It’s North London Derby this weekend. What we’d all give to be present at The Emirates for this one.
Last time out, we killed ourselves early. Spurs had 5 attempts at our goal, put 3 on target, and scored 1. Their first goal was a 30-yard screamer after we let Son run at us on the counter. Their second came as part of a double whammy in which Thomas Partey broke down in midfield and Kane scored off the bar down our end.
It took Arsenal 5 games after that to register a win in the Premier League. Truly a miserable time for the ages.
So what will we have learned this time?
Well, the team we played was pretty strong last time out. We’ll likely have Xhaka and Partey pivoting again. Attack will be something different. I doubt we’ll see Auba and Lacazette starting together. I suspect we’ll see the two new additions that have changed the way we play for the better.
Emile Smith Rowe has to start. The question is whether he’s shunted out to the left again. I think he’s the better player there. I really like Odegaard, but I’m not sure he’s quite up to the speed of the league as it stands. He’s given away hospital passes in his last two games because of casual play and I don’t think he was what you’d call present to the levels we need… especially in a game like tomorrow. Thing is, he is more than competent playing as a wide attacker, and he generally boasts high levels of control… which tomorrow, is going to be absolutely vital, because Spurs are absolute vultures…
I’d love to see Nico start the game, but I have my doubts. Last time out at the toilet bowl we were mauled from 3 shots on target despite dominating possession. It was a typical Mourinho game. He’s going to let us do our thing tomorrow because he knows the odds are stacked against us not bringing pain upon ourselves. 7 of our 14 goals conceded this year have been of our own making. With a strong side on Thursday, we still managed to gift the Greeks 3 big chances unforced.
I think we’ll see Saka, Odegaard, ESR and WiIlian in attack. Jose will have a special plan for Saka… Spurs will be taking it in turns to smash him over in transition. Olympiacos did a great job brutalising him the other night, though I’m not sure I’d say they nullified him. The key tomorrow is getting him on the ball a bit higher up the pitch… though that’ll be hard to manage if we’re trying to keep our defensive structure strong.
Spurs are quite a simple unit. They depend on 3 exceptional players to put lipstick on an old pig of a system. When it works, everyone calls Jose a genius, when it fails, he’s a fraud.
Arsenal are not a simple unit. We’re better coached, have more interesting ideas, and we’re going further than them longterm. However, what our squad has that theirs does not is the self-destruct button.
When you build in the correct fundamentals, it’s only a matter of time before the correct outputs happen. The fundamentals are in place. The balance between and attack and defence is there. We are creating good chances. We’re limiting our opponents. The biggest problem we’re dealing with is unforced errors. Our players need to concentrate. They need to make better decisions. They need to leave every ounce of brainpower on the pitch tomorrow.
NLD is a toss of a coin. It’s usually fine margins, it’s usually an emotional wreck of a day, the winner will be crowned by who makes the least mistakes.
Arsenal FCs coaching staff have had this game pinned in the priority board for the last 6 weeks. Make no mistake, everything has been building to this game because it’s the Premier League Cup Final. Let’s be honest, it’s a huge deal for both managers as they look to extract positives from underwhelming campaigns. If Arteta wins this, and the whole project gets a huge lift and you’re looking at the Europa League with a different eye.
Lose? Not an option I’m afraid.
I genuinely can’t wait for this game. Two rivals with their best players on show going toe-to-toe. Should be an immense 90 minutes. Let’s hope we’re the fans crowing on the group chats.
Sorry there was no pod this Thursday. I don’t think I’ve ever been worked to hard in my life or more consequential things (first world consequential, I’m not distributing vaccines). It’ll be a patchy few weeks, but I’ll do my best.
P.S. I am on the warpath in the comments. Any of that ‘modern internet’ anti-Arsenal rhetoric on an Arsenal blog will be met by the full force of the law. I don’t care if you rate Mourinho, I don’t care if you’d like to see Arsenal lose to move on Arteta, this is a NLD and you’ll be treated like you would if you were spouting off against Arsenal in The Twelve Pins pre-game. This is an Arsenal paradise for the next 48 hours or so. See you there.
I am absolutely not interested in reading the comments of people with ‘WIN OR HE’S FIRED’ comments last week moaning about things that didn’t matter.
Go somewhere else if you want to whine after today
Sal
Spot on. Arteta had predicted how they would play & nullified their threat. Spuds were outplayed all game, the scoreline flattered them. It’s always great to hear them, but to outplay them like that makes it even more enjoyable
I didn’t see it, but we’ve had enough go against us so I’ll take this one. Long may it continue 😃
Thank you and good night
Absolutely, besides we were better and should’ve won it even without the pen.
Tom,
How’d that Fulham press go last night ?
Better than ours you were saying ?
The penalty is a contentious one. But we absolutely deserved to win this game. They had nothing. We battered them and won every battle. This spurs side are not a contender for the europa league. It actually makes me think we can win the whole thing. I was an Arteta out because he deserved to be sacked after that run. But somehow he has turned it around. He still can’t win matches most times but the performances are better than our opposition teams. The result will reflect that if it is given time. I am willing to wait till next… Read more »
Amen Jim, fuck Jose
Arteta had to choice with Auba
When your captain is repeatedly breaking rules, then you need to make an example of him.
A captain that does not lead by example should be a former captain
“Pedro, bin the lot of them.”
what type of person asks for other people to be banned on a public forum. you complete cuck, STFU…
London is RED bitches!
We need auba back though, laxa cost us 3 goals today, would have been out of sight with a shooter
AND I have lead 1000 hipsters on a march to the Boat Bar in Brooklyn, not one of those cunts was late knowing full well they’ed be unwelcome in the onslaught that ensued.
Jose ” I dont look at teams below us in the table ” Mourinho . EPIC ! Should have looke Jose might’ve saved your side from imploding . Maureen getting his comeuppance from a rookie manager , you absolutely love to see it
Gabby m showing the quality, same will be true of saliba and pepe once they get the chance, Gabriel physicality is monstrous
Arteta on the pen,
“I didn’t see it” haha
Just how good was Ødegaard? Arteta got the lineup spot on today.
If you can’t get out of bed on time for £300,000 p/w
You don’t deserve to start football matches….
Bergkamp63March 14, 2021 19:04:50
Tom,How’d that Fulham press go last night ?Better than ours you were saying ?
It went pretty much along the same lines our has been going lately.
They started well and then believed every ball needed to be passed short around the City attackers , which sooner or later leads to problems.
Also Fulham are in relegation and nowhere near our talent level.
All the negative comments after just winning the NLD.. can’t say I’m surprised, some posters on here are absolutely fucking clueless 🤯 Yes there were imperfections, yes it got nervy.. But the football first half was absolutely brilliant again! We are a side lacking confidence, Spurs overall are a good side who obviously tried to push for a draw at 2-1 on 80 minutes regardless of being down to 10 men. The discipline again is joint no.1 enemy (joint top with unforced errors. It does concern me watching us. Xhaka almost cost us 2 points giving that FK away which… Read more »
SpanishDave, if you think it’s okay for players to turn up late for games, training or team meetings, especially the Captain, then you are a class A moron. Without discipline you have anarchy. I expect our players to respect the club and us fans, not take the piss out of all of us!!! It won’t just be timekeeping, once they know rules aren’t followed it wlll spread like a cancer. Well done Arteta, that took balls.
First game in which odegard and Esr combo looked good. Esr on the wing had plenty of balls in the first half, only if those chances had fallen to a proper winger. Odegard has good engine in him running everywhere showing up for balls. With laca, you are just sure of him making things thick. Did I miss Auba today? NO. Of all the chances Laca had today, only one would have landed at Auba’s feet if he had been used. People complain about the dummy, would Auba have striked the ball and risked getting injured? NOOO.
And Maureen again proving his incompetence.. Levy would be stupid to keep him beyond this season
If Auba has been a repeat offender then how is this even controversial that he got benched?
Great feeling,a unneccessary nervy last 20 mins,but I am finally starting to see Arteta’s vision.
Hopefully we can put a run together and push for European places.
I dont see what Willian brings,but Cedric was superb as was Tierney,Odegaard and Gabriel.
Luiz and Xhaka didnt present their usual gifts.
We deserved a bit of luck with the penalty,but I still think it was high and reckless.
Another silent day with my phone tomorrow,well done boys.
We’ve just won the NLD
And we’re bitching at each other in a way that would leave the most bratty 14yr old girls sitting in awe
Love it 😂
That was complete and utter domination..i can forgive the last 10 min..the way Mourniho was battered and outplayed is just so satisfying
Just need Manure to dispatch West Ham and us to do the same next week and we will start to reel those fuckers in !
Rich
“If you can’t get out of bed on time for £300,000 p/wYou don’t deserve to start football matches….”
These privileged, pampered, overpaid players have everything!. Turning up late, especially a derby, questions how much he cares because there is NO excuse. Ignoring his late arrival would have sent out a poor message to every player, coach, even the tea lady, that rules mean diddly squat.
The naysayers entrenched position is starting to look untenable !
AFC Forever
“Well done Arteta, that took balls.”
Completely agree. Imagine what the reaction would have been like if Arsenal had lost.
Pedro don’t insult me you have no idea.
I won’t lower myself to argue.
Great result soft pen but who cares lol
Rich, yes ESR and Ode performed very well today. ESR hadn’t been great on the left previously but fair play he was excellent today. Not sure why anyone would think that it wasn’t a pen. If you clatter anyone off the ball it’s still a foul. The fact that Laca didn’t have control of the ball is irrelevant otherwise players could kick anyone off the ball and get away with it. For me ESR, Ode and Tierney were our best performers. Willian was his usual slug-like self when he came on, as was said at the time it was almost… Read more »
It is a double blow for the Spuds. Not only they lost the NLD, they also lost Son and Lamela.
Aubameyang >>>>>> Lacazette.
Our best attack should be
Odegaard —- Partey —- ESR
Saka —- Auba —- Pepe
Bergkamp63
Imagine being the type of ‘fan’ that moans after beating Spurs? Never heard anything like it mate. I think they see it as them against Arteta, it’s too weird for words.
Any truth in the rumour that Odergaard has been photographed with a flag saying
NORWAY SKI-JUMPING MADRID
IN THAT “ODER”
Omg people moaning on the day of all days if you are a gooner a NLD win yeeeeeesssss
AFC
I am not a moron
Get a grip Snowflake.
All I said was that Arteta compromised the game for what ? We don’t know.
Arteta is a control freak and as we all know make strangest decisions due to his ego.
Dont let yourself down by being rude , it’s common.
That’s the problem when you play the old man, Bale. Spuds right back had to cover two players. We had a field day on our left attack.
Andy
I didn’t say it wasn’t a pen.
I thought it was soft and definitely not something expected to be given in a derby unless against Arsenal.
Cmon West ham, beat those Cunts and make my weekend sweeter 🙏
Andy1886
I agree, I though it was a clear cut penalty
Sanchez was late, nowhere near the ball, and clearly clattered Lacazette
Andy
“For me ESR, Ode and Tierney were our best performers”
Agree. Thought Partey was excellent until the last ten minutes, which must be fatigue to make so many errors!
None of their players had a kick today, we was that dominant, which is why Maureen is making so many excuses. He know he had his arse whipped by a “novice”.
*He knows he had his arse whipped.
They scored a beauty against the run of play.
We dominated got our goals then sat back.
Very shaky end.
But fuck it, we won!
AFC Forever,
It’s nothing to do with Arsenal or Arteta most likely, simply the fact that they would hate to be proved publicly wrong, it obviously hurts more than anything else.
Insecure no doubt !
Just need Manure to dispatch West Ham and us to do the same next week and we will start to reel those fuckers in !
Nooooooooo rather the hammers won. Never want United to win.
All the petty agendas and clichés on here are boring. Yes, William.was shit for the first 20 odd games for us. But it also made perfect sense in bringing on someone that could keep HD of the ball against 10 men. Especially when his form has picked up finally. And he did nothing wrong when he did come on. Truth is, Tottenham were outplayed and dominated for 85 mins. It’ll be a fine day when we finally get a but of luck on ourside- but today wasn’t that day- we deserved to be 3-0 up at the break. Someone is… Read more »
Andy)m and Rich,.
HI agree how can anyone dispute that penalty,?!!!! Anywhere else on the pitch that is a foul and a booking. To claim it wasn’t one is pathetic nonsense.
Strange vibe when a swathe of LG can’t get behind or take on board a beasting of Tottenham.
I’ll take that all day every day.
Pull it together people.
What an eye-catching performance, any neutral watching must have marvelled at the style, the sheer exuberance of the Arsenal. But the guy would have scratched his head trying to explain why they made a hardship playing eleven against ten.
Full marks to Arteta for putting his foot down. He has a streak of ruthlessness, a characteristic of all the great managers, at any rate in their best years. If Auba doesn’t kow-tow for sure is is out this summer. Team spirit is based on obedience – ask any military man.
Excellent performance.
Absolutely love MO’s work rate. He’s not the strongest physically but he gets stuck in. Pedro called the Saka mauling effort. Disgusting targeting. ESR, Tierney and Xhaka were all very good.
Mourinho has a tell and if he were a poker player he’d be getting his pockets emptied on the regular.
When he knows he fucked up he’s got that stupid grin trying to explain why they were shit today.
Martin OH-DA-GOD!
Pedro I’m overjoyed that we won. And we fully deserved the victory. But as Arteta would admit, when we’ve sobered, up we need to put it in perspective. We played about the best we can at the moment. The Spuds had a terrible game plan; they lost one of their best players early; they were a player short for the last 15 minutes; and we just about scrapped through. So, a wonderful victory and a building block. But it is also a sign of how far we need to go if we want to compete. Hope that you will discuss… Read more »
SurferX
“Truth is, Tottenham were outplayed and dominated for 85 mins. It’ll be a fine day when we finally get a but of luck on ourside- but today wasn’t that day- we deserved to be 3-0 up at the break”
Yep. We should all be pleased with how we performed today,. I think the last 5 minutes was a result of fatigue after the effort we put in & a bit of nervousness.
Beat Olympiacos in Greece and now Spuds, what a great week.
England with 3 World Cup qualifiers in 6 days at the end of the month
Hopefully Southgate doesn’t beast Saka again
He’s played a lot of football, looks like he could do with a rest
Bacary, yep Saka clearly rough housed again. I said it earlier, he has incredible desire he just gets on with it, never hides.
That shot from Lamela is also one of the kind. He kicked with his left foot behind his right foot. No wonder Partey was totally dumb founded.
Surfer X: Totally agreed
AFC: Hah, are u serious? No way was that a penalty, but as Surfer X said we deserved to be 3 up at least. Don’t be disingenuous mate
Is there an on the whistle podcast today? love to hear them
especially after we win
He shanked it and was fouled, if it was the other way round , penalty all day. As it was …
We totally bossed it, they were pants. Because of us, great win. Never been so confident in a NLD for a very long time
We are waaay ahead of them
Superb performance from the boys and fully deserved. If you can’t tell what Arteta’s plan is and how he wants us to play after these last 3 months then it’s maybe time to watch something else.
Amazing 3 points. We’ll beat the Greeks and we’ll beat the hammers. Onwards and upwards.
Great win and far more positives than negatives for a change.
Really impressed that Oordegard did so well in his first London derby against a dirty spurs team.
Tierney and ESr look a great combination in the making and our right side works much better with Cedric
Leno however is a big worry.
luiz was excellent
Partey showed his class just needs matches. and a high energy partner.
Laca has to.be sold along with Bellerin
We need a power house CF.
The whole team needs shooting coach.
Leeds
“Arteta got away with one”
Funny how some people like you claim Arteta is responsible for everything that goes on, except when we win. Arsenal beat Spurs, out-thought & out-thought Maureen yet instead of praising the fact we totally outplayed them we get ignorance bollocks & a cellar full of salt.
If the devil had managed us today, I would have been his mate for a few hours. Shame the cult membership comes first
Great to see a couple of other posters acknowledge how good Luiz was today again. Kane didn’t touch the ball for 80 mins straight. Was very good going forward. Probably had 5 dribbles all of them good. Only person who tried to calm down the rest in the final minutes of the game.
Matt B, that was a degree nite penalty. All the former referees have agreed. Reckless tackle, anywhere else on the pitch that is a few kick. What are you talking about.
*definite. Oops.
Nice too see us get a correct decision for once, unlike the recent incorrect ones that have gone against us. Like the blatant handball at Burnley that robbed us of 2 points along with the others VAR has stolen.
100% penalty
Sanchez is late, nowhere near the ball, and clatters Lacazette
I don’t know how that isn’t a penalty?
100% penalty.
Dominant performance save the last 10 minutes.
Luiz supreme when we play on front foot its when we sit back an invite the pressure where the problems arise.
AFC: I’m old school, He was fouled for a definite penalty after he missed it. So to me, no penalty (but what do I know)?
I was thinking we’d win by 3 or 4, we were superb.
Not often you can say that in NLD. We were tops. The penalty shout is almost irrelevant …
Luiz doesn’t deserve all the criticism he gets. Some yes but its way over the top. He is a very good player with the medals to prove it. In a young team, you need experience and good pros, both of which he is. He was composed today & I enjoyed seeing his leadership today. We used to get criticised for not having leaders but he is.
Matt, yes had we won by four nobody could have complained. Spuds on SM are saying the same, it’s accepted Arsenal was far superior today.
Saliba in a 1-1 draw vs Lorient today
70 passes
7 long balls
94.4 success rate
1 successful dribble
2 tackles
2 interceptions
4 clearances
3 blocks
I guarantee you everyone who is not elated and is moaning has never been to a match bitching on a day like this lol
Cant believe that was our first derby win in almost three years. Doesn’t feel that long.
Mr Serge, agree. If you can’t enjoy beating Spuds AND Mourinho there is something afoot. And it’s not wearing a shoe.
AFC
Honestly, when I said that comment I was thinking about the last 10 minutes of the game when we were on the ropes.
We were up a player but we kept making mistakes.
Thankfully we didn’t get punished as we have been in the past 6 games or so.
Matt B
Sorry was right call for me, ball may of been shanked but still very much in play.
If that was Luiz on Kane it’s a Pen no doubt, maybe more.
Left side, 3 years really? They are going to be pretty miserable today being so outplayed. Bad enough losing but to be completely bitch-slapped is harder to take.
I am really worry about Partey’s physical condition. Today, once he was tired, Spuds charged right through our middle We managed to stop them only by fouling them.
The victory is giving our team confidence that we can defeat any of the remaining teams in the Europa Cup competition. We’ll need to manage the hours for our starting 11 carefully.
NJ Gooner
We were fantastic today, nothing about they’re game-plan — that is the worst Spurs team I’ve seen in a long time, we are way ahead of them, they were absolute shite.
I can’t remember being so confident in a derby (after the game started and we saw how it was playing out).
Put the keeper and mistakes to one side, plus the fact we got a rookie coach, clearly something’s happening when we play a Mourinho side off the park…
Leeds, oh okay. The last 10 mins I thought we looked dead on our feet, the team put in so much effort. Partey especially. Nerves too I suspect, they know that is a big win. But fir 80 odd minutes we bossed them.
We didn’t win 3-0 but we won and at the end of the day that’s all that matters.
The only disappointment I have about the game today was that I wasn’t there in person. The atmosphere would have been amazing, 1-0 down, 2-1 up (WHL 1987 semi, I was at the ‘original’ in with the Spurs supporters as too many Arsenal fans to fit into the away end).
Leaving the ground with everybody buzzing and smiling. Nobody would have been nitpicking, just revelling in outplaying and beating the scum. The drama at the end, two free kicks, Gabriel clearance would have just added to the drama.
Visceral joy, fucking brilliant!
What will happen with Aubamayang now I wonder? Not a good way for the team captain to behave & we didn’t miss him today. Team mates won’t be impressed that’s for sure. Give the captaincy to Luiz?
By the way, what about that Kane challenge on Gabriel- not even a yellow- outrageous!
I love it when we beat Tottenham…. more than anybody else. It’s like Christmas in March!
AFC – much worse if we’d lost. PEA is a popular guy, no doubt. I’m sure he’s man enough to apologise to the squad and suck it up. Don’t see it as a problem.
Foxy Agree with your comments on the players Leno: I’ve been a big supporter of Leno but he’s been in a slump recently. Maybe some mental tiredness but can’t quite figure it out. Today’s game was a good case in point; 1) Punched a corner when a top keeper would have comfortably gathered it. 2) Got fooled on the Kane free-kick and would have been beaten comfortably if not for the post and 3) on Kane’s disallowed headed goal, Leno was way totally out of position. Add this to his passing judgement recently and we need him to pick things… Read more »
AFC-yeah, we looked dead on our feet in the last 10 mins but that was also true of Spurs in the first 80 minutes.
We played superbly for 80 minutes but after the red I think we were unsure whether to go for the 3rd or defend what we had.
In the end we did neither.
Positive is we got over the line.
Bob
“The only disappointment I have about the game today was that I wasn’t there in person”
Absolutely!! I miss all games but especially the Derbies. If you have never experienced just how emotional it is in the ground, especially when you win, you can’t imagine what’s it’s like. Amazing buzz.
Great win tonight!
But so weird seeing Arsenal play against 10 men like we thought the red was shown to us because we are so used to it
Bacary
“AFC-yeah, we looked dead on our feet in the last 10 mins but that was also true of Spurs in the first 80 minutes.”
Made me chuckle.
On the whistle podcast!
SO HAPPY
Hope you’re all smashed
https://audioboom.com/posts/7822298-project-arteta-gathers-steam-mourinho-put-to-the-sword
Bob
“AFC – much worse if we’d lost. PEA is a popular guy, no doubt. I’m sure he’s man enough to apologise to the squad and suck it up. Don’t see it as a problem”
Hope so. One thing it does is makes all the players sit up and take notice. That is a massive positive message. As club Captain he will hopefully be contrite & realise he has let his team mates down. Of all games, if you can’t be up for an NLD then that’s pretty poor. Forget Lamborghini’s, you should get there early on adrenalin alone.
Cheers Pedro. Looking forward to your piece tomorrow mate!. I suspect you will enjoy penning it.