Which Arsenal Players Are On Their Way Out

Unai Emery has already brought five new players into the Arsenal squad this summer and he’s going to have to offload a few of the players he has to cover at least some of their transfer fees and wages as well as keeping the squad at a workable size. Of course Jack Wilshere has already left to join West Ham as he decided the new manager wasn’t going to give him as much game time as he wanted. We didn’t get a fee for Wilshere though as he was at the end of his contract and I would imagine any new purchases will have to be funded by players leaving.

We also saw the departure of Jeff Reine-Adelaide to Angers today, but he can hardly be considered a loss from the first team squad. He was a player with a lot of promise a few seasons ago, but we rarely got to see what he could do mainly because of a series of injuries. It’s hard to know how he will fare, but you have to at least wish him well for the future.

If the rumours are to be believed there are a few more players who the manager considers to be surplus to requirements and he is currently listening to offers for some of them. With so many defensive players already arriving it would surely be safe to assume we will be seeing the back of one or two of the defenders we have. Shkodran Mustafi had a fairly torrid time last season and the influx of central defenders could well see him on his way, but the ongoing injury to Laurent Koscielny might mean he stays put.

There has also been plenty of talk of Nacho Monreal retuning to Spain, but the manager seems reluctant to sell a player who was our most consistent defender last season. If Sead Kolasinac can make the left back berth his own it could see the departure of Monreal, but I think we will keep him for this season at least. Besides those two I can’t see any other possibilities for defenders leaving and I would even be surprised if either of them were sold.

The arrival of Bernd Leno has left us top heavy with goalkeepers though and I would be surprised if we didn’t sell at least one of them. Petr Cech has been linked with a return to Chelsea, but they opted to sign Rob Green instead while David Ospina is as always being linked with most of the clubs in Turkey. I think we need to sell at least one of them and given the choice I would opt to sell Ospina before Cech.

Of course the contract negotiations with Aaron Ramsey are still ongoing and getting him to extend his contract could be our best piece of business this summer. With the transfer window closing in two weeks we need to tie him down as quickly as possible or we will have to spend big to replace him in the current market. We just cannot allow him to run his contract down like both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil did last season.

With Granit Xhaka due back from his World Cup duties soon there has been some speculation that he might be surplus to requirements. It’s something I can’t see myself and I would be very surprised if he isn’t a big part in Emery’s plans for now and the future too. He has his detractors and he hasn’t always been at his best for us, but I think he’s a player with an awful lot to offer.

Lucas Perez is yet another player who’s future could be uncertain, but the early signs are the boss is prepared to give him a chance. He was certainly persona non grata last season, but the new regime seems prepared to let him prove his worth. The sales of Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott in January and the possible sale of Danny Welbeck must surely keep a place open for another attacking player in the squad and Perez could be that player.

Welbeck is probably the last player who the boss is looking at offloading this summer and it wouldn’t surprise if he was sold. I don’t think he’s quite up to the level we want to play at and it would make sense to cash in on one of the rare occasions when he is actually fit. We’ll probably have to wait for him to come back from his World Cup duties before anything happens, but he certainly has to be a candidate for the exit door in the next two weeks.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Say Hello To Bernd Leno And Wave Goodbye To Jack Wilshere

It’s been an eventful few days for Arsenal with comings and goings at the club as we signed a goalkeeper and lost a midfielder. Bernd Leno joined from Bayer Leverkusen just a few hours before we heard the news from Jack Wilshere that he will be playing his football elsewhere next season.

Leno looks like a pretty decent keeper to me and his arrival will surely see the exit of either Petr Cech or David Ospina or maybe even both of them. I think we needed a new keeper as neither Cech nor Ospina have been impressive and we need a keeper who the defenders can depend upon. I’m looking forward to seeing him at least compete for thr first choice keeper’s role with either Cech or Ospina and I hope he is good enough to make it his own.  

Wilshere has been in negotiations with the club about a new contract for quite a while now, but it appears those discussions have come to an end. He said he was prepared to take a pay cut, but following discussions with Unai Emery he made the decision the best thing for him was to move when his contract ends at the end of this month. I can understand why Emery might want to bring in his own players, but I will also be sad to see Wilshere leave.

For me he was a player with huge potential who never really got to live up to that potential mainly due to injuries. He has missed an awful lot of time due to a series of injuries which all seemed to stem from an ankle injury a good few years ago. That’s not to say he hasn’t had his good moments at the club, but it has been a few years since we have seen the best of him.

He played plenty of games last season, but his return in terms of goals and assists was minimal to say the least. He was loaned out to Bournemouth the previous season after appearing unwilling to fight for a place at Arsenal having missed all of the previous season through injury. There’s no doubting his love for the club and I’m sure leaving us will hurt him, but there’s little room for sentiment in football.

I wish him well wherever he goes except when he plays against us of course and I hope he can overcome his injury problems and do really well for the rest of his career. His exit opens up a place in the squad you would imagine and we look like we could be lining his replacement up already. If the rumours are to be believed Lucas Torreira will join us from Sampdoria quite soon. I won’t be counting any chickens until he signs on the dotted line though.

With Wilshere on the way out it was interesting to see Granit Xhaka extend his contract and you can only assume he has done so as Unai Emery wants him at the club. He’s a player that divides opinion, but I think the right manager and the right coaching could make him a very important player for us. I’m looking forward to seeing how Emery can influence him next season and I’m hoping we’ll see a lot more consistency and defensive stability from him.

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 Atletico Madrid Previewed

Arsenal’s season and Arsene Wenger’s last season in charge of them all comes down to tonight’s game away to Atletico Madrid. That could change with the right result tonight which would see the team win their way through to the Europa League Final. The prize for winning the Europa League is a place in next season’s Champions League and it would also give Wenger his first European trophy.

The first leg didn’t go exactly as planned last week when we could only draw 1-1 at home to an Atletico team who played almost all of the game with 10 men. A 1-0 win wouldn’t have been the worst result, but we really should have taken at least a two or three goal lead into tonight’s second leg. The late goal we conceded has left us teetering on the brink of defeat and we have to go to Madrid and get a result.

As it stands Atletico are on the way to the final with that away goal in the bank and we will be out if we don’t score tonight. We have to avoid defeat as well as scoring to either qualify for the final or at least bring the game into extra time. That’s a hard task for a team with our away record this season, but that record has been in the Premier League and we have actually traveled very well in the Europa League.

We went to AC Milan in the last 16 knowing they hadn’t conceded a goal in a long time, but we ended that run on the night and we have to end a similar run for Atletico tonight. They haven’t conceded a home goal since January and we will need to take a step up to be the first team to score away to them in nearly four months. While it is a huge task I certainly don’t think it’s one that is completely beyond this team.

I expect a very similar team to the first leg with the possible inclusion of Henrikh Mkhitaryan who returned from injury on Sunday as a team of fringe players and youngsters were a little unlucky to lose 2-1 at United. Both Hector Bellerin and Granit Xhaka played in that game, but the rest of the expected team for tonight sat it out with the exception of Nacho Monreal and Danny Welbeck who both came off the bench. David Ospina picked up a knock in that game and it could mean we see Petr Cech get the nod tonight. As I’ve said previously I don’t see too much between them and we really need a new keeper for next season.

If Mkhitaryan comes in (and I really hope he does) it will be for either Welbeck or Jack Wilshere and I suspect it could be the later. Welbeck offers more of a goal threat and we have to score tonight or we are out. Mkhitaryan can take some of the pressure off Mesut Ozil with his ability to commit players and that might just free up Ozil to create chances that others can hopefully take.

We targeted them on crosses last week and that’s where our goal came from. They have conceded a fair proportion of their goals in the Europa League from crosses and I imagine we will try to prod that weakness again tonight. Hopefully we will be a little better at taking the chances that come our way.

I could take a long time listing the statistics that are against us tonight between our away record, their home record and our recent trips to Spain, but there’s no real point in doing so. We need the players to treat this game as a one off or a Cup Final I suppose and go for the result they need as if their lives depended on it. If they’re going to bid farewell to the manager with a trophy they have to get the result required tonight or it’s finished.

No doubt Atletico will target our defensive frailties and we have to stand strong against the likes of Antonio Griezmann and Diego Costa. On the face of it that’s a huge task, but we would have succeeded in that task last week except for one communal slip. If the players concentrate from first to last minute and believe in themselves anything is possible.

We have players who can hurt any team even though it seems like it’s us fans they have become fond of hurting in recent seasons and this season in particular. As a fan you need belief in your team though and I always approach a game genuinely believing we can win it. Tonight is no different, but let’s just hope that belief isn’t shattered.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v CSKA Moscow: Europa League Quarter Final First Leg

With the rest of the season a write off at this stage Arsenal at least have a chance to make it to a European Final this season. The Europa League might be the second class trophy of European football, but winning it would be a big thing for Arsenal. Besides the nice shiny trophy the winner also qualifies for next season’s Champions League and it’s the only way Arsenal can make it back to the top table for next season.

Arsene Wenger has almost a full strength squad to choose from with the exception of the injured Santi Cazorla (remember him) and the ineligible Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Petr Cech is available again after missing Sunday’s win against Stoke with an injury and there’s even a chance he might play despite David Ospina being the “cup goalkeeper”. We should also see Laurent Koscielny and Granit Xhaka come back into the team after both of them were rested against Stoke although Xhaka did come on in the later stages.

I would expect to see a back four (which more or less picks itself from the manager’s perspective at least) as the experiment with three central defenders now seems dead more than a year after it saved our season last season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a midfield trio of Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere with Wilshere in an advanced role. That would leave Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan either side of hopefully Alexandre Lacazette who we have been told has recovered enough from his injury to start.

I’m not so sure Wilshere is the ideal player to play as I can’t say I’ve been impressed with him in the last couple of months, but I would be surprised if he didn’t play. It might not be the worst idea to play Mohamed Elneny alongside Xhaka and let Ramsey play a more attacking role as the chances are he’s going to push forward anyway and he offers a lot more in the attacking third than Wilshere. With both Ozil and Mkhitaryan in the team I’m not sure Wilshere has a place to fill and both of them certainly offer a lot more end product too.

I’m not sure Lacazette will start as he has only had 15 minutes since he returned from his injury and there is every chance Danny Welbeck will get the nod. I’m not a fan of Welbeck and a less than fully match fit Lacazette is a better option in my opinion. Welbeck may well have been the player who managed to see us home in the home game against Milan, but I just cannot see his value to the team.

We are on a pretty good run of results at the moment with four consecutive wins and 11 goals scored in those games and only one conceded. On the face of it that’s quite impressive, but anyone who has watched us knows we have not been exactly impressive in most of those games. I would say the away win against Milan was probably the exception, but I struggle to see how we can win the Europa League playing as we are at the moment.

Don’t get me wrong, I want us to win every game we ever play, but for me the team is broken and it won’t take too much to bring it out again. The arrivals of Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan have certainly improved us in an attacking sense, but nothing has been done to change how badly we defend as a team and as individual players too. If we come up against a team who know how to defend and close their opponents down we will be in trouble and Atletico Madrid are standing in the way of any team who wants to win the Europa League this season.

CSKA will be no pushover either, but we are favourites to progress and rightly so when you look at the players we have. It’s how those players play as a team and how it seems the manager is incapable of inspiring them to excel or coach them to cope against the best sides (or any side away from home this season). I have long ago given up hope of him turning things around and I think the only way forward is for him to leave.

He’s going nowhere though and I still want the team to do the best they can with him in charge. I’d gladly take the glory of a Europa League win even though there’s every possibility it could prolong the manager’s time at the club. That might sound a little strange, but surely it’s not as strange as some fans who seem to want us to lose to hasten his departure.

I think we need to get at least a two goal start from the home leg as a trip to Moscow next week is one that should give us some cause for concern. We have a pretty poor record in European games in Moscow and I wouldn’t like to be going there needing to get a result. I’m not going to dare to predict an outcome, but like always when Arsenal play I honestly think beforehand that they will win despite any or all evidence to the contrary.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Welcome Back Arsenal

It’s been far too long since we’ve seen Arsenal play football and international friendlies just do not make up for the teal thing. By the real thing I mean Arsenal of course and not competitive internationals which are only marginally better than their friendly cousins. The season is drawing towards a close now and there’s still a lot to be decided at the business end of it.

Unfortunately we have to wait an extra day for Arsenal to play this weekend as they don’t face Stoke at the Emirates until 1.30 on Sunday. It’s another must win game for us as most of our games will be from here until the end of the season. A top four finish might be beyond us at this stage, but we still have to make sure we finish sixth to at least assure ourselves of Europa League football next season.

The teams below us haven’t really put any pressure on us at all, but both Burnley and Leicester are capable of closing the gap if we drop points. We have crucial games against both of them to come and the outcomes of those games will probably decide whether we have to fight to finish sixth or whether we can really concentrate on trying to win the Europa League. There is no doubt that the Europa League has to be our number one priority with the prize of Champions League football on offer to the winner, but we cannot completely ignore our bread and butter.

Ahead of Sunday’s game there’s fairly good news on the fitness front of the squad with almost everybody available to play. Of course Santi Cazorla is still injured and who knows if we’ll ever see him in an Arsenal shirt again, but Jack Wilshere looks likely to recover from the knock which kept him out of the England games and Alexandre Lacazette is almost ready to play again too. It’s going to give Arsene Wenger a few selection headaches for Stoke on Sunday and against CSKA next Thursday too.

I think he’s going to go with a pretty strong team against Stoke and the strongest team possible against CSKA. His options are a little easier with Pierre-Emireck Aubameyang ineligible on Thursday so he should be unleashed against Stoke. It will be a straight choice between Danny Welbeck and Lacazette agsinst CSKA with Welbeck likely to get the nod and Lacazette probably gradually introduced in the next couple of games from the bench.

We have had our run ins with Stoke over the years and it would be great if we could push them even closer to the Championship for next season. The treatment their fans dish out to Aaron Ramsey is still a bone of contention and it would be nice to see the player who shattered his leg that day getting relegated. Maybe his mother will come and collect him if it happens and wipe the tears from his eyes.

Besides that horrific incident we have had to listen to their constant chants of our players always cheating when they have the termerity to go down after being kicked by Stoke players. We have struggled up there far too often for my liking, but their record at the Emirates is hardly one to write home about. If we can play our part in relegating them it will at least put s smile on my face in a season which has given us very little to smile about.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Waiting In Vain

Is it just me or does the current international break seem even longer than usual from an Arsenal perspective. I suppose the FA Cup games on the weekend before the break didn’t help with Arsenal’s participation in the competition this season a distant memory of an awful Sunday afternoon in January. At least we’re still in one cup competition though and it should hopefully be all guns blazing towards Europa League glory when the real football returns at least.

For the moment we just have to hope all of our players come through their international games unscathed and come back in tip top condition. It’s not something which we can usually rely on and it hasn’t started too well with Jack Wilshere missing England’s win over the Netherlands thanks to a knee injury. With his injury record any slight knock has to be a real worry and Arsene Wenger seems to have found a way to play him in midfield recently along with both Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka.

Wilshere’s contract is up at the end of the season and there’s every chance he could be on his way once the season is over. It seems he’s not overly happy with the new contract offer from the club and he could probably look to earn more elsewhere. Given his injury history he might find a lot of “pay for play” offers are coming his way and that could prove problematic for a player who has been injured more than he has been available to play or so it seems at least.

When the players return they will get the chance to push Stoke closer to the Championship before they get back to Europa League action and it’s a chance they have to take. Sixth place is still by no means certain with both Burnley and Leicester hoping to catch us and we have to play both of them before the season ends. We probably need five wins in our last eight games to guarantee sixth place, but that would be even less if we beat Burnley and Leicester.

The following Thursday it’s CSKA Moscow at home and the chance to get ahead in the first leg of the Europa League quarter final before heading to Russia the following Thursday. There are some very good teams still left in the Europa League this season and winning it is going to be a huge ask for an Arsenal team which has been far too inconsistent this season. That has to be their target though with Champions League qualification for the winners as well as a lovely shiny trophy.

The additions of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang And Henrikh Mkhitaryan in January seems to be having an effect and Aubameyang should play all of our remaining league games as he’s ineligible to play in the Europa League. At least Alexandre Lacazette is back from injury for those European games even if Danny Welbeck managed to play such an important role in putting Milan out in the last round. Our attacking options are looking pretty good at the moment, but our real problems lie in our inability to defend individually or as a team.

When it comes to playing a team like Atletico Madrid those defensive deficiencies could be cruelly exposed against a team who have defending down to a fine art. Of course they could be knocked out before we get to meet them in a semi final or the final if we even manage to get past CSKA which won’t be an easy task in itself. I’m hopeful of progressing though and I think we will finish sixth, but I still think hopes of lifting that trophy in June are a long way from being fulfilled.

As the international break drags slowly into it’s second week it’s hard to think of much else from an Arsenal perspective though. Despite all of our shortcomings in recent seasons we have been pretty good in cup games, with the exception of Champions League knockout games, and that has to give us some hope. It’s the waiting that’s killing me at the moment though and I just have to hope that wait isn’t in vain.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Wembley Beckons For Arsenal

While fourth place for Arsenal in the Premier League this season might look like a long shot at the moment their chances could take a real turn for the better at their second home later today. Spurs have had to play their home games at Wembley this season as their stadium is redeveloped and it means that’s where we’ll play them in our “away” league game. Wembley hasn’t been quite the fortress for them that White Hart Lane was last season and it has been a home from home for Arsenal.

We have won the FA Cup there three times in the last four seasons and we had to win the semi finals to get to those finals too. Added to that there were Community Shield victories and I’m struggling to remember the last time Arsenal lost a game at Wembley. Quite a lot of our players have very fond memories of Wembley and hopefully those fond memories will continue today.

We haven’t been good away from home this season though with only three wins from our 13 games so far and we’ll have to reverse that form to get anything from the game. On the other hand our home record is second only to table topping City and it’s difficult to believe the sharp contrast between our home and away records. I have to believe that away form is down to belief and confidence or lack thereof and it’s within our playing ability to reverse the trend.

If we’re going to get the result we need so much will depend on our approach to the game and the tactics we deploy on the day. If we can defend in depth and hit them on the break we have every chance of getting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in behind them and that’s probably our best route to victory. The other option is to press them high and force mistakes, but I think that would leave us very open at the back.

We need to be clever and incisive when we have the ball and that’s something we just haven’t done away from home often enough this season. The performance at home to Everton last week was so promising that it’s given us enough hope to believe the players just might be able to do it away from home too. The additions of Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan seem to have had an effect on the team and just maybe the departure of Alexis Sanchez has lifted a weight from the collective shoulders of the players.

The performance of Aaron Ramsey last week was a huge boost too and it’s difficult to believe we didn’t miss him when he was out injured. He’s very fond of a goal at Wembley and he could be the man to win us the game if he can get into some of the positions he got into last week. I think he has to play and the big question could be who accompanies him in midfield with Granit Xhaka probably more likely to get the nod than Jack Wilshere.

The other big question is the formation Arsene Wenger chooses as he has opted for a back four at home recently, but three central defenders might offer us more stability. I think we need Petr Cech to recover from the knock he took last week because David Ospina does not fill me with confidence when he plays. These are questions the manager has to ponder ahead of what’s probably our biggest game of the season so far.

If he can get it right and we can win the game the top four becomes a possibility, but a defeat would surely end those hopes with 11 league games still to go. The defensive performance at Chelsea might offer the template we need today, but that performance was at a price as we sacrificed a lot of our attacking options and the players picked today might not all have the defensive discipline of those who played against Chelsea. I would be very surprised if we kept a clean sheet today and that means we will have to score at least twice if we’re going to win. 

We have a two week gap to our next domestic game after today as we’re out of the FA Cup and our next game is the Carabao Cup Final which is also at Wembley. There’s the small matter of the home and away legs of the last 32 of the Europa League to play before that cup final though and that could end up being our best chance of making next season’s Champions League. Hopefully that won’t be the case though and we can take the three points and bragging rights against Spurs today.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

We’re The Famous Arsenal And We’re Going To Wembley

Going into last night’s second leg of the Carabao Cup semi final at home to Chelsea I didn’t hold out too much hope of Arsenal advancing to the final. The first leg saw a very good defensive performance from Arsenal and they were well worth the 0-0 so the advantage should have been with them as they were at home. My worry was our current form and our inability to defend when good teams (or any team) attack us.

Arsene Wenger went with the same team (except for David Ospina) and formation that strolled to a 4-1 win at home to Palace on Saturday. New boy Henrikh Mkhitaryan was ineligible and there weren’t too many other options due to injuries and lack of genuine depth in the squad. It wasn’t going to be an easy task, but Chelsea hadn’t been at their best recently and they had their injury problems too.

The game didn’t start well for Arsenal with Chelsea dominating and it was no surprise when they took the lead when Eden Hazard slipped a shot past Ospina after being played through. There were only seven minutes gone, but Arsenal were all at sea in defence and midfield while the ball just could not stick when it went forward. The signs were ominous for Arsenal and I couldn’t see a way back into the game for them at that stage.

Somehow or other they were level only five minutes later when Nacho Monreal got his head to a corner and it took two deflections before nestling in the back of the net. Chelsea continued to dominate after that goal without ever really cutting Arsenal open, but we showed very little in attack for the rest of the first half. We needed a shake up at half time to try to go on and win and that’s just what we got.

The manager switched from a back four to three central defenders in the main with Mohamed Elneny dropping back between Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi. The new formation seemed to work as Arsenal took more control of the game without actually totally dominating proceedings and it only took 15 minutes for them to take the lead. Again the goal had a touch of fortune about it, but with the luck we have had recently it was about time something went in our favour.

Alexandre Lacazette did very well to hold the ball up on the right and he tried to get it into the box, but it took a deflection off Antonio Rudiger and Granit Xhaka was on hand to prod home. It was tough on Rudiger who was also credited with Arsenal’s first goal, but Arsenal just about deserved it at that stage. I waited for them to drop back and defend in depth, but for once they stayed on the front foot and continued to press forward. They didn’t create an awful lot until Alex Iwobi missed a glorious chance with about 10 minutes to go after a great Arsenal move and a sumptuous ball from Mesut Ozil.

Eventually they dropped deeper as the clock ticked down, but Chelsea still couldn’t open up a stubborn defence. Every player gave his all and they defended very well as a team in that second half. When the final whistle went I was pretty happy to beat Chelsea despite the prospect of playing a very good City team in the final next month.

I could have a go at a few players who really didn’t perform well despite trying hard, but maybe that’s something for another day. I was particularly impressed with Monreal who was an inspiration to those around him and I have to say I’m beginning to like Mustafi more with each game. He loves to win the ball and tries to do so at every opportunity, but he does get caught out occasionally which can be fatal for the team. 

Elsewhere both Jack Wilshere and Ozil were very impressive and they seem to be working better with each other with each passing game. Lacazette worked very hard, but he’s still struggling with his confidence and we’re just not making enough chances for him either. He wasn’t helped by a linesman who continually called him offside despite replays showing he was onside. 

There’s just over four weeks to go to the final and it will be our fourth Wembley final in five seasons. We won three FA Cups in that time, but we have never won this competition under Wenger and I’m sure it’s a trophy he would like to get his hands on. In the great scheme of things it’s not the biggest competition to win, but winning it would still make our season an awful lot better. 

For the moment though we can bask in the glory of beating Chelsea and the knowledge that our players have the bones of a week off playing before we go to Swansea next Tuesday night. Nothing other than three points will do in that game and who knows we might just have a shiny new striker to show off on the night too. Meanwhile we can enjoy the rest while the teams we are trying to catch have to play in the FA Cup this weekend. Of course I’d prefer to be playing in the cup too, but that ship has sailed and we can only make the best off the situation as it is.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Bournemouth Previewed

The games are coming thick and fast for Arsenal at the moment, but there is a midweek break after this game. The squad is struggling with injuries at the moment, but it looks like those injured players will start returning after today. Until then we have to make do with what we have and try to put out a team at Bournemouth today that can take all three points.

We have lost ground in the hunt for a top four place, bur we have the opportunity in the next few weeks to make up some of that ground with some of the teams above us playing each other. When that happens we have to make sure we win our games starting with today when Liverpool play City directly after our game. Normally a City win is what I would want to further our chances of catching them, but we also need somebody to stop City closing in on the Invincibles’ record.

Elsewhere Spurs strolled to victory against Everton yesterday while United will be expected to so against Stoke, but Chelsea could only draw 0-0 at home to Leicester yesterday and we need to keep pace with all of them. Anything other than three points today would be yet another blow to a team who have only won twice in eight league games. We may have only lost one of those games, but the five draws have really dented our top four chances and we need to find a way to win today.

With that in mind we have to hope Mesut Ozil will be passed fit to play and Alexis Sanchez will play from the start. Whatever the transfer and contract situation might be with Alexis he is a match winner and we’re short of wins at the moment. With Alexandre Lacazette failing to find the net for far too long now we might need the firepower Alexis offers to win today.

There’s a slight chance Sead Kolasinac will return in defence, but I think we will see the same defence which held Chelsea on Wednesday night with the exception of Petr Cech returning in goal. In midfield it’s a matter of whether Jack Wilshere recovers from his knock in time to play or Aaron Ramsey is up to starting after returning from his injury. With the past injury record and fragility of both players I’m not sure which way it will go, but I think whoever starts will be replaced by the other one soon after the hour mark. 

I suspect Ramsey might play because Wilshere is so fragile and I don’t think Ozil will be risked. There are reports this morning that Alexis isn’t even in the squad so we could see a very similar team to the one which struggled to make chances against Chelsea. Of course Bournemouth are no Chelsea, but we will still need to offer an awful lot more in attack if we’re going to win. 

If Alexis isn’t in the squad his departure must be imminent and I really hope we have a top class replacement lined up. If he goes without being replaced it will be tantamount to neglect a sacking offence in my opinion. It looks like we might find out very soon and the way our transfer policy has worked recently I won’t be holding my breath. For the moment it’s “Come On The Arsenal” today at Bournemouth before we get back to the circus and shambles that is the running of supposedly the sixth richest club in the world.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Find The Parking Brake On Their Bus At Chelsea

In my preview yesterday I didn't hold out much hope of Arsenal repeating their 0-0 Premier League result at Chelsea in the Carabao Cup last night. With a host of injuries to deal with which included three first choice defenders as well as Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil I just couldn't see how we could contain a team we were unable to contain in the league last week with a much stronger team. Arsene Wenger also chose to leave star man Alexis Sanchez on the bench which left us with very little creativity in the team as he opted for a containment policy.

Thankfully I was completely wrong as we rarely looked under too much pressure and coped with anything they had to throw at us with relative ease compared to last week. There were a few scary moments of course, but there was never a time when they completely opened us up and I thought a goal was inevitable. The team played and defended as a team and the mistakes in defence and in front of the defence were kept to an absolute minimum.

The one time I can remember us losing the ball in front of the defence was from a poor Jack Wilshere pass and Granit Xhaka stepped up to take a yellow card for the team to stop the Chelsea attack. I have my issues with Xhaka and I don't think he has performed as well as he should have, but I'm not sure we play a game which suits his particular skill set either. Wilshere was impressive again, but the injury he picked up will rule him out of Sunday's trip to Bournemouth and our injury problems are really mounting at the moment.

Wilshere has gradually improved with each game since his enforced inclusion in the team due to Ramsey's injury. I was worried with the amount of games he had to play over the festive period because of his injury record, but his injury last night was not fatigue related as he sprained his ankle blocking a pass. It will probably mean he's only out in the short term, but I don't expect him to be rushed back considering his problems in the past.

His injury could well open a door for Ainsley Maitland-Niles to play in his preferred position with Francis Coquelin on his way out of the club unless Ramsey can recover by Sunday. If AMN does switch to the centre of midfield we will have to come up with a left back which would mean either Nacho Monreal or Sead Kolasinac would have to recover from injury. AMN might well be the answer to our central midfield issues in the long term, but he still has a lot to learn and he could probably do with a loan spell in that position for another club.

Alexis did come on with 25 minutes to go for Alexandre Lacazette who it appears was ill before the game and nearly didn't make the team at all. Hopefully he will recover in time for Sunday too because again our attacking options are limited with Olivier Giroud still injured. Lacazette needs a goal from somewhere and his current lack of confidence in front of goal was highlighted when a blazed a first time shot high and wide from a good position last night.

If last night taught us anything it's maybe that Per Mertesacker has possibly played for the last time and both Calum Chambers and Rob Holding need to play ahead of him when they are fit. They are better suited to playing as part of a three man central defence for the moment at least and fitted well with Shkodran Mustafi last night for the most part. I don't think we exactly parked the bus, but we made things hard for Chelsea and their star players were kept almost entirely out of the game. The performances of both Eden Hazard and Alvora Morata certainly helped our cause last night and I can only imagine the criticism that would have been levelled at Ozil if he had played as badly as either of them.

Ozil missed out last night again with what seems like a recurring knee injury and it looks to me like the manager might well be picking and choosing his games. He has missed out on some tough away trips recently and been fit to play at home a few days later and maybe he didn't play last night because the game plan wasn't suited to him. If that's the case it's not a bad thing to pick a team with a specific purpose and the manager can take the plaudits today, but would have come in for severe criticism if it had gone the other way.

The injured players will at least have an opportunity to recover a little now with a week between games after we play at Bournemouth on Sunday. We follow that with a home game against Palace a week later before the return game against Chelsea. If the time scales we have been given for most of the injured players are to be believed we should hopefully see most of them back in the squad in the six days between those two league games.

I'm not sure what sort of team we will be able to put out on Sunday though and considering our away form we need to be very concerned about that game. Nothing short of a win will do as we have already lost too much ground on the top four, but we have the chance to close the gap with Liverpool playing at home to City after our game. From our point of view we want a City win, but somebody has to beat City and the sooner the better as they close in our the record of our "Invincibles" so I'm not really sure what I want from the game.

Finally for today we were treated to our first taste of VAR last night and when it was used it backed up the referees decisions both times. The penalty claim by Chelsea in the second half was definitely not a penalty, but I'm not so sure about the penalty claim by AMN in the first half. He stumbled after vaulting a challenge from Victor Moses and by the letter of the law I think that constitutes a penalty as the challenge caused him to fall regardless of contact. It was certainly as much of a penalty as the one Hazard got against us last week, but I don't think there was any contact with AMN and I'm sure that's why it wasn't given. I may be wrong about the rules, but I don't think so, but if I'm not then those viewing the footage were a little confused by them. The only explanation I can think of is that they thought AMN could keep his feet and that's why they didn't give it or they just don't have a clue which is quite possibly a far better explanation.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal - The Gift That Keeps On Giving

What can you say about last night’s 2-2 draw at home to Chelsea that hasn’t been said about this Arsenal team already. The game epitomised so much of what is wrong with us and yet so much of what is right with us too. In a game where we really had to win we did our very best to throw it away after leading, only to equalise at the death before almost blowing it again.

We invited Chelsea to the Emirates with Christmas well and truly over, but we felt it wasn’t too late to hand out some gifts. Thankfully most of those gifts were offered to Alvaro Morata and he couldn’t hit the proverbial barn door. It simply doesn’t matter what the line up is as our perpensity to shoot ourselves in the foot happens game after game.

Arsene Wenger brought Rob Holding in for the injured Laurent Koscielny and Ainsley Maitland-Niles for the injured Sead Kolasinac while Mesut Ozil returned from injury at the expense of Alex Iwobi. Holding did no worse than any of the other defenders and he was probably better than both Calum Chambers and Hector Bellerin who were at fault for much of what went wrong in our defence. AMN was impressive yet again despite being done by Zapacosta for their second goal and I long for the day we get to see him play in midfield.

We took the lead through a great Jack Wilshere strike, but he might have been sent off before that when taking a dive when he was already on a yellow card. In true Arsenal fashion we were pegged back almost immediately when Bellerin was adjudged to have fouled Eden Hazard in the box and Hazard put the penalty past a keeper who hasn’t saved one since 2011 with ease. There wasn’t a huge amount of contact from Bellerin  and Hazard made a meal of it, but it still looked like a penalty to me.

The chances came and went at both ends after that, but those missed by Morata were the best of them without doubt. He had three one on ones with Petr Cech and he made a mess of each of them. The issue for me was how hard we hard to work and how well we had to play to make a chance, but we just handed Chelsea chance after chance.

With just six minutes to go Chelsea took the lead when AMN was turned inside out and Marcus Alonso got on the end of the ball into the box to break Arsenal bearts. Alonso was lost by Bellerin as he made his way into the box and then he ghosted past a stationary Shkodran Mustafi. It looked all over for Arsenal, but they kept pressing and got their reward when Bellerin finished beautifully in added time.

It was that man Alonso who headed it into his path and the finish from Bellerin went some way to making up for a poor night from him. It was also a little bit of payback for the incident at Stamford Bridge last season when Alonso almost knocked him unconscious because “he wanted it more”. That incident still rankles with me and Bellerin’s goal would have been even better if it had gone in off Alonso while sending him flying.

I was still celebrating that goal in my living room when I suddenly realised that man Morata was through on goal again, but Cech saved his shot before Zapacosta hit the bar with the rebound. I’m still trying to figure out how we allowed them straight in on goal from the kick off, but nothing about Arsenal’s defending surprises me any more. It wasn’t just down to one player though and not just the defenders either as other players continued to lose possession in ridiculous positions throughout the game.

Almost everything good we did in the game went through Ozil and we just cannot afford to let him go when his contract ends this summer. He is a joy to watch and I think he is benefiting from the occasional breaks he is getting this season whether they are really down to injury and illness or not. He was ably supported by Alex Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette who both did their best, but couldn’t quite get on the scoresheet.

Alexis came so close, but he was prevented by a fingertip save by Courtois which then hit both posts and somehow managed to stay out. Lacazette had a couple of decent chances too, but he just can’t buy a goal at the moment and he probably needs only one to go on a roll. The three of them combine very well when they’re on their game and we need to see the three of them together in the team as often as possible.

The end result is we’re drifting further away from the top four and we’re facing into a very busy month. We have at least three and maybe four cup games before the month is over as well as three league games. The manager is going to have to rotate in the cup games, but his options are limited and he can’t risk too much against Forest at the weekend never mind in the Carabao Cup semi final over two legs against Chelsea.

He needs to make sure we can put out our best team in the three league games against Bournemouth, Palace and Swansea because we have dropped far too many points against teams towards the lower end of the table recently. Most of all we have to be at our very best against Palace in a couple of weeks when I’ll be at the game with some friends to raise a glass in memory of a very good friend, and Arsenal nut, who we lost in tragic circumstances late last year. Since the first time I went with Darren about six or seven years ago he has been to any game I have gone to and a heck of a lot more besides. He’ll be sadly missed by all of us and we will raise more than one glass in the Tollington in his honour.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To West Brom Previewed

It’s back to action for Arsenal this afternoon when they face a trip to the bottom club in the Premier League. They just about managed to win 3-2 at Crystal Palace on Thursday night and they need to win one way or another today. West Brom haven’t won in 18 league games and they’re propping up the rest of the table, but that won’t make them any easier for Arsenal to beat.

We just about put the ghost of a dreadful away performance against Palace to bed on Thursday night and we have the chance to do likewise today. The defeat at West Brom was a low point last season, but it epitomised so much about Arsenal at the time. Those problems clearly haven’t gone away, but getting our fourth away win of the season would certainly help us to imagine they might do.

Thinking we have turned a corner is a dangerous thing with this Arsenal team though and the fact that we almost let Palace back in on Thursday night proved just that. We should have been out of sight in that game, but we dropped deep and surrendered the ball late on and that’s something we just cannot do. Thankfully we held on and kept up with the rest of the teams chasing for every position up as far as second.

The schedule is very hectic for every team at the moment and we have a huge game at home to second placed Chelsea on Wednesday night. The outcome of that game could have a huge impact on how the rest of our season goes as we all know how we have often gone to pieces after defeats against some of the other big teams. I wonder if the prospect of that game with Chelsea will have a bearing on Arsene Wenger’s team selection today.

Chelsea strolled to a 5-0 win at home to Stoke yesterday and they were able to rest Eden Hazard in that game. I’m not sure if we can rest any of our players today, but you have to wonder if both Laurent Koscielny and Jack Wilshere are up to so many games in such a short space of time. Koscielny is permanently nursing an Achilles injury while Wilshere is still fragile and the more often he plays the more likely it is for his next injury to come along.

As bad as West Brom have been they are still not an easy team to beat at home and they have only lost three of their 10 home games with six draws and only one win. They have found goals hard to come by with only two teams scoring less goals at home, but our away form is hardly awe inspiring. Since losing at City we are unbeaten in four away games though with two wins and two draws and we even kept clean sheets in two of those games.

I think the manager might well rotate the team a little tonight, but I think it’s crucial that he keeps Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette in the team as they are the match winners we need. I don’t think a point is enough today and the form of Alexis and Ozil in recent weeks is exactly what we need to win this game. Whatever the situation with Alexis’s contract might be I think we cannot afford to be without him as long as he is still an Arsenal player.

West Brom will “put it up us” today by putting the boot in when they can and putting as many balls as possible into our box. It worked for them last season and we all know it could work today too. We need to be strong and continue to play football no matter what they might throw (or kick) at us. The three points are there for the taking and nothing less will do.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Newcastle United Preview

It was only a couple of weeks ago that Arsenal had moved into the top four and looked like they had a genuine chance of challenging for second place. Then we handed United three points at the Emirates and suddenly it seems the confidence sapped from our team. Successive away draws at Southampton and West Ham have seen us drop to seventh place with the season almost halfway over, but we are only one poont outside the top four.

For me the points dropped to Southampton and West Ham were worse than those dropped to United even though United are a rival for a top four spot. At least we played well against United with the exception of the goals we handed them and David de Gea had to be at his best to deny us time after time. We created nowhere near enough chances against both of them and we're going to continue to drop points if we can put away teams we should be beating.

Our away form in this calendar year has been nothing short of awful and it's only our home form that has kept us on the heels of the top four. We're only one point behind Spurs, Liverpool and Burnley and we will more than likely move up if we beat Newcastle. Thankfully we're at home to Newcastle though and our home form was perfect before that defeat to United.

That defeat has most certainly affected our confidence and you could see it in our defending against Southampton and West Ham at times. Laurent Koscielny gave the ball away in ridiculous situations in all three games and he's the player I would consider to be our best defender. It's more than just Koscielny's defending that is wrong though as we continue to give the ball away cheaply in virtually every position on the pitch.

We did switch to a back four against West Ham after nine months of playing with three central defenders and I can only hope we will keep that formation from here on. It's good to have the players used to playing with three central defenders as it means we have different options available to us if a switch is required. If we're going to be at our best defensively I think we also need to play players in theit best positions and that's something that hasn't happened often enough for my liking.

I doubt if Jack Wilshere can play from the start again so soon after the Newcastle game and we might just be saving him for the Carabao Cup game at home to West Ham on Tuesday night. It would mean we would have to bring someone in for him in midfield and there aren't too many options. I suspect Mohamed Elneny might be the player to get the nod and while he's a good player he's no Ramsey or Wilshere. 

I would like to see Alexandre Lacazette in from the start as his movement against a packed Newcastle defence could be a key factor if we're going to get the three points on offer. Olivier Giroud played instead of him on Wednesday night and again I suspect Giroud is bound for Spurs on Tuesday night next. I would be very surprised if Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil weren't in the team as they are highly unlikely to be rested for the equivalent of the league cup.

It makes sense to play our strongest team against Newcastle with another league game at home to Liverpool on Friday and I again would be very surprised if we didn't. Injuries can play a big role at this time of the season with so many games to play and I think the injury to Aaron Ramsey is a big blow to us at the moment. Not only has he been one of our better players this season, but his late runs into the box are something no other player seems to offer and we're missing them.

To be honest I care little about the Carabao Cup and six points at home to Newcastle and Liverpool are infinitely superior to beating West Ham on Tuesday night. I have no doubt that six points in those games would put us back in the top four and at this stage that has to be our number one priority this season. The FA Cup will come around soon enough as will the Europa League, but at the moment we need as many points as possible on the board.

As bad as we might be at the moment we're in much better shape than a Newcastle team who have taken one point from their last eight games. They're sliding quickly down the table and relegation has to be a very real worry for them this season. They're there to be beaten and we need to put as many goals as possible past them. We have won our last nine games against Newcastle and I can see no reason why that should change in this game.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal's Trip To West Ham Previewed

It's only been a couple of days since Arsenal got a rather fortunate point at Southampton and they face another away game tonight. While their home form has been up there with the best of them this season they have generally struggled on their travels. Eight points from eight away games is hardly awe inspiring or the form of a team hoping to challenge for a chance to finish runners up to City.

After the defensive shambles in the opening stages at home to United I expected Arsenal to be a lot tighter at the back against Southampton. The reverse was true though and they were very lucky to be only one down before any semblance of decent defending appeared. Arsene Wenger blamed it on nervousness as a result of the performance against United which is quite bizarre.

If we were to believe that then it says very little for our players or their ability to get over a bad performance. I would have thought a bad defensive performance would have led the players to concentrate harder and make sure they did the simple things properly at the start against Southampton. Instead we were treated to players passing straight to the opposition, failing to track runners and defending as if it was something they had never worked on in training.

We can't afford to defend like that against West Ham despite their lowly league position as they showed when they beat Chelsea 1-0 on Saturday. I've seen a bit of West Ham this season and I have been far from impressed with them, but like any Premier League team they can bite back if they're underestimated. Their home form hasn't been exactly great this season and their performance against Chelsea was by far their best one at home so far.

The manager has a few choices to make before the game with Aaron Ramsey picking up a knock against Southampton and due to miss out as well as Shkodran Mustafi. He has to decide whether he will stick with three central defenders or switch to a flat back four. For me playing four at the back makes more sense and the extra man in midfield might give us more control in the game.

I can understand his desire to stick with a formation which got us out of a tight spot last season, but it's obvious he doesn't have faith in it. As soon as we're chasing a game he switches to a back four and it's difficult to believe it's not something he would like to switch back to on a permanent basis. Our personnel are far more suited to that formation and it's a method used throughout every other level at the club as far as I know. It just doesn't make sense to stick to three central defenders, but when did making sense ever have anything to do with football or Arsenal for that matter. 

If I'm not mistaken Nacho Monreal is the youngest of the three central defenders who started against Southampton and he's 31. Laurent Koscielny has struggled with injuries and it's a big risk to play him twice a week, but it's one we seem happy to take regularly. I suppose we could be playing the three of them together while Mustafi is injured as the manager thinks playing only two of them would be a risk.

In midfield the absence of Ramsey should open a door for Jack Wilshere, but the manager has already said he sees his best position as further forward and I wouldn't be surprised if he's on the bench tonight. Maybe Mohamed Elneny, Francis Coquelin or Alex Iwobi might get the nod alongside Granit Xhaka and all three of them would probably be better suited to the defensive duties that come with the role. It's not as if Ramsey has been ultra defensive though and Wilshere would certainly offer more creativity than the other three in my opinion. 

We will miss Ramsey and I hope it's only a short term absence with so many games over the next few weeks as he has been one of our better players so far this season. That's not to say he has always been good, but neither has anyone else for that matter.

In attack I would hope Alexandre Lacazette will continue to lead the line, but I would imagine Olivier Giroud will think he can't do much more than he has done already to try to get a start. His late goal saved us against Southampton and I would be more inclined to think he should get a chance if he had been better in the Europa League games when he did start. Like so many of the more experienced players he seemed to do little more than go through the motions in those games when he should have been trying to stake a claim for a place in the first team.

We didn't lose as much ground as we might have last weekend with Chelsea and United losing, Liverpool drawing and only Spurs winning, but we cannot afford to drop any more points tonight. Chelsea won last night and I will be very surprised if United, Liverpool or Spurs drop any points tonight so we need to at least keep pace with them. It won't be easy, but we have the players to win the game without a doubt if they would only go out and play as well as we know they can play.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Huddersfield Town Preview

With Sunday's stroll in the park at Burnley fresh in our minds it's quickly back to Premier League action for Arsenal tomorrow night when they play at home to Huddersfield Town. That hard fought, and a little lucky, win at Burnley moved Arsenal above both Spurs and Liverpool and into the top four. They're still 12 points behind City, but they're only four points behind second placed United and there isn't an awful lot between the five teams trailing directly in City's wake.

Agsinst Burnley the team didn't show as much drive and commitment as they did to beat Spurs the previous week, but at least they managed to take the three points. Far too often when we aren't at our best we get punished by the opposition and it came close to that in what was a fairly even game on Sunday. We got the win though and thankfully some of the teams around us dropped points too.

Having played on Sunday there's a case for Arsene Wenger rotating the team a little and that might not be the worst idea when you consider United will come a calling on Saturday evening. That game at home to United is going to be another huge test for us and we need to go into it in the best position possible which means three points against Huddersfield are an absolute must. The players cannot go into the game thinking it will be easy though as it's never easy against any team in the Premier League.

We are on a great run at home with six wins out of six in the league this season and United are the only team who can match that 100% return on their own patch. We finished very strongly at home last season too and it's great to see us making the Emirates such a fortress. With our away form improving in the last few games we have some cause to be hopeful this season when it at least comes to trying to finish in the top four.

When it comes to the possible changes I suppose we could see Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck or maybe even Olivier Giroud come in from the start. With Mesut Ozil still unavailable there's a good chance Wilshere might play in his role after Alex Iwobi got the nod on Sunday. Wilshere has been patient this season as he has played in the lesser competitions and this could be the ideal time to give him a Premier League start. 

With Welbeck back from injury he could get the nod too, but it would probably be at the expense of Alexis Sanchez and I don't know how good an idea that might be. Welbeck is almost as injury prone as Wilshere and it's almost getting to the point where he can't really be considered as a proper first team option due to his consistent injuries. I hope he can get a good run without injuries, but like Wilshere I fear that boat might already have sailed.

I would be very surprised if Giroud came in instead of Lacazette because I have been far from impressed by him when he has played in the Europa League. Lacazette has scored most of his goals at home this season and he might get the chance to add to that tally tomorrow night against a team who are struggling badly on their travels. There's every chance we can put a few goals past Huddersfield if we're at the races and he's the man most likely to get those goals.

Huddersfield won their first away game 3-0 at Palace, but since then they have only taken one point in five away games and have failed to score in each of those games. They are there to be beaten and with the right performance they are there to be well beaten too. I'd love to see Arsenal put four or five goals past them, but I'll be happy with the three points ahead of United on Saturday.

How I'm going to get to see that match is another matter as I'm bringing my wife to New York for her birthday and the chances are we'll be in a department store at 12.30pm New York time on Saturday. Thankfully my Vodafone Red Plus subscription gives me internet coverage at a very good price in the States and I can at least keep up with the game. I don't like to ever miss an Arsenal game, but it's not every week that your wife turns 50 even if it coincides with us playing United.

Anyway enough of United for now as just like the players I need to concentrate on the job in hand which is Huddersfield tomorrow night. I'm plumping for an Arsenal win and a few goals to go with it and hopefully another clean sheet too. I read somewhere that Arsenal haven't conceded a goal yet this season when we have had our favoured three of Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal and Shkodran Mustafi in the center of defence so let's hope those three stay fit and continue to play together.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Red Star Belgrade Preview

Arsenal's busy schedule continues tonight when they play at home to Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League. It's a competition that has gone quite well for Arsenal so far with three wins from three games and qualification for the knockout stages looking fairly certain at we stand. As I've said before it's a competition we can win and we should be looking to do just that with a Champions League place for the winner besides the nice shiny trophy.

Of course as important as this competition might become as the season progresses it's nowhere near the top of our list of priorities at the moment. That means we're going to see a mixture of fringe players and youngsters tonight and they have done very well so far. Besides the three Europa League wins they have also progressed to the last eight of Carabao Cup where they will meet West Ham a week before Christmas.

To be honest the team is being thrown together by Arsene Wenger with players having to fit into positions they're not accustomed to most of the time. That's most obvious in the defence where the only recognised defender playing in position has been Rob Holding in the centre of the back three. He has had Matthieu Debuchey and Mohamed Elneny in the center of that defence with him and that's something neither of them are used to and it shows at times. They have done well all things considered though, but we are vulnerable to a quick break right through the middle of our defence. 

You have to feel for the two players at wing back too because both Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles must be delighted to get so much time in the first team, but it has to be tempered by where they are being asked to play. Nelson looks like he might really make an impression in an attacking role while Maitland-Niles would love the chance to display his wares in the centre of midfield. They are being asked to play out of position because of our lack of options in the wing back roles and it's difficult to understand why we didn't bring in cover in those positions if we were going to continue with five at the back this season.

We will of course get another chance to see Jack Wilshere ply his trade as he continues to try to regain a place in the first team. It's a little odd to hear the manager suggest he should be on the radar for the England team when he can't get a genuine look in at Arsenal. I still think he has a long way to go to fulfill his potential, but it's not easy to shine in a team without the club's real stars. I would like to see how Wilshere performs in a team with Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and others rather than the makeshift one he's currently having to perform in.

These games are an opportunity for players to let the manager know they still exist or even to try to make an impression. As I said it's not always easy, but Eddie Nketiah showed in the Carabao Cup against Norwich that it's most certainly possible. His two goals from the bench to turn the game back in our favour made a name for him instantly and he'll be dying to get another chance as soon as possible.

A win tonight would put us through to the knockout stages and we're one of the favourites to win the trophy at the moment. That should leave us in a situation where we can rest a few players if needs be, but we're already resting the first choice players anyway. It's a good situation to be in and long may it continue.

If we do progress to the last 32 I would imagine the manager will gradually reintroduce the first choice players as the opposition improve. I suppose it could depend on what the league table looks like at that stage and whether we're still challenging for a top four spot. If we are the team could be stretched with the FA Cup to contend with too and given the choice I think the rewards of the Europa League outweigh those of the FA Cup.

Red Star were unbeaten before we beat them 1-0 a couple of weeks ago and they will still be hoping they can progress to the knockout stages. They made plenty of good chances against us at their ground and they will be looking to exploit our jumbled team tonight again. It's something that's quite possible given the team we will have out, but they have come through every challenge so far. I'd love to see Wilshere or Alex Iwobi grab the game by the scruff of the neck tonight and maybe Olivier Giroud or Theo Walcott could show us why they think they should be in the first team. 

As usual it's going to be difficult to get to see the game in my part of the world. BT Sport will be showing it live on one of their channels I suppose, but it's not a package I subscribe to. Hopefully I will get to see it, but it's not the end of the world if I don't which is probably an indication of how the group stages of the Europa League are judged. 

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Swansea City Preview

After their fairly comprehensive victory at Everton last week Arsenal have the chance to make up some ground on at least one of the teams above then when they play at hone to Swansea City this afternoon. Arsenal have a 100% record at home in all competitions this season with seven wins out of seven including the extra time victory over Norwich on Tuesday night. While that might have been a team of reserves and fringe players it at least gave those who beat Everton some time to recover and make sure they are in tip top shape for today.

The draw for thr next round has been made and Arsenal will play at home to West Ham in the quarter finals. All of the big teams left have avoided each other in that draw and there's a possibility of a semi final line up of Arsenal, Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs. If Arsenal make it that far I wonder if the manager will be tempted to play a stronger team with a Wembley final only one round away.

Back to today though and how important it is for Arsenal's chances of keeping pace with the top four. With United playing at home to Spurs we will close the gap to the losers of that game to one point if we win or to two points to both of them if we draw. It's been a pretty bad start to the season in the league for Arsenal, but a win today would put us within touching distance of some of the teams we're attempting to catch.

Of course we have to go City next week and our chances of getting something from that game are slim to say the least. At the moment it looks like it's City's League to lose and the rest are playing for runners up. That can change of course with 29 games still to play, but I think we need to concentrate on catching United, Spurs and Chelsea if we can.

As good as our home record has been we haven't been overly convincing in our four league wins. We left it late to come from behind to beat Leicester and the win against West Brom was far from standard, but we have scored 11 goals in our four home games and only conceded the three that Leicester put past us in that first game. The way our away form has been up until last week we need that home form to hold for us.

Swansea are struggling at the wrong end of the table and they only just managed to avoid the drop last season. They sold their two most important players in the the summer and it could be a tough season for them as they struggle to stay up again. They have benefited from the loan of Tammy Abraham from Chelsea and if they are going to beat the drop his goals will probably be what saves them.

As bad as Swansea might have been so far this season they have performed quite well away from home. They have only lost one of their four away games and they have only conceded one goal in those games. They might not have scored too many goals, but they did manage a scoreless draw at Spurs and they will look to frustrate us today.

The attacking display we saw from Arsenal last week was as good as we could hope for and the only disappointment from an attacking point of view was that we only scored five goals. It was the first time we played the trio of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette and it showed us just how good it can be. If we can attack Swansea like that today I will be very surprised if that continue their impressive goals against column away from home.

The disappointing aspect of the game with Everton last week was the goals we gave away. The first one was yet another error from Granit Xhaka in midfield and he just cannot seem to stop himself giving chances away too easily game after game. Their second goal was down to a loss of concentration from both Nacho Monreal and Petr Cech and is more forgivable as the game was already won at that stage.

There is a train of thought that Xhaka should be replaced by Jack Wilshere, but they're not exactly set up to play the same role. Our midfield just isn't strong enough for me and the options we have aren't going to improve it too much no matter who we play there. It's something which should have been addressed when the transfer window was open, but we will just have to make do with what we have.

Swansea aren't going to be as easy as Everton were to break down and I have no doubt that Lucasz Fabianski will have another great game against us as he always seems to do since he left. They will sit deep and try to hit us on the break or from a set piece and it's a tried and trusted tactic against Arsenal. If we can reach the attacking levels of last week I think we will break them down and get the three points we need.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Norwich Preview

After a fairly comprehensive 5-2 win in the Premier League at Everton on Sunday it's Carabao Cup action for Arsenal tonight with a home game against Norwich in the last 16 of the competition. Sunday's win was the best performance of the season so far for me even if we did hand the two goals to Everton. Not only did we score five goals, but we had 30 attempts on goal with 14 of them on target.

We looked a very different team to the one which had only scored one away goal in four games before Sunday and we finally managed to punish a team we had on the ropes. I'm not saying it was a perfect display, but we could have done with a lot more of that attacking intent in the defeats against Stoke and Watford. I don't think it's any coincidence that we performed so well in attack in the first game that Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette all started together.

Of course we'll have a very different team tonight as we had in the 1-0 win at home to Doncaster in the last round. Our Europa League and Carabao Cup team has done pretty well so far with four wins out of four. Considering it's a team made up mainly of fringe and reserve players with many of them playing out of position that's an impressive record.

With David Ospina injured the chances are Matt Macey will play in goal as I would be very surprised if Petr Cech filled in like he had to do at Red Star Belgrade last Thursday. The defence will probably be pretty similar to the one which managed to keep Red Star scoreless and I don't expect too many changes at all from Thursday night. It's the fifth chance for those players to show what they can do and I certainly think they have every chance of winning tonight.

Olivier Giroud will lead the line hot on the heels of winning the "Puskas" award for the best goal of the year as voted by the public. We all know how adept Arsenal fans are at voting for their team or players in online polls and he was the most prominent player up for the award. His "Scorpion Kick" against Crystal Palace on New Year's Day won him the trophy and he wasn't too far off repeating it with a fairly similar goal to beat Red Star last week.

I would imagine we will see Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi in the front three with Giroud while Jack Wilshere and Francis Coquelin should man the midfield and the defence will probably be the same as it was against Red Star. The defence struggled at times in that game, but they somehow managed to keep a clean sheet. To be fair the only one of them playing in his actual position was Rob Holding and he's still quite raw and inexperienced. 

Norwich have started the season reasonably well and they're in the play off places in the Championship after 13 games. Promotion to the Premier League is their goal for the season and anything outside of that would be a huge bonus for them tonight. I am sure they will bring a large contingent of fans to the Emirates and they should make themselves heard as long as their team are in with a chance.

As with the Europa League games so far there isn't a huge amount of interest in this game compared to the Premier League, but it is good to see how those fringe and reserve players fare. Jack Wilshere is the one who could be closest to getting into the first team considering the issues we have had and continue to have in midfield. It will be interesting to see how he gets on tonight and if he can keep himself off the treatment table long enough to make a real impact on the first team.

All in all I won't be overly bothered if the result goes against us, but it would be good for the players given a chance to progress. There's a Wembley final to play early next year and it will be interesting to see if the manager strengthens the team a little if we do manage to go through tonight. The more game time each of those players get the better for the first team I suppose and long may it continue so.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.