but we found a way to win each and every one of them when it was required. If that spirit is called upon tonight I think the players have shown they have it in abundance at home at least.

Unai Emery has a few decisions to make ahead of the game and his biggest problems could be in midfield with Lucas Torreira still suspended and both Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey carrying knocks from the international break. Those issues should see Matteo Guendouzi in from the start with one of Ramsey or Xhaka probably playing with him which might just mean the manager opts for three central defenders. I suppose it depends on how many attacking players he wants to get into the team and whether he opts to play both Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan from the start.

He certainly has plenty of attacking options, but the inclusion of both Ozil and Mkhitaryan would probably mean either Alexandre Lacazette or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missing out from the start. He still has Alex Iwobi, who has been in very good form recently, to consider while Denis Suarez continues to wait for his chance since joining on loan over two months ago. I have a feeling Lacazette might be the man to get the nod despite Aubameyang being our top scorer as Lacazette didn’t have the distractions of international duty over the last couple of weeks.

In defence we should at least get to see Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis Papastathopoulos continue to grow their partnership with either Shkodran Mustafi or Nacho Monreal playing with them if the manager opts for the three central defenders. Whatever formation he opts for it’s the two wide defenders who seem to add so much to our attacking and for that reason I think Sead Kolasinac will play with the improving Ainsley Maitland-Niles on the other side.

I hope Ozil is in the team as he brings the guile which is needed to open things up and the returning Mkhitaryan was in great form before his injury. We might have to be patient as we wait for the goals that are needed tonight and those two players can be the ones to make the difference when it matters most.

To be honest while a point would put us third on goals scored ahead of Spurs and goal difference ahead of United anything short of a win would be a real blow. We travel to Everton at the weekend with United not playing (although they do travel to Wolves in midweek) while Spurs open their new stadium with a tough home game against a Palace team who can be very dangerous away from home on Wednesday night. Chelsea play at home to both Brighton and West Ham in that space of time and we will only stay ahead of them if we win tonight as I expect them to win both of those games.

We have a maximum of 13 games to play this season starting tonight and the rewards of doing well in those games are pretty high. Let’s hope a win tonight will get that run off to a good start and we can continue it from there with no pesky international breaks to worry about until the season is over. I can’t say I’m certain we will finish in the top four or win the Europa League, but I hold out a lot more hope now than I did only a few games ago.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

A Bad Night For Arsenal In Rennes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To BATE Borisov Previewed

With Premier League football on the back burner for the next while it’s time for Arsenal to get back to Europa League action. We came through the group stages with relative ease and Chelsea are the only team ahead of us in the betting to win the competition. With the prize of Champions League qualification up for grabs for the winner of the competition it’s something Arsenal can’t afford to ignore.

Currently we’re only a point off fourth place in the Premier League with 12 games to go and the smart money saying United will run away with that final Champions League place. Their performance in their home defeat against PSG on Tuesday night can surely give us some confidence that we have a chance of finishing ahead of them. It remains to be seen how they deal with their first defeat under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and just maybe their first slip will have an effect on them.

With no Premier League game this weekend Unai Emery can play the strongest team possible in the hope of gaining an advantage in the away leg. He’s had to travel without a few of his best players, but we still have a strong enough squad to cause BATE a lot more problems than they can cause us. We played them twice in the group stages of this competition last season and we put 10 goals past them in those two games.

Our manager has a fantastic record in the Europa League and if anyone can find a way to get us to the final he can do it. I can’t say we’ve been impressive recently, with the odd exception, but the manager has a chance to show his calibre in this competition. If we can get a good lead in the first leg we can rest a few players next week for the second leg ahead of our league game against Southampton a few days later.

He’ll have to plan without Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil in the first leg due to “injuries” while it’s too soon for Sokratis Papastathopoulos as he recovers from injury. Granit Xhaka is back in the squad though as he has recovered from the knock that kept him out of the last couple of games while top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returns from illness. We might also get to see Denis Suarez make his first start since signing on loan from Barcelona.

I hope to see a fairly attacking line up and it would be nice if the team had a little more balance than it has done far too often recently. With both Ozil and Ramsey at home we have to look to Henrikh Mkhitaryan or possibly Suarez for creativity with the two wide players/wing backs doing their bit going forward too. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is likely to play on the right and it’s no coincidence that our two wide players got the two assists in the win at Huddersfield last week.

Arsenal may have struggled away from home in the league this season, but they haven’t conceded an away goal in the Europa League yet. I would say BATE would be comparable to the three teams who finished behind Arsenal in their group if a little better than all but Porto. They will remember conceding four goals at home to Arsenal last season and then conceding another six at the Emirates. 

Added to that they haven’t played a competitive game in two months and all the signs add up to Arsenal winning and winning well. Of course the manager said they played well in only losing 1-0 at home to Chelsea in the group stages this season, but surely if we can impose ourselves on them the game is ours for the taking. Hopefully we can do just that this evening and look forward to a place in the last 16 which follows quickly on the heels of this round.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Brighton Previewed

The 3-1 win at home to Burnley on Saturday was very welcome for Arsenal and I was a lot happier with it after the results of the other games later that day. City lost at home to Palace and Chelsea lost at home to Leicester which left Arsenal level on points with Chelsea, but behind them on goal difference. With the season almost halfway over it leaves us in a good position to push on and challenge for a top four spot and the Champions League football that comes with it.

With so many games coming so quickly at this time of year it can be a strain on any squad and the injuries are building up for Arsenal. With Hector Bellerin, Danny Welbeck, Rob Holding, Dinos Mavropanos and Emile Smith-Rowe already ruled out we have learned that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will be our for six weeks with an injury he picked up in the Carabao Cup defeat to Spurs and Nacho Monreal will probably miss the Brighton game with the knock he picked up on Saturday. Hopefully Shkodran Mustafi will be fit to play in that game as our defensive options are severely limited at the moment.

I’m not the greatest fan of Mustafi, but we need to get him back to the centre of our defence so that Granit Xhaka can play in midfield. All the statistics point to Xhaka’s contribution in midfield being crucial to how we play and our attacking output has suffered in recent weeks with him being called upon to fill in for injured players in the defence. We can put out a strong back four or five if Mustafi returns while still leaving Xhaka to fulfill his duties in midfield.  

Mesut Ozil returned on Saturday against Burnley and played a large part in our attacking output in that game without convincing anyone he can or will do the defensive work he needs to do to keep his place. With Mkhitaryan injured there will be an emphasis on Ozil to stay fit and put in the performances we know is capable of putting in. The rumours persist of Unai Emery’s unhappiness with him for various reasons, but he is the player most likely to open the defence of any team we come up against.

Both Pierre-Emireck Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette started against Burnley, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one of them held back with Saturday’s trip to Liverpool in mind. I have no doubt the manager would like to rotate the team more ahead of that game, but needs must and three points at Brighton are urgently required. With Chelsea facing a tricky trip to Watford this weekend it opens up the chance for us to move into the top four if we can beat Brighton.

We lost this fixture 2-1 last season under Arsene Wenger and Brighton have only lost two home games so far this season in the Premier League. Our away results are far superior this season compared to last season and we have a very good chance of bettering that result from last season. With our defence struggling week in and week out we need our attacking players to be at their best to get the drop on Burnley.

I have no doubt Brighton will go for a similar approach to the one Burnley employed on Saturday as they try to pressurise us any way they can. They have three red cards in their last seven games and Burnley certainly had some success in the second half against us on Saturday when they stepped up the physical aspect of their game. The Arsenal players seem more adept at handing that approach since Emery took the reins, but referees seem to have little interest in protecting our players from that “physical “ approach to the game.

If we can take the three points it will leave us on 40 points at the midway point ahead of one of our toughest games of the season on Saturday. We certainly won’t have it all our own way, but we’re more than capable of getting our fifth away win of the season.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Burnley Preview

Arsenal had almost forgotten what defeat was like before last weekend, but successive defeats to Southampton and Spurs have certainly reminded them of how bitter it can taste. Our 22 game unbeaten run came to an end at Southampton in the Premier League last weekend and Spurs added to our misery at home in the Carabao Cup quarter final on Wednesday night. Defeats are a part of football, but there is no doubt we played a huge part in our own downfall in both games.

They need to put those defeats behind them against Burnley and get back to winning ways by any means they can. It’s certainly well within their capabilities even with the team getting more tired with each passing game. The lack of depth in the squad in certain positions is becoming very obvious and it’s something that might have to be addressed in the January transfer window.

There’s little we can do about it at the moment though and the early kick off against Burnley gives the players little time to recover from the defeat against Spurs on Wednesday night. Unai Emery played more or less the strongest team he had available in that game and that could come back to haunt him over the busy festive season. After Burnley we face trips to Brighton and Liverpool before we play at home to Fulham and those four games take place in just 10 days.

Laurent Koscielny wasn’t risked from the start against Spurs and it was understandable given that he has just returned from a long term injury. Nacho Monreal played in that game and he’s just back from injury too while Stephan Lichsteiner wasn’t risked having picked up a knock in the defeat at Southampton. The chances are the three of them will have to start against Burnley with Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac both doubtful and they have a combined age of 99 years. 

At least Sokratis Papastathopoulos is available to play in the centre of the defence and we can only hope the manager doesn’t decide to deploy Granit Xhaka there too. Not only is it not his natural position, but we miss his influence in midfield too much when he plays in defence. Xhaka and Lucas Torreira have formed a very good partnership in the centre of our midfield and it’s something that has to be allowed to grow.

On top of our defensive woes it appears Mesut Ozil is “persona non grata” with the manager and his days at the club could well be numbered. If that is the case it’s not going to be easy to move on a player on his wages who signed a lengthy contract extension less than a year ago. I hope he can sort things out with the manager, but it doesn’t look that way at the moment. Ozil is an incredibly talented player who can help us win against any team and we will suffer without his creative talents if he continues to be left out of the team. As the games come quick and fast I suppose it will become more obvious if the manager doesn’t want him or not.

I thought Henrikh Mkhitaryan played quite well against Spurs with the exception of the great chance he missed to put us ahead shortly before they scored and he could find himself playing a more important role if Ozil doesn’t play. The Aaron Ramsey situation is less complicated than Ozil’s and he will play at times, but it appears we will lose him too. It appears two of our most talented midfielders will be plying their trade elsewhere next season or even next month and it could leave a gaping hole in our squad.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang seems to have been given the nod as first choice striker and he has scored the goals to deserve that role, but he has missed his fair share in the last few games. I wouldn’t be surprised if the manager decided to rotate him against Burnley with Alexandre Lacazette the obvious candidate to replace him. Aubameyang has had a great impact off the bench when he hasn’t started this season and that could be the case again against Burnley.

We couldn’t really ask for a better opponent as we try to get three previous points in our pursuit of a top four finish. Burnley have only taken one point in their last five away games and they failed to score in four of those games. They have tightened up in defence in the last few weeks, but only two teams have conceded more goals away from home. They’re in the relegation zone at the moment and we’re not going to convince anyone we can keep our challenge for a top four finish going if we can’t beat them.

If we’re going to keep that challenge going we are going to have to start playing well in the first half of games at some stage. The last two games have shown we can’t always depend on our second halves of games to get us out of trouble and we need to do better from the start. It’s quite incredible that we haven’t led any of our 17 Premier League games so far at half time and I think today has to offer an ideal opportunity to end that statistic.

We have tough trips to Brighton and Liverpool coming in quick succession, but we can only concentrate on the job in hand against Burnley. I think we will win, but if we don’t it could make the rest of the festive schedule very difficult for us.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Manchester United Previewed

After Sunday’s fantastic performance against Spurs it’s straight into the Lion’s Den tomorrow night when Arsenal play away to Manchester United. Unai Emery got his first win against one of the other top six teams in that game and he has the chance to make it back to back wins against other top six teams in this game. It’s never easy to go to Old Trafford, but United are a team in crisis at the moment and we have to think we can make things even worse for them.

The passion and commitment we showed against Spurs was commendable and we need more of the same tomorrow night. The manager yet again changed things around when he needed to and those changes proved crucial on the day. I said in my preview that he had to find a way to beat Spurs and his in game problem solving is looking very good at the moment.

That win put us into fourth place above Spurs and we’re eight points ahead of United going into this game. A top four finish won’t be easy for us this season with five teams opening a gap over the rest of the table, but we’re in a much better position than United. Not only have their results been poor, but they have played badly and they cannot stop conceding goals either. Added to that the turmoil in their dressing room and with the manager is casting a huge cloud over the club and it seems only a matter of time before Jose Mourinho is on his way.

Despite all of their problems we still have the perpensity to struggle away to United as we have done all too often in the past. If we allow them to play their game and dominate us we will find it hard and we have to attack them and put them under pressure from the start like we did against Spurs. They are there for the taking though and I genuinely think we can take them.

We are now unbeaten in 12 league games and have won four of our six away games with our only away defeat coming in our first away game at Chelsea. Only Spurs have scored more away goals and they have only got one more away goal despite playing three more away games than us. We have scored in all of our away games and haven’t failed to score since our opening game against City.

The boss is unlikely to make too many changes to the team that beat Spurs, but he will be forced to make at least one with Granit Xhaka suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season on Sunday. Matteo Guendouzi is the most likely replacement for him, but they are very different players. As much as I like Guendouzi I think Xhaka is very important to the way we play, despite his errors, and we will miss him against United.

Thankfully we have Lucas Torreira in the team and he seems to get better and better with each game. We picked him up for an absolute bargain price in today’s market and somebody, somewhere in the club deserves a lot of credit for scouting him and signing him. If we’re going to beat United we have to control the midfield and Torreira’s role will be even more important with Xhaka out.

United’s defence has been poor this season and they have an awful lot of injury problems in that defence at the moment too. In Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang we have the top scorer in the Premier League and he is the man to take advantage of that dodgy United defence. Whether he plays up front with or without Alexandre Lacazette he is the player who can win us any game at the moment.

I haven’t mentioned Mesut Ozil so far and it seems he might have fallen foul of the manager. He’s by far our highest paid player and we really pushed the boat out to get him to sign a new contract earlier this year, but if the reports are to be believed he’s out of the team because the manager doesn’t think he can play the way he wants all of his players to play. He’s an incredibly talented player and it’s hard to believe he won’t find his way back into the team, but on the manager’s terms. Of course he might have an actual injury and that could be why he’s out of the team at the moment, but I doubt it.

It would be great if we could go to United and take the three points which might just be the final straw for Mourinho’s reign. Not much would make me happier than seeing an Arsenal victory at United getting him the bullet, but I’ll be more than happy if we just take the three points. I think we can most definitely do just that if we approach the game in the same manner that we approached Sunday’s game.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Liverpool: Premier League Preview

Arsenal face Liverpool this evening in a real test of their progress so far under Unai Emery. The first season under Arsene Wenger’s successor started with defeats against two of the “top six” when they lost to City and Chelsea. It was a baptism of fire, but the team responded brilliantly by winning their next 11 games in all competitions with seven of those victories coming in the Premier League.

That run came to an end in a 2-2 draw at Palace last week, but it was a soft landing at least. The team responded with a 2-1 win in midweek against Blackpool in the Carabao Cup even if it was more or less a reserve team. The big test comes today when unbeaten Liverpool come to the Emirates and it’s a daunting one for an Arsenal team still learning to play under the new manager.

To make matters worse we have a defensive crisis and it’s our defence which has been the most worrying aspect of our game so far this season. It looks like we’ll be without Hector Bellerin, Nacho Monreal, Sead Kolasinac and Sokratis Papastathopoulos while Laurent Koscielny still hasn’t kicked a ball this season. It means we are likely to see a back four of Stephan Lichsteiner, Rob Holding, Shkodran Mustafi and one other who might have to be Granit Xhaka.

Despite his shortcomings I think Xhaka is an important part of our midfield and we clearly missed him in midfield against Palace last week. He did reasonably well at left back until Wilfried Zaha suckered him into conceding a penalty which a more experienced defender might not have given away even if Zaha “made the most of it.” I suppose you could scratch that comment about a more experienced defender when you consider the penalty Mustafi gave away earlier in the game.

Anyway if Xhaka has to play in defence it would probably mean Mohamed Elneny would play in midfield with Matteo Guendouzi suspended after his red card in midweek and again he’s a player who doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence. He’ll do a good job and give his all if he plays, but we’re not as good with him in the team.

Also having Xhaka at left back severely hampers our attacking capabilities on that side as it’s just not natural for him to play there in a fashion similar to Monreal or Kolasinac. I suppose Carl Jenkinson or Ainsley Maitland-Niles could play, but I think it would be a huge risk to start either of them and I think Xhaka will probably get the nod in that position.

So many of our goals so far this season have come from players in and around the penalty spot after that ball has been cut back to them and we lose that part of our game on the left without Monreal or Kolasinac. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in great scoring form at the moment we need to make chances for him as he seems unable to miss right now. His last six attempts on target have all ended up in the back of the net and I would be very surprised to see him on the bench as he has been a few times recently. I know his pace off the bench when the opposition are tired is great, but that pace could be crucial if Liverpool try to press us today. I have no doubt they will try to press our defenders into mistakes and it’s a tactic which could work with us trying to play the ball out, but it could also open the way for Aubameyang to get in behind them. 

In possession much will be expected of Mesut Ozil and we need him to be at his best today. He can be the difference against any team when he’s at his best, but getting him on the ball in positions where he can make that difference won’t be easy. We most certainly have the attacking players who can get us the goals we need with only City scoring more goals after 10 games, but our attack might not be what makes the difference today.

Liverpool haven’t exactly set the world alight this season, but they are only behind City on goal difference after eight wins and two draws from their 10 games. I think they have become more pragmatic in their approach because a stronger defence means they don’t have to score a shed load of goals to win games. They might not be as free scoring as they were last season, but they have only conceded four goals in their 10 games.

If it comes down to a battle of who has the better defence then we are in trouble, but home advantage is hard to estimate. We lost our opening home game against City, but we have won all four home games since then and we won 15 of our 19 home games last season. Let’s just hope we can make that home advantage count today and come out with a positive result.

I think anything other than a defeat would be a positive result for us, but of course a win would be ideal. If the pkayers can put in a performance to give the fans hope I’m sure those fans will get behind them and do all they can to pressurise Liverpool and the referee too. Liverpool are very fond of their tactical fouling to stop opponents breaking and we cannot let them get away with it today. The players and crowd have to get on the referee’s back to make sure they are appropriately punished every single time they do it.

Our goal for the season has to be a top four finish and maybe some silverware in a cup competition and a win today would be a big step towards a top four finish. We have struggled badly against the rest of the top six for too many seasons and we need to start getting results off them soon. The manager got a pass for the first two games of the season, but he will be judged more harshly if he gets it wrong today. I’m not exactly overly confident of getting anything from the game, but I think we are capable of doing so and I really hope for the sake of confidence and progress we can do it.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Go For Their Elevenses

Arsenal went to Sporting Lisbon last night looking for their eleventh win in a row in all competitions. This was the third game in their Europa League group and the other two games came during that run which meant we had a 100% record. Sporting had won their opening two games too which gave an added edge to the game with the winners becoming favourites to win the group.

The Europa League might be European football’s secondary competition, but Porto had only lost once at home in almost two years and the team that beat them was Barcelona. They were more than capable of giving a rotated Arsenal team a tough ride if we weren’t up to the task in hand. While winning wasn’t ultra important in the group the chance to keep our winning streak going was one we didn’t want to give up on.

Unai Emery made six changes to the starting 11 that came from behind to win 3-1 at home to Everton on Monday night. Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Mohamed Elneny, Aaron Ramsey, Matteo Guendouzi, Danny Welbeck and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came into the team with Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Lucas Torreira, Mesut Ozil, Alex Iwobi and Alexandre Lacazette making way. Granit Xhaka continued in the left back role that he played in for the last 20 minutes on Monday night while Stephan Lichsteiner switched to right back as Rob Holding kept his place yet again. Xhaka switching to left back meant we saw a combination of Guendouzi and Elneny in midfield and it’s still a combination which fails to convince me.

Guendouzi is making so much progress since joining us in the summer that it’s a joy to watch him, but it’s hard to see where Elneny is going at the club. He’s not the most spectacular player and he looks a fair way short of the level of Guendouzi never mind Torreira. It can’t be easy for him and our squad needs the depth he offers, but I can’t see us controlling a game with him in the team.

The first half wasn’t much to write home about with very little happening at either end, but Arsenal picked up the pace after the break. They dominated that second half and that domination only increased when Torreira came on for Elneny around the hour mark. His ability to control a game and drive the team forward is a joy to watch and he looks more and more like the player we have needed for years with each passing game.

In that second half Aubameyang had a couple of one on ones with the keeper after we found good passes in behind them, but he couldn’t make either chance pay. The first was wide on the right of the goal and he probably should have gone for the far post, but went on the near side. He got in on the left the next time and had to go with his left foot which meant he couldn’t do an “Henry” into the far corner and the keeper made a good save from an attempted clip over him. Maybe he wasn’t as spectacular as he was when he came off the bench on Monday night, but then again he didn’t have Ozil to pull the strings.

When the goal came it was Welbeck who got it after he took advantage of a slip from the Sporting central defender to finish crisply through the keeper’s legs. He had an earlier effort disallowed after he was rather harshly adjudged to have push a defender before an excellent header back across the keeper in the top corner. He has only had a bit part to play with Aubameyang and Lacazette ahead of him, but he has done very well and has five goals already from his limited chances.

All in all it wasn’t exactly a game to write home about, but it was a job well done in a stadium where away teams simply don’t win. It’s kept our incredible winning streak going and can only help to strengthen the belief and confidence in the team as well as letting the first choice players know they need to keep looking over their shoulders with others looking to take their places in the team. As I said in my preview the game away to Palace on Sunday is far more important, but it’s nice to be going into that game on the back of 11 consecutive wins and a clean sheet too.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Newcastle United Previewed

The pesky international break is over at last and it’s back to real football for Arsenal with a trip to Newcastle United in the Premier League. Last season we got pretty used to Sunday games due to our Europa League commitments and this could be our last 3pm kick off on a Saturday afternoon for quite a while. The Europa League returns on Thursday night when FC Vorskla come to the Emirates Stadium to play us and the Newcastle game will be our last away game in the Premier League on a Saturday at 3pm until at least December.

We go into the game on the back of consecutive victories over West Ham and Cardiff after we had lost our opening two games against City and Chelsea. West Ham and Cardiff might not exactly be the strongest teams in the Premier League, but those two wins were very important for us. They have given Unai Emery some crucial breathing space as he attempts to turn our players into a functioning team.

So far he has gone with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up front in every game, but Alexandre Lacazette keeps coming off the bench and making a telling contribution. We look like a better attacking outfit when they are playing together and he has to decide whether Lacazette has done enough to play from the start. Of course to play them both together would mean someone else has to miss out and he certainly has a few decisions to make.

With what’s mostly a double pivot in midfield it only leaves two other attacking places in the team and at least five players fighting for those places. For me Mesut Ozil has to play and it would leave a straight choice between Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aaron Ramsey for the other place. With so many games to play there will be chances for everyone to make an impression and it’s important that the manager has some genuine choices when he’s picking his team.

Since his arrival Lucas Torreira hasn’t started a game either, but he’s another player who has made a genuine impact from the bench. He will become a mainstay of the team fairly soon and it’s only a matter of time before he becomes one of the first names on the teamsheet. It’s a question of who will play alongside him and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Granit Xhaka get a chance to show his ability to do so.

Matteo Guendouzi has made a huge impression since joining us in the summer and his progress has been far ahead of schedule so far. I don’t think giving Torreira and Xhaka a chance to play together would harm Guendouzi and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as the midfield rock for our Europa League campaign. The manager is very fond of making early substitutions too which should mean Guendouzi has plenty of chances to continue his progression.

The defence more or less picks itself at the moment although I would like to see Bernd Leno get a chance to show if he can play out from the back any better than Petr Cech has being doing so far. Cech is struggling with the ball at his feet, but his shot stopping has been better so far this season. Again I think Leno will get his chance in the Europa League on Thursday night and it might take a fairly spectacular fail from Cech to give Leno a chance in the league. That disaster has been coming for a while and I just hope it doesn’t cost us too dearly when it happens.

The other question in defence I suppose is Hector Bellerin managing to keep Stephan Lichsteiner out of the team. I have no doubt Lichsteiner is a better defender, but our two fullbacks are being asked to do an awful lot of attacking at the moment and Bellerin is certainly offering a lot in the final third. Bellerin has his detractors, but I think he still has an awful lot of potential and I hope Lichsteiner can help him to fulfill that potential.

We have made plenty of chances in our last three games and we scored eight goals in those games. The problem has been at the other end where the manager must realise he has a huge job to do to make us defend better. It doesn’t seem to matter who plays or what formation we use the players just seem incapable of doing the basics far too often. As bad as we were defensively under Arsene Wenger for the last few seasons we seem to be almost worse at the moment if that’s possible. I don’t know if we’re capable of shutting up shop and playing a defensive game and I think attack is most definitely the best form of defence for us.

Newcastle have only taken one point so far and that was in a scoreless draw at Cardiff. We put three goals past Cardiff in our last game and probably should have scored more, but Cardiff hadn’t got a goal to their name in their opening three games before that game. If we’re going to beat Newcastle we will have to open up what has been a pretty good defence so far while making sure we aren’t too vulnerable at the back.

Newcastle have lost three of their four games, but the fixture list has been very unkind to them so far. They have lost 2-1 at home to both Spurs and Chelsea as well as losing 2-1 at City and they can’t be looking forward to playing another one of the top six teams. We are the most beatable of the top six though and Newcastle might just decide to have a go at us unlike what they did against Chelsea and City in particular.

I’m not so sure how it would go if they decided to have a go at us, but I think our superior firepower would give us the edge. When supposedly lesser teams did it to us away from home last season we couldn’t cope and our away record was abysmal. Our two away games this season have had 10 goals in them and it looks like a shootout could be the best way for us to improve on last season’s away record.

I hope to see Aubameyang and Lacazette start together and I think they could be the players to give us an edge. With the pkayers we have behind them the chances should come and hopefully they can put enough of them away to take the three points. The manager has a huge job to do and he has to keep trying to win games as he slowly gets the players used to the way he wants them to play. No team in the Premier League is easy to beat, but I think we can definitely take the three points home to London.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

The Pressure Mounts On Arsenal Today

I suppose as things go for a new manager Unai Emery has had a free pass on his first two games considering who the opposition were. Expectations weren’t particularly high for the games at home to City and away to Chelsea and the results went the way we probably expected, but we had hoped they would be different. That free pass ends today though when we play at home to West Ham.

We’re just outside the relegation zone on goal difference with no points and five goals conceded from our first two games. The manager has seen the scale of his task in those two games and he must realise the job has to do on our defence is a massive one. While we looked good in attack in the first half against Chelsea in particular last week, our defence looked as vulnerable as ever and maybe even more so.

We play a West Ham team who have lost their first two games too and in worse fashion than us. They lost their opening game 4-0 away to Liverpool and they lost 2-1 at home to Bournemouth last week after taking the lead in that game. There seems to be huge unrest already despite massive investment in the summer and they have a fair degree of injury worries too.

Over the years of the Premier League they have been a bit of a thorn in our side in home ganes in particular, but they cannot be allowed to get anything from this game. We have to show that the new manager is having an effect on the players and put away a West Ham team that look devoid of confidence.

When it comes to the team today I don’t expect to see too many changes from the one that lost at Chelsea last week. The manager seems happy to use his bench early in the game and he’s very open to changing things as the game progresses. He does have a few decisions to make though and those decisions could have a huge bearing on our performance.

In defence there are calls for Stephan Lichsteiner to be given the nod ahead of Hector Bellerin, but I would be very surprised to see Bellerin on the bench. As good as Lichsteiner is it would be a real slap in the face to Bellerin to leave him out and he’s definitely not the only defender struggling at the moment. There has been a fair deal of criticism of his efforts going forward too, but he had a large part to play in much of our good play on the right side last week.

Elsewhere in defence there aren’t too many choices unless he decides to leave Shkodran Mustafi out, but it would be a huge risk to throw someone else in at the deep end with a team that still seem incapable of defending. Nacho Monreal has to play at left back with no other options available and hopefully he can regain his form of last season. He was by far our best defender last season and he offered quite a lot going forward too.

The biggest choice of the day could be who plays in midfield with Matteo Guendouzi surely a dead cert to keep his place. It’s probably a straight choice between Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira to play alongside him and Torreira looks like the favourite to get the nod at the moment. I suppose Aaron Ramsey could play that deeper role too, but I would expect to see him deployed further forward if he does get the nod.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was signed in January to score goals for us and he certainly did so for the rest of last season. Last week he had one really good chance to score and another fairly good chance too, but he failed to put both of them away. He needs to put a few away as soon as possible, but like any striker he will miss his fair share of chances too. I still think he is the man to score those goals for us and he is going to make it hard for Alexandre Lacazette to get a lot of game time.

I would be very surprised if both Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan didn’t keep their places even if Ozil didn’t have the best game last week. He is a top class player and hopefully he will overcome the problems he’s having as soon as possible, but the best place for him to do so is in the team. Like Aubameyang last week Mkhitaryan missed a sitter, but he did make up for it by scoring one goal and making another and he must be a certainty to play.

The last choice is probably between Alex Iwobi and Ramsey and I think Iwobi might just keep his place. He scored one goal last week and he is more adept than Ramsey in a wide role which should probably see him picked despite the misgivings many fans have about him. As I said previously Ramsey could play a deeper role too, but I have s feeling he might be on the bench.

We need to get our first win and points of the season after those two defeats and that win has to come today. West Ham are there for the taking and we should be able to do just that if we go about it the right way. Anything other than a win would be a huge blow and it would put real pressure on the manager only three games into his reign. I think we will get the three points and we should see a few goals too.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.