An Opportunity Arises For Top Three Chasing Gunners
Apr 20th, 2019 by 'holic
It’s minty dark chocolate thin time on Easter Saturday. A full day in order that at last I can back to my beloved team. Could we complete the most enjoyable few days now that third place in The Premier League is again ours to lose. The win in Napoli was excellent too, but how much will it have taken out of the team?
The loss of Aaron Ramsey, given his massive influence in recent weeks, is a blow. The 4-2-1-3 system most often used is built around him being the 1, indeed the one that delivers. There are others who on paper have the qualities to operate there but who lack the consistency Aaron has shown. Pure guesswork on my part, but it seems likely that Unai Emery will have been looking at what he has available and return to the 3-4-3 set-up that has delivered sometimes with Aaron missing.
Palace will not be short of a bit of confidence coming into this. After a shaky start to the season they have improved in leaps and bounds, uniquely winning more than losing on the road. Of course they have the impressive Zaha who appears to have added a degree of consistency to his already undoubted pace and control. The Gunners head coach is well aware of their potential.
“They have very big players, a very experienced coach, and they are taking good results away from home. They won against Manchester City, so on Sunday we have a lot of respect to them, to their players, and to their coach.”
We will be a little makeshift with Sokratis Papastathopoulos still suspended, Ramsey injured, and Granit Xhaka a doubt. Shkodran Mustafi probably gets the nod to replace the former, but what if Laurent Koscielny is given what is probably a needed rest? Konstantinos Mavropanos? Put it in the file marked concerned rather than officially worried. In midfield should Xhaka not make it the partnership will have to be Lucas Torreira (doubtful according to some unreliable sources) and Matteo Guendouzi between the hopefully unchanged wingbacks.
The front three probably has one place up for grabs to partner two of the League’s deadliest strikers. Mesut Ozil would be the likeliest to provide the obvious assist. He would get my vote, but that is unimportant. I have a feeling Emery sees a lot in Alex Iwobi, clearly a talent, but one still learning. Henrik Mkhitaryan seems to have lost the regained form and confidence he had demonstrated before his latest injury.
The ‘holic pound
On a sunny day at home we tend to produce some very impressive performances over the years, and these will be the conditions tomorrow. Palace may be on the beach but have shown no sign of that of late. We may be getting twitchy as we enter a final five League games with a chance of sealing third place and another hallowed saint’s day. We dare not yet mention it by name!
It might be a combination of all of these things and more. Once again I have to be guided by Bergkamp the Man. 2-1 to the Arsenal gets a modest punt at a miserly 8/1 favourite.
It’s time again for the new preview feature as A Bergkamp Wonderland too have previewed the match and it is shared below. Have a great one, ‘holics, and I look forward to seeing a few of you again (at last) tomorrow.
87 Responses to “An Opportunity Arises For Top Three Chasing Gunners”
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Foist!
Nice preview, ‘H. I particularly like the bit about our record on sunny days.
With absolutely nothing to guide or to encourage me in this view, I am hoping for a gentle 2-0 to the Arsenal, one goal late on in each half.
I hope you enjoy your return to first team duty tomorrow.
COYG
TTG – Thanks for the link in the previous drinks. I wasn’t too convinced by it since there was no way to tell how old the posting was – I now a march had been planned but had no idea whether or not it was still on. However the link to Paul on Twitter towards the bottom appears to include a tweet from this evening with the schedule that ‘holic posted the other day, so I am reassured.
COYG
Great read Dave, I think the feel good factor could carry us through.
Holic
I’m delighted you will be there tomorrow and I hope you enjoy a great day. I will be there with a young man who my friend is hoping to convert. He is a grandson living in Southampton who has not yet had the penny drop! I have a lot of friends who support Palace and they consider us their bogey side.
I think tomorrow will be very tough and we will see the range of options we have in our squad. Sadly they are more limited than we would like. It’s been a wonderful week of football for us so far and a win coupled with United failing to win would be terrific. We have played two away games since Palace last had to play and that must take its toll. I think we will grab a late winner in a 2-1 victory .
Happy Easter Holics!
Designer Gooner put in a very interesting post earlier. I would definitely retain Koscielny he is a defensive diamond in my view
Pangloss and I both predicted the 1-0 in Naples and I find myself agreeing with a 2-0 win today although I think we’ll score early in each half.
Any way the 3 points come will be just fine.
UTA.
2-1 is absolutely rock solid golden tomorrow, Holic. Like Palace, I’ll be on the beach and hoping to avoid grains of sand in all my delicate parts. They’re devils when they get into my function key and under my spacebar.
Enjoy and have a wonderful day. The drinks are on Steve in my absence so take care not to get knocked over by the moth storm when he opens his wallet 🙂 🙂 🙂
Fine preview Guvnor.
Covers all my own niggling doubts
about this one. But I’ll try to have
faith in our recent clean-sheet
machine and go for 3-0 to the
mighty Gunners.
Three points anyhoo is the order of the day. But it has the makings of a tough one.
And with Desi’ Gooner and TTG on giving Kos another year.
Most of all, enjoy your return, Guv’nor.
Laurent Koscielny, Arsenal legend, deserves another year and will do the business if given the chance.
I hope tomorrow’s game holds something at least as interesting as the question of whether Steve T will spring for his wallet.
A nice clear question from Desi
Gooner on Kos – and I agree with
the general view that Kos has
certainly earned another year if
he wants one. I think it’s not so easy
though.
The wider context of our CBs
for next season – we will have 7 if
you include Nacho and Mavro – is
quite complicated. We need to
consider balance, age, current level
and potential for development.
It’s an essay length question with
many possibilities so I’ll stop my
waffle before it gets out of hand and
conclude that only Sokratis and
Holding are definite keepers for next
season IMO
This is the age and contract-expiry dates of our CBs
Koscienly, 33, June 2020
Monreal, 33, June 2019
Sokratis, 30, June 2021
Mustafi, 27, June 2021
Chambers, 24, June 2022 (Fulham loan end May 2019)
Holding, 23, June 2023
Mavropanos, 21, June 2023
Academy:
Pleguezuelo 22, June 2019
Ballard, 19
Medley, 18
Olowu, 19
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Fine preview, Guvna. I think we will have to be at our best to take the three ponts today and am not nearly as confident as most in the bar as we not only face Palace and John Moss but we also have to contend with the cumulative effect of our recent hard-fought games on the squad.
The quality of our squad back-ups, as suggested by the Guvna, is not reassuring and Unai will earn his corn if he successfully leavens our exhausted first-teamers with a few fresh legs who can rise to the occasion.
Fingers crossed my bad feeling about this game is misplaced and we can spring above the Marshdwellers once again.
Enjoy your day, Holic, in rude health !
Not too rude though – Roy’s a nice man ?
Just when we seemed to have turned a defensive corner, we are naturally hit with suspension and fragility. The crowd can play its part this afternoon – get one back on the shouty Selhurst mob and their “Cheeeeese Rolls” !
Thanks Ned @12
So Kos in fact already has another
year if he wants to stay.
And I’d guess we are going to release
Pleguezuelo as he’s 22. Seems to have
been around for a while but never
quite made the step up.
hopefully he can find something good
for himself.
Good luck to the Arsenal Women today!
OM@16. Kos turns 34 in September so he would be 35 if he had a year’s extension, and there aren’t many 35-year-olds holding down anything like regular places in the Premier League who aren’t goalkeepers (Jagielka at Everton, Glenn Murray at Brighton and Wes Morgan at Leicester are about the only three I can think of). I guess the question for Kos is does he want to spend his final years playing in a less intense league or, like Mertesacker, spend the end of his playing career mostly mentoring the younger Arsenal defenders as a transition to a different post-playing role.
And what Bath said @14. Need to squeak a win out of this one somehow, and I fear it won’t be easy, much as I would love the Guv’nor to be proved right that it will be a romp in the sunshine, and especially as he will be there to watch it.
Everton doing us 2 favours at once
– the women losing and the men
winning.
@17
Sums it up nicely Ned.
If I had to bet I’d guess he’ll
give it one more year and call
it a day come June 2020.
Oh 2-0 Everton hohoho
Thanks Guvnor I’d go with a 2-0 and with this team,
Leno
Mustafi Koscielny Monreal
Maitland-Niles Torreira Xhaka/Guendouzi Tank
Özil
Aubameyang Lacazette
3-4-1-2
With a second half sub opportunity for Mav for Kos, Iwobi & Mkhitaryan for Laca & Özil. The point is to score min of 2 in first half by 60 mins sub come in and shore up the win.
Ole needs another contract.. 😀
Theo Theo Theo!!!
:D:D 😀
Feo!!
Theo puts a dent in the United goal difference rounding out a magnificent day for Everton with 20 minutes left to turn the screw.
Man Utd 0-4 Everton! Man Utd’s problems, since Fergie’s time, seem to start the minute they appoint a permanent manager.
Not too mant people running out to buy a Chevy after that pitiful United display
Team news in
To refer back to the Guvnor’s post
– I’m officially worried.
Still I’ll trust in UE and hope for
a goal each from Auba, Laca and
Ozil.
And that Kos makes it through.
Good luck to Mavro too and I hope
he takes his chance well
Unless they thought they were watching a beach holiday advertisement
Come on Arsenal and come on Mavro
Arsenal XI: Leno, Mustafi, Koscielny, Mavropanos, Jenkinson, Guendouzi, Elneny, Kolasinac, Ozil, Lacazette, Aubameyang
Subs: Cech, Mkhitaryan, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Iwobi, Monreal, Nketiah.
Elneny and Guendouzi along with Jenkinson doesn’t inspire much confidence. But we have to rotate.
Squad players set to prove their value and if the do put us excellent position in the table
I regret to tell cba that we managed to miss the match ss it passed the Angel. So we formed our own two-person demo and walked up to the stadium. Now safely seated in block 113.
COYG
How can we let Benteke go at a
free kick
Not sounding good. COYG!!
COME ON!!!!!!!!!
Too much tippy tappy for my liking nothing incisive
Clear hand ball no pen
On second thought when Elneny touches the ball it frightens me.
Lucky that Benteke can’t shoot
straight
Need to be much more awake after
the break. I’d expect at least one
change at half time.
Arsenal 0-1 Mavropanos
We don’t look any better going forward either it’s a team game
Get in!!!! Ozil
Great finish !!
Perfect start to the 2nd half.
Mustafi’s brain fart leads to another goal for Palace.
Mustafi is a total liability, ksn. Always has been, always will be.
Poor, poor defending from a corner and we are down 1-3. I thought Palace was a banker but our defence has fucked that.
So our defending has improved??… Laughable.
Be a pity if we don’t take advantage of this week when MU dropped points…
Agree, iBTM, should sell Mustafi next year as he has at least one big howler every game. We may not get a good price but at least we won’t pay on the field.
So..if the chavs win the cup and we finish fourth we’re out of CL places?
Shitbags.
I thought our defending had improved over the last couple of months but our old failings (and Mustafi) are back.
Auba gets one back, 2-3.
We have got to play like the Brazilian teams of olde.. they score three ..we score four!
COME ON!!!!
Iowa can’t finish.
We played without focus and sloppily and handed the match to them.
Didn’t see the game but playing home to Palace in the springtime seems to breed complacency, and brings back painful memories of the day we dropped two points to them when we were chasing Leicester a few seasons ago.
Will never be buzzing for this particular team because yu know a result like this one is always likely, no matter how well previous games have gone.
Too many part timers who think one decent game entitles them to four or five half trying performances.
It’s a bit of a miracle we’re in the top four in some ways and I hope Emery has a big shopping list and carte blanche to get rid of all the dead wood, staring with fucking Mustafi.
Wenger ought to be locked up for signing that.
What an ill disciplined performance by the players today. Even when things don’t go your way, the response shouldn’t be petulance. You’d think they had no idea about taking the third position from the scum. Their behaviour of entitlement from the Ref was appalling. Rant over, on to the next game then.
That was horrible. All three of Palace’s goals were unnecessary.
Bugziie@59: Guendouzi is the prime culprit in that regard. But all the players should know they are not going to get the time of day from John Moss so they should just get on with it. And Kolasinac and Mustafi have got to stop shoving people in the back. It is given as a foul every time.
Mavropanos’s mistake started it all. He has the habit of pulling players back once he has been passed as he probably lacks pace. Just like Chambers who does it so often as he has no recovery pace. Hope I am wrong about Mavropanos being a slow coach.
•Team never turned up really…
•We always make palace look better than they are…
•Mustafi shouldn’t be playing this league, he’s been found out too many times….
•Soft underbelly ->dead-ball defending…since 2007/08
•No urgency running the channels, opening spaces up for off the ball running…basic stuff..(only runner is man on the ball)
•Everyone is afraid of the possessing the ball…
•We choke again…Everton…palace…..etc
=>Simply not good enough for the top tier that is UCL!!!
I only have 1 question to ask. If you are serious about getting into the top 4, is that the team you would start? Wouldn’t be better to start out as gang busters, with the strongest team possible, win the game in the 1st half and perhaps “relax” in the 2nd half.
To be fair, we’ve had worse performances this season and got a result.
Mavropanos should never have started today after his shocker at Watford. He cost us the game today, no question about that.
Mustafi will always be Mustafi.
Top 4 chances are not over yet, but it’s certainly been a very good weekend for Chelski.
NBN@61: Totally agree. I don’t know if it’s part of the playing culture at the club, UE has to put an end to it.
For the first goal, Mavropanos gives away a cheap free kick with a blatant shirt pull, and then Jenks plays the Palace forwards onside when the free kick come in but all the other defenders think they are letting Benteke and Co run offside. Consequence of a makeshift defense.
As for the third goal, you will see better defending of a through ball like that in Sunday league football. What was Mustafi doing in either not clearing it or failing to shield the ball running through to Leno?
Like Bath I have been warning about the hazards of this game all week . The wear and tear on players led to a very hotch potch starting eleven and while I am a huge fan overall of Emery the midfield two were awful at Everton and were equally poor here. Jenkinson was out of his depth against Zaha and Mavropanos struggled . As for Mustafi – ye Gods! He is a mistake waiting to happen.
Emery got an immediate response with his two changes at half time but Nkeriah would have made a more appropriate third sub than Torreira in the circumstances.
So disappointing after the United result . Chelsea may struggle against Burnley but we must win our next two away games. I think we can but it will be very difficult
Mustafi = A really really really shit Gus Caesar 🙂
Too much reliance on Guendouzi who hasn’t played well for some weeks and is out of his depth . Boy did we miss Ramsey and Sokratis tonight . Kola is not a left back in a four .
I liked Iwobi and AMN , Ozil took his goal well and did some great things and Laca worked very hard . Aubameyang is a very different player from Laca but does get goals even if he doesn’t build up play as much
Mavropanos? Really?
The Greek prodigy?
Stupidity is the wisdom of the world.
Just wondering what Mustafi ‘s true worth is? 30 million more than Wenger paid for him? Is he Wenger’s worst signing pound for pound?
Sancho @ 72
He’s Shite but Jeffers was worse value for money 🙂 Mustafi makes Cygan look like beckenbauer mind 😉
Somehow Mustafi is both a World Cup and European Championship winner. That’s why he cost £35m. He was total pony today. Well we’re just going to win those away games!
We sure need a few optimists, C100. Thanks, that cheered me up.
If Torreira, Nacho and either of IwobiAMN/Mkhi are fit enough to be on the sub bench at home, then why not start them to get a jump on the game, instead of known liabilities like Mustafi, Jenkinson and Elneny? Get a hold of the natch and then rest your main players with late subbing in of the usual suspect ones? Yes, you do need to use the whole squad and metr out rest, but to have Zaha up against Jenkinson from the start and have Mustafi on at any time is playing with nitroglycerine.
Almost 13 years after leaving Highbury behind, so that we were meant to be able to compete against all the top European clubs in terms of signings and wages, we have a squad that isn’t able to safely negotiate a golden top three opportunity.
The structure of the club, with an owner that isn’t prepared to risk cash in order to speculate, is going to be the discussion point for many years to come, sorry to say.
Can’t see us challenging for the title for many years. Maybe we ought to get used to being a top six aspiring club nowadays.
It’s better with Wenger gone, but only marginally.
Well, that was a pretty unrewarding experience,
Bitterly disappointing, but on balance I think the couple of days of hope I ave just lived compensate for looking rather silly in this bar.
Wolves next.
COYG
If we are giving Ramsey away for free, why are we not paying someone a nice wad of cash to take Mustafi?
I got home from the game a few hours ago. Having had a great day yesterday I was eagerly looking forward to my trip to The Grove. What an incredible let down.
Emery must take a large part of the blame. I’ve said before that any side that contains both Elneny and Mustafi in the same team has issues from the very start. Add the vastly inexperienced Mavroponas and The Corporal to that defensive unit and it is surely a recipe for disaster. Or so thought the vast majority of those around me.
The 90 minutes plus that followed was bordering on embarrassing. The goals we conceded was would expect an under 11 team to get a bollocking for. A total unnecessary and ridiculous foul. A hopeful punt into the box and there’s Benteke with no Arsenal player within yards of him. The second comes from an even bigger punt from inside the Palace half. I have absolutely no idea what Mustafi was doing, or what he thought he was doing but it was just embarrassing to watch. Their third again came from another absolutely incredible lack of ability in a defensive department.
Interspersed in there somewhere was a delightful finish from Özil and a great strike from Aubameyang. The game was summed up in one ridiculous moment when Mustafi was booked for diving????
Some one suggested that Jeffers was a worse signing than Mustafi. I would rather play Frannie Jeffers at centre half than Mustafi. In fact, I would rather play with just 10 than play Mustafi.
Good luck H writing that absolute crock of shit up. When so much beckoned, what a huge disappointment.
I was fortunate enough not to be able to go to the pub and watch the match based on the drinks above. I did watch a video clip of Zaha’s goal (about 6 times) and am completely baffled at what Mus was thinking. Zaha is closer to the ball than Leno so there is no chance of Leno beating him to the ball. Was Mus trying to block Zaha off the ball so Leno could get to it? If he was, he did a shit job of that. And then he has the nerve to blame Leno for his mistake. I wish Papa had been playing. He would have bitch-slapped Mus off the pitch.
I’d rather play with Steve T at centre-back than Mustafi. Legend!
I agreed with every word of that assessment, Steve. I’m hoping that Mustafi, Elneny, Jenkinson, Chambers and Kolasinac are all part of the end of year fire sale.
I didn’t go to the game today because we had family down for Easter and I’m rather glad I didn’t. I also had a bad feeling about this game.
I’ve only seen Ozil’s equaliser and Mustafi’s mistake and quite a decent spell between them when it looked as if there would be only one winner but I understand this spell was atypical of the rest of a flat and error strewn performance.
It’s very disappointing but I can’t say I’m at all surprised. Que sera, sera as the fat lady sings. Onwards.
Plenty of harsh words for the
players, much of it deserved,
after that clusterfuck.
I was trying most of today to
think of something positive to
say but it’s honestly difficult
and so I can only echo Bath’s
“onwards”
One way to look at that match would be as a hard-fought 2-0 over a typically well-organised Palace side thrown away by a succession of utterly unnecessary defensive lapses. I honestly don’t know how Emery coaches in-game against what Mustafi did for the third goal.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The euphoria of Manure getting battered soon went. Hard to pick a strong team when the squad members don’t come up to scratch and you’ve a list of injuries to contend with. 4th will have to do but we’re gonna have to play a lot better to achieve that.