HEART/HEAD KIND OF A DAY

ARSENAL FACE DOWN A MONSTROUS WEEK WITH COMPLEX PRIORITIES

Was gonna start the post by quoting some song lyrics by a disgraced artist, but wasn't sure what the rules are there. If it was booed at a wedding in Florida, maybe I shouldn't? But aren't we post-woke? Or are there just artists you can't write about these days? Or are we separating art and the person as long as there's a little placade?

Sheesh, I'm so sorry. No song quote for you this Sunday morning. I’ve reprimanded my thoughts and canceled myself to save you the effort.

Today is a real head and heart-moment for me.

The FA Cup is special. Many fond memories around football, family, and good times come from getting hammered at the Green Man and watching the mighty Arsenal exit Wembley with some stunning hardware. Arteta's first 6 months saw an unlikely FA Cup win, a trophy he also won as a captain when he was playing.

Yes, the heart says you always want to go hard at the FA Cup because the magic is there and we all love a good party at the end.

The head? Well, the head says the most important thing for Arsenal this season is keeping up with Liverpool in a very unpredictable league run. The two most important games this month are at home to Spurs on Wednesday and Aston Villa on Saturday. Two monstrous games that will really tell us if we have what it takes to push into April... or whether this season is about to be taken out the back gate, put in a Tesco’s bag, and thrown into a frosty river.

This 10-day stretch has all the hallmarks of a classic Wenger season during the banter years. We'd be involved in all the competitions, then get dumped from three in a short space of time. It was predictable, depressing, and it made the rest of the season a real struggle to connect with.

My big fear tomorrow is Arteta will see this United game as an opportunity to get his team firing again - and we'll go all-in with a mega line-up. That'll then cost us one of the games next week because we'll be facing a fresher Spurs and a fresher Villa who both have easier games. Or, we’ll lose someone big to an injury like we did in that infamous Sporting Lisbon game we didn’t even win.

We can all accept Arsenal took an unnecessary gamble on the season by going in short - that wasn't because there was no desire, that's because they couldn't get the players they wanted. Either way, we're short, and the shortness is taking a very big toll on young players who have looked mentally and physically fatigued recently.

If we're all seeing that issue and we all agree on it, why are we so desperate for a magical cup run despite already being on one in the League Cup?

Because football fandom and coaching is mostly run on emotion.

I would say where we'll likely land is a halfway house between first-team players and those who are looking for moves in the summer.

My non-negotiable players would be Saliba, Timber, Gabriel, Partey, Ødegaard, and ESR.

But we're so short on players, it's hard to see how we rest all of those names.

Neto

Timber Saliba Calafiori Zinchenko

Declan Jorginho Trossard

Sterling Jesus Martinelli

That's probably as rotated as we can go. It's still a pretty decent side. I'd love to see Calafiori at center back in a game like this. Assuming Gabriel will never be injured seems silly. Sterling has to start or we need to cut his loan deal. No point in keeping him if he's just here to prove a point to ownership that we should have released some capital last summer. I've chosen Jesus because of the form and also because I think Arteta is going to use Kai to bully Spurs' lack of center backs and he'll probably need the German for a rough game against Villa. Also... Jesus has been really sharp and if he can get amongst it early and rattle United, we might sneak a result.

The season hasn't been blessed; the fact City, Liverpool, and Spurs can all roll out reserves this weekend and we're facing up to a United who have just found their footing after a dreadful December is laughable.

We debated on the podcast what winning mentality was. Matt thought winning mentality was going all-in with your best team. My view was that winning mentality is putting out the team that suits getting to an explosive starting 11 against Spurs and Villa. High performance is getting a tune out of whatever team you put out. Five years into this project, we should be getting a tune out of a heavily rotated 11 because it has some wonderful players in it.

Let's see what the boys have got - the decisions made by Arteta today will likely shape the week. This is all about the coach. Let's see what he's got.

Remember, sign up for Le Grove and you'll be able to access the On The Whistle podcast LIVE right after the game. Should be a good time. x