Arteta’s Arsenal Slowly Improving

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Leeds United: FA Cup Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Bournemouth Previewed

The Mikel Arteta era as Arsenal manager gets off to a start today when we play away to Bournemouth. We go into the game in our lowest league position at this time of the season in 36 years as we sit in 11th place. Our hopes of a top four finish seem dim at best, but yet I think Arteta’s appointment offers us genuine hope.

He has a huge job ahead of him, but the noises coming from him so far are very encouraging. Under Unai Emery we had become a very negative team who seemed unable to take control of a game and were reactionary rather than taking the game to opponents. Things got far worse this season and I find it difficult to remember one single Premier League game so far this season where we outplayed our opponents and deserved to win.

Of course Arteta cannot expect to change things overnight and he still has to work with the same players Emery had. Things might change slightly in the January transfer window, but realistically he has to more or less work with what he has. The first thing he will try to do will be to change the attitude of the players and if he’s to succeed it’s something he just has to do.

He’s had a few days to work with them and some of the signs in the last game under the temporary stewardship of Freddie Ljungberg were encouraging. Freddie put out a fairly young side and they worked their socks off to earn a 0-0 draw in a game of few chances. The defensive side of the performance was the encouraging part and we might have taken the three points too, but Jordan Pickford saved from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the game’s best chance.

Considering how bad our defence has been it was encouraging to keep a clean sheet away from home and it was our first away clean sheet since the opening day 1-0 win at Newcastle. Our away games have been drab affairs at best with very little quality on show, but we most certainly have some genuine quality in the squad. Arteta has to find a balance that will allow us to express that attacking quality while still showing solidity at the back. 

I thought Calum Chambers did very well in the centre of the defence against Everton, but he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season and will miss out today as a result. It means the centre of the defence will see two out of David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi play and you would have to imagine it will be the first two with Mustafi on the bench. As a partnership they have failed to impress despite their vast experience and I just hope they can do better today. Hector Bellerin could return from injury at right back while Bukayo Saka looks likely to continue on the left with both Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac injured. 

I expect a similar line up in midfield to the one at Everton with a combination of Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira to anchor things. The two of them have the makings of a good partnership with the right tactics and coaching and Arteta might just be the man to get the most out of them. Of course both players are rumoured to want away from the club and Arteta’s first job with each of them could be to convince them to stay if they are in his long term plans.

Ahead of the two of them I expect to see more experience than we did against Everton and I think Arteta has to go with the potential strongest starting lineup available to him. Aubameyang has to be a shoe-in while I think he has to show the confidence in Nicolas Pepe that appears not to have been shown up to this stage. We spent an awful lot of money on him in the summer and again Arteta has to hope he is the man who can get the most from our record signing.

It looks like Gabriel Martinelli might miss out through injury which could see Alexandre Lacazette come back into the team and Aubameyang switch to a wide role. The most interesting choice could be who plays behind those three players or if Arteta deploys a third midfielder in a central role.

The amount of money we pay Mesut Ozil is quite absurd and we certainly haven’t gotten the return you would expect from a player of his quality in a long time. He’s always been an exceptional talent who performs best with a very strong team around him and that’s something he hasn’t had at Arsenal far too often. If Arteta can get the best from him the team will benefit, but if he can’t it could be the end of the road for Ozil. If it comes to that it won’t be easy to dispose of a player earning as much as he does and I hope we do hang on to him and see the best of him again.

We have only won once in our last 10 league games and we need to turn things around quickly. The top four seems a long way away after Chelsea beat Spurs on Sunday, but fifth place is most certainly still within our reach. All we need is a good run of results with a few wins in a row and we will quickly climb back among the teams hoping to catch up on fourth place.

We can’t wait too long for that run to begin though and it would be great to start it at Bournemouth today. They’re not exactly setting the world alight at the moment either and they have lost five of their last six games with only a 1-0 win away to Chelsea to stand to their name in that time. They have lost their last three home games and they only scored one goal in those games which has to offer us real hope today.

I want and expect to see more commitment from the players today and if Arteta is going to succeed that’s the bare minimum we can expect. We certainly have the players to beat Bournemouth and climb the table, but it’s not going to be an easy fix for Arteta and it’s going to take time. Meanwhile we need to keep improving and taking points as Arteta tries to have the positive influence on the squad which is so badly needed.

I truly hope he succeeds and I have a feeling we have the right man for the job. It’s a long hard task and things won’t always go our way, but I think we will get an idea early on if he can have the required influence on the players. Let’s hope that will start today with three points and a performance to warm the heart and bring us hope for the future.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Brighton Preview

We all hoped the Freddie Ljungberg time in charge at the club would get off to a good start at Norwich on Sunday and for the first half hour it looked like it might just do. However, Norwich scored first and all of our frailties were laid bare for all to see. To their credit the players did at least manage to come back from behind twice to get a 2-2 draw, but it was definitely another two points dropped. Norwich probably deserved all three points by the end of the game though and we were thankful to Bernd Leno for the one point we did get.

We have now played all of the bottom three clubs and failed to beat any of them with 2-2 draws away to Watford and Norwich and at home to Southampton. To be honest we were more than a little fortunate to emerge with a draw from each of those games and it says an awful lot about where we are as a team. There’s a scrap developing for fifth place in the Premier League and it looks like that’s the very best we can achieve this season as it stands.

Defensively we’re an absolute shambles and it just doesn’t look like changing. No matter what defenders we pick they continue to make wrong decisions both individually and collectively. They’re not helped by our midfield making the exact same errors when it comes to the defensive part of their game.

I had hoped Freddie would have picked Nicolas Pepe at Norwich, but from what he said there seems to be some issue with Pepe and he’s carried on Unai Emery’s policy of not giving him even a minute to play. It’s just as well we didn’t splash out a club record fee on him last summer I suppose. As I’ve said before I’d like to see Pepe play wide right of a front three with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang through the middle and Gabriel Martinelli on the left.

Surely a home game against a Brighton team who don’t travel well can afford us an opportunity to play an attacking team with loads of pace. They might have put up a good show in losing 2-1 at Liverpool on Saturday, but Brighton have only taken one point in their last six away games. They’re definitely more adventurous than they were last season, but we should be far too good for them at home if we approach the game in the right way.

I’d love to see both Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney as the full backs if they’re fit enough to play and Lucas Torreira given the job of anchoring the midfield. I think a team built around those three with the attacking trio I mentioned has to be able to get our first win in seven league games. Of course having Mesut Ozil to supply the ammunition for the front three would be great too and the fact Freddie picked him on Sunday is promising.

I expect a much better atmosphere at the Emirates tonight which will hopefully make it a little easier for the players to play. The chances are Freddie won’t get the gig long term, but hopefully he can turn things around enough to leave things in a reasonably good state for whoever takes over. 

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Vitoria: Europa League Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Is The Arsenal Glass Half Full

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Standard Liege: Europa League Preview

It’s back to Europa League action for Arsenal tonight when Standard Liege come calling in our second group game. We won the first game 3-0 away to Eintracht Frankfurt a couple of weeks ago to set us up nicely for the remaining games. It may not be Europe’s premier competition, but we might need to depend on the Europa League for Champions League qualification if we can’t manage a top four finish for the fourth season in a row.

Our top four chances didn’t take too much of a blow when we drew 1-1 away to United on Monday night, but it still felt like a missed opportunity given their current form. We hadn’t won away to United in the league in 13 years before Monday night and it could be another 13 years before we get as good a chance again. At least we managed to come back and take a point though and that point was enough to keep us fourth in the league.

I expect plenty of changes from that team tonight as Unai Emery looks to rest some players ahead of the Bournemouth game on Sunday and also give a chance to some fringe players and youngsters. He can’t go too far though as we need to make sure we have a strong enough team to take the three points.

Emiliano Martinez should play in goal with a central defensive partnership of Rob Holding and Shkodran Mustafi in front of him and probably Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin as the two full backs if they’re up to it. For me Holding, Tierney and Bellerin are the future of our defence and I’m looking forward to seeing them all slowly play their way back in after their injuries. Mustafi has had his fair share of problems, but he did very well against Frankfurt and Forest and hopefully he can do so again tonight.

In midfield we should see the players who didn’t start against United get a run out which should mean Joe Willock and Dani Ceballos play with Mesut Ozil surely accompanying them. I’m not sure if Ceballos and Ozil can be accommodated in the same team which could mean one of them will start on the bench with the possibility of Ainsley Maitland-Niles even getting a game in his preferred midfield role or who knows Callum Chambers could play there too as it’s not an unfamiliar position to him.

In attack Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has to be rested as he is so important to us which has to mean Gabriel Martinelli plays centrally as he did so well in the Carabao Cup against Forest last week. I would imagine he will be flanked by Reiss Nelson and probably Nicolas Pepe despite the fact that Pepe played on Monday night. His confidence is a little low at the moment, but maybe successive home games against Liege and Bournemouth might just be the tonic he needs.

As I’ve said far too often already this season we’re not playing well, but our best two results came in the Europa League and the Carabao Cup when our team was pretty similar to what it will be tonight. We might have been a little lucky to win 3-0 away to Frankfurt, but the 5-0 win at home to Forest was an excellent display all around even if they are a Championship team. More of the same tonight would do very nicely and put us in a strong position in our group just ahead of the next dreaded international break.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Nottingham Forest: Carabao Cup Preview

After the very exciting comeback at home to Villa on Sunday Arsenal are very quickly back in action tonight when Nottingham Forest come calling in the Carabao Cup. As cup competitions go the Carabao Cup is at the bottom of the pile and it gives Unai Emery a chance to rest a few players. The number one priority this season has to be a top four finish and I can’t imagine he will risk the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in this game.

When we trailed Villa late on and we were down to 10 men it didn’t look good, but the players managed to find it within themselves to get the goals we needed. Massive credit has to go to Matteo Guendouzi for driving the team forward in the second half and to Aubameyang who yet again scored us the goal to take all three points. The result was just what we needed, but like our other performances so far this season it was far from impressive.

With only two days between the games the manager will have to use his whole squad which could see the return of a few players from injury. Rob Holding is the one most likely to get his first game of the season while both Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin are more likely to come off the bench at some stage. We should also see those who didn’t get a run out on Sunday getting a game from the start .

We might even see the rare sight so far this season of Mesut Ozil in the team while I would imagine Reiss Nelson and Gabriel Martinelli might get a game too. With Aubameyang surely having to be rested and Alexandre Lacazette injured Martinelli might even be the one to lead the line with Nelson on one side and maybe Bukayo Saka on the other. 

Saka was unfortunate to be the one sacrificed on Sunday when Ainsley Maitland-Niles was sent off and he deserves a chance to show what he can do again after a very impressive display in the Europa League last week. Callum Chambers came on to play right back when Maitland-Niles was sent off and despite some defensive frailty he managed to score our second goal. I thought he was very unlucky to lose his place in the team after the opening game against Newcastle and he must surely be given another chance at some stage as the centre of our defence is shambolic at the moment.

I didn’t think signing David Luiz was a good idea and we have seen the worse side of his game all too often in an Arsenal shirt. He seems to have had a detrimental affect on Sokratis Papastathopoulos too because their partnership is one which scares the life out of me at the moment. If Holding plays tonight it will probably be alongside Shkodran Mustafi and he’s our only central defender who scares me more than Luiz or Sokratis.

Forest put four goals past us a couple of seasons ago in the FA Cup in what was one of Arsene Wenger’s worst results in his many years at the club. We had a young and inexperienced team that day and there was no experience on the bench in case we needed to call on it. I imagine the manager might just have a little bit of back up tonight in case things aren’t going our way.

Forest have started the season quite well with 15 points from their eight games and they’re currently in the top six in the Championship. They have only lost one game and they have only conceded six goals in their eight games so they’re not going to be a pushover. We have some pretty good players available tonight though and I don’t see why we can’t make home advantage pay and progress to the next round.

I’ll be happy to see Holding, Bellerin and Tierney make their first appearances of the season though and to see some of the young guns get a run out too. Progression to the next round is always preferable, but I’m not so sure we want too many extra games at the moment. The younger players will still get a few run outs in the Europa League group games I suppose even if it does go pear shaped tonight. 

I might not sound overly confident, but I suppose watching Arsenal so far this season has given me that lack of confidence. Having said that we’re in the top four and won our toughest Europa League group game with what looked like relative ease if you only saw the score line. I’m still very worried that we won’t take advantage of the crisis at other clubs to cement our place in the top four and bring back Champions League football. Enough of the doom and gloom though and here’s hoping for a great performance and a victory tonight.

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.

Arsenal v Manchester United: FA Cup Preview

Arsenal couldn’t have asked for a much tougher FA Cup fourth round draw than against a United team who have won their last seven games in all competitions. Their run coincided with the removal of Jose Mourinho and there isn’t a team in the Premier League on a better run at the moment. Of course this isn’t a league game and there’s every chance one or both managers will decide to rotate their squad at least a little.

Unai Emery led Arsenal to a very encouraging 2-0 win at home to Chelsea last week after some more than challenging performances and results recently. In fact Arsenal have done quite well at home to the rest of the top six this season with the exception of Emery’s very first game in charge when they lost 2-0 at home to City. They beat Spurs and Chelsea as well as drawing with Liverpool and those games were three of their best performances of the season so far.

Their away results may have slipped badly recently, but they continue to win games and score goals at home. Only City and Liverpool have taken more home points and scored more home goals while only those two teams and Chelsea have conceded less goals at home. Despite conceding far too many goals away from home it seems Arsenal are in fact showing a little bit of defensive solidity at home.

The manager switched to a diamond formation last week with a back four and three central midfielders in front of them while Aaron Ramsey played behind a front two of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. That formation worked very well against Chelsea with the players running further than they had ever done before as a team and closing Chelsea down all over the pitch. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the same formation against United, but there will have to be at least one change in personnel. 

The long term injury sustained by Hector Bellerin last week means we’re not going to see him until somewhere after the start of next season and the manager has a tough task on his hands trying to replace him. We struggled at right back when he was out over the festive season and it’s quite possible we will do so again. The choices are Stephan Lichsteiner, Carl Jenkinson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and maybe even Shkodran Mustafi and none of them fill me with a lot of confidence.

At a push I think young Maitland-Niles might be our best long term bet with Bellerin out for up to nine months, but it’s not his natural position. If the manager can persist with him and coach him in the art of defending as well as getting him to concentrate during the game just a little more I think he could have the most to offer. If he’s up against Marcus Rashford at times against United he could find life difficult, but it will definitely teach him a thing or two as well.

I would be surprised if the manager makes too many changes from the team that beat Chelsea and if the tactics differ too much either. As good as United have been they have had a fairly reasonable run of games with the exception of their win at Spurs and an Arsenal team at their best would be their toughest test so far under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. They are just as bad in defence as us and they can struggle in all areas when the opposition press them.

Ramsey played an important part in the win last week and I suppose he sort of played in the Mesut Ozil role. Ozil is watching from the sidelines at the moment and while an FA Cup game would surely be the perfect time to reintroduce him I don’t think he will start. It seems his unwillingness to tackle back is what’s keeping him out of the side if those “in the know” are to be believed and the players are going to have to put in an awful lot of work to beat United.

We do have both Aubameyang and Lacazette up front and Lacazette in particular is very fond of scoring against the top teams. Aubameyang has missed his fair share of chances recently, but surely he’s due a goal or two and against United would be the ideal time for him to put a few chances away. He’s still the second highest scorer in the league and on course for a very good return this season.

The FA Cup might not be the most glamorous competition any more, but it’s certainly still worth winning. We have won it four times since 2004 and they’re the only trophies we lifted in that time with three of those victories in the last five seasons. We’re the only team to have lifted the FA Cup more times than United and beating them would insure that record stands for at least another season. There’s very little as special as a May appearance at Wembley in an FA Cup Final and beating United along the way would make it all the sweeter.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Move Back Into Top Four Contention

The defeat at West Ham last week left me feeling Arsenal had blown their chances of a top four finish this season despite having 16 games still up play. It was the manner of the defeat which gave me that sinking feeling and I couldn’t see how a team who could perform so poorly could seriously hope to push Chelsea and United. They needed to beat Chelsea on Saturday evening to show there was some life still in our challenge and they needed to do it in some style too.

We got exactly what we hoped for in that game with Arsenal coming out of the traps with all guns blazing and Chelsea struggling to cope. A few chances came and went before Alexandre Lacazette put us ahead and then Laurent Koscielny doubled the lead before half time. It was a very strong and disciplined performance, but of course Chelsea had their moments and some chances too like almost any opponent will have.

Overall we were far superior to them and in that first half in particular we showed the desire which had been so obviously missing against West Ham. Our home results have actually held up very well with the only defeat coming in our opening home game against City and we have deservedly won at home to both Spurs and Chelsea now. It’s very hard to reconcile those home results with our inability to win in our last five away games though and we won’t challenge for a top four place unless that away form changes.

There are too many similarities between this season and last season and none more so than in our away form. We started well away from home last season before an awful run saw us fall completely away in the chase for a top four finish. We fell back on the Europa League and hoping to quality for the Champions League by winning it, but we came up short and had to settle for a second season in a row in European football’s second tier competition.

We need to change our away form right away or this season will end up like last season and hopefully that win against Chelsea can restore some confidence on our travels even if it was a home game. We didn’t push on after the win and performance against Spurs or the impressive home draw with Liverpool, but we quite simply have to do it now. It’s not going to be easy in our next away game against City, but a win against Cardiff in our next home game is an absolute must.

The formation we used against Chelsea worked well, but the loss of Hector Bellerin to a long term injury is a real blow. We lost Rob Holding a couple of months ago just when he looked to have become the most important central defender at the club. Bellerin and Holding were the youthful pair in our defence and we will certainly lose some momentum and attacking flair on the right side with Bellerin’s absence.

Thankfully the return of Koscielny has at least helped to strengthen the centre of our defence again, but it has taken him time to come up with a performance like the one he gave on Saturday. We need more of the same from Koscielny if we’re going to improve defensively and the signs are he could be developing a good partnership with Sokratis Papastathopoulos. The problem could be replacing Bellerin with Stephan Lichsteiner the most likely candidate, but maybe Ainsley Maitland-Niles might be the best one.

Before that mideeek game against Cardiff next week we have the small matter of an FA Cup fourth round game at home to United on Friday night. They’re on a great run since they disposed of Jose Mourinho, but their defence is their weak point and a performance like the one against Chelsea will give us every chance of progressing. I can’t imagine Unai Emery will even consider playing anything other than his strongest team against United with a win surely adding to the confidence boost of the win against Chelsea.

As bad as we have been away from home recently we’re only three points off the top four with enough time to catch Chelsea and finish ahead of United too. It’s amazing what a good win and performance can do for the confidence and a week ago I could never have imagined we had a chance of finishing in the top four. Hopefully it has done just as much for the confidence of the players too and we can look forward to a strong finish to the season. I can dream can’t I.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Premier League Trip To West Ham Previewed

Arsenal had a fairly run of the mill 3-0 win away to Blackpool in the third round of the FA Cup last week after beating Fulham 4-1 in the Premier League only a few days earlier. Those games brought an end to a very busy festive schedule which wasn’t great to say the least, but it could have been worse too. The low point was the 5-1 defeat away to Liverpool after scoring first in the game and it showed up just how poor we are defensively even if it wasn’t really a surprise.

We haven’t won in our last four away games and we have now conceded 21 goals away from home in our 10 games this season with only three other teams conceding more away goals. It was our away form which saw us miss out on a top four finish last season with only City taking more points at home and it seems our away form could be heading that way again this season. Our away results were initially quite good this season, but it seems other teams have realised they just need to attack us and the chances will flow. It doesn’t help when we try to sit on a lead because it’s something we are incapable of doing and the only way we’re going to improve our away results is by continuing to attack.

It might only be a trip across London to play West Ham today, but I think it’s a really big game for us. If we’re going to continue to keep a real interest in a top four finish we have to keep pace with Chelsea and try to stay ahead of a rejuvenated United too. We don’t play any of the rest of the top six in our last eight games and we need to get to those games with a top four place still in our sights. It does mean we have to travel to both City and Spurs as well as playing at home to Chelsea and United in our next nine games and it’s going to be difficult to keep our challenge up.

As it stands Chelsea are three points ahead of us and we will draw level if we can beat West Ham before they play Newcastle in the late game today. On the face of it Chelsea should stroll through that game, but they only drew 0-0 at home to struggling Southampton in their last home game and Newcastle don’t actually tend to concede too many goals away from home this season. The chances of Chelsea slipping up will surely increase just a little if we can put some pressure on them by beating West Ham.

United have won all four of their games since they parted ways with Jose Mourinho only a few weeks ago even if those games weren’t against the best teams in the league. They travel to Spurs tomorrow and while I would never wish for Spurs to win any game they could do us a favour by at least taking a point off them. We all know Spurs aren’t real contenders for the title and they will bottle it at some stage, but it is looking increasingly difficult for us to catch them. They are six points behind Liverpool at the moment and we’re a further seven points behind them which probably means we have as much chance of catching them as they have of catching Liverpool.

We had hoped to be able to strengthen the team in the January transfer window, but it seems there is precious little money in the kitty at the moment and we will have to be happy with whatever loanees we might be able to tempt our way. Our need to strengthen the centre of our defence and add some attacking width is clear for all to see and our top four chances could depend on who we can add before the month is over. I’m still not sure how the sixth wealthiest club in the world hasn’t got two pennies to rub together, but I have no doubt it has an awful lot to do with us being the only Premier League club who’s owner doesn’t invest a single cent in the club.

Back to today’s game though and our need for three points against a West Ham team who have lost more home games than they have won and have only kept one clean sheet at home. We haven’t kept a clean sheet away from home either so the chances of both teams scoring today must be pretty high. If it’s a shoot out we do have the joint highest scorer in the league in our ranks and hopefully Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can be the man to make the difference.

The manager does have some or all of Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi, Hector Bellerin, Laurent Koscielny and Mesut Ozil available for selection again at least and he will have more options than he has had recently and a few decisions to make too. He has to get his team right and it’s something he has struggled to do in recent weeks, but some of those returning players might make it a little easier for him. He has struggled to get any balance in the team recently and the midfield mix has been wrong far too often. 

The return of Bellerin would give us more attacking options on the right and I imagine we will play three central defenders if both him and Sead Kolasinac play. With our lack of genuine width in the team the two of them will be very important when it comes to getting behind the West Ham defence and cutting the ball back for others to score. That was our best route to goal for the early part of the season and it would be great to fully reopen that route.

I can’t say I’m overly confident of us getting the win today given how we have performed away from home recently, but it’s certainly well within our abilities. If we take the lead and sit back giving the initiative to West Ham it will only go one way so we have to stay on the front foot from the first to the last minute. There’s still plenty to play for this season, but anything other than a win today will make a top four finish an awful harder for us to achieve.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Liverpool Previewed

With a top four finish this season our main target Arsenal sit in fifth place two points behind fourth placed Chelsea at the halfway stage. On the face of it we’re in a good position to push on and qualify for next season’s Champions League, but our form is very worrying at the moment. We go to league leaders Liverpool today looking to turn that form around and somehow do what no other team has managed so far this season.

We need a win to try to keep pace with those above us and keep ahead of a rejuvenated United who look a real threat now that they have disposed of Jose Mourinho. Liverpool have only conceded seven goals in their 19 games and only two of those goals have been at home. Of course a draw would be a very good result and far from a disaster, but I would be very surprised if both Chelsea and United didn’t win their games.

We started the season with two defeats, but then we couldn’t stop winning games even if the performances weren’t always the best. Since our winning streak needed we have only lost one league game, but we have drawn five out of 10 and those draws are killing us. We probably didn’t deserve to win most of those drawn games though and our current results are mirroring our performances while earlier ones didn’t.

How does the manager get more out of the players he has is the question and it’s hard to see where the answer lies. With Rob Holding our for the season and Hector Bellerin currently injured our defence has a very aged look to it. That isn’t helped by niggling injuries to Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac while it’s difficult to believe Laurent Koscielny has recovered enough to be in the team and he could be a reoccurrence of his injury waiting to happen.

In midfield the situations with both Mesut Ozil and Aaron are very different, but it seems the manager doesn’t trust either of them. You can put Ozil’s almost continued absence down to injuries, but surely the smart money is on lack of faith in him from the manager. The Ramsey situation seems a lot clearer with the player free to sign a pre contract agreement with any continental club from Tuesday and it seems he will be gone at the end of the season. As a result he’s being left out of the team just like Ozil, but it seems our performances are suffering with both of them as good as unavailable.

Added to that we simply have no natural width in the team and we’re becoming too easy to predict and to stop. The solution could be bringing one or two of the younger players like Zech Medley and Bukayo Saka into the defence and out wide, but the manager seems more than reluctant to do so. He needs to find a solution quickly though because our season is on the edge of unraveling and we’ve all seen how the majority of these players have reacted to that scenario in the past.

It’s almost as if we’re watching Arsene Wenger’s tactics at the moment with the team sitting back when we go ahead, but unable to defend a lead. Our strength has to be in attack with the leading goal scorer in the league in Pierre-Emireck Aubameyang, but we just are not playing to our strengths. It’s been a long time since Arsenal had the best striker in the league, even if he does miss his fair share of chances, but we need to push forward and take advantage of having him in our team.

If he has the personnel today I think Unai Emery will play three central defenders and three central midfielders and it’s a system I fail to understand. For a team currently lacking creativity and width it looks like we will forego both of them in the hope of protecting our defence and it’s a tactic which just doesn’t work for me. I would like to see Ramsey given a chance to be the playmaker and it’s a role he’s capable of playing, but I doubt if we will see him there.

I suppose the problem for the manager is he raised expectations with that fantastic unbeaten run and it’s now impossible to lower those expectations. The fans believed a top four finish was obtainable and despite faltering the display against Spurs reinforced that belief, but performances like that have been few and far between in reality. There is still the Europa League and the possibility of Champions League qualification by winning it which cannot be discounted.

Our away form had held up well at the start of the season, but seven points dropped away to Palace, Southampton and Brighton when we were winning two of those games has an awfully familiar ring to it. It was our away results which saw us finish sixth last season with only City taking more points at home and it seems those away results are heading the same way at the moment. We travel to a team unbeaten at home today, who have only conceded two home goals while we haven’t kept a single clean sheet on our travels in the league.

It all makes for a very depressing scenario, but still we have had glimpses of what this team can do at times this season and we have to hope for a similar display today. If he can get his tactics right to frustrate Liverpool and somehow make the chances for Aubameyang then we can get something from the game. I’d be delighted with a draw, but the prospect of Arsenal being the team to insure “the Invincibles” record remains for another season is one I would love to see happen. It’s an unlikely scenario, but hope springs eternal and that’s what being a fan is all about.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

10 Of The Best As Arsenal Beat Leicester

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Cardiff City Previewed

Arsenal managed their first win of the season last week when they came from behind to win 3-1 at home to West Ham. While the performance might not have been the greatest the first competitive win under Unai Emery was important and it’s us something to build on. After losing the first two games against City and Chelsea a win was a most and now we need more wins to go with it.

It’s going to take a long time for the new manager to change everything he has to change, but in the meantime we have to stay competitive and keep winning as many games as possible. Our defensive weakness is the real concern in the team and it looks like it could take a long time and maybe a few new faces for it to change. We’re still not defending as a team and we’re far too prone to individual errors, but hopefully time and hard work will cure those ills.

The biggest problem last week, besides our defending, was our inability to control the game and we made a poor West Ham team look good far too often. The manager is still trying and testing his players and he hasn’t yet found a balanced midfield who can control the game while protecting the defence. Lucas Torreira arrived at a fairly high cost in the summer and the time for him to play from the start must surely be upon us. He looks like he could be the disciplined defensive midfielder we need and it’s important for him to become an intrical part of the team as soon as possible.

Mesut Ozil missed out on that win over West Ham through illness, but he should be fit to play against Cardiff. He has his doubters, but when he’s at his best he has few who can match him and the manager has to find a way to get the best out of him. Ozil has had his much publicised problems, but he is the player who can make that team tick and create the chances for our strikers to score.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arrived in January and immediately started scoring goals like the striker we had been hoping for. I was very confident he would keep scoring those goals this season, but it hasn’t happened for him just yet. He has missed his fair share of chances in the first three games, but surely it’s just a matter of time before the goals start coming quick and fast. He is one of the best strikers in the game and I think he just needs that first goal to get the ball rolling.

With Aubameyang as first choice striker it has meant Alexandre Lacazette has had to take a back seat and it can’t be easy for him. He’s only been at the club just over a year and he arrived with a great scoring record too. He has looked good when he has come on in each of our games so far, but it doesn’t look like the manager is prepared to play both him and Aubameyang together from the start.

We know what to expect from Cardiff tomorrow and it certainly won’t be pretty, but Neil Warnock teams never are. They’ll be as physical as possible and try to harry us and intimidate us on and off the ball. The one crucial factor they are missing is genuine quality and that’s where we have a huge advantage and we have to make that advantage count.

They have kept clean sheets in two of their three games so far, but crucially they have failed to score in all of those games. If we can defend properly we can make sure they continue that scoreless streak and then it’s a matter of opening up their defence enough to get the goals we need. We showed plenty of attacking intent in our only away game against Chelsea and we need to continue with that attacking intent while keeping our defence intact.

We seem to be making real inroads on the right side of our attack at the moment with Hector Bellerin almost playing as a winger rather than a defender. In a four man defence that’s a big risk unless someone can cover for him and that’s where Torreira comes in. If Bellerin and Henrikh Mkhitaryan can continue to cut balls back towards the penalty spot we should make the chances we need to win the game.

Our away form was pretty dismal last season and it was the main reason we finished so far outside the top four. That away form needs to improve drastically and it needs to start improving tomorrow against Cardiff. We have the players to get the win and we just need those players to get it right on that day to continue our improvement.

Elsewhere the draws for the Europa League group stages and the third round of the Carabao Cup have been made and we know our opponents in each of them. It’s a home game against Brentford in the Carabao Cup later this month while we’re joined by Sporting Lisbon, Qarabag and Vorskla in our Europa League group. All of those fixtures will certainly stretch our squad and give plenty of opportunities to those players who are looking for game time. 

Before any of that can happen we have a dreaded international break and we have to hope all of our players come back intact and injury free. One player who we don’t have to worry about is Reiss Nelson who has gone out on a season long loan to Hoffenheim after signing a new contract at Arsenal. He really looks like one for the future and hopefully he can get plenty of first team football in Germany to help him progress as a player.

International breaks can be long and tedious, but they’re always a lot better when you go into them on the back of a win. Here’s hoping we can do just that tomorrow and then spend two weeks talking about the progress we’re making rather than having to listen to the recriminations that would inevitably follow a defeat. 

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.

Some Promising Signs As Arsenal Lose To Chelsea

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Huddersfield Previewed

The day has come when Arsene Wenger bids his final farewell and its got more than just a tinge of sadness about it. In almost 22 years at the club he took us to some highs which we never really dreamed of and introduced us to football we could only dream of. Those in charge at the club have decided a new man is required to move us forward and make us truly competitive again. I don’t think Arsene himself is too happy about the decision and I have no doubt he still believes he is the right man for the job.

He’s been given a fantastic send off by our fans and opposing fans alike as they put rivalries aside to pay tribute to a manager who had a huge impact on the Premier League and English football. With nothing on the line for either team today it looks like Huddersfield will give him the send off he deserves after the fantastic send off he got in his final home game against Burnley last week. I just hope the team he selects today can be a part of that send off and somehow or other put an end to a disastrous run of league results away from home.

We have finished the season with only three points less than City at home, but a defeat today and a win for them would see us finish 39 points behind them. I know nobody else has come close to them either, but they could end up with 36 points more than us away from home. There are only three teams in the whole league who have taken less points on the road and it’s that statistic which has got the manager the bullet more than any other one. 

If we had got 10 to 15 more points away from home I don’t think the decision about his departure would have been taken out of his hands. The number of games away from home where we have scored first and lost is amazing and off the top of my head I can remember Watford, Swansea, Newcastle, Brighton and Bournemouth all coming from behind to beat us. We are currently on a run of seven away defeats in a row and that is enough to get any manager the bullet.

The players have one final chance to put an end to that run today and they need to do it for him. Only Burnley have scored less goals at home than Huddersfield and only Swansea have scored less goals overall and surely they are a team we should and can beat. Scoring is as alien to Huddersfield as defending to us though and we have the ability to make any team look good at home to us.

We have lost away from home to two of the relegated teams and if we lose today we will have lost to all three of the promoted teams too. Our only away wins came at Everton, Burnley and Palace and we haven’t taken a single away point in this calendar year. That’s the worst away record in all of the top five leagues in Europe and all four English leagues this year and one which we have to put an end to today for Arsene’s sake if for nobody else’s.

I imagine he will play the strongest team he can as there are no more games to worry about resting players for with the season over today. We should see Hector Bellerin, Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi, Jack Wilshere and Alexandre Lacazette return to the team which lost at Leicester on Wednesday night. I thought we played very well in that game considering we had to play for 75 minutes with 10 men, but again our inability to defend cost us the game.

We don’t have the ability to control a game away from home and we are far too open and too easy to attack. I can’t see that changing today and the chances are the individual mistakes which have haunted us this season will continue, but we just have to be strong enough in attack to counter our dodgy defence. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the team we have a player who can and will score bundles of goals for us so we have to make those chances for him and others today.

I have no doubt tears will be shed by many fans today and we’ll never see the likes of Arsene Wenger again at our club. We have to move forward though and it had reached a stage where the belief in him to be the man who could do that had gone for me and many other fans. Let’s just hope he gets the send off he deserves for all he has done for our club both on and off the field today.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Leicester City Previewed

The events of the weekend are still fresh in the memory and it’s back to action for Arsenal tonight. Sunday was a pretty emotional day for the manager and the fans too as we bade farewell to Arsene Wenger after 22 years at the club. He might have two games left to play, but they’re both away from home and we won’t get to see him manage Arsenal at the Emirates again.

While I do think it was time for him to go it doesn’t mean it wasn’t an emotional day for me and he will always be remembered as our greatest ever manager. The football he brought to the club was exceptional and the players we got to see were those of our dreams. He won three Premier League trophies, seven FA Cups and brought us some memories that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

There are still two games to go though even if there is very little to play for in those games. We are guaranteed to finish sixth and qualify for the Europa League next season, but we’re nine points behind fifth placed Chelsea. It’s hardly been a season of dreams and for the most part the football has been average at best.

We have a great home record and as it stands no other team has taken more points at home this season, but City will surpass that points total if they don’t lose at home to Brighton tonight. They are the only team to have scored more home goals than us too and it’s a home record we should be proud of. The problems this season have been away from home though  and that’s why we’re 34 points behind City.

No other team can match their fantastic away record of course, but none of the other teams in the top six are so far behind them away from home either. We have lost 10 of our 17 away games so far this season and we have only managed three wins. Only three other teams in the Premier League have taken less points on the road this season and our away form is that of a team destined for relegation rather than fighting for a top four finish.

There are two games left to rectify that record as much as we can rectify it and the first of them is away to Leicester tonight. They seem to have given up the ghost on their season with only one point in their last five games and surely they must be there for the taking. They haven’t won in six home games either and it looks like they’re trying their best to part ways with yet another manager.

The manager has said there might be a few changes tonight as some of the players who played against Madrid on Thursday night played on Sunday too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few changes to the team, but I think he will keep a fairly strong team. I can’t imagine he wants to go out on a low and he will be anxious to win tonight and at Huddersfield on Sunday too.

I would be very surprised to see either Hector Bellerin or Granit Xhaka miss out as they seem to be the two players capable of playing game after game without fatigue becoming a factor. Others aren’t quite so durable though and it looks like we won’t see Mesut Ozil again this season after a recurrence of his back injury in the Madrid game last week. I don’t buy into the theories that he isn’t mentally or emotionally up to playing and that he picks and chooses the games he wants to play. 

He has been one of the players with the most appearances for us every season since he joined and to suggest he doesn’t want to play is ridiculous. Ever since he joined us there have been critics who claim he is “nicking a living” and like nothing more than to accuse him of not trying. I don’t buy into any of it though and I think there is plenty more to come from him now that we have added other top class attacking players to the squad.

I hope to see the Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette continue tonight and Aubameyang is now our second highest league scorer behind Lacazette despite only joining at the end of January. He is the striker we have been craving for years in my opinion and I can’t wait to see him flourish in the team next season with Lacazette, Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aaron Ramsey. We have attacking players to strike fear into any team as long as we can sort out the defensive part of our game for next season.

The performance on Sunday against a very strong defensive unit like Burnley’s was excellent and it wasn’t as if Burnley had nothing to play for. They had a great defensive record away from home this season before Sunday and they hadn’t been thumped by any other team. We turned on the sort of performance which the occasion deserved, but which was a real rarity for us this season.

One of our problems away from home this season has been an inability to hold on to a lead with Swansea, Watford, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Brighton all coming from behind to beat us. We seem so vulnerable when teams attack us away from home and so often teams don’t pick up the pace against us until they are trailing. These are all worries for whoever the new manager might be next season, but for the moment the current manager has to try to install a little belief for two away games.

We have to hope the players want to see him off in the best possible style by continuing on from where they left off on Sunday. Leicester might try to finish on a high themselves by beating one of the “top six”, but I think we should and will beat them once the level of commitment required to play at this level is there. As bad as our away form has been this season we can still average a point a game away from home by beating Leicester and Huddersfield.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Watford Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.