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Nothing quite like a Friday night game to hype the cockles of your heart. Ole G to the S brings his band of now merry men to The Grove to duke it out with an Unai on FIRE. A trophy for the Norwegian would help him secure the contract he so desires, for Emery, it’ll keep melts like me off his back for another week.

Let’s get down to brass tacks.

Arsenal is fresh of the back of a victory against Chelsea, who just went to a final of their own, beating the GREATEST EVER SPURS SIDE on penalties.

I am greatly amused by journalists crying like grown men who’ve just seen their first ever vegan sausage roll because everyone is taking the piss out of Poch.

“SUPPOSE YOU THINK THAT MEANS HE’S SHIT. WELL, HE IS NOT LET ME TELL YOU. BUT YOU ARE. FOR YOUR VIEWS THAT RUN COUNTER TO DATA’

Take a fucking CBD latte precious one, it’s ok to laugh at the masters of marginal gains, and their hero manager for once again inflicting a cold backhanded slap of reality to ‘this is our year’ Spurs fans. I also think it’s amusing how many excuses people make for Poch, like he’s some sort of charity case. He has consistently tanked at important junctures with great players, after a while, it starts to look Spursy.

Anyway, where was I?

Ahh… Arsenal has a tough game against United. Unai Emery is going to have to reach into his metaphorical pot of wet look gel and activate more than just a great hairstyle. He’s going to have to, you know, pull out some tactics as well. Arsenal cannot roll with a 4-4-2 like we did against Chelsea. United have a livewire front three that will absolutely obliterate our slow defence. We also won’t get away with pushing them out wide, because their crosses are going to be met by players with more height and in box aggression than Hazard and Pedro.

Good news is Manchester United can’t pull off their most effective tactical move because De Gea didn’t travel south with the rest of the team. For all the glory the press are hyping around United, they’ve not been great. Their run stinks of Unai Emery’s if you ask me, lots of cracks there waiting to be exposed. There’s obviously a little more joy about the way they play now. Ole G has installed a more defined football identity, but the buzz there is the same as it was for us at the start of the season. He has Pogba enjoying his football again and Rashford has been reborn now he doesn’t have a manager flicking dog poo at him for motivational reasons.

This is a big one for Emery. In his excitement, how did he prepare? Did he flog his players with double sessions all week, or did he rest them hoping for another explosive start? How is he planning on using Ramsey? Did he communicate his ideas with clarity? How will he nullify that United front three? How is he going to control those long balls in behind our defense? How is he going to set up the defence without Bellerin?

IS HE EVEN THINKING ABOUT CARDIFF AND CITY AFTER!

We’ll see. An FA Cup win would take a lot of pressure off the manager. This will be important to him. I just wonder how our renewed top 4 bid will affect his thinking. He has to have a fresh team that beats Cardiff, and puts on a show against City.

In other news, the MIGHTY John Cross reckons Monchi could join this summer. I. would. be. game.

David Ornstein says Arsenal are in for Paris livewire, Nkunku. Do I know much about the midfielder? Absolutely not. But I have seen this video twice.

He looks fast, powerful and mobile. He’s a risky signing, but he’d certainly be more interesting than punting on Suarez. He can play across the midfield, even right back. I am game for these sorts of risks. The move is still hugely complex apparently – when are they not when it comes to Arsenal?! But still, at least we’re trying and exploring options. Thomas T has also sanctioned the deal.

Finally, Thierry Henry has been suspended by Monaco as they prepare to fire him. Or he’s already fired. Whatever, he’s done there. It seems like all the things you feared Thierry would be as a manager were true. This from GFFN.

He, he is supposed to be worth €10m?” All of the substitutes heard. The message he sent to the players was very negative.”

Another anonymous source close to the Monaco 1st team group added: “He would speak badly to the players, it is a fact. He would also make examples of people and that annoyed a lot of people, he gave this haughty impression as if he would not consider anyone else’s opinion.”

It looked like he might be going off on a weird tangent when he made that kid come back to tuck his chair in. I’m all for high standards, but humiliating a player in front of the media over a chair is a misunderstanding of people. Don’t get me wrong, it was a crowd pleaser, but you can’t embarrass people to make yourself look powerful, that’s petty. He topped it off with another awful prezzer where he told the sitting journalists he was removing the squad “of individuals who only care about their own futures”.

Bad times, but deep down, you know it was very predictable. Still, he’s getting a fucking huge payout apparently. So he’ll be ok.

Right, that’s me done. Enjoy this evening!

COME ON YOU REDS! x