It’s a late one from me my darlings.

Can you believe that journo with the hot take, who I do NOT follow, blocked me when he was spanked by the internet for his terrible views on referees?

If you want to be a bang-average contrarian, don’t block people who challenge you, not because my feelings are hurt… because it makes it look like the sauce you are offering up is room temperature Tesco’s mayo. Don’t be that guy.

So what do we have today?

Liverpool couldn’t beat Crystal Palace at their place. They dropped a 1-1 draw. Palace should really have escaped with a win considering some of the chances Wilfried Zaha had put on a plate. It was quite amusing that Darwin Nunez was sent off, Paul Tierney didn’t want to, but a double headbutt is hard to ignore and he didn’t have Mike Dean in VAR to back him up.

I thought it was interesting that Paul Tierney hadn’t managed a Liverpool game since Klopp went nuts about his performance against them when he didn’t send off Harry Kane for a ghastly challenge but sent off Andy Robertson.

Do Arsenal have refs taken off their account when they make disgraceful decisions? Or is that just a Klopp thing?

Rumour is Mike Dean has been taken off VAR duties this weekend. Like, what is the point here if he’s back the week after? Shouldn’t the question be: What do we do about a retired referee that thinks a hair pull to the ground isn’t violent enough?’ Sack him would be the answer in any other job. But referees aren’t held to performance standards and there are never consequences for their actions.

Arsenal have two wins under the belt, we’re second in the league, joint top for goals… and we’ve all stopped talking about transfers. Some are saying there will be no movement unless Granit or Pepe move. I’m not sure we’re moving on Granit this season, he’s playing too well, and Mikel clearly loves him.

I think we’ll go big on a winger and maybe wait on Tielemans. I really struggle to see the Belgian wanting to go to United, that’s a lot of pain to opt into, even if the money is good.

It was interesting reading around some of the commentary post-Spurs game. I thought they were very average and they were gifted goals because of officials. Their problem, outside of overreliance on two players, is they are very predictable. Their poor play was largely down to Chelsea knowing exactly what was coming. That will be a problem against a lot of teams this season.

Chelsea were VERY impressive… worryingly so. If they sign a striker that isn’t Auba, they’d be the favourites for 3rd this season. The football they offered up was fast, direct, and controlled. They just have a lot more experience than us at the moment. Having Kante and Jorginho running your midfield with Silva and Koulibaly in defence is a LOT of experience.

That said, older players get injured more, so we always have that.

I originally thought the top 2 was decided, now I’m wondering if the Liverpool are in play this season… maybe that thought is a little hopeful. But hey, we can dream dumb, right?

Gabriel Jesus, new fan favourite, reckons his bad spell for Brazil as a #9 and the move to the wing for club and country fooled him into believing he was NOT a striker.

‘I went back to being the usual Gabriel, thinking that I’m a 9, that I’m there to finish, to help, of course not just to score goals.’

‘I went back to being what I was before, I am no longer that robot that used to be there.’

I am down with this. My hope is that his emergence as a #9 will get him some love at the World Cup this winter. He’s been sensational. I LOVE HIM.

Ok, short post today, let me come back with something new tomorrow.

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