The Second Of Twelve? Gunners Off To The Palace
Apr 8th, 2017 by 'holic
As Saturdays go that wasn’t a great one if you are still praying for the annual neighbours meltdown. At Arsene’s press conference on Friday the point was made that we are actually two points better off after 29 matches than we were last season. Two points isn’t that much progress when the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, and the two Manchester clubs have been much more consistent than a year ago.
All that pales into insignificance when you consider that the neighbours need just five wins from their last seven matches to postpone St Totteringham’s Day for the first time in 22 years. Somewhat ironically the team from the bus stop in Fulham also need to win five of their last seven to clinch the Premier League title after their win at Bournemouth.
All Arsenal can do is extend that victory over West Ham into a winning run and keep the pressure up on those around us. Crystal Palace, who hauled themselves three points clear of the relegation zone with that shock win at Chelsea last week, will surely come into the game with confidence anew. Welcome to the pointed end of the season, which we usually do pretty well.
Emiliano Martinez will get another chance in goal at Selhurst Park on Monday night, and is likely to be behind the same back four as Laurent Koscielny is still ruled out, thankfully with a less serious injury than was originally feared. Francis Coquelin is available again but such was the performance of Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhaka against West Ham it is hard to see that formation not being given another chance.
The only change that is likely from last Wednesday is surely Olivier Giroud for Danny Welbeck. The Frenchman’s wonderful strike when he came on as a second-half substitute was a clear indication that he is somewhere close to his best and a little frustrated at spending so much time on the bench.
Palace themselves are being stretched to their limit. A quick check on physioroom.com shows they are missing eleven players at the moment, although James McArthur may return if he passes a fitness test. No wonder they might struggle without the likes of Cabaye, Remy, Tomkins, Dann, and van Aanholt. Sam Allardyce might not be everyones cup of tea, but to get the points last week with so many out shows he has the players that are fit buying into his methods and tactics.
The danger men could be the pacy Puncheon and in-form Zaha, particularly as Hector Bellerin is seemingly restricted at the moment. We will also want to cut out the supply line to the centre-forward for the second game in a row. Benteke shares a number of traits with Andy Carroll and must be respected.
The ‘holic pound
I’ve read that back. I hope it does not make for a depressing read, for that isn’t the intention. I do think we should carry good form and confidence from the last match into the next. I do think we can score another three goals at Selhust Park. Having taken the advice of one who knows better I am switching my recent run of punts from 3-2 to 3-1 in our favour. Shop around to get this scoreline at 14/1.
Have a blast, all who are fortunate enough to have tickets for Monday. Let it be the second win in our end of season twelve wins in a row!
114 Responses to “The Second Of Twelve? Gunners Off To The Palace”
Arsenal News 24/7
Great preview Holic. I’m going to my first away game this season and think we might nick it 2-1 as we did last season
Today has been an odd day with no football.
But I had it last night, will have it tomorrow, will have it Monday, will have it next Saturday and next Monday. Possibly twice.
The season ends the third week of May and then begins again in mid July.
It will be a long six weeks.
🙂
A swing in from the left, OG taps in, 1-2. It may end 2-2 though.
Second of twelve.
No doubt about it.
Adding a question mark only provides that element of hope that kills ye.
Must be deflated this evening or something. 🙁
One club trying to keep itself out of the relegation places and the other club trying to hold on to the Europa League spot. Which one of them will have the stronger motivation? I’m not sure I would place a bet on Arsenal at the moment. Then again, West Brom had virtually no motivation when they played us, in terms of position in the table, and it certainly worked out for them. Can we live up to their lofty standards?
As usual it depends which Arsenal turns up. The best would win in a canter, the others would all struggle to varying degrees, with the bounce of the ball deciding who takes the cake. Hopefully recent results will have instilled sufficient confidence to give fat Sam indigestion.
Lofty at least in having been above Arsenal’s … by quite some distance I should add.
For those who haven’t yet had enough of the endless WW1 centenary memorialising, here’s a tribute to the mobile army whorehouses provided by the French for their lucky(?) troops … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQf0gu9AXBQ … from one of my favourite musicals Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
What a difference a year makes. A perfect run in would give us the same number of points that won Leicester the title last season. And the 54 we already have are four more than Chelsea got all last season.
keeping the same midfield would be welcome.
just checked and found out that le coq and elneny have the same height.
dont know why but I always feel that elneny challenges for headers better.
giroud too has a good record there so he should definitely start.
lets just keep winning. otherwise the mood will be very dark with all the spuds run and all.
Morning Holic and Holics,
Nice preview, Sir !
Sounds like we’re playing Cripple Palace then ?
Holic,
Either your blog station or my iPad seems to be running at a curious hour.
It’s like it’s still winter in here …… ?
As for Holic pounds,
I turned on the radio yesterday to hear about five ot six sets of odds for the geegees running in the Grand National. I have to say that was the sum total of my coverage for the day.
However, hmmmm I thought – there’s one there called One For Arthur.
With this very establishment in mind, that was where I decided my bet would have to go – were I a betting man which, sadly on this occasion, i am not, as said nag only went and done it !
If anyone else wants racing tips based on absolute zero in terms of horsey knowledge, please don’t let me know.
DB10@11: Premier League lists Elneny as 2 cms taller than Le Coq (1.80m v 1.78m), though the latter is 4kgs heavier.
However, the stats show that Le Coq has won 68% of his arial duels in the Premier League this season vs Elneny’s 50%. Of course, there is more to heading than just head-to-heads, as it were. The stats show that overall Elneny’s performance scores better than Le Coq’s, and in particular he makes better use of possession.
So, Ned, Le Coq has won 68% of his competitions in writing in funny type faces ? 😏
Sorry, Ned,
You write so much excellent stuff in here but I couldn’t resist it.
I do now feel suitably ashamed of myself. 😡
Fine preview Guvna. The chips are down now and it’s time to gird our loins and unleash the dogs of war. Just to mix a metaphor or three.
Just go win this, Arsenal.
Ok Bath,
I’ve girded my dogs and unleashed my loins –
what happens now ? 😳
See all those chips on the floor? You have to beat the dogs to them whilst preventing them interfering with your loins. 😱
Unleashing the dogs of war would be my preference, the other two sounding as if we have tried them already or as if they are simply less effectual.
cba, if you read this, I removed three drinks that I thought might offend some of the Scots ‘holics. I won’t apologise for that, but meant no offence to you.
You will always be welcome here, and I will always be grateful for your input down the years.
It turns out there is an Englishman tied for the lead going into the final day at Augusta, which prompts me to apologize to you ‘holic for saying something negative about golf years ago in one of the drinks. There it is. Atonement, and I hope Justin Rose wins. Or Sergio Garcia, who is not English but deserves to finally win a big one.
Evening one and all.
Nice preview H. As others have stated, as always, it will depend on which Arsenal team turns up. After the weekends redukts it needs to be one that can roll up theirs sleeves and battle.
Personally, I hope Ollie G gets a start. I also hope that Theo starts and plays like he did at the start of the season. As for the rest? Who knows.
I would love to see Rose win The Masters. Or Garcia if Rose stumbles. That said, golf bores me to absolute death. About time to paint a wall and watch it dry.
I’m working tomorrow so will look forward to regular updates.
Up the Arse.
Trv@16: 🙂
Es in short supply at Castl Nd today!
Lost some amazing people from this place down the years. Natural churn I suppose. It happens at all blogs, I know.
Doesn’t make it any easier.
Oh dear, Sergio.
If ever there was a time to win a major, Sergio, that was it 🙁
I blame the ref???
😉
Oh dear Justin
Finally, Sergio 🙂 Viva Espana. Great stuff.
How could anyone not enjoy the drama and point/counterpoint of the Rose/Garcia battle? Just seeing the pair of them respecting each other’s best shots was enough for me. That is how sport should be played. So long as its Brits or Euros winning in America of course. 😉 (sorry bt8!)
The chickens were circling Augusta all day, Trev, and the cows finally came home to roost.
Re: The West Ham clean sheet. Has anybody else noticed that the one time we seem to be able to keep a clean sheet is when we have our two first choice keepers out injured and the third keeper is pressed into action? This has happened a handful of times in the last few years. Any theories as to the cause?
Could it be our ground staff set out smaller goals at our end for our third-choice keepers? Then change them around at half-time while everyone’s out getting beer and pies?
as don rickles who just died
woulda said
FUCK YOU !
.
censorship is a cunt of a thing to do
nobodys gonna lose any sleep
but i wish you hadn’t
Chris @33. Quite possibly the correct answer. 🙂
A sad day Down-under. One of New Zealand’s greatest comedians died today. John Clarke may not be known to you up there, but he was a legend here.
If you enjoyed Hugh Bonneville and the Twenty Twelve TV show which preceded the London Olympics you may be unaware it was a rip-off of The Games, an identical show that ran in the build-up to the Sydney Olympics 12 years earlier. Here’s an extract … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPRokoBz3W4
For the record Clarke was actually a Kiwi, but the Aussies claim anyone original as their own if they’ve visited Aus for more than a minute. That applies to their Olympic athletes, most of whom were born overseas, not to mention their musicians, ALL of whom were born in the UK. But that’s another story…
Here’s another Clarke piece about a dead whale … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4OW62ko7po
R.I.P. John Clarke
Trev! Here is a John Clarke piece just for you, Clarke as the iconic Kiwi farmer Fred Dagg introducing his 6 sons, each of whom bears a famous name… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efrZdbDh5tk
Usmanov is stirring the pot but I have some sympathy with his views.
I am not sure those who are anti- Wenger would like him to choose his successor but if a grooming process is necessary it would make sense to involve Wenger. But he hardly needs to groom Allegri, Someone and their ilk. I don’t like the idea of Eddie Howe coming in as his protege and suspect he would get frustrated anyway.
http://news.arseblog.com/2017/04/usmanov-kroenke-bears-huge-responsibility-for-arsenal-issues/?utm_source=feedburner.com%2Farseblognews&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arseblognews+%28Arseblog+News+-+the+Arsenal+news+site%29
I definitely don’t want Wenger anywhere near choosing his successor, but as our board is so useless I guess they will not only allow him to do it, they’ll let him write the terms on the contract, set the “apprenticeship” period (of 30 years) that he has to serve under The Master and also pick the wallpaper for his office.
The ball-less cunts.
Cheers H! And cba! Top boys the fucking pair of youse.
Chris @36: Thanks for sending us down a splendid satirical rabbit hole.
Another wonderful Clark and Dawe clip:
https://youtu.be/WcU4t6zRAKg
Esso@40: Ain’t that the truth.
Unchanged side it seems.
cba – stop fucking about you big jessie. The bar needs loons.
Anyway you’re not allowed to leave until the drinks crack the 1000 mark some day.
The same eleven (against W Ham) starting again. COYG.
And if you go over some deleted posts about Scots.. well let’s just say that I never had you down as the kind of bloke who’d succumb to premature ejockulation. 😉
Starting line-up:
Martinez
Bellerin, Mustafi Gabriel Monreal
Xhaka Elneny
Walcott Ozil Welbeck
Alexis
Bench: The Ox, The Coq, Ollie G, the BFG, Macey, Ramsey and Gibbs
British core well represented…
Alexis up front and Danny on the left may be a good switch from the Hammers game.
Official site seems confused about which of Danny and Alexis is playing up front. Hope someone has sorted it out for them,
Greetings from Selhurst! 7.30 and we’ve not bothered to come out to warm up yet.
Any chance they will give us 9 points if we win today?
Arsenal arrive at Selhurst Park 45 minutes prior to kickoff. I thought only Mourinho teams did that stuff.
Come on you Gunners!
I must be mad, I’ve backed Ozil to score first and Arsenal to win 2-0 or 3-1 at 50-1 on Skybet
Come on you Reds !
Bad tackle by Mustafi, got away with it. Early nerves.
Not a great start! Come on lets pick this up!
Shit defending. They had all day to clear that and fell asleep. Really poor
Fucking defending once again – 1-0.
Plenty of time left to rectify this. Let’s play sensibly and Ox and OG are there to make an impact off the bench.
Mustafi is really useless isn’t he
Need to move it faster if we are to make an impact.
Can’t bear to see Fat Sam celebrate.
Ozil makes no effort to get the ball after that block. Just trotting back when he should have been on the sprint.
Shambolic defending. Lucky we did not go two down.
Welbeck off at HT please.
Bellerin should subbed asap!
Cynic
Why Wellbeck?
Except for some possession, we have been second best so far.
From all the players it’s Bellerin!
He’s weak looses the ball all the time….I have had enough of him on that wing!
Emy Martinez lashes the ball against the hoardings, mightily pissed off at his defenders after having to make a near post save. And he has every right to be.
We look weak all over the pitch there is no desire to win the game as far as I can see!
ATG – He’s done nothing in two and a half games. Until his shot just at the end there. He’s not giving us anything in that position, I would prefer to put Sanchez back in the middle, where he was lighting the bloody team up until his inexplicable switch back to the flanks.
6 fucking yellow shirts in the box against 2 attackers and we still don’t get a body between man and ball fucking shocking but hardly a surprise – All that said was a foul in the build up. Big 45 minutes up coming.
Very shaky at the back,still can’t understand why Danny is playing CF he’s totally ineffective.We keep losing the ball and constantly open to the counter attack.
Palace are too strong and we keep getting knocked off the ball far too easily. A few problems to sort out at half time Arsene !
Chippy – Thought Carragher was spot on with his analysis. Gabriel may have been been fouled but he never fancied it at all.
Dog shit free kick. Come on ffs.
Great restart!
What kind of defensive header was that? Cushion header to the edge of his own box. To a Palace player
Wake up FFFFFFS
I bet he takes the wrong player off
Ozil or Welbeck off please
Why Ramsey 🙁
No way would I have taken Elneney off but Welbeck is fine
That sums Ozil up as a player for me. Threatens to shoot twice, passes it lamely to an opponent.
Fuck off and good night.
game over thank you very much!
Game over 2-0. They have outplayed our slow, deliberate, predictable passing game.
It’s over, folks. The end of an era.
Why the hell does he take off hard working player and brings on a clueless Ramsey!
Bellerin has been shit since Barcelona started tapping him up, the centre backs are both just shit and we’ve had nothing going forward.
We have been shit all over the park with not one player making a statement. Fuck, never thought we would be outplayed by the likes of Watford, WBA, Palace etc.
Fucking penalty now.
Will this be five or six do you think?
We didn’t get the penalty but Palace get one. No contact but Townsend goes down easy. Bad to worse.
Wenger will be under tremendous pressure now after this spanking.
Ox comes on.
Fuck me I’ve seen some Shite in my time as a Gooner but this lot are utterly pathetic. 3-0 at Palace ffs
The sort of performance and result that could decide a manager’s future, says Alan Smith.
Yeah, at any other club but this one.
It’s over,finished, Good Night he should do the decent thing and resign tonight to give the club a small chance of salvaging something out of the season and to plan for the summer – It’s shambolic what’s happening at this club.
Song for Wenger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBtG0gj6MxA
Wow, well what can you say. It was all said last year by a few people that last year was our best chance to win trophy seeing as how all the normal challengers seemed to all slip at the same time and the fact that Wenger didn’t and couldn’t mount a challenge past January was the biggest sign yet that he’d lost it. I remember those people being derided and ridiculed for saying that and how “you can’t tell the future” and all we need is this and that and Wenger would be back making us eat our criticisms.
Well here we are one season later…
He’ll never do it Chippy, he’s cares about nothing but himself.
Think of how much he’s drawn in wages since we last won the league…
And yeah, I know… Champion League money blah blah blah
But fuck that.
Let’s average it out at £7m a year, although it has been more for some of those 13 years.
Nearly £100m in salary in that time. I wonder what his bonuses are like on top of the basic pay?
Flamini on for Palace.
Cynic,
In which case it’s time someone in the board grew a pair and made the decision for him, He’s harming his legacy but More importantly harming the club now and someone needs to say enough enough – Thanks but it’s over,
Monreal is the only player we’ve had on that pitch who has been worth it. Including Sanchez, who has been rubbish all night
Wenger will never resign. They will wait till May before extending his contract.
We are really pathetic and it is humiliating. Feel sorry for all the away fans.😤😰👎
If he does stay I’m done. It died as a club in 2006 anyway.
Ramsey’s passing is atrocious.
Can someone explain the point of the new stadium though? We really have gone backwards since 2004/2005/2006.
If we are playing badly to avoid Europa places then it is ok I suppose.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Match report follows
We were shit.
A. Wenger 2017 R I P
8 green bottles sitting on a wall…
Not long now!!
109Flippers
Can someone explain the point of the new stadium though? We really have gone backwards since 2004/2005/2006.
so you can pay more money for your superstars
Spurs wage structure is closer to Watford the yours.