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 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.

Can Arsenal Progress Under Arteta

This season has been a strange one so far and it’s been a pretty frustrating one from an Arsenal perspective. Every club has had to deal with the worldwide pandemic and it’s affects on revenue and it’s been no different for Arsenal. While all of this has being happening we’re in the middle (well actually still pretty much near the start) of our rebuilding process under Mikel Arteta.

He hasn’t been at the club a year yet and we can’t expect miracles given the squad he has and the limits imposed on transfers by the pandemic. Luckily Arsenal have a very talented crop of young players coming through and some of them have been able to step up when required. He did deliver the FA Cup against some pretty tough odds and it looks like the defensive side of our game has improved for the first time in a few years.

Our problems at the moment lie in attack though and our inability to score goals is hurting us badly. So much was made of our lack of victories away to any of the “big six” in almost six years that it was a huge relief to finally end that run at Old Trafford last month, but that 1-0 win was the only points we have taken and the only goal we have scored in our last four league games. As it stands only the bottom four clubs and Wolves have scored less goals in their first eight games despite Arsenal possessing one of the best strikers in the world.

While a large part of our problem might be the inability to make chances at the moment it’s very hard to look beyond why Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is being played on the left when it seems obvious to one and all that he should be played as the central striker. With him in the middle we can surely play two attacking players, such as Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka in the wide roles and they can supply him with the chances he needs. For me Alexandre Lacazette isn’t good enough to hold the position ahead of Aubameyang and playing him there is hurting us at the moment.

Of course the failure to sign a creative player in midfield has had an affect on our creation and the demise of Mesut Ozil hasn’t helped either. The signing of Thomas Partey has given us some real class in midfield, but we need someone to play in front of him and whoever else is chosen to play alongside him in a defensive role. I think the manager might hope Willian can play there, but he’s looking less likely to do so with each passing game. 

With Ozil completely out of the picture it could mean the only real option is promoting Joe Willock to first team duties. Willock has looked the part in our Europa League games so far, but it’s a big step up from the Europa League to the Premier League. He offers us something different at the moment though and that’s something this team is badly missing. 

When our strikers struggle to score goals it’s a real problem for the team because our midfield just doesn’t have enough goals in it. Willock could possibly be the player to get those goals and it might just be the time to see what he can do.

In the latest 2021 odds to win the Premier League, Arsenal sit just below Leicester at 50/1. The Gunners had an upset defeat at home to Villa in their last game and Villa are listed below them at 66/1. It’s difficult to understand how we have reached a point where Leicester are shorter odds than us to win the league and Villa’s odds aren’t much longer. I know it’s early days in the season, but it’s not easy to argue with those odds.

For me a big part of our problems besides the lack of goals is the lack of pace in our game. We’re too comfortable just to keep possession and work the ball through the team with nobody willing to take an opponent on or make something happen. We’re really struggling to open teams up and the ability to take players on and beat them is one that cannot be underestimated.

We only have to play two of the big six in our next 12 games and that run has to give us an opportunity to make up some ground on the teams ahead of us and put some points on the board. We’ve been out of the Champions League for far too long and there’s a real chance of making the top four this season, but only if we can find some attacking flair. The players may have reacted well to how the manager wants them to play, but now he has to concentrate on improving our attacking options and getting that across to the players.

I think he’s the right man for the job, but it’s not easy watching Arsenal at the moment. When so many fans are left sitting in their homes because of the pandemic it appears that every little problem with the team is under the microscope and that’s understandable with so little else to do at the moment. He needs to keep the fans behind him and he could be in danger of slowly losing them if he can’t solve our attacking issues and make watching them more enjoyable.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

It’s Partey Time For Arsenal

The transfer window closed last night and with it the ability for clubs to improve their squads from without. There is still the option of moves within the English leagues, but moves to and from all other leagues are finished. It looked like Arsenal would miss out on their targets as deadline day approached, but they pulled a rabbit out of the hat just in time.

We had spent most of that window chasing Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid, but it seemed we were unwilling to pay the release clause of €50 million. If reports are to be believed Lucas Torreira had been told by Atletico that he had been signed on loan from Arsenal to play alongside Partey in their midfield, but he would have had to stay at Arsenal to do so now. I wish Torreira no ill will and I wasn’t particularly pleased that we loaned him out, but Partey is definitely an upgrade on him.

Our midfield needed a player of his calibre and I have no doubt his addition will help Mikel Arteta to mould the team in the way he wants. Again there are reports of Diego Simone being particularly unhappy with Partey’s last minute departure and I can imagine how we would feel if one of our best players did one at the very last minute. I’m not too bothered about how if affects Atletico though as long as it helps to make us a better team.

All in all it’s been a pretty good transfer window for Arsenal with Partey added to the arrivals of Willian on a free transfer and Gabriel Magalhaes. Both of those players added strength in positions where we really needed it and Partey should be the next piece of the Arteta jigsaw. There’s still a good bit more to go, but it’s difficult to deny that all the signs point to us moving in the right direction.

Perhaps the biggest deal of the transfer window for us was the manager convincing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to sign a new contract. If he had decided to leave I can’t see where we could have got a replacement of his quality or how we could have afforded one if he was available. Retaining his services must certainly have a positive affect on potential purchases when they see a player of his calibre at the club and it seems the manager is becoming a bit of a draw himself too.

We probably could have done with moving on a few of the players who are surplus to requirements, but it seems Sead Kolasinac, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and even Mesut Ozil will be with us for a while yet. Both Kolasinac and Sokratis looked like they might be on their way, but Ozil has absolutely no intention of going anywhere despite obviously not being in the manager’s plans. It’s an awful shame to have a player earning £350,000 a week not participating at all, but there doesn’t seem to be a way out of it any more.

This season has started pretty well with three wins from four games even if two of those wins were against teams who still haven’t got a point between them after four games. The other win against West Ham didn’t seem like much at the time, but their subsequent results might just put our win against them in a better light. So far out only defeat came away to the reigning champions who are favourites to retain their title despite their absolute hammering by Aston Villa on Sunday.

Unfortunately we have to undergo another annoying international break before we get to play again. When we come back Arsenal have a very tough run of games with trips to both Manchester clubs either side of a home game against Leicester. As bad as both Manchester teams have been it’s still been six years since we won away to any of the rest of the “big six”and beating either of them will not be easy. If we can come through those three games with more than three points I think it has to been seen as something positive and it should keep us in contention at the right end of the table.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v West Ham Preview

Arsenal got their season off to a very good start last weekend with a 3-0 win away to Fulham. There were debuts for Willian and Gabriel and both of them were very impressive. Gabriel started a little shaky, but he grew as the game progressed and even added a goal from a set piece to an impressive defensive display. I thought Willian might have been the creative spark we needed and three assists on his debut certainly points to him being exactly that.

While the performance was pretty good it has to be remembered how poor Fulham were and we will face some much tougher tests very soon. Before our trip to Liverpool next week we play at home to West Ham on Saturday evening and it’s another game we should be winning well. They lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle last week and their performance left an awful lot to be desired.

It’s not that they don’t have some fairly good players, but there’s an awful lot wrong at the club and it’s affecting them at the moment. It’s no time for Arsenal to worry about West Ham’s woes though and we have to try to pile the pressure on them by winning by as many goals as we can. Despite our 3-0 win last week we’re still far from the finished article and there’s isn’t a team in the Premier League we can be certain we will beat.

Mikel Arteta has been a breath of fresh air since he took the reins and the team are gradually improving under him, but it’s a work in progress with a long way to go. The additions of Willian and Gabriel look like they will help us to improve and William Saliba should do so too given time. Arteta is actively chasing more players which was probably one of the reasons for the sale of Emiliano Martinez to Aston Villa this week. I really rated Martinez and I think he is better than Bernd Leno on crosses as well as being his equal in the rest of his game which might have been a good reason to keep him, but needs must at times. 

There might have to be a few more exits too if we’re going to raise the money we need to strengthen the squad. Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Lucas Torreira and Mohamed Elneny are probably the prime suspects to leave, but Elneny did well against Fulham last week and might be asked to stick around if Torreira goes. If we can bring in the imposing central midfielder we’re looking for it could be another piece in the puzzle, but it’s not easy in the current financial and footballing climate.

I don’t expect Arteta to make too many changes from the team that did so well against Fulham, but we could see one or two. If he’s fit David Luiz will probably come in which would see either Rob Holding or Ainsley Maitland-Niles missing out and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dani Ceballos come in for Elneny either. I can’t see changes elsewhere in the team and the most important player of all will of course be playing again.

The news of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang signing a new contract this week was the best signing we made in this transfer window and it was a massive boost for the club. He is one of the best strikers in the world and our chances of replacing him within our budget would have been virtually zero. However, he has signed on for three more years and he has the opportunity over those three years to become one of our record goal scorers.

Willian is the sort of player who can help to break down a team that sits deep against us with his set piece delivery and his eye for a pass. He could come in handy against West Ham because I wouldn’t be surprised to see them sit deep and hope to hit us on the break. We’re set up a lot better to deal with that now, but it will still be hard for us if we let them score first. I think the news about Aubameyang will spur us on though and I expect Arsenal to take the game to West Ham and hopefully win by a few goals.

We should have plenty to bring off the bench too if it’s needed with Nicolas Pepe, Bukayo Saka, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah all waiting for a chance to prove themselves. The obvious omission of course is Mesut Ozil and I’ve resigned myself to him being almost a part of our past at this stage. Whatever side of the argument you come down on it’s not easy to see the club pay so much money to an asset that they don’t use.

We have a tough run of away games on the horizon with trips to Liverpool, City and United in our next three on the road. It’s going to be very important during that time to take as many points as possible at home starting with West Ham. If we can get past the United game in good shape we have a great run of games which could see us make a real impression on the top four. 

Finishing in the top four has to be our target for this season and a good run in any of the cup competitions would be an added bonus. If we’re going to do that we need to improve our performances and results away from home and look to punish poorer teams at home. West Ham afford us that opportunity in this game and it’s one we just have to take advantage of.

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.

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 Ride Their Luck To Beat Everton

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal Have To Beat Newcastle Today

It’s been two long weeks since Arsenal played a game and the lack of anything resembling real football in that time made it drag. Thankfully they return today when they play at home to Newcastle United in what I can only describe as a must win game. It’s the first of three home Premier League games in a row which give us a chance to make up ground on the teams ahead of us in our quest to finish in the top five.

With the news of Manchester City’s two season ban from European football that top five place has become an awful lot more important. Despite Chelsea struggling for quite a while now they still look odds on to finish fourth, but City’s problems should mean the team who finish fifth take their place in the Champions League next season. City will of course appeal the decision and fifth place might fade into insignificance again, but for the moment at least our hopes can be raised.

As it stands we have eight points to make up on Sheffield United who currently hold fifth spot, but we have a game in hand. Our next three fixtures provide us with that opportunity to take nine points and the table will look an awful lot better if we can do just that. Considering our current run of results it’s far from an easy task, but considering the opponents it’s certainly not one that’s beyond us either.

After Newcastle today it’s Everton and West Ham at home in our next two league games and neither of them are much to be afraid of either. Everton have improved under their new manager, but West Ham are in real trouble and could find themselves in the Championship next season. First things first though and the need to beat Newcastle cannot be understated.

We have made plenty of progress since Mikel Arteta took the reins, but too many of our games have ended in draws and it’s time to turn those draws into wins. We have only won four of our 12 home games so far this season and even more worryingly only one of our last eight. There was a time not so long ago when teams feared coming to the Emirates and we beat the majority of Premier League teams without having to even perform at our best.

The defensive improvement under Arteta has been absolutely great, but it has been partly at the expense of our attack. It will take a while for him to find the right balance between them in the team, but from what he has said recently it looks like he’s more than well aware of the situation. I expect him to give the players a little more attacking leeway today and hopefully it will be enough to unlock a very defensive Newcastle team. Despite their defensive set up they have only kept one clean sheet away from home and only Villa have conceded more goals on the road.

Arteta has a few decisions to make in his team selection today and the first of them surely has to be whether to persist with Alexandre Lacazette or not. He hasn’t scored in his last eight league games, but all of his goals have come at home and the manager has stated how he sees him as a vital part of the way he wants the team to play. Like quite a few other fans I would like to see an attacking trio of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with Nicolas Pepe on one side of him and Gabriel Martinelli on the other side.

That trio offers us the pace and goal threat which I think we need so badly, but I’m not so sure we’ll see it. Who supplies the ammunition for them is another thing and as much as I like Mesut Ozil it’s hard to argue with the stats which show he just isn’t the player he used to be. Maybe a home game against Newcastle might be the perfect game for him to perform, but there’s a very real prospect of him warming the bench yet again today.

We have missed Aaron Ramsey’s ability to arrive late in the box and score the goals this team is so badly missing and we didn’t manage to replace him when he went on his merry way last summer. Joe Willock has shown glimpses of a player who might be able to fill that role, but he’s certainly far from the finished article. We don’t have the midfielders to add to our goals tally that we had in previous seasons and it’s really hurting our results.

In our seven league games under Arteta we have only scored eight goals and while we have only conceded seven goals in those games it’s still a pretty poor return. Arteta has addressed the defensive issues to a certain degree and now it’s time to address the attacking issues. With the right team today we can at least start to bring some joy back to a season that has been almost bereft of it since the opening day.

As poor as our results have been we have been no worse than any of the other teams chasing fifth place and an improvement from us could be enough to make fifth place ours. To have drawn more than half of our 25 league games is quite incredible and surely we’re due a few wins starting with Newcastle today and followed by a run of six games where the three points are ours for the taking.

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.

Arteta’s Arsenal Slowly Improving

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Chelsea Previewed

Life is still pretty miserable for us Arsenal fans despite the arrival of Mikel Arteta last month. The hoped for change in results still hasn’t appeared, but at least the performances are more promising. As it stands we have only won twice in our last 15 games and despite the promising performances it’s difficult to be optimistic going into any game.

We played Chelsea a few weeks ago and it was definitely one of those promising performances, but ultimately we couldn’t hold on to our lead and two goals in the last 10 minutes saw us beaten. That was the only defeat so far under Arteta, but we have only won once in the league too. The draws against Bournemouth, Palace and Sheffield United were all very costly to us and particularly when you consider that we took the lead in two of those games.

In fact we have dropped seven points from winning positions in the five games under Arteta already and it’s a very worrying trend. We don’t seem to have the legs to last the full 90 minutes which has to be a throwback to our fitness levels before he arrived. I think it has a bit to do with lack of confidence too as we become obviously more nervous as the games progress.

The other reason we’re not winning enough games is our inability to stick the ball in the back of the net. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang suspended again tonight the onus to get those goals should fall on Alexandre Lacazette, but Gabriel Martinelli is far more likely to do so despite his tender age. When Aubameyang is back I think Arteta has to seriously consider keeping Martinelli in the team because he’s our only other consistent goal scorer.

I expect a fairly similar team tonight to the one which drew with Sheffield United on Saturday as Arteta’s options are limited at the moment due to injuries and that Aubameyang suspension. We have struggled badly to control games and it’s still too easy to play against us under Arteta so far, but we can’t expect miracles overnight. I am much happier with the attitude and commitment of the players under him though and hopefully the results will start to follow soon.

I would imagine Chelsea won’t make too many changes either despite losing 1-0 away to Newcastle on Saturday evening. That was a game they really should have won, but they paid the price for missing too many chances when Newcastle got a last gasp winner. I really don’t think we have a hope of finishing in the top four, but a win tonight would put us only seven points behind Chelsea with 14 games still to go.

While that’s a gap that could of course be bridged we would have to win tonight to have any hope and that’s a huge ask for this team. I had hoped the win against United would bring the confidence needed to improve our game and dictate the play, but it hasn’t happened. Maybe a win away to Chelsea will be the catalyst we need to finally kick start our season and deliver the football the fans crave.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal v Sheffield United Preview

As the season progresses it’s becoming more and more obvious that the only way back into the Champions League for Arsenal is by winning the Europa League. Any real hopes of a top four finish have disappeared as we have dropped further and further off the pace with each passing game. Incredibly we have only won two of our last 14 Premier League games and have the points haul of a team fighting relegation in that run.

Of course things have changed a lot during that run with the exit of Unai Emery and the short term run of Freddie Ljungberg while we waited for Mikel Arteta to take the reins. The signs are very promising so far under Arteta and I genuinely think he can be the man to lead us into the future, but results haven’t taken the massive upturn they needed so far to correct the damage done. Our only league win so far under Arteta was at home to United and we lost at home to Chelsea after taking the lead.

We are still struggling away from home with draws against Bournemouth and Palace under Arteta too and we had the lead against Palace, but at least we did manage to come from behind against Bournemouth to get that point. As poor as our away form has been it’s our home form which has us lying in 10th place at the moment. In the last few seasons as we struggled desperately away from home it was our ability to continue getting results at home which kept us close to the top four. 

This season has been completely different and the win against United was our first win in seven games at home. We have struggled against teams fighting against relegation and have been nowhere near putting any team to the sword on our own ground. In fact our best home league win so far this season was that 2-0 win against United and it was our best performance too. 

If we’re going to beat Sheffield United tomorrow we’re going to need more of the same as they have proved to be a very effective outfit since getting promoted last season. We’ve already lost 1-0 away to them and they have shown themselves more than capable of giving any team in the Premier League a real run for their money. They won’t try to change the way they play against us and it’s up to us to find a way to break them down at one end while keeping them out at the other.

Make no mistake this is a game we quite simply have to win because the rot that has set in cannot be allowed to continue under Arteta. We saw some of that rot in the first half of the FA Cup game against Leeds and Arteta at least managed to get much more from his players in the second half. That first half showed these players are still more than capable of failing to show up no matter who is in charge and that still worries me.

If we can get the better of Sheffield United then we go to Chelsea in midweek knowing a win would close the gap on fourth place, but realistically hoping to close in on at least challenging for fifth. While we have become more difficult to beat away from home we have only scored 12 goals in 11 away games with nine of them coming from the suspended Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. I don’t think there was any malice intended in the challenge which saw him sent off at Palace, but it was very difficult to argue with the colour of the card. The glaring inconsistencies of red card decisions (or not) are another matter altogether.

With Aubameyang suspended for three games the spotlight will definitely switch to Alexandre Lacazette and he currently couldn’t hit a barn door from five yards. His overall play and ability to win the ball back has been very good at times recently, but he seems devoid of confidence in front of goal. I think he just needs one goal to get him back on track and hopefully he can get it against Sheffield United tomorrow.

I hope Gabriel Martinelli is the player to benefit from Aubameyang’s suspension as he is our next highest scorer in all competitions this season after Aubameyang. He still hasn’t seen an awful lot of action in the league, but he might just be the man to net the goals we need in the next three games. If he does play on the left tomorrow it will probably be in front of Bukayo Saka who looks like he will have to fill in as an emergency left back again with Sead Kolasinac and Kieran Tierney both injured.

We certainly have our injury issues at the moment with Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira, Rob Holding and Callum Chambers all unavailable too. For me Torreira is a real big miss for the way Arteta wants to play and Matteo Guendouzi is not a direct replacement. It’s going to be a tough slog in midfield, but Guendouzi and Granit Xhaka need to get a grip on the game whilst also protecting the defence.

I hope Arteta can come up with a solution to the problems Sheffield United will cause with the players at his disposal. If we can come up with someone capable of putting the ball in the net then Sheffield don’t score too many goals and a victory is well within our sights.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

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 v Southampton Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Arsenal’s Trip To Leicester City Previewed

It’s been a tough fee weeks for Arsenal as they continually drop points from winning positions in games. They have only won twice in their last nine Premier League games and they are quickly losing ground on the top four. With Champions League football the ultimate goal for the season they cannot afford to fall too far off the pace.

They may well be only one place off the top four, but that one place is six points and a defeat at Leicester today would make it nine points. Leicester are currently third in the table and like fourth placed Chelsea they are six points ahead of Arsenal with their season going very well so far. Of course a win for Arsenal would cut that gap to three points and give us more than a glimmer of hope.

The big issue isn’t even the points difference though as that can easily be made up, but it’s how we’re playing under Unai Emery. Leicester appointed Brendan Rogers as their manager during last season and the work he has done is pretty obvious for all to see. They play an attractive brand of attacking football while still being strong in defence and the players all appear to be on board with him.

Even fourth placed Chelsea are looking pretty good in comparison to Arsenal since Frank Lampard got the job in the summer. Yet again they play an attractive brand of attacking football even if they haven’t got the defensive side of their game right. Like Rogers he knows how he wants his team to play and they are doing just that. Despite a transfer embargo he has managed to put together a team who are entertaining to watch while still being very competitive.

In contrast Arsenal don’t have a defined style of play and they simply cannot overcome the defensive lapses that cost them goals game after game. Until recently our strikers (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in particular) had being getting us out of jail, but as a team we are ineffectual at best. It’s not that we don’t have the players, but it’s impossible to believe the manager is getting the best out of the players he has.

We invested heavily in the squad in the summer and we have a group of young players coming through who give us great hope for the future. Our squad is good enough to challenge for a top four place and do it playing good football, but the manager seems intent on playing a negative game. It’s obvious defending isn’t our strong point so maybe like Chelsea we should try playing an attacking line up.

All too often we set up with seven defensive outfield players which leaves the three attacking players isolated. It’s a tactic which works for Liverpool of course, but they have the two best attacking full backs in the league and a front three of genuine quality. They also use their midfield to press really high and win the ball back in great positions for the whole game while we might start that way, but we gradually drop deeper and deeper.

We give up so many shots against us because we quite simply don’t know how to control a game or defend as a team. That has to come down to the manager and his inability to coach the players or his unwillingness to change. If we’re going to make the top four and the Champions League football that comes with it I firmly believe we need to find a new manager and do so very soon.

To be honest I don’t even think the team he picks today will make too much difference because it’s our set up which is costing us game after game. Having said that the decision to pick Mesut Ozil at home to Wolves last week was most welcome, but leaving Nicolas Pepe out to play Ozil was plain crazy. Pepe is exactly the type of player who could take advantage of Ozil’s creativity and I simply could not understand why he didn’t play.

I think most fans would like to see us play Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney as attacking fullbacks with Rob Holding in the centre of the defence with either David Luiz or Sokratis Papastathopoulos. Surely playing Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi as holding midfielders behind Mesut Ozil would make us stronger as well as adding some much needed creativity. Pepe has to play out wide with Aubameyang through the middle which would leave Reiss Nelson or Bukayo Saka on the other side.

I know that team doesn’t include Alexandre Lacazette, but it’s one I’d like to see given a chance to play together. Even with that team it wouldn’t do us much good if the manager doesn’t let them play an attacking game. His desire to sit back and defend any lead regardless of the opposition is infuriating, but it’s how he wants his teams to play.

For me it will only improve when he goes and the sooner the better, but I won’t hold my breath. As it stands we have to hope his negative tactics bear some fruit and we can somehow gain ground on the teams ahead of us, but again I won’t be holding my breath. Despite my desire to see the back of the manager I still want the team to win of course and that will never change, but it’s hard to keep belief when what you’re seeing week in and week out is just so wrong.

I think we can beat Leicester because our players are good enough to do so, but at the moment the total is less than the sum of our parts. It will probably take a moment of individual brilliance if we’re going to get something from the game, but it’s more likely to come from a set piece like so many of our goals recently. 

Finally for today the suggestion Jose Mourinho might step in if Emery goes needs to be knocked on the head immediately. Everything he stands for I find abhorrent and I think there would be some fans who would find it genuinely difficult to support the club if he was the manager. I cannot believe those in charge at the club could judge the mood of the fans so badly that they would appoint him. Besides what the fans might think his track record is all about the short term and he does nothing to build for the future of a club.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.