Gunners Have No Margin For Error At Leicester
Apr 27th, 2019 by 'holic
“Our focus is on the present and Sunday because if we think negative with the next matches we can’t think positive with the matches before against Napoli and Watford that we won. Each match is a new history, a new test and confirm if we can or not but being positive, working and recovering the confidence in our players, our work and looking forward to playing the next match.’
Unai Emery will be as aware as anyone of the general mood surrounding the club right now but is trying to ensure that we approach the trip to Leicester with the players at least in the right frame of mind. We have lost control of fourth place right now but with Chelsea playing at Old Trafford this weekend we could regain it by getting a result at Leicester. Indeed if United beat Chelsea and we draw all three clubs will be locked on 67 points and we would have the advantage on goal difference.
The head coach revealed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang trained today and if he completes another session on Saturday then he will be available for Sunday. That is one question for Emery to answer and the other main one will be whether to start with a back four, as at Wolves, or revert to a three. My gut feel is for a trio of Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Laurent Koscielny (or Shkodran Mustafi if Kos needs a rest), and Nacho Monreal.
A recall for Sead Kolasinac would mean that he and Ainsley Maitland-Niles could flank Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka. That would leave the three forward roles. Hopefully both Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette will start with support from Mesut Ozil perhaps, although it would not be a shock to see Alex Iwobi preferred to the latter.
Leicester come into the fixture free of any injury worries. “None at all,” said new manager Brendan Rodgers on Friday afternoon. “Everyone is training and working well, so there’s nothing new.” The Foxes are three points behind Wolves in the battle for seventh place and possible Europa League qualification. They are built around a solid spine of Schmeichel, Maguire, the industrious Maddison, and Vardy. Nobody said this will be easy.
The ‘holic pound
Our away day blues returned at Molineux and not too many will fancy our chances here as a result. We will have to match the hosts and win individual battles all over the pitch to stand any chance of securing the points.
The bookmakers do make us the marginal favourites to win but I won’t be taking any of that at 13/8. The correct score market is interesting. A 1-1 draw is the clear favourite, pipping 1-2 to the Arsenal into second place. The temptation to follow that score again on the law of averages is real but this could be a very tight affair.
Instead I am hoping against hope that we can keep a second Premier League clean sheet on the road again and pull off another famous “One nil to the Arsenal” at a generous looking 11/1.
The Middlesex Nomads result today has set the correct tone for the weekend, but can we deliver the performance that would put us within a point of third place?
The ABW Preview
Again added content for the preview post and I hope you have enjoyed them.
Have a great one, ‘holies.
59 Responses to “Gunners Have No Margin For Error At Leicester”
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0-1 will do fine for me. Thanks for another fine preview Guv’nor.
Fine preview Guvna.
To deliver the three points that we need tomorrow, we require a monumental improvement on this season’s average away performances from every individual selected and also from the team as a whole.
Do I expect that? No. On our recent track record, we will take nothing from this game.
Sadly.
But that won’t stop me hoping for a miracle.
Evening gentle persons, thank you.
I hear you bath, but I can’t write it, or back it. I have blind faith in my punt! ?
I don’t know why but I do not have the gut wrenching feel of a defeat this weekend, any advantage we can take, any pressure we can put on the muppets up the road will do. Come on you Gunners!
They may have only just gotten a few more points than Leicester but Wolves’ achievement this season just about deserves a trophy.
I used to believe but our away form has withered my ability to keep it up We might win but Jamie Vardy is usually too fast for us and we are very slow. And we played ( very badly) on Wednesday . They didn’t . I desperately hope we win but I don’t think we will. I’m in Bath’s camp.
The U18s won their league today . Well done lads.
we can only win if the team selected on the day can play fast pressing foot-ball and avoid this sloppy passing possession foot-ball. Also if the team plays forward attacking foot-ball and not this negative play always in our half to have defenders enjoying a lot of the ball.
Thanks Guvnor, a good preview.
The starting XI looks about right
although I wonder if UE will
change it round again.
I will go for 2-0 again although
I can’t remember the last time
I got the score right.
Football aside, my main concern is
that our away form had withered
TTG’s ability to keep it up.
The highs and lows of being a
Gooner ?
@ksn
seems logical enough about the teams
running out of steam playing twice
a week, except it doesn’t seem to
have stopped Liverpool or City to
the same degree.
Blind Faith, Holic? Come down of your throne, leave your body alone and back the Gunners on 2-1 away win.
Clapton, Winwood and whatever happened to the ex-Family bass man Rick Grech? Music in a Doll’s House was Family’s masterpiece as cba will confirm and they never achieved that level of performance again.
We need an away game masterpiece from Arsenal tomorrow.
@ OM
That is explained by their squad strength. City have two full teams of almost equally good players and Liverpool too have a very good squad. The real surprise is that spuds with such a small squad have done so well but you can see that they’re are now struggling in the second half.
Nice preview H.
Today is the must win of all must wins. Other results have just gone to highlight how costly the last week has been. Especially the Palace result.
So, which Arsenal will show up today??? Hopefully one that has regrown a pair and can somehow come away with 3 points.
It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
I’ll be watching the women play Brighton on BT Sport 2. Shame they had to play at the same time as the men but it’s not even a difficult choice.
ksn
I think Spuds general fitness level
may be better as they’ve hand a
few seasons of running around
headless under Poch – they seem to
have nicked a lot of points in the
last 10 minutes this season (just a
feeling and I’m sure the Monks will
correct me sharply if I’m wrong)
anyway, time to check our likely
lads for today
Hmm…..well not the team I’d
have picked but fair play to UE
he seems to be willing to shoot
it out.
I did guess at 2-0 but perhaps
4-3 will see us home with the
points
Leno
AMN, Papa, Mus, Kola
Mkhi, Xhaka, Torreira, Iwobi
Auba, Laca
No Ozil or Nacho on the bench
Obvs too windy for Ozil to bother with playing today.
Beware of The Mustafi Affect
A bruised foot for Ozil, a calf
injury for Nacho and the bench
for Kos. A nod to the Valencia game
I guess.
I’ve got the best seat in town to avoid today’s game – the bar at Salisbury races does not screen footie at all.
OM @15- ?
Wake up boys ffs.
Second best everywhere so far.
Red card for AMN. Not justified in my opinion.
Very poor decisions on both of these yellow cards.
Never A Red.
Second yellow.
Well… that sounds about right.. He milked it though.
The loss of Ramsey was a huge blow which has completely derailed our bid for top four. With no Ozil we have no creativity. Mkhitaryan has been a huge disappointment since we signed him. He is a peripheral player . Xhaka is wildly overrated and Torreira is a holding player. We have two great strikers who have to feed on scraps. Willock would give us more than Iwobi or Mkhi.
Sadly we will eventually concede and have no response
Talk about doing it the hard way
Need to get to half time now.
Really miss…. Welbeck now.. at least he finishes better than Iwobi.
Well.. 5th in the league sounds like a fair position for the team we have… all things considering.
Have to win the Europa to get to the CL now..
All the refs are shite, unfit bottlers!
Whose this one?
The second yellow was perhaps a little harsh, but the blame still lies with AMN for lunging in whilst on a yellow.
We were fortunate to be level even before the red card. Sky displayed a stat in the 22nd minute: Leicester 147 passes. Arsenal 20.
The women are doing well, the men are doing as expected.
Flicking between the two games, I did see the second yellow for AMN. I though it was a yellow and also a stupid challenge to make if you’ve already been booked, even if the first was harsh (I didn’t see that one).
Sokratis is going to get sent off here.
31% possession and one shot on target???
10 minutes to go – I hope
Eddie can be a hero
It’s a shame Stan is a taker and not a giver. With some serious investment I think Emery would be able to put together a decent team.
Unfortunately the club just feels like it’s ambling along aimlessly, hoping for the best… doesn’t feel or appear like a serious club, that really wants to win shit.
Kos at fault for both goals and Sokratis just gave up after it hit the bar. He was more interested in moaning at Koscielny that trying to stop the goal. At least look like you give a shit, son.
spakey fuck Vardy.
Torreira needs to calm down I
suppose but I’m glad he’s pissed off
And our turgid domestic form continues…
Brighton will fancy their chances next week..
At the end of the day we had third in our grasp and have chucked away a top four finish with three defeats on the spin.
Awful team, this. Huge clearout required in the summer.
I’d only keep abut five of the players who’ve played today and two of those are questionable lol.
Very predictable . I’m not sure much intelligence is deployed in our team building. Mkhitaryan and several others are a complete waste of time
If you’re wondering, the keepers are
Leno
Maitland-Niles (but NOT as a defender)
Torreira
Guendouzi (used very sparingly)
Lacazette
Aubamayang
But I’d only keep the strikers with huge reservations.
The rest can go, and so can Ozil.
Not much work to do then.
Nice save by Leno at the end
and one positive is he played
better tonight
Fuck me, 3-0 at Leicester is really
annoying
I wonder if we’ve lulled Valencia
into a false sense of security yet
A week ago we had third in our own hands……
A week to forget, Steve T.
Always a danger when you let these boys play with things in their own hands, Steve.
At least the women did their job today.
Leno was our man of the match.
Nine goals conceded against three of the weakest teams in the league. Absolutely pathetic.
Before anyone quotes the league table at me following that earlier drink, they are shit teams in a shit league. All three conced goals for fun, but then so do we. We’ve let in more goals than all three of them!
Brighton is now irrelevant for us and probably for them. I’d play some of the youngsters who are much more likely to do something than the idiots who haven’t turned up away from home all season . With two big European games sandwiching I’d play Eddie and co( Amaechi, Saka , Willock etc)
Still the ladies are about to win the league. But then as competitors they are tougher than most of our men
That long undefeated run looks more and more like what it was, an amazing sequence of flukes.
Hard to see where we have improved in any way, Lacazette and Aubameyang putting in as little effort as possible really pisses me off, but we are what we have been for over ten years, a very mediocre team with distant memories of having been immortal.
Unless we have a massive clear out and buy some seriously good players who can actually improve the team then I don’t see Emery being a good fit for us, he cannot seem to motivate or arrange a good formation, I truly believe he will probably win us the Europa Leage unless we come up against Chelsea as he knows European football, I just don’t think he gets the Premier League at all.
We’ve managed to ship three goals against Palace, who have a MINUS goal difference, Wolves, who wuld have a minus goal difference without the three they scored against us, and Leicester. Who would have had a +1 GD without our help.
The entire defence needs to be scrapped.
Correction. Wolves would have a zero GD. I forgot we actually managed to score against them.
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