Arsenal v Spurs: NLD Preview

It’s been a while since I wrote anything about Arsenal, but with a huge game against Spurs today I felt the rare urge to do so. It’s been far from a perfect start to the season for Arsenal, but they have won their last two games by the same 1-0 scoreline. Prior to those games they had lost three in a row and they failed to score in those games while conceding nine goals.

Of course there were excuses of players missing and the transfer window still being open, but it’s difficult to justify those first three games. Things have improved defensively since then, but we’re still very much goal shy with two goals in five games. The perfect time to overcome our goalscoring issues would be today against Spurs of course.

Spurs aren’t exactly having a great time of it either with back to back 3-0 defeats after briefly topping the table with 1-0 wins in each of their first three games. As it stands Arsenal can actually go ahead of Spurs if they win by two goals, but then again we have only scored two goals in our first five games. I would be happy with any win and I think there’s every chance Arsenal can take the three points.

We have to be careful of how Spurs play with Nuno Espírito Santo now in charge considering Wolves beat us at home and away last season. I think Wolves actually played better football than Spurs under him and their main tactic is more than likely going to be trying to hit us on the break. We have to be careful not to over commit which of course would stifle us in attack, but it’s a balance Mikel Arteta has to get right.

The time Thomas Partey got in the Carabao Cup against Wimbledon on Wednesday night will hopefully have done him and us some good because he is going to have to play a very important part if we’re going to win. Arteta has a couple of decisions to make ahead of the game with both Aaron Ramsdale and Bernd Leno anxious to start in goal while he also has to decide who plays in the middle with Partey. Personally I’d prefer to see Albert Sambi Lokonga, but I would be very surprised if we didn’t see the return of Granit Xhaka after his three game ban for the red card against City.

Amazing as it sounds we could actually go with five points of the Premier League leaders Liverpool if we win this game which would be no mean feat for a team which had the worst record of any team in the Premier League era after three games. Of course we have to win to accomplish that feat and it’s not going to be an easy task. The performance of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is going to be important for us and I still think we need to see an awful lot more from him than we have so far this season.

The purchase of Martin Odegaard could be the creative spark we are missing, but I still think there’s not enough pace or urgency to our attacking game. I don’t know if that’s what the manager has called for, but if we’re going to continue to climb the table we need to up the tempo. I can’t think of a better time to do just that than against that lot this afternoon and to go ahead of them in the table with an impressive attacking display. Here’s hoping that’s exactly what we get.

That’s it for now.

See you next time.

Arsenal Season Review

That was the season that was for Arsenal and it ended up with us failing to qualify for European football for the first time in 25 years. When judging Mikel Arteta’s progress as the Arsenal manager it’s hard to ignore that statistic and the season can surely only be judged as a failure. Of course there were highs and lows throughout the season, but his inexperience and pure stubbornness at times were key factors in our second successive eighth finish in the Premier League for me.

The results prior to Christmas put us in real trouble in the Premier League and we were as low as 15th before results eventually improved. Those results and performances picked up with a 3-1 win at home to Chelsea and we went on a great run which almost put us back in the reckoning for a top four finish. As we progressed in the Europa League our Premier League results and performances suffered though and ultimately for me it was during that period that we lost out on our European ambitions.

When we eventually went out of the Europa League to Villarreal in the semifinals our league form improved and we won our last five games to leave us only six points off the Champions League places. We did better against the rest of the “big six” than we have done in a long time and we more or less bossed the games against the bottom six, but the points we took against the teams who finished around us in the league just weren’t good enough. Aston Villa, Wolves and Everton all beat us at home and away and that’s where our European ambitions died.

For me the jury on Arteta has to be out as he made some very strange decisions at times and his inability to admit his mistakes and rectify them is a real negative for him. Those strange decisions included the decision to loan William Saliba out after spending so much on him and it appears he’s still not sure he wants him at the club next season. Surely Saliba has to be one of the players who we attempt to build our future on and I only hope Arteta can find a way to include him.

The signing of Willian was apparently down to Arteta too and it was probably the worst decision of last season. Not only was he paid an absolute fortune because we got him for free, but he kept Pepe out of the team for the first few months of the season no matter how badly he played. When Pepe came into his own in the new year he showed exactly what we wanted him to show and his performances consigned Willian to the bench.

I don’t think there’s any point in going into what happened with Mesut Ozil because I don’t think any of us know what really happened or why it happened. Suffice it to say he plys his trade elsewhere and it was for the best in the end because he had very little to offer the team towards the end of his time at Arsenal. Ozil came on to the scene at a young age and I think that has taken it’s toll and his best years are well behind him now.

The fear of losing seemed to play too big a role in Arteta’s thinking for too long, but when he eventually loosened the reins we actually played some good football. However the changes were almost forced on Arteta due to injuries and it was only when players like Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe took the chances that came their way that the team improved. They have both become crucial parts of our future now and the sooner Gabriel Martinelli joins them in the starting lineup the better for me.

One of the most curious decisions Arteta made was to play with a false nine in our Europa League semifinal first leg against Villarreal. We somehow got away with a 2-1 defeat and only had to win the home leg without conceding a goal to progress to the final, but our lack of ambition in the second leg was almost unforgivable. His claim afterwards that we were the better team over the two legs was just wrong, but I thought we should have been the better team if he had got his selections and tactics right. 

Villarreal went on to beat United on penalties in the final and we missed a great chance to pick up a trophy and qualify for European football too. I think Arteta put too many eggs in the European basket and we paid the price when Villarreal knocked us out. There are those who think it’s a good thing we have no European football next season, but I’m not so sure.

For a start it’s difficult to attract players to the club with no European football to tempt them and there’s also the loss of revenue from TV money, prize money and gate receipts (when the fans return). We played seven home games in the Europa League last season and that’s an awful lot of money lost to the club to give those games up next season. The biggest miss could be the inability to give youngsters and fringe players their chances in European group games and those games were where the likes of Saka, Smith-Rowe and Martinelli cut their teeth.

We have a huge summer ahead of us with the possibility of quite a few players leaving the club and the need to sign some new players too. Despite doing so badly for so long we ended up only six points off the top four and we have the makings of most of a very good team in my opinion. We need to add the right players to improve that team and Arteta needs to allow the players to play with a little more freedom too, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t at least put in a real challenge for a top four place next season.

If I had to sum up last season I would say it was desperately disappointing in the main with some glimpses of real promise and possibilities for the future. Arteta has been given a chance to redeem our second eighth place finish in a row, but failure to improve next season will surely signal the end for him. I want things to work out for him, but I can’t say I’m overly convinced they will.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

More Missed Opportunities For Arsenal

As the Premier League season gets closer to it’s end it’s becoming abundantly obvious Arsenal’s only path to European football next season is through the Europa League. For the second game in a row they went 3-0 down, but they at least started to play against West Ham when that happened two weeks ago. They rescued a point from a game they had to win against West Ham in that game, but there was no turnaround against Liverpool on Saturday night when they lost 3-0 at home.

As performances go it was one of the worst ones I’ve seen from Arsenal this season and that’s a lot to say in a season where we have underperformed more often than not. Since Christmas things have definitely improved, but most of the first half against West Ham and all of Saturday night were a return to our very worst. The players were outplayed and outfought on both occasions and while everyone can have an off day there is no excuse for lack of commitment.

It’s easy to say that we would have been right back in the fight for the Champions League places if we had won both of those games, but it’s absolutely true. Full points in both of those games would have left us in eighth place and only four points behind fourth placed Chelsea, but it seems the players (and probably the manager too) have decided all of our eggs lie in the Europa League basket.

Our route to the final looks like it’s reasonably attainable, but all it will take is one performance like either of our last two games and we can kiss European football goodbye for next season. As bad as missing out on the Champions League for the last four seasons has been, it will be infinitely worse with absolutely no European football at all next season. The ability to attract new players to the club lessens without European football and we need to add to what we have if we’re going to improve next season.

I’ve heard plenty of people saying we need to give Mikel Arteta more time as we are improving and he’s building for the future. I really hope he can get things right and rekindle our glory days, but at the moment it looks like we’re sacrificing the present for an unknown future. When we improved after Christmas it was as a result of changing our attacking formation, but he reversed that formation against Liverpool.

Injuries and sheer desperation made Arteta switch to three attacking midfielders and one striker against Chelsea with the young players he so rarely showed faith in (in the Premier League at least) coming into the team. Performances and results improved immediately and despite some setbacks we climbed the table. We showed ambition and looked far more capable of scoring goals and winning games, but Saturday night was the opposite yet again as he switched back to one attacking midfielder and three forwards.

My biggest problem is his lack of faith in Gabriel Martinelli whose opportunities are few and far between and when he gets them they tend to be last minute cameos. As others who are far more experienced and with impressive careers strolled around against Liverpool he left Martinelli on the bench until the last 13 minutes of the game. I honestly think Arteta either doesn’t rate him or doesn’t trust him and it must be even more frustrating for Martinelli than it is for us fans.

We play Slavia Prague on Thursday night in a game that now becomes our most important one of the season as every Europa League game will be from here on in. After that it’s a trip to Sheffield United on Sunday night and since that time slot was introduced into a Covid infected football world we have lost every single game we have played in it. Sheffield United are on the verge of relegation and despite the numerous experts telling us they rarely lose by more than a goal it’s a game in which nothing other than a win is acceptable.

It’s been a very tough season to be an Arsenal fan and the upturn since Christmas was at least making it bearable, but any more performances like Saturday night and I think questions have to be asked of the manager. He’s sending his players out to play with his tactics and instructions and he has to be accountable when it goes so badly wrong. He managed to change things against West Ham, but he couldn’t find any solutions in terms of personnel or tactics to make any difference at all against Liverpool.

As I’ve said on numerous occasions before I really want him to succeed and I hope he does, but I’m far from confident that he will. The recent signs from some of the players would seem to suggest some of them might not be so sure either and he has to weed out the players who just aren’t giving enough and replace them with players who want to play for him and the club.

That’s it for today.

See you next time.

Arsenal Running Out Of Time For Arteta

Let me just start by saying I was all for Mikel Arteta getting the Arsenal job a year ago despite his inexperience. I had had enough of Unai Emery and it seemed clear and obvious that the players felt more or less the same way. I thought Arteta could come in and galvanise the players he had as well as hopefully adding some quality to the team/squad.

The signs were encouraging at first and he even managed to deliver an FA Cup against the odds in a pandemic interrupted season. There were some negatives too such as the exit from the Europa League at the round of 32 despite winning the away leg of our tie against Olympiakos. Our eighth placed finish in the Premier League was forgiven thanks to that FA Cup win which brought us Europa League football yet again.

Some of the issues in the squad seemed to have been very well addressed with the arrivals of Gabriel Magalhaes and Thomas Partey and I think those two players will be crucial if we are going to improve. Partey has played very little so far thanks to injuries he has picked up while Gabriel has been our best central defender and he’s our third highest scorer in the league too. There have been other problems though and Arteta’s handling of some of them has been questionable at best.

First up there has been the issue of Mesut Ozil and Arteta’s decision to completely exclude him from the team this season. He is being paid an absolute fortune by the club and to get no return for that investment seems incredible. If we were doing well and making chances maybe it wouldn’t be such a thorn in Arteta’s side, but to exclude a player of his ability when we are missing exactly what he offers beggars belief.

As well as leaving Ozil completely out of the picture Arteta chose to send Matteo Guendouzi out on loan for disciplinary reasons. Our midfield is struggling really badly at the moment and despite his age and relative inexperience Guendouzi has to be a better option than some of the players who are keeping their places week after week. Things seem to be going pretty well for him at Hertha Berlin and I can’t help but feel the manager has handled the situation badly.

It looks to me like he chose his battles against those two players to possibly assert his authority, but he may have overplayed his hand. By cutting the two of them off completely it’s hard to believe he hasn’t hampered the team and his first priority has to be to the team. Surely the two of them could have a part to play in changing our fortunes if they were available and they couldn’t do any worse than some of the dross we have been served up recently.

In the final years of Arsene Wenger it was clear we were fading slowly but surely, but at least we were trying to play good football and managing to do so quite often too. That football got worse under Emery and it has become even worse again under Arteta.

We are absolutely awful to watch at the moment and coupled with a run of results which would get almost any manager sacked it seems like the outcome for Arteta is almost inevitable. We don’t have a style of play to talk about and we’re far to easy to keep out for opponents. I honestly cannot fathom how he wants the team to play and I don’t think the players have a clue either.

Too many players are just strolling through games and yet those same players don’t seem to pay a price as they’re in the team time after time. The only Premier League game where we looked better than the opposition was in our opening day 3-0 win away to Fulham and we have only taken 11 points from the 13 games since then. We are hovering just above the relegation zone with the teams below slowly but surely making up ground.

The question is whether Arteta can turn things around and I quite honestly believe it is beyond him at this stage. In his year in charge we have not come from behind to win a game in the Premier League which is a damning stat for him and the team. It shows his inability to change things when they aren’t going our way, but I suppose it’s difficult to change things when those things don’t really have a system anyway.

Our next league game is against Chelsea and after that there are four games in a row which have become almost must win games for us. With no disrespect to Brighton, West Brom, Newcastle and Crystal Palace we should be targeting 12 points from those four games, but my confidence in the team winning any of them is incredibly low. There’s a very real possibility of Arsenal dropping into the bottom three if they can’t turn things around very quickly and I just cannot see how Arteta can remain in the job if we are in the relegation zone.

As always I really want Arsenal to win every single game they play, but I cannot ever remember my confidence in them doing so being so low in over 50 years of supporting the club. Sometimes it’s a little easier to accept a poor style of football if the results are delivered, but we have the very worst combination of awful football and even worse results at the moment and I can’t see any other way to change other than bringing in a new manager. I know a new manager doesn’t guarantee better football or results, but as bad as these players might be there is absolutely no way Arteta is getting the best out of them.

Maybe I’m wrong and Arteta will turn things around, but I doubt it and even if he does there’s the small matter of the football we’re playing. It seems such a long time ago when teams came to the Emirates defending for their lives with their goalkeeper invariably getting the man of the match award as they put life and limb on the line to repel Arsenal. Now they come to our ground and take the game to us as they know we don’t have the wherewithal to take the game to them.

As bad as it got under Emery I don’t think it was anywhere near as bad as it is now. I dread having to watch Arsenal play  as I get virtually no enjoyment from watching them and I wish every single game wasn’t live on TV. Of course there have been worse times, but right now it’s very difficult to remember when those times were.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Chelsea: FA Cup Final Preview

It’s been a very difficult season as an Arsenal fan with the disappointments seemingly far outweighing the few positives, but we have a chance to change all of that on Saturday. Arsenal already hold the record for winning the most FA Cup Finals and they can bring their tally to 14 if they can overcome Chelsea. It would be a great way to end the strangest of seasons and it would bring the added bonus of qualification for the Europa League for next season.

There are those who say Arsenal could do with a season out of European football’s lesser competition and I can understand that point of view, but I don’t agree with it. Not only will the Europa League bring in some much needed money, but it will surely help to attract potential transfer targets if we have some form of European football to offer. Until our untimely exit this season we had done very well in the Europa League in the previous two seasons even if they both ultimately ended in disappointment.

Having finished eighth (yes eighth) in the Premier League we are lucky to have the opportunity to qualify for Europe and it’s one we have to take. We were in a similar situation last season when we again faced Chelsea in the Europa League final with a spot in the Champions League on offer for us if we had lifted the trophy. That didn’t end well for us and it should have marked the end for Unai Emery at the club, but those at the top waited until we plummeted a lot further before making that decision.

When Mikel Arteta took charge half way through the season we were in a bad way and he has managed to turn things around to a degree, but we still have a long way to go. I think he is the right man to lead us forward, but he needs to bring in players who want to play for us and him and who can improve what has become a pretty average team. If it wasn’t for the goals of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang our season would have been so much worse and Arteta needs to find some players who can get us the goals that are lacking in every other part of our team.

Of course this could be Aubameyang’s last game for Arsenal if we can’t convince him to sign a contract extension and decide to cash in on whatever value he has at 31 with a year left on his contract in the current economic climate caused by Covid19. I am of the opinion we might be better to keep him until his contract ends if he won’t extend as it would cost even more to replace him and finding another striker of his ability who would be prepared to join us would be no easy task. One of the few joys I have left when watching Arsenal is Aubameyang’s smile when he scores.

It could be the last game for Dani Ceballos too as his loan spell from Real Madrid is up, but the rumours are he will be loaned to us again next season. I’ve been impressed by him since football returned, but he’s not exactly the most creative of players which probably makes him fit right in with the rest of our midfield at the moment. He has formed a fairly good partnership with Granit Xhaka though and I would be very surprised if they both don’t start against Chelsea.

The other bright moments in this season have come through the emergence of Bukayo Saka and the impression Kieran Tierney has made since he managed to put his injury problems behind him when football returned. Saka signing a new contract was a big bonus for us and I look forward to him developing as a player and finding the position that best suits him. Tierney looks to have all the assets we could ask for in the attacking side of his game and his defending should improve if we can put other good defenders in there with him.

The injury to Bernd Leno looked to have put us in a very awkward situation only a few weeks ago, but Emiliano Martinez has grabbed his opportunity with both hands which is always preferable for any goalkeeper. He will play against Chelsea and he will most definitely give Arteta a few headaches when it comes to choosing his first choice keeper for next season. With the attacking players Chelsea will have on show Martinez will have to be at his best if we’re going to have a chance.

I imagine Arteta will play Hector Bellerin on the right of the defence with David Luiz in the centre alongside Rob Holding. If he opts for three central defenders I would prefer to see Tierney alongside those two with Saka on the left as Sead Kolasinac is an accident waiting to happen all too often. Of course Luiz is the definition of an accident waiting to happen as the five penalties he gave away this season indicate. I really find it hard to understand how we extended his contract a few weeks ago, but we are so limited in the centre of our defence that I suppose we couldn’t afford to let him go. Hopefully William Saliba will very quickly become the player we want him to be when he joins us.

With five at the back and Xhaka and Ceballos in midfield it would leave Aubameyang attacking from the left which is where he gets so many of his goals. I would imagine Alexandre Lacazette will play through the middle with his ability to hold the ball up and harass the opposing defenders. He’s added a few goals in recent weeks too and it would be the ideal game for another blockbuster like we saw a couple of weeks ago.

The last place should realistically go to our record signing, but Nicolas Pepe hasn’t had the easiest first season in English football. I think it’s too easy to keep him out of the game and he needs to find a way to become more involved. He has the ability to be our match winner against Chelsea, but we could see him on the bench with Arteta possibly favouring a player who might give us more work rate.

We had great results against both Liverpool and City so recently and I expect us to try to play in a similar fashion against Chelsea. If we try to take the game to them too much our defensive deficiencies on the break could come back to haunt us so it will probably be a case of looking for our chances on the break or from a turnover. Chelsea’s defence has been no better than ours for most of the season and they actually conceded six goals more than us in the Premier League.

It’s going to be very strange watching the FA Cup Final with no fans in the stadium, but it has become the new normal. I hope we can put in a performance to be proud of and it has to be better than what we saw against the same opposition in the Europa League final last season. It would be great for Arteta and our future if he could inspire the players to put in a performance to win the cup. 

I won’t say I think we will win, but I definitely think we have a very good chance. Chelsea are rightly the favourites as they finished fourth in the league and we had our worst finish in 25 years all the way back in eighth place. It’s a one off game though and City realised in the semi-final that we can give just about any team a game if we’re at our best. All I wish for is Arsenal to be just that and hopefully it will be enough to finish the season in some glory with a nice shiny trophy.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Brighton Previewed

The return to football didn’t exactly work out well for Arsenal on Wednesday night when they were well beaten away to City. They were already struggling to withstand a dominant City when David Luiz had a brain freeze and handed them two goals as well as bagging himself a red card. It left us with nowhere to go and we were lucky not to lose by more than the three goals City put past us.

The excuse offered by Luiz after the game beggared belief and it’s difficult to understand how he could have been in the match day squad given his state of mind. He might not have started the game, but the early injuries to Granit Xhaka and Pablo Mari meant he came on along with Dani Ceballos. His subsequent suspension along with the injury to Mari severely limits our choices in the centre of our defence for the rest of the season.

Elsewhere Mesut Ozil didn’t even make the match day squad despite 20 players making the trip and it leaves questions to be answered about him too. We didn’t get to see record buy Nicolas Pepe at all despite our complete lack of penetration in attack and the more you think about the game the worse the conclusions you draw about it. I realise different players would have been at different levels after the lockdown, but I found the decisions on both players by Mikel Arteta puzzling to say the least. That’s not to say I don’t think Arteta is the right man for the job as I think he will turn us around, but it’s going to be a slow and sometimes painful task.

At least we have the chance to bounce back quickly away to Brighton this afternoon and it’s a game we just have to win if we are to keep any hopes of catching the top five alive. On the plus side we have played a competitive game since the lockdown and Brighton haven’t which might just give us an edge. However, that game didn’t go well to say the least and it can’t have done much to build confidence.

I think Arteta will have to make a few changes to refresh the team as well as shaking things up a bit. He will have to bring someone in to play alongside Shkodran Mustafi in the centre of the defence and I suppose Sokratis Papastathopoulos is the obvious choice while Rob Holding could get the nod too. Kieran Tierney looked pretty good filling in there when Luiz was sent off at City and it meant Bukayo Saka was able to play at left back too. I think we’ll see Sokratis in the team and who would have believed only a few months ago that Mustafi would become our most reliable central defender.

Hopefully Xhaka will overcome his injury to take his place in the team as our options without him are very limited. Maybe Lucas Torreira will be ready to play, but I doubt it which should mean Matteo Guendouzi plays again. I thought he was one of our better players against City, but maybe that’s because some of the others did so little.

Without Ozil we have absolutely no creativity in our midfield, but I doubt if we’ll see him play and it’s hard to know what the future holds for him at Arsenal. It’s been so long since we saw the best of Ozil, but he performs best with good players around him and he’s been starved of them far too often at Arsenal. Even taking that into account his output has deteriorated immensely and his future at the club has to be in doubt. 

He won’t be going anywhere though as it would be impossible to offload him in the current climate given the enormity of his wages. I would love to see him back in the team at his very best, but good performances from him have become few and far between and it’s telling to see Arteta follow the example of both Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery in leaving  him out of tough away fixtures. If he doesn’t play it leaves room for Joe Willock or Ceballos to complete the midfield. 

I think we will have to see a change in attack too, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has to be in from the start with the other places up for grabs. I would like to see Gabriel Martinelli and Pepe in the team and I hope they can offer more in attack than the team did against City if they get the chance. Despite our shortcomings against City we still have some pretty good players and we should be favourites to win against Brighton.

Aubameyang wasn’t exactly impressive against City, but he is our best player and without him in it the team look highly unlikely to score. We’re going to have to find a way to score more goals if we’re going to climb the table and he’s our best hope of doing that. Who knows where he will be plying his trade next season, but it’s beginning to look like it won’t be at Arsenal.

I was full of hope with the season coming back, but it didn’t take long for Arsenal to crush that hope. I’m trying to believe in the team ahead of Brighton and I know they’re capable of taking the three points, but they will need to show so much more than they did at City. If they don’t win I honestly think it will be time to throw in the towel in our quest for a top five finish and hope we can win the FA Cup.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Manchester City Previewed

It’s been a long time since Arsenal played a competitive game of football, but that’s what they must do this evening away to Manchester City in the strangest of circumstances. Who would ever have guessed that the Premier League would be put on pause with a quarter of the season to go due to a global pandemic, but that’s where we found ourselves in mid-March. The last three months have felt like a lifetime for so many reasons and the return of football will at least help us to feel life is returning to normal.

Of course the games will be far from normal with no fans present as well as extra measures to help the players get through playing at the hottest time of the year. I don’t think the extra substitutes or water breaks will make much difference, but the empty stadiums are going to take an awful lot of getting used to over the next few weeks. 

On the plus side the three month break has given players a chance to recover from injuries and that might help Arsenal to field the strongest team possible. The elusive Kieran Tierney might eventually get a run in the team after his move from Celtic last summer was beset with injury problems. I expect Mikel Arteta to field the strongest team he can in the hope of getting something from the game.

There’s still a lot to play for with qualification for European football next season surely a priority. The Champions League is obviously the priority, but even Europa League qualification would be better than no European football at all. There is a train of thought that a season out of Europe would help us to do better in the Premier League with fewer games to play, but surely we cannot afford to lose such a large source of income given the current economic climate.

A top four finish won’t be easy, but finishing fifth would be a little less difficult if City’s European ban remains. I think the Europa League is the best we can aim for at this stage though given our current position, our remaining games and those of the teams we’re up against. We have the FA Cup to contest too and it certainly gives us a chance of some silverware to get something from a very disappointing season.

Of course Arteta isn’t the man responsible for our demise this season and we have improved and climbed the table slowly since he took the reins. The club were too slow to realise Unai Emery was the wrong man after the collapse late last season and the awful Europa League final result against Chelsea. By the time they showed him the door and brought Arteta in we had an awful lot to do to even get back into a challenging position.

There have been other issues for Arteta to contend with too as a few players move into the final year of their contracts without a new deal being agreed. The real concerns are Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka and we cannot allow them to run their contracts down and leave for free next summer. If they can’t be persuaded to sign a new contract then surely we have to cash in once the season ends despite what is bound to be an extremely deflated transfer market.

Since he joined us Aubameyang has been the difference between us being the slightly above average team we are and being also rans. His goals have been invaluable at a time when others have struggled badly to find the net and that has been even more evident this season in particular. Replacing him will be a huge task for the club and I really hope we can talk him into extending his contract.

Saka has had a great breakthrough season with the injury to Tierney in particular giving him more opportunities than he might have expected. Those opportunities might not have been in his favoured position, but he took enough advantage of them for us to believe he has a very bright future. I just hope that future will be at Arsenal because there have been so few positives this season that it would be a real shame to lose one of them.

On to the game and our prospects against a City team who will want to at least prolong the agony before they hand their title over to Liverpool. They really need to beat us to make Liverpool wait a little longer and I expect them to take the game to us right from the start. We need to set ourselves up to defend in depth when required, but to be able to take them on quickly on the break when the opportunity arises.

They are vulnerable at home on the break and from set pieces too and that’s where we have to look for some joy. Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe are the players with the pace and ability to do damage on the break while we have also been quite effective from set pieces this season. I think we will get our share of chances and we have a chance of getting something from the game if we can take some of them.

We’re actually unbeaten in seven away games, but we have drawn six of those games which at least shows we won’t be a pushover. I would be delighted with a point from the game while of course wanting all three, but any points gained won’t be of much use to us if we don’t win away to Brighton at the weekend. Maybe Arteta might have something up his sleeve considering he was Pep Guardiola’s assistant before he took the Arsenal job.

When it comes to picking his team the ever so impressive Saka could find himself on the bench if Tierney is in from the start while I expect to see Hector Bellerin in the defence too along with David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi and Bernd Leno in goal of course. With Aubameyang and Pepe out wide I expect Alexandre Lacazette to play through the middle despite his inability to score goals away from home.

The issues could be in midfield where Lucas Torreira still isn’t match fit after his injury and Granit Xhaka is rumoured to be struggling to make the team due to a knock. If that’s the case it’s three from Matteo Guendouzi, Joe Willock, Mesut Ozil and Dani Ceballos which leaves us short defensively. I hope Xhaka is passed fit and the decision on Ozil will let us know how Arteta sees him fitting into the team in such a difficult away fixture.

We’re underdogs going into the game of course and City have a lot more on the bench than we do, but the result is far from a foregone conclusion. Maybe the lack of atmosphere at home will affect City or we can get the chances on the break or from set pieces that could give us a chance. As fans we always have to have hope and I certainly have a fair deal of that going into this game.

Finally for today I want to express my wholehearted support for the Black Lives Mater campaign and express my disgust at the lack of compassion and understanding from so many people all around the world. I can’t understand those who believe racism isn’t a problem in society as it is so obviously in front of all of us each and every single days of our lives. The club and the players are showing their support for an incredibly important issue and I genuinely hope the attention it’s getting at the moment helps to make some badly needed changes in society.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Season In Turmoil As Mikel Arteta Contracts Covid-19

Arsenal released a statement last night that came as a shock as they told us Mikel Arteta has contracted Covid-19 and has gone into self isolation for two weeks. As a result anyone who has come into contact with him recently has had to go into self isolation too as a precaution. That means the entire first team squad are unavailable for the next 10 days as it started from their last contact with him which was apparently on Tuesday.

As I write this the Chelsea squad have followed suit as Callum Hudson-Odoi has been diagnosed too and some players from Manchester City and Leicester have had to go into self isolation after coming into contact with people with Covid-19. As a bare minimum both Arsenal and Chelsea have to call off all of their games for the next two weeks, but that’s only the start of it and the Premier League have to act now. Even when the players end their self isolation they won’t be match fit and realistically both clubs games should be off for a minimum of a month. The Premier League will meet this morning and indefinite suspension of the season is the only sensible decision they can make, but they have never been known for making sensible decisions.

Arteta is a young and fit man and the chances are he will make a full recovery, but our thoughts are still with him and his family. With so little known about this virus in reality we don’t know the effects of him having it, but if there’s a 14 day isolation period that probably means anyone who has come in contact with him in the last two weeks is at risk. Think of the games Arsenal played in that time and the hands of managers, coaches, referees, assistant referees and so on that he shook and you get an idea of how much it could have spread from just him.

Do all of those people have to go into self isolation and then what about the fans who held their hands out as he walked to and from the dressing room looking for a high five. Juergen Klopp (which just autocorrected as Koala) showed what he thought of Liverpool fans trying to do just that on Wednesday night. There can be no argument for continuing as normal when you see what is happening elsewhere.

I came to work this morning (I still have to earn a living) and I have never seen so few people on my mode of public transport. Even in the height of the summer holidays there isn’t a seat to be had, but this morning there were seats aplenty as Ireland brought in it’s first measures to deal with the virus. I have no doubt the measures will gradually be upgraded and it’s difficult not to be at least a little concerned.

From an Arsenal perspective it looks like the season will be put on hold until the all clear or something near it is given, but who knows when that will be. Euro 2020 will probably be put back to next year and the season will resume and finish some time in the summer. What that means for players whose contracts end on June 30th is an entirely different matter and one that will have to be dealt with if and when it happens.

For the moment though all we can do is wait and see what happens and wish Mikel Arteta a full recovery. We’re in uncharted territory and we really don’t know where there is going, but it’s not looking like we’re going to get off easy.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

49, 49 Undefeated

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

Lacklustre Arsenal Lose To Olympiakos

Last night was a very disappointing night for Arsenal as they exited the Europa League in the round of 32 after losing 2-1 at home to Olympiakos after extra time. Defeats are never easy to take, but sometimes a decent performance offers some consolation. We most certainly didn’t get that consolation from last night’s game which was most definitely our worst performance in Mikel Arteta’s short time in charge of the club.

He went with almost the exact same team that was so leggy late on against Everton on Sunday and was more than a little fortunate to hold on for the 3-2 win. Right from the start it looked like they still hadn’t managed to reinvigorate themselves and their game lacked appetite. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea not to bring in some fresh legs to a team who obviously needed them.

I think the performance was also influenced by having a lead from the away leg though as the players weren’t exactly sure how to approach the game. They were playing with Arsene Wenger’s famous “handbrake” on and I have to wonder if the manager urged that caution in them. As long as Olympiakos didn’t score we were going through and I think that had far too much influence on how we played the game.

As it was we probably should have gone ahead in the first half, but Alexandre Lacazette missed a very good chance yet again and Granit Xhaka had a goal disallowed for offside. I hoped for better in the second half, but in truth it was worse as Olympiakos became more adventurous in their attempts to get a result. It was obvious the game was going away from us before they scored and the manager really should have done something to counter it.

When their goal came it was another lesson in how not to defend from Arsenal with the tallest player on the pitch given free reign from a corner and he really couldn’t miss. Everton exposed a weakness from set pieces on Sunday and Olympiakos did so again last night. We had a pretty good record defending them before Arteta arrived while City aren’t exactly the best at it so it looks like it’s something he has to put some serious work into very soon.

We still lacked focus after the Olympiakos goal and we were thankful to Bernd Leno for keeping us in the tie with a good save. Eventually we went to three at the back and began to exert some pressure in the last 15 minutes of normal time. We never really looked like getting the decisive goal though and it came as no surprise when the game went to extra time.

Extra time went much like the last 15 minutes with us huffing and puffing, but very little really happening with the exception of Olympiakos missing a reasonable chance on the break. With less than 10 minutes to go a piece of magic from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave us the goal we craved and that really should have been it. Olympiakos tried to push forward, but never really looked like creating anything until Leno was too casual with a back pass and was closed down which resulted in him conceding a corner.

We managed to clear the initial ball into our box, but when the second ball came in we were caught flat footed and their leading scorer stabbed home to surely send us out of the competition. All that was left was more or less the added time for their celebrations and somehow we managed to create a gilt edged chance in that time. If there’s any player you want the ball to fall to six yards out in the last minute to put you through it’s Aubameyang and when he hit it I was certain he would score, but somehow he missed and that was that.

The loss in revenue could be up to €40 million compared to last season when we reached the final when you consider the TV money, prize money and matchday money too. That’s the price of a fairly good addition to a squad that really needs to be strengthened in the summer and it pushes us even further down the list of the top earning clubs. As someone said on Twitter we have gone from a Champions League last 16 team to a Europa League last 32 team very quickly.

We have also lost one of our routes back into the Champions League for next season which only leaves us hoping to finish fourth or fifth if City lose their appeal. To be honest the thought of our current team playing in the Champions League is one that scares me, but going out in the last 32 of the Europa League is bloody embarrassing. On the plus side our players will be nice and fresh for the rest of the season with no nasty Thursday night football to worry about.

Our next game is against Portsmouth in the FA Cup on Monday night and we need to see a reaction from the players and the manager too. As much as things have got better under Arteta last night was horrendous and Unai Emery would have been lashed from pillar to post if he was the man in charge. Arteta has to show he knows what he’s doing and is capable of getting the best out of these players game in and game out.

I thought the lack of rotation last night was a factor in the result and I cannot understand what Gabriel Martinelli was doing on the bench for so long. We were so tired in the second half on Sunday that maybe the manager should have considered players like Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Reiss Nelson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles or Sokratis Papastathopoulos from the start to put some energy in the team.

Hindsight is a great thing though and he paid a price for putting too much faith in some players who have let other managers down in the past and seem willing to let him down too. His inability or unwillingness to change things when we clearly weren’t at the races didn’t help and his tactics or the team’s inability to implement them on the night didn’t help either. I think a lot of it came down to not knowing how to play with a one goal lead from the first leg and then being unable to up the tempo enough after Olympiakos scored.

Having said all of that we’d be talking about who we got in the next round at this stage if Aubameyang had put that late chance away like we all expected him to do. Olympiakos will play Wolves in the next round and I’m not sure if we could have played another English team so we probably would have drawn someone else. It will be interesting to see how they can do against a Wolves team who still look head and shoulders above us in terms of knowing how they want to play and doing so and who have some good players too.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Burnley Preview

The 2-1 FA Cup win at Bournemouth on Monday night was very welcome for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, but it’s back to the bread and butter of the Premier League with a trip to Burnley this afternoon. While our performances under Arteta have been very encouraging and we’ve only lost one game it’s time to start turning all of our draws into wins. At this stage we’re so far off the top four that our target has to be to finish high enough to qualify for the Europa League.

It might not be the glamour trophy of European football and the rewards are not the same as those from the Champions League, but not qualifying would be an absolute disaster financially. We’re already struggling with the loss of income from three seasons without Champions League football, but at least we got to play seven home games and a final in the Europa League last season and seven games without the final the previous season. Losing the income from those games as well as TV money and prize money would limit our capabilities in the transfer market even further.

As it is we’re playing catch up on the teams who qualify each season and missing out on the Europa League would only worsen our position. I really wish we weren’t playing in it, but at the moment it’s our best source of extra income as we try to keep pace with the rest of the “big six.” There’s even the added bonus of Champions League qualification for the winners and we haven’t been too far off that in the last two seasons.

We have a run of eight league games coming up where on the face of it we could win them all and set ourselves up very nicely for a very difficult run in. That run in is very difficult with four of our last six games against the better teams in the league. We need to rack up as many points as possible before then and see where it leaves us.

We don’t play for two weeks after the Burnley game due to the Premier League’s very strangely operated mini-break which isn’t really a break for half of the clubs. I can only imagine they decided to stagger the break to keep the TV companies happy, but at least we’re one of the teams benefiting from it. All of the teams still involved in European football are the ones to benefit which makes sense

Transfer deadline day saw the arrival of a couple of defenders at the club with Pedro Mari and Cedric Soares both signing on loan. With the defensive issues we’ve had they’re welcome additions to the squad, but I don’t think we’ll see either of them involved today. Soares can play at right or left back although right back is his preferred role while Mari is a central defender.

Both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and David Luiz will return to the squad after serving their respective suspensions and I expect both of them to go straight into the team. The return of Aubameyang means someone else has to miss out and given the choice I would keep Gabriel Martinelli in the team ahead of Alexandre Lacazette, but I’m not sure Arteta will do so. Martinelli is on fire at the moment and surely a player with his momentum must play while Lacazette just can’t get a break in front of goal and he hasn’t scored an away goal in the league in almost a year if I’m not mistaken.

That’s the biggest decision Arteta has to make ahead of the game, but a few others did enough against Bournemouth to be pushing for a place too. I think the centre of the midfield is strongest with a combination of Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka, but Matteo Guendouzi did very well against Bournemouth and it looks like Arteta could be having a very positive influence on him. I still think Xhaka and Torreira will play, but I will feel more comfortable when I see Guendouzi starting or coming off the bench in future.

The other big decision could be whether Mesut Ozil starts or not and it’s difficult to see how that one will go. We all know how often he has been “rested” or “unwell”away from home in difficult games and the performance of Joe Willock against Bournemouth was very impressive. With Dani Ceballos back in the reckoning too there are definitely options for Arteta and it’s not easy to predict which one he will opt for.

A few weeks ago a trip to Burnley looked like it wouldn’t the most difficult of games for us, but their last two results suggest otherwise. They came from behind to win 2-1 at home to high flying Leicester before they went to Old Trafford and beat United 2-0 in their last game. We may have a very good record against Burnley, but those two results certainly suggest it will be far from easy for us. 

I still think we have enough to take the three points, but I have no doubt Burnley will make it difficult for us. A win would put us within three points of fifth place as the teams directly above us continue to be as inconsistent as we are. Let’s just hope the players can continue with their improvements under Arteta and bring us a result to keep us cheerful as we wait for the next game in two weeks time.

That’s it for today.

Arsenal v Manchester United Preview

The Mikel Arteta era at Arsenal hasn’t gotten off to the best start in terms of results so far, but the team have shown some encouraging signs at least. He has a huge job on his hands trying to reverse the rot that has set in for years and rebuild some confidence in players who are clearly lacking in it. I had hoped for a victory at home to Chelsea on Sunday and for a long time it looked on the cards until we pressed the self destruct button in the last 10 minutes.

It’s hard to see what any manager can do about individual errors and I think we would have won the game until Bernd Leno’s error handed them an equaliser. He will surely be able to drill them into the better defending which would have stopped Chelsea getting their late winner. Shkodran Mustafi simply had to make sure Tammy Abraham couldn’t get the chance to start the break which led to the goal and he should have taken a yellow card for the team to stop him. It’s a tactic which City used all the time when Arteta was their second in command and I have no doubt he will instill it into the Arsenal players if he hasn’t done so already.

Our position in the Premier League is not good and on our current form we’re getting closer to the bottom three with each game. We have only won once in our last 12 league games and we haven’t won in our last six at home. In recent seasons when we struggled so badly away from home it was our home form which saw us through, but we can’t even rely on that any more.

I honestly think Arteta will make a difference in the long term, but he actually needs to change results quickly too. As bad as the Europa League might be compared to the Champions League it’s an awful lot better than no European football at all which seems a very real possibility at the moment. As bad as we are though we’re still not too far off the other teams chasing fifth place and fourth place is not dead and buried yet considering Chelsea’s current run of results.

We need something to change and maybe just for something small to break in our favour to turn things around. I thought it was going to happen against Chelsea, but we shot ourselves in the foot and I just hope it can happen against United tonight. They’re currently in fifth place with seven points to spare over us, but a win for us tonight would cut that gap to a mere four points.

It’s hard to see where our next win is coming from, but a win might just kickstart a revival. Four wins in a row is the thing of dreams at the moment, but if we could win our next four league games our position would improve greatly. With no team showing any real consistency outside the top three it’s not impossible to believe we can shoot up the table with just a slight upturn in our performances.

Arteta has big problems for tonight though with so many defensive injuries and he’s going to struggle to put out a strong defence. There aren’t too many issues in other positions, but given how poor we have defended this season it’s very worrying. He does have a decision or two to make in other positions too.

Our midfield is offering virtually no return in terms of goals and the burden of our goalscoring is almost solely on the shoulders of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. I think Nicolas Pepe might be one of the few players besides Aubameyang who can add some goals, but he just can’t get a game. I don’t know why Arteta won’t pick him, but both Freddie Ljungberg and Unai Emery didn’t see fit to include our record signing either.

If we can somehow pull something out for tonight I think it will give us the impetus we need, but it’s a big ask for players who have almost forgotten how to win. I’d love to get one over on them on a day when Spurs lost and Chelsea only drew in games they were expected to win. The league table would look an awful lot better for us tonight if we can put a fairly average United team to the sword.

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’s Trip To Everton Previewed

A week is a long time in football and so it seems to be with Arsenal. The 3-0 defeat at home to City last week showed the gulf in class between them and us and also the huge gap in the commitment levels of far too many of the players. Unai Emery was despatched a few weeks ago and the hoped for improvement in performances and results didn’t really happen.

It’s hard to blame Freddie Ljungberg too much for the performances under him as he was thrown in at the deep end with little or no help. The players gave just about as much for Freddie as they did for Emery which simply wasn’t enough far too often. There’s a malaise at the club which runs right through from the owners who seem disinterested at best right the way through to the majority of the players who can’t be bothered to give their all far too often.

Under the final seasons of Arsene Wenger’s reign there were still occasions when we could turn it on and beat almost any team. There were even a few performances like that early last season under Emery, but they were few and far between. I can honestly say I haven’t seen a single Premier League performance from Arsenal this season that has impressed me and it’s something that has to change.

It appears the man the club hope can bring about that change is Mikel Arteta as he has been announced today as the new manager. It’s a massive gamble to appoint an untried manager at a time when the club is in crisis, but his time as assistant to Pep Guardiola at City should hopefully stand to him. When Emery was appointed I gave him my full backing as I would with any Arsenal manager and Arteta will be no different.

I am a little worried that he was a player at the club when that malaise started to creep in, but he was never a player who I considered to have given anything less than everything he had to the cause. It’s up to him to root out those who won’t or can’t improve and give their all and if the rumours are correct there are quite a few players queueing up to leave. Some of our higher profile players would seem to be of the opinion they can win trophies elsewhere and they could well be right, but with the right attitude and commitment they can win them at Arsenal too.

I don’t think Arteta will be in charge for tomorrow’s early game at Everton, but hopefully his arrival can have a positive impact on the players. I have read all too often about our lack of quality, but we still have some very good players who are capable of hurting just about any team we play against. They lack organisation, consistency and discipline, but Arteta sees himself as the man who can return that to our team.

As for Everton it’s a big game for us, but every game is a big game for a team who have only won once in their last nine league games. We’re looking upwards in the table and can move in that direction with a win, but a defeat would leave us one point above them and they’re currently only two places above the relegation zone. Fifth placed Spurs are only four points ahead of us though with fourth placed Chelsea a further three points ahead of them and they play each other this weekend. 

Chelsea have lost four of their last five league games and I’m still not impressed by Spurs under Jose Mourinho so I don’t think a top four finish is completely beyond us yet. For it to happen Arteta has to have an immediate and lasting impact on every single thing the players do and I’m optimistic he can do so. You might call me crazy, but surely the lot of a football fan is to be optimistic and having a new man at the helm should at least allow that for a while.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Finish Second As Spurs Crumble

Who would have guessed Lasagne was on the menu again for Spurs when they travelled to Newcastle yesterday. All they had to do was avoid defeat to finish above Arsenal for the first time in 20 seasons, but they succombed to a 5-1 defeat instead. Arsenal's failings this season have been vast to say the least, but you have to give yourself the freedom to wallow in the absolute failure of Spurs just when they looked to be ready to step up.

While everybody has admired their football and knocked our team's lack of bottle and fight we somehow managed to finish above them as we always do under Arsene Wenger. It's a great feeling to celebrate St. Totteringham's Day this season when I have to say I had given up all hope of Arsenal finishing above them. It's Arsenal's highest league finish since 2005 when we were runners up to Chelsea and it looks an awful lot better in the record books than finishing third.

The day panned out very well for Arsenal in the end, but there were times when I have to admit I was very nervous. When Spurs got back to 2-1 down and Mitrovic was sent off for Newcastle I feared the worst, but Newcastle put another three goals past them with only 10 men. Arsenal might have taken an early lead against Villa, but they left it a little too late for comfort to add to the lead and a goal from Villa would have put the cat among the pigeons.

It all worked out perfectly in the end though and Arsenal took their rightful place above Spurs. They have had their best season since time immemorial and they still couldn't finish ahead of us. Second place isn't a trophy, but considering everything else it's an awful lot better than the alternative before yesterday's game.

I know we could and should have won the league and second place is scant consolation, but that's something to discuss another day. For the moment we can celebrate our win and the absolute joy it brought combined with the despair for Spurs. They so desperately want to finish ahead of us and they must be devestated to have finished third and the circumstances which led to it only make it even more hilarious.

In my preview I hoped for an early goal and predicted Olivier Giroud might have a good day and so it was. His three goals don't make him world class overnight though and we still need a striker upgrade this summer. I had hoped for a Spurs defeat in that preview too, but I didn't really believe it would happen and thankfully I got that completely wrong.

Things got a little emotional at the end with Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky saying their goodbyes to the fans. I loved them both as players and it's sad to see them go, but it is time for it and their exits leave a couple of places in the squad to be filled. Arteta got to play late on and he was so close to scoring, but the final goal will go down as an own goal to the Villa keeper. 

All we can hope for now is some really positive additions to the squad this summer and for the team to be given the chance to go one better next season. It won't be easy with all of the other top clubs surely strengthening this summer too, but as a fan you have to believe it is possible.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Aston Villa Preview

A very disappointing season comes to an end for Arsenal today when they play at home to Aston Villa. It's been a season of what could have been and probably what should have been too, but ultimately it delivered nothing. At the turn of the year the league was there to be won, but all the old failings came back to haunt us in a far too familiar fashion.

There's still something to play for today of course with the possibility of finishing anywhere from second to fourth place still up for grabs. To finish second Arsenal need to win and Spurs need to lose at already relegated Newcastle which I just can't see happening. As long as we don't lose we will finish above City in third and qualify directly for the group stages of next season's Champions League.

On the face of it a home game against one of the worst teams the Premier League has seen in a long time is the ideal way to finish the season. In past years I would have been very confident of Arsenal handing out a thrashing to a Villa team who's only away win was on the opening day of the season and have only managed 17 points in their 37 games to date. Even with nothing really at stake, Arsenal should be looking for a very comfortable victory today.

The fans will get to say goodbye to a few players who won't be around next season, but we don't know if Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky or Mathieu Flamini will get to play a part in proceedings today. Arteta came in at a time when we were really struggling and helped to steady the ship when it looked we were on our way out of the elite. He's the club captain and by all accounts a great influence in the dressing room and it will be sad to see him go, but he's been past his best for quite a while and injuries have curtailed his chances and performances.

Rosicky promised so much when he joined 10 years ago, but we never got the best out of him as he struggled from one injury to another. He's a very talented footballer and he could have been a huge part of the team during his time with us, but it wasn't to be. Players of his ability who stay at a club for as long as he did usually become legends, but his continued absences will mean he will be fondly remembered even if he fits into the "what could have been" category.

Flamini is a curious case who came back to train with us a couple of years ago when he had no club and we ended up offering him a contract. I would be with those who saw it as a backward step, but he did become a cult figure at the club. That doesn't mean he was good enough though, but he did at least beat Spurs almost single handedly in the Capital One Cup this season.

I'm not so sure we'll get to see those three play a part today because the game still has some meaning and none of them are anywhere near the team at the moment. I would imagine we'll see the strongest team possible play today as they look to finish the season on a high and put any pressure they can on Spurs. I would be surprised if the team differed too much from the one which drew at City last week and surely a strong Arsenal team has to be too good for a poor Villa team.

Villa drew 0-0 at home to Newcastle last week and it was the first point they managed in 12 games. After just avoiding relegation last summer they sold their best two players and replaced them with inferior players. Their fate this season comes as no surprise and they have been far and away the worst team in the league this season.

Second place might be out of Arsenal's hands, but they have to give it their all in an attempt to manage their highest league position in 11 years. There is still a possibility of Newcastle beating a Spurs team who have faded badly in the last few weeks. Newcastle may have been relegated already, but they have done relatively well at home this season and they will hopefully want to see their fans off on any high they can manage before playing in the Championship next season. 

In Arsene Wenger's 20 seasons at the club we have always finished ahead of Spurs despite them coming very close to catching us a couple of times. It looked like a done deal in their favour in 2006 until a dodgy lasagne put paid to their hopes and hopefully they have a similar dish on their menu today. Anything that can give Arsenal, or Newcastle for that matter, an edge will do very nicely indeed.

Looking back in a few years a second place finish and finishing above Spurs yet again will possibly be seen as some sort of improvement, but this season has been a huge failure for me. I'll deal what that more in my season review which will come in the next few days, but the biggest issue for me has been the lack of goals after failing to sign a striker last summer. When you see the seasons Gonzalo Higuain, Luis Suarez and to a lesser extent Javier Hernandez have all had it's so infuriating to know how we possibly could have had any of them in recent history. 

Olivier Giroud has been on a terrible run since January, but the manager has persevered with him in recent weeks and he has finally brought some goals and assists to his game. It would be just like him to play his best game of the season today and for the manager to tell us we don't need a striker after a performance like that. 

I can't imagine anything other than a compressive Arsenal win today and I think Villa will fold once they let in the first goal. The sooner we get that first goal the better and if we go ahead with Spurs drawing or losing it will put some pressure on them. We're playing for crumbs I know, but those crumbs would offer us some comfort at least. I don't think Spurs will lose, but we at least have to play as if we think they will.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Sunderland: FA Cup Preview

Let me just start this preview by saying I will be at the game and I can't wait to see my beloved Arsenal play. My wife is well aware of their status in my life and has resigned herself to playing second fiddle to them. To be fair I have known Arsenal 16 years longer than her and they were my first love.

It's going to be a very early start for me as I have to get up at 3am to make my flight, but I'll be lucky if I sleep at all such is the excitement at seeing Arsenal play. I've already made plans to meet friends near the ground and get some breakfast as we wait for The Tollington to open at 11 for some pre game refreshments. There's no better watering home in the vicinity of the ground and it's great to be among 700 Arsenal fans on match day before and after the game.

I suppose I should mention the game itself at this stage and the competition we're playing in too. Arsenal ended their longest run without a trophy since I started supporting them in 1970 by winning the FA Cup in 2014 and then they went on to retain the trophy last season. They have won the FA Cup more times than any other team and it's a competition that they are more than capable of winning again.

The last team to win the Cup three years in a row was Blackburn Rovers in 1886, but plenty of teams have won twice in a row in the 130 years since then. It would be fantastic if Arsenal could go on to win the cup and emulate that feat. Having said that they are currently on top of the Premier League just past the halfway stage of the season and they face a tough trip to Liverpool on Wednesday night followed by a trip to Stoke the Sunday after that.

The question is whether Arsene Wenger will risk playing his strongest team with those two games coming up or if he will give a chance to some fringe players and some of the younger players. Sam Allardyce has already said he won't be playing his strongest side with a huge game for Sunderland away to Swansea on Wednesday night in their struggle to avoid relegation. When it comes to attempting to avoid relegation their FA Cup chances fade into insignificance.

The boss has said that the third round can be tricky and he wants to progress so I suspect he will play a relatively strong team. Alexis Sanchez won't play a part in proceedings as he still hasn't recovered from injury, but hopefully he can make his return against Liveepool or Stoke. The only player to add to the squad from last week is the fit again Mikel Arteta who managed 45 minutes for the under 21s during the week, but I would be surprised to see him in from the start as he has suffered from being thrown back into the action too soon in the past.

I imagine David Ospina will be the cup keeper for this season and we will see Kieran Gibbs, Gabriel Paulista, Calum Chambers and Joel Campbell in from the start as they were on the bench last week. Mathieu Debuchey is a different story as it looks like he is on his way out of the club on loan and I don't know if he will be in the right frame of mind to play. If any of the younger players are to get a run you would imagine it would be a choice between Alex Iwobe and Jeff Reine-Adelaide and maybe even both of them.

I think one of them could possibly play and I think Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain needs more game time too so he might well be included. Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott could all probably do with a rest, but they will surely be on the bench if they don't start. It's all about striking a balance between finding a team that can win the game and making sure the players are ready for the challenges ahead.

Sunderland have little to lose in this game and the players who do get the nod for them could well play with the freedom that brings. They have a very poor away record in the Premier League this season, but they played quite well when Arsenal beat them 3-1 a few weeks ago. If Arsenal can find their attacking rhythm I think they should have more than enough to overcome a team who will do very well not to drop to the Championship for next season.

I'll be somewhere in the upper tier of the East Stand, freezing cold, watching the action and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's been too long since I last saw Arsenal play and hopefully it will be nowhere near as long before I get to see them again. A win is what's required on the day as we can do without any replays and I think the team will deliver just that.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Dinamo Zagreb Preview

It's do or die tomorrow night for Arsenal when they take on Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. A win is the only thing that will do for them to keep their hopes alive and even then they will need Bayern Munich to win at home to Olympiacos. Three defeats in their first four group games have left them on the verge of missing out on the knock out stages and the cash rewards that brings.

Their only victory in the group so far came at home to Bayern and the German champions exacted their revenge in the return game. If Bayern draw at home to Olympiacos it would see both teams through to the next stage, but I would be very surprised if Bayern didn't do to Olympiacos what they have done to almost every other opponent this season. Arsenal just have to assume that Bayern will want to win the game to make sure they top the group and concentrate on what they need to do against Dinamo.

From a team selection point Arsene Wenger's options are even more limited since the weekend defeat to West Brom. It was bad enough to lose a game Arsenal were winning, but to lose both Francis Coquelin and Mikel Arteta to injury made it an even worse day. The loss of Coquelin in particular is a huge blow to the team as his emergence has been a huge factor in the team's performances in this calendar year.

Arteta limped off yet again within half an hour of coming on and it's hard to believe that he will be able to put his continuous injuries behind him. The absence of both of those players means the team will have to rely on Mathieu Flamini to play a defensive midfield role and I have to say that worries me greatly. There have been suggestions of playing Calum Chambers, Gabriel Paulista or Kieran Gibbs in the role, but I can't see any of them being up to the task in that role at least. It has to be Flamini for me or maybe the boss might have to rethink the way the team is playing just a little.

The only good news is that Aaron Ramsey is fit to play at least although it might be a risk for him to play from the start. His inclusion would certainly make the team stronger and I assume it would be on the right rather than in a central role alongside Santi Cazorla. Ramsey would be a far better choice than Joel Campbell who I am still far from convinced by, but the boss has to decide whether it's worth the risk so soon after his return.

When Arsensl lost their opening game in Zagreb and the next game at home to Olympiacos the boss played some of his fringe players in each game. The gamble backfired on each occasion and it's one of the main reasons the team are so close to elimination at the moment. The performances and attitudes on each night didn't help either and they need to put those results right in the next two games. They owe both Zagreb and Olympiacos the beating they should have given them in the first place and they need to get that underway tomorrow night.

It's not going to be easy for the players who are available to keep on putting in performances game after game, but they have to find it within themselves to do it. I thought they were a little unlucky against West Brom to lose 2-1 to a team who only had one shot on target. They weren't helped by the penalty miss, Mesut Ozil hitting the post or Campbell's miss, but the defending on the day and the drop in concentration when they went ahead wasn't good enough either.

Zagreb showed in the first game that they have plenty to offer and Arsenal cannot afford to take them lightly again. Hopefully none of the players will get themselves sent off like Olivier Giroud did in the first game and the boss will play his strongest team too. After that it's down to taking their chances and not over committing players forward so they're not caught on the break.

November has been a bad month for Arsenal far too often and a win tomorrow night would be their first win this month. They have a trip to Norwich on Sunday, but at least that's five days after the Zagreb game and any small knocks or tiredness can be overcome in that time. It's a tough schedule from here until the transfer window opens in January and the team need to get back on track right away if they're going to continue to challenge in the league.

The way I see it they're the better team and they just need to put in a performance to show that. If Bayern can do their part then Arsenal can go to Olympiacos in two weeks and try to get the two goal win they will need to make the last 16. It won't be an easy task but it's one they're capable of once the get the first part of that task done tomorrow night. 

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal's Trip To Watford Previewed

Here we are again back to the real football after another insufferable international break and full in the knowledge the next one is only a few weeks away again. During those few weeks there's plenty of football to be played though with Arsenal playing in the Premier League, the Champions League and the Capital One Cup. The first of those games is this afternoon when they travel to Watford to play against the first of the three teams promoted from the Championship last season.

Watford have had a reasonable start to life in the Premier League and have made themselves a tough team to beat. There hasn't been too many goals in their four home games so far with two scoreless draws and the other two games being settled by the only goal of the game. I don't expect them to open up and play attacking football today and Arsenal could face a long hard slog trying to find openings to score.

Watford tend to use their two big front players early and those two players rely on their strength as often as not. It's not exactly pretty to watch, but it has been effective so far with Odion Ighalo bagging five goals already this season. Arsenal have to be wary of this tactic and the two full backs need to be ready to come in behind the central defenders to mop up at times. That's not always easy when Arsenal are pushing those full backs forward, but it's something they have to be aware of.

In team news the international break has been kinder to Arsenal than other teams for a change with none of the players reporting back in a worse state than they left. Alexis Sanchez might not have been 100% as he headed off to play for Chile, but he played both of their games and scored three goals in those games. That's eight goals for him in his last four games and it's going to be hard to leave him out of the team today even with Bayern Munich coming to town on Tuesday night. In fact Arsenal players had a bit of a field day during the international break with more goals than you can shake a stick at from Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Joel Campbell, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Santi Cazorla as well as the goals from Alexis.

It's hard to know if the team today will be influenced by that game against Bayern and it's importance for this season's Champions League group. Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta are both available for selection again after their respective injuries while Laurent Koscielny faces a late test to see if he can play. I don't expect Koscielny to be risked, but it's quite possible there will be a few changes to the team which was so impressive last time out against United.

Tinkering with the team hasn't worked too well so far this season though which is why Arsenal have no points from their two Champions League games and sit at the bottom of their group. A win today is essential to maintain Arsenal's chase of City and keep them in second place or even close the gap if City slip up. Arsenal have scored more goals away from home than any other team so far and they will give Watford their toughest match so far since their promotion. 

It still hasn't been a great start to the season for Arsenal with highs and lows seemingly coming with each game, but that victory over United has really upped the hopes and expectations. Arsenal have won every league match that they have scored in, but they have failed to score in three of their eight games. After struggling for goals early on they have scored eight in their last two league games and look capable of scoring at any time in any game.

I think Watford will make life tough for them, but a fully focused Arsenal should have enough to take the three points. It might take the late introduction of Alexis to swing the the game in their favour if he is on the bench, but at least they will have that option. He's the outstanding player in the team and the league at the moment and Arsenal are lucky enough to have him. They have to do everything possible to make sure he stays at the club and they continue to build a team around him.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Olympiacos: Champions League Preview

Arsenal finally found their shooting boots on Saturday when they put five goals past Leicester to match their tally of their previous six league games. Those goals couldn't have come at a better time with a Champions League game that has to be won at home to Olympiacos tonight. After losing their first game away to Dinamo Zagreb there is very little room for error left for Arsenal in a group which also includes Bayern Munich.

After tonight's game Arsenal have back to back games at home and then away to Bayern and they have to go into those games with three points in the bag. The defeat to Dinamo has made life difficult in the group, but failure to win tonight would make it almost impossible. Bayern are in fantastic form at the moment and it won't be easy to get anything off them, but Arsenal are of course capable of doing just that.

It would be just like Arsenal to drop points tonight and then go out and take three or four points off Bayern. They can't depend on getting anything from Bayern though and they need to make sure they take maximum points from the three games left against Olympiacos and Dinamo starting with tonight. 

Olympiacos have had a very good start to their domestic campaign and they're on top of the Greek league after winning their first five games. They lost their opening group game 3-0 at home to Bayern, but Arsenal's defeat in Zagreb will have given them real hope of making the knockout stages. They will hope to get through to the final game with a chance of qualifying and know they have a chance at home to Arsenal in that game. 

As for Arsenal they know it would not be in their best interests to have to go to Greece needing a result in the last game and they need to tie things up before that game. The first step in that journey is tonight's game and it's a game they should and have to win. 

In team news it seems both Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta will miss out with slight knocks after Saturday's victory over Leicester. Flamini started that game after his heroics against Spurs in the Capital One Cup, but he went off injured early on to be replaced by Arteta. The team looked a lot more solid with Arteta in the holding role instead of Flamini and maybe the games he's played recently are helping him to regain some form after he missed so much of last season through injury.

It looks like Francis Coquelin could be set for a return to the team as he's been back in training for a few days after recovering from the knock he picked against Chelsea last week. Coquelin has made that defensive midfield spot his own and it will be good to see him back in the team if he's fit to play. If he's not fit to play I can only imagine an axis of Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla will play together, but neither of them have the defensive instincts of Coquelin.

One player who definitely won't be playing is Olivier Giroud after he was sent off in the first half of that defeat in Zagreb. His absence will surely mean Theo Walcott starts again and he seems to be growing in confidence with each game he plays as a striker. The jury may still be out on him, but 12 goals in his last 13 Premier League starts suggest he must be doing something right.

Gabriel Paulista will also be available after sitting out the victory over Leicester as he served his one match ban. It's going to be a close call between him and Per Mertesacker to play alongside Laurent Koscielny at the heart of the defence and it's impossible to know who will get the nod. For me Gabriel is the better choice and I think he will confirm his status as first choice before too long. 

Arsene Wenger made quite a few changes for the game in Zagreb, but I don't expect him to make too many for tonight. I think he has to play what he sees as his strongest team possible to do everything possible to ensure a victory. Arsenal don't play again until Sunday and that should give the players plenty of time to recover.

Of course they did play only three days ago and that game next Sunday is against the current league leaders Manchester United. It's been a long time since Arsenal beat United in the league and a victory on Sunday would be so sweet with them on top of the league, but the points tonight are just as important. I think the five day gap to the United game has to be more than enough for the key players to play in both games.

Speaking of key players it was great to see Alexis Sanchez get his first goals of the season on Saturday. I said in my preview of that game that he looked to have finally found his feet after missing out on a pre season and his hat trick showed that he is back to his best. Not only was he the 100th player to score a hat trick for Arsenal, but apparently he was the first player to score a hat trick in all three of Serie A, La Liga and the Premier League. 

A few times in recent seasons Arsenal have come out in home group games and blown the opposition away with some great attacking football and early goals. It would be great to see them turn that style on tonight and get the win they need to get their chances of qualifying back on track. Any sort of win would do tonight of course, but another attacking performance like Saturday's would be great ahead of the United game.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.