Did I start a conspiracy theory about the Saka injury – promoting the idea that Mikel Arteta was in cahoots with Saka about his problem in a bid to throw Pep G off the selection trail for the weekend? I did. Unfortunately, my next-level galaxy brain thinking was incorrect… but the outcome was the same. Bukayo is READY and not injured. Is there a player in the league better at taking himself off before a breakdown? I don’t think so.
The bigger story here is that Bukayo has had injury scares twice in the past two weeks. He needs a rest. I’d really love him to fake an injury when we’re 3-0 up against City this weekend so he doesn’t have to go away on another international break.
Our second jaunt in the Champions League is upon us. RC Lens at Estadio Bollaert-Delelis should be an interesting test of Arteta and the players. My suspicion is the manager is prioritizing qualification for the next round as fast as possible so he can rest in the latter games. That means we’ll likely roll with a big starting 11 this evening. The manager COULD rest a key player or two but he can’t afford a slip before the biggest game of 2023.
My hope is we can get ahead in the game nice and early, kill Lens momentum, then sub key names out late on.
If Martinelli and Thomas Partey are to play a role on Sunday, you’d imagine they have to be on the flight out there and that they have to have some minutes. No player is equipped to start against City cold. A few late laps around the track in France could be enough.
Lens is a possession-based team, it’s slow build-up from the back, and they lean on springing fullbacks into action. Their model was very successful last season, putting them within spitting distance of PSG at the end of the season (1 point difference).
It’s been harder for them this season. They lost key players. Their game has been disrupted and they started poorly. This makes them perfect for Arsenal, we love gifting a coach a boost, so we’ll have to be sharp.
The most important thing tonight is to avoid anything terrible happening before Manchester City. I don’t even mind an away day draw as long as we don’t have an injury pile-up.
City play away in Germany against a RB ‘we don’t want the ball’ Leipzig. City are obviously better, but Leipzig will want to avenge an awful result in the Champions League earlier in the season. The Germans are in fine form, City are in a crisis by their standards, it’ll be interesting to see how Pep approaches the game.
Come join us right after the game… big love x
Better the loss came here than in epl, maybe this will give us some steam to take on City. Should have replaced saka with Nelson and trossard with Smith rowe. Would have brought on jorginho and pushed rice further up in havertz position. Not only tomis miss, but also havertz miss showed we were in for a tough unlucky night. No stress, bounce back against City. COYG!!
“You lost me there Luteo Gonorreah”
That’s not nice Ernest Pubic Lice.
The Saka injury doesn’t look good according to Arteta . The Kai transfer doesn’t look good according to a fair proportion of the base who refuse to be gas lighted into his thinking he’s a genius and the goal keeping situation doesn’t look good to Ramsdale
If he ruins Saka’s career, as he’s so obviously trying to do, Arteta should be given lifetime coaching ban. What he’s doing to Saka is bordering on criminal.
If Saka has to miss the city and England games due to a strained hammy the plus side is that it should give some much needed time for his battered ankles to recover.
Things Arteta need to know if he had an atom od brain cell:
– Zinchenko is an amazing footballer, but a fullback/defender he is not
– Our best midfield is Partey and Rice plus any of Odegard, Vieira or ESR (Fuck those thinking that’s defensive, every team prioritize getting a grip on games before any other thing)
– Tomiyasu is not a full back, he’s a central defender and a very good one at that.
– Vieira is not a winger. He has zero speed.
– Gabriel isn’t the best partner for Saliba, I’ll actually try Kiwior who’s been mustard every time he’s played. There’s something just iffy about Gabriel.
– Havertz should be in one of two places – the bench or the opponents box. You won’t get anything from him anywhere else.
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“That’s not nice Ernest Pubic Lice.‘
That’s the best that you can come back with, Luteo? LOL
“You just keep crying and attacking people”
Absolutely hilarious given that you are the King of Acolytes in persistent attacks on people. Grow up you narcissistic sponge.