On the Spurs game:

“The Premier League Board took the decision to postpone the game following guidance from medical advisers, with the health of players and staff the priority. The fixture will be rescheduled in due course.

“The club requested the match to be rearranged following a significant number of positive COVID-19 cases among players and relevant staff.”

Am I losing my mind here? Arsenal lose 5 players the night of the Brentford game. The club had no idea who would make it on the morning of the game, they didn’t find out until the afternoon… but the show had to go on… but Spurs get a cancellation? They don’t even meet the UEFA criteria of not being able to field 13 outfield players. Is Mike Dean making the decisions here?

Feels a bit unfair if you ask me. Covid is a massive disruptor of preparation. 5 players when we already had major injuries should have been enough to cancel the game, but we didn’t get that luck or introspection from the Premier League. Scandalous. How can there be this much subjectivity in the decision-making process?

Still, can’t say Spurs are really gaining an advantage. They now have to deal with Burnley and Brighton, two very tiring teams, likely during a shit part of the season when they don’t need the rematches.

Onto Arsenal…

Mikel Arteta was in a subdued mood in the presser. Obviously, he’s under pressure, his team has regressed, and he knows the fans are pissed.

There were some interesting tidbits that I picked up on.

How is your relationship with Auba?

‘My relationship with the team is good’

Auba is playing like shit, there’s no chance he gets back to his best, and he’s behaving badly at training. He’s ignoring the question because there are now issues. Thierry was right… in the end.

He was also asked about Eddie, who I don’t think is a huge fan of Arteta.

‘Eddie knows I believe in him, he loves the club, he wants minutes’

Honestly, don’t be shocked to see another reboot of the front line this weekend. If he rates Eddie, our best player in preseason, then he’s going to have to prove he wants him, and Eddie is going to have to show that he has it in him. I’d prefer to see him get 5 games over Auba, who we can see is done, or Lacazette, who we know has no future at the club.

The challenge we have at Arsenal right now is we have 2 strikers that need to leave because they are finished. We have two strikers that are green and need minutes. We have a fan base that needs to see wins on the board.

I think we should play with the future in mind.

Per Mertesacker reckons Folarin Bologun will go out on loan in January. It’s the best move for him. He needs to get his man strength, he needs to slum it and be a star, and he needs to ramp up his confidence to be our 3rd choice striker next season.

There are rampant rumours that we’re going to do something with our midfield and attack this January, I just don’t see it. We need to aggressively move on players that are too well paid to move on to lesser clubs on lower money. The only way I see us doing any business this January is if Newcastle are dishing out 4-year deals. Not sure they’re going to go dumb though, so we’ll see.

The final presser tidbit I thought was interesting was the one about Ramsdale. For context, sometimes journalists are briefed on what to ask the manager. The club will always find a way to have their agenda fulfilled. Well, one writer said, ‘I’ve been having some chats with old coaches of Ramsdale, they say he always comes into a club and takes over the dressing room.’

Could be perfectly innocent, but is the club laying the groundwork for a passing of the captains’ armband at some point? Would anyone be against it being Ramsdale? I wouldn’t. He’s the exact sort of captain we’ve lacked since… well… Vieira. When English people explain their concept of a captain, they want a fan, who is passionate, a shouter, aggressive, and an archetypal leader. Only two players map back to that… Ramsdale, and Tierney. But look, KT is injured a lot, and I’m not sure he’s the most confident of chaps behind the scenes.

One thing is for sure… Auba ain’t it.

The Southampton game needs to be a win. It needs to be a great performance. The squad needs to show up and prove they have the right mentality.

We cannot let Southampton happen to us.

What do we know? They’ll come to press, like all Rangnick Disciples do. They’ll try and rough us up early like Everton did. If we let them run at us, they’ll punish us, because we’re in that vulnerable moment when everything is going against us.

I’d love to see an exciting starting 11 of players that want to die for the cause. We need to leave it all the pitch. There needs to be a BIG performance. Great teams react. We need a reaction. This needs to be the start of an unbeaten run to the end of the year.

FINALLY. That Arsenal retro kit launch. I actually went to Finsbury Park for the kit launch when I was VERY young to get the kit. My dad bought it for me. I was so excited I stripped off on the Underground platform to get the shirt on. I LOVED IT. So I’m quite excited to get down to the station on launch day and do it all again, even if stripping off at my age will probably get me arrested.

Good job Adidas.

Let’s see what they have.