Well, today is huge. Everton were beaten by Newcastle giving Arsenal the opportunity to go level points with them AND Spurs in the table. Both teams have a game in hand, but let’s be clear, some sections of the Arsenal fanbase have been purring over both managers, dreaming of the alternative reality where we’d hired them. I’m not sure the extra £12m a year looks like good value at the moment.
Today is one of the dreamy opportunities to close that gap when those around us are flapping around like a seagull trapped in a Pot Noodle container. Having to do that against a team that has the attacking options of United is going to be tough. Today is basically our very good defence versus their very good attack.
The main difference between the sides since the last time we met is that Arsenal has found a bit of a formula when it comes to attack. Since the emergence of ESR in the side, we’ve gone from creating 10 shots a game to 16. That’s quite the jump. Outside the shots output, we’ve just looked more cohesive in general. We can play some nice football at times, especially when the runners are on the pitch.
Many eyes will be focused on the left side of midfield. Nicolas Pepe had a good game by his standards in the week, scoring a vital goal against a good team. Martinelli sat the 90 out on the bench. There are many that think you should play the expensive signing who has found something resembling form… my view would be to give the best player the minutes. That would be Martinelli.
I feel for Pepe, I really did, but how many false dawns can one man be given? The first half of our season was dedicated to the hope that certain players would come good. I’d rather go on meritocracy. Pepe scored a nice goal, yes, but he also switched off and failed to track his man for the first goal. That sort of lapse will cost us harder if it happens today. It’s a big call. I will happily eat humble pie if he plays and scores… but for United, I’d love to see ESR, Saka, Martinelli and Lacazette conjuring magic.
Defence is also a tough one. Pablo Mari is out and Kieran Tierney seems to be running into trouble again. Cedric was excellent in our last game, but it’s a huge ask to play out of position against United. Not that we have much of a choice. There are also big questions over who partners Rob Holding… David Luiz? Or do we bring Gabriel back into the mixer?
Midfield is likely going to be Thomas Partey… but will they roll with Big Mo to hunt down the United firestarters, or will they opt for Granit Xhaka who has found some nice form next to a better midfielder who shares the workload?
Also tantalising that Martin O is in the squad.
I’m feeling excited about the game. These are the moments that have to matter. We need a tactical masterclass. There has to be a result if we’re serious about European places this season. Win and we go 4 points from 4th, lose, and it’s going to be a long week.
Before we go, can we have a chat about Edu? He is a DISGRACE for trying to move on Mustafi. This is what we all feared. Our powerhouse defender is rumoured to be off to Liverpool. For any of their fans leaving. He’s a machine. Great in the air, elite levels of concentration, a player so dedicated to the clean sheet he cries when he concedes in training. I’ll be reeeeeally miffed if we let him go. Perhaps you should tweet that he’d be a good signing? Pull it over the line?
On that note, see you in the comments… and watch my Youtube appearance.
1st
As
Always
Tr4phy
I’m nervous….but a good nervous, because I think we have a chance of taking 3 pts.
TR7 – can’t disagree with that and in some ways perhaps that shows that there are lots of skill subsets. Getting more out of a great team may be a different skill from a Dyche keeping Burnley in the Prem or a Rodgers getting Leicester into a challenging position (or the incredible feat of Alan Curbishley in keeping Charlton in the Prem for so long in 90s /00s.)
Martinelli ESR Saka. We need goal hunters and passion drivers in this game. Pepe should be benched.
If KT is out, it has to be Cedric, right? Cant Sean getting a look in….
I hope we go with Gabriel instead of Luiz.
I’m also quite apprehensive about tonight but hopefully we can get the job done
*see AMN
I’m confused about Mustafi going to Liverpool. What in the world are you talking about, Pedro? And false narrative once again about Mourinho. Not a single Arsenal fan that I know of wanted him in our dugout. Some were just rightly pointing out that he was doing better than Arteta, is all.
Sarcasm Upstate. Sarcasm
Upstate – are you so American you have no knowledge of tongue in cheek?
Mustafi must stay – it will take at least a serious bid of £1 for me to see the sense of him leaving
Liverpool are said to be in for him and all us Gooners are devastated.
The thought of it alone cancels out the joy of the Southampton win
“Not a single Arsenal fan that I know of wanted him in our dugout.’
You live in Upstate New York, not sure you are exactly a highly networked Arsenal fan where that sort of comment holds any weight.
North
Yes, getting even a top team to punch above its weight while playing quality football is no mean feat. That Pep has done it with three different teams across different leagues is commendable.
Apologies about Mustafi. Clearly I haven’t woken up yet.
If we really want mustafi sold all you need is someone with IT smarts to hack his twitter account and post a message on his behalf saying ‘mesut was wronged’ and he’ll be on the next train out of London or risk getting shanked by arteta personally Tbh tho as much as he’s trash and I don’t want to ever see him play for us again, and if we got money for him that’s amazing – at the same time I dunno who liverpool are playing at CB currently with their injury crisis. But if who they are picking are… Read more »
Pedro
“You live in Upstate New York, not sure you are exactly a highly networked Arsenal fan where that sort of comment holds any weight.”
Besides following your blog, Pedro, I read quite a bit of other Arsenal related material online. Only trolls, and you have a few of those here as well, were calling for Mourinho as our next manager.
Upstate, in your opinion, the people who wanted Mourinho were trolls. That doesn’t marry with fact. Plenty of Arsenal fans were fluttering eyes at Jose (on and offline), hence the comment.
Mourinho epitomizes everything that is wrong with the world of football today, and I followed his Inter and Real sides very closely.
TR7 I don’t think pep has ever really punched above his weight His Barca squad is quite reasonably described as the greatest club squad of all time. It was so overpowered it wasn’t even funny – and the Spanish league only had a few other tough teams to boot In Bayern he had the most dominant club in possibly world history in terms of a team winning the domestic league all the time and having resources far beyond the rest of the clubs combined At city he has had limitless resources Meanwhile at city and Bayern he failed in every… Read more »
mustafi to Liverpool ??? Let me just grab the keys and I’ll drive him there.. Heck, I’ll drive him to the ends of the earth to get him out of our club.
China, when you’re the best in the world, you don’t need to take on a ‘challenge’ project to appease people who think you have to do it with Stoke to matter.
Rebuilding Barca was a HUGE challenge. He did it to levels never seen before. No one in the game could have done that. It was incredible.
I stand by my comment, no true Arsenal fan wanted Mourinho to replace Arteta and Wenger (probably even more so).
“If we really want mustafi sold all you need is someone with IT smarts to hack his twitter account and post a message on his behalf saying ‘mesut was wronged’ and he’ll be on the next train out of London or risk getting shanked by arteta personally”
No need to hack as he said as much him self in his farewell tweet to Ozil
Hasn’t been seen since…
“Rebuilding Barca was a HUGE challenge. He did it to levels never seen before. No one in the game could have done that. It was incredible.”
Amen!
Upstate, that wasn’t your comment. You’ve gone from a statement of fact, which was incorrect… to labeling an opinion you don’t like as unArsenal.
True Arsenal fans wanted Jose at the club. Which is why I wrote about it. What you think of them is neither here nor there when you are challenging my understanding of Arsenal fans.
China
Who else except Pep would have got that Barca team to play the way they did ? I honestly can’t think of anyone and that for me makes him a special manager.
Very few fans wanted Mourinho at Arsenal. I’d put it at about 10% of the fan base or even less.
Pedro – I agree with Barca but i think he could have gone for a different challenge instead of Bayern and / or City. It doesn’t have to be at Stoke levels though (but why not? why not really prove yourself?).
Getting City to win 198 points in two PL seasons is quite amazing too.
Pep was Arsenal bound but alas Wenger still had delusions of grandeur.
Normally I really don’t like watching hospital balls and bad injuries but i’d happily start david luiz, have him head butt the fuck out of bruno fernandes and put Big Gab on in his place. Thjats my tactical masterclass
Socrates, do you know how big the Arsenal fanbase is? That’s a monstrous number of people.
Again, my comments wasn’t ‘every Arsenal fan in the world wanted Jose’
Tierney tends to struggle a little with really pacy wingers, AMN when given a specific task in defence seems to perform in the big games, however I expect it’ll be Cedric which I don’t mind as he looks solid.
TR7 wenger could’ve (In those days) It was the most ridiculously stacked squad ever and even then mourinho beat him to a title with a demonstrably inferior (whilst still amazing) real team. What are you supposed to do with the most gifted squad ever if not win loads of titles? But it’s besides the point that I’m not shitting on him as I think he’s great – I just don’t think he’s ever been tested properly. The nearest thing he’s had to a test is to dominate the league and CL with city (incredible and infinite resources) and Bayern (incredible… Read more »
Northbanker, I thought the Bayern move was surprising.
If you are a football artist, why would you want to go to a club that is suboptimal for your talents? What are you proving?
Does Messi need to play for Everton to prove he’s the best? Did Steve Jobs need to do it at Nokia? Seems a weird line of fire.
Being the best at the best is very hard.
“Very few fans wanted Mourinho at Arsenal. I’d put it at about 10% of the fan base or even less.“
Sounds about right.
Only Don ( or whatever his name was)and CG on here that I can think of
China
“If we really want mustafi sold all you need is someone with IT smarts to hack his twitter account and post a message on his behalf saying ‘mesut was wronged’ and he’ll be on the next train out of London or risk getting shanked by arteta personally”
No need to hack his account. Mustafi virtually posted that on his Twitter account in his farewell message to MÖ. Have a feeling that is why there is a push to get him out the door.
Socrates Would love to see a poll of some sort on that. I think it would be 1-3% at the most, and even those will likely be Spurs fans un disguise. Pedro, you may want to stop pushing that narrative as it’s not true and you know it. How many posters do you have on your blog? Probably a couple of hundred that post more or less regularly. I’d be surprised if there’s even a handful of them that were screaming for Mourinho. Again, just comparing the results, and position in the table is not the same as wanting someone… Read more »
After the terrible performance from Martial against SU, I’d say Cavani will be selected. If that’s the case of rather Luiz start over Gabriel.
Mind you many EPL ‘pundits’ raised doubts about Pep’s style of football and questioned whether he could replicate his success in what was as per them a very ‘competitive’ and ‘physically challenging’ league when Pep seemed to struggle in his first season in England. From there the guy then went on to rake up record 198 points in the next two seasons.
Rebuilding Barca is a hell of a lot easier when your pipeline of talent and new signings are basically all 9.5/10 or 10/10 players It wasn’t exactly trying to rebuild the invincibles on a shoestring budget and selling their best players every season. They were literally taking the piss signing players like cesc just because they could rather than because they needed him. When you sign one of the best 5 CMs in the world just because you like the optics of him being Catalan and because you can, you know this ‘rebuild’ was as much flexing roided out muscles… Read more »
Pedro,
If the polls suggest you lost by 90% of the vote. That pretty damning, No?
The overwhelming consensus was Arsenal fans against his appointment. But whatever, its history now and thankfully so.
Suspect Tierney makes the bench this evening
Can you believe this?
“We’re hearing that Gabriel Maritnelli is in for Saka in the only change from Southampton on Tuesday night.
That means there is no Kieran Tierney in the starting XI either.”
peps greatest quality is his ability to motivate exceptional players into being exceptional team players.
No Saka? No Tierney?
Sup Ladies? Huge match today… I know cuz I got that jingle jangle feeling in the pit of my stomach .. before a match . Haven’t had that feeling in ages.
Really hope the boys are up for it today. Game is on the boy boy national network today too. They know it’s big.
Saka out Martinelli in, WTF.
Saka hip injury? NOOOOOO!
Don’t like the look of that line up.
Let’s just pray Xhaka and Luiz can go a game without a brain fart and that it’s not Pepe on the right.
No Saka? No party
so Saka at left-back? If so then Arteta is truly contemptible
Arsenal starting XI: Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Luiz, Cedric; Partey, Xhaka; Pepe, Smith Rowe, Martinelli; Lacazette
I’m going to say now. I’d happily take a draw with that line up.
Saka is in the starting lineup. But no Tierney, and Partey is on the bench.
It is Pepe right by the looks. Oh well.
Arsenal is curesed! Christ!
Saka was having a beastly season.
Just incredible, the player in best form is not playing in an important game?.
Saka ??
Never mind, they just changed it
Why Pepe?
Subs: Runarsson, Gabriel, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Willock, Odegaard, Willian, Nketiah
Auba, Saka and Tierney missing is a huge loss for us. I’m firmly not in the optimistic camp for this one now.
Klopp has done far better than pep because he has achieved everything he has from a position of being a significant underdog imo
He’s had to battle all the way up hill to be where he is where as pep started in the summit and has been fighting people below him for most of his career
Tierney is a crock! Isn’t he? For such a good player he hardly gets fit ffs
What a shit bench too. Saka must be injured.
China
Yes prime Wenger could have but again we can think of only one name which goes to show what he did with Barca was amazing.
As for his failures in CL, I think champions league is more suitable for teams that play direct football. Pep finds it difficult to tweak his teams’ style to suit the knock out tournament format. He entrenches possession and build up style football in his players in the league because of which they suffer in CL where the game demands a more direct version of football.
Uh oh
Wow I don’t like the look of that bench offensively. Odegaard aside I wouldn’t likely want to bring any of those other offensive players on today
Upstate
“Saka is in the starting lineup. But no Tierney, and Partey is on the bench.”
Have you dropped your glasses mate? Partey us playing but no Saka or teirney.
Luiz, Pepe and Xhaka (Gulp) need to have really good games today.
Tierney is a good player but he’s constantly struggling with injuries. I said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s bad juju to buy players that are already injured.
Have to say my confidence has dropped somewhat.
Gabriel should be starting ahead of Luiz
I’ll surprised if we get anything from this tbf
Upstate you don’t know shit, saka isn’t playing
Bojangles
Yes, my Formob lineup didn’t refresh in time
No Saka is a big blow, but I still look at that front four and feel a confidence they will do great. Perhaps Odegaard from the bench also, I can recall another Scandinavian who scored against Man Utd on his debut…
You just know Pepe is going to stink the place out badly today
Saka is a heavy miss for our attacking play
Yes, muppet I already answered it. Read all the comments not just one.
KT and Saka out of this evening’s game… Not what I wanted to hear! Must be an injury for Saka
Upstate can know exactly how many arsenal fans wanted Maureen as a manager but can’t even look up a team on arsenal.com or Twitter and confidently announces the wrong team.
It’s like Pedro who regularly forgets what day arsenal are playing on.
TR7 yeah he is amazing I would just like to see him be an underdog for once and show he can do that too. He doesn’t have to be at a shit team or whatever, I just mean imo to be the best you need to have demonstrated that you have overcome all major situations in football and passed with flying colours. Yet in 14 or however many years of management I don’t think there has been a single match where pep or his team has been written off as anything less than elite but having a bad day. He… Read more »
Man United lucky as always, probably our best two players ( Saka and Tierney) out due to injuries.
Injuries are what they are… need to man up, today.. Man U is not the juggernaut of old … and they will give us space to create chances. Mostly worried about Luiz to be honest… Please let him be good Luiz and not wtf are you doing Luiz today. Saka is a huge miss obviously, too. Might give Odegaard his chance off the bench on the right with ESR in middle if we need goals late.
My confidence just went down with no Saka.
WTF is actually going on in training? They’re literally dropping like flies
What odds on Willian coming on in the second half lol
I was confident before but this lineup has shaken my nerves a bit…
Bummer about Saka, otherwise tidy lineup.
Looking forward to this one, think we’ll definitely see Ø debut.
No Saka or KT and playing Xhaka, Luiz and Bellerin.
Certainly deflates my earlier optimism.
How much luck can one team get by the way
Fck UTD, jammy fckers!!
What odds on Utd getting two penalties today, with one being from Luiz?
I have a very fucking nasty feeling lol
No Saka
Yep.
Im out
Xhaka Luiz bellerin Pepe
….
Willock and Willian to come on off the bench!!!
This was not how it was supposed to be lol
Me too GOB
My confidence in a victory today, just got seriously dented
Saka is comfortably our best player
Not risking him is the right move, but our odds of winning just nose dived
Willian well and truly on the naughty step
And King Mustafi could be on his way to Liverpool
Can this day get any worse?
All eyes on partey esr martinelli and laca to do something today