Arsenal winning games makes life better. It’s as simple as that. In a complicated and stressful world, football is the antidote. Mikel Arteta has not made life easy over the past year, but it’s clear, if things get better over the next two months, fans will get back on side… because it’s hard to be angry when your team is winning games with style.

That won’t happen this weekend.

We’re probably going to get pasted.

BUT, I would like to see a concerted effort to show up and play some pragmatic football.

The Chelsea game was naive, probably on purpose. I don’t want to see that against City. The moron brigade demanding we go up North and put on a show are painfully deluded about where we are with this project. I want to see a shithousing. 3 at the back, everyone dying for the cause… Auba with a 78th-minute chance that could decide the game. This squad can defend, we’ve seen it against good teams, I’d like to see a boring starting 11 with a street-fighting attitude.

That might involve a really boring performance from Mo Elneny in midfield, but if it’s what we need to get the job done, let’s have it. It certainly can’t involved Kola as centre back or any other galaxy brain move.

The WBA outing might have been against meek opposition, but it was with our first team, and it was beyond a conventional win. If you are a striker, you don’t say after a hat-trick, ‘well, that didn’t feel great because it was against kids’, confidence doesn’t work like that. All the players will be feeling like some ideas clicked that they can take into the next game.

Auba has the confidence that he can score with limited chances, but more importantly, he will feel confident that if he makes a run, there are players in the starting 11 that can find them with accurate balls over the top.

Everyone is going to feel a little sexier having Odegaard in the starting 11, because he will make that tough first time pass someone like Granit will shy away from.

Saka looked on fire in the week, that’ll give him confidence he can make something happen.

I don’t need to see an evolution of style in a game we have almost zero chance of winning. I want to see spoiler tactics and ruthless discipline.

The transfer deadline is fast approaching, here’s what we ‘think’ we know:

• Torreira will move to Fiorentina for the season and get games
• Eddie will move out of the club, probably to Palace for £11m
• Kola will have his deal terminated and likely head to Besiktas
• Willian has scrubbed his feeds of the Arsenal name, Corinthians looks a real possibility
• Reiss will have to find a club, he cannot possibly think it wise to spend another season rotting away
• I’m not sure what the deal is on Ainsley, I’d love him to stay, but only if he’s considered a serious squad player
• There’s talk Lacazette will be exited, but I’m not sure about this. We are SO late in the window. Lacazette moving only works if there’s a deal coming the other way.

There’s talk of Jovic moving if Mbappe goes to Madrid.

There’s talk of Calvert Lewin, though this feels very fanciful

I’m just not sure what to make of it all.

All I know is this… I really hope Trippier ends up at United. Arsenal shelling out on a 31-year-old really doesn’t sit well with me. Trippier would basically be the Lichtsteiner move this summer. He’s a good player, way better than what we have, he’d also be the only senior defender we’d have… but it’d be expensive and our funds really should be going on a player with more long-term in the tank.

This is Arsenal though… every time we right an expensive wrong, we jump right back in and do it again.

Ok, quick one today, I’ll see you in the comments… watch my damn video or listen to the podcast.

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