SUPER SUNDAY: PIVOT (3) POINT (S)

SOMEONE DIES TODAY

I am whining so badly this week, but I'm on a roll and I will NOT be stopped.

Spent some time listening to both press conferences, and it blows my mind how much deference Pep gets compared to Arteta.

Questions for Mikel:

• Gary Neville said the vitriol was all your fault, what's your opinion?

• What do you think about death threats to refs?

• What do you think about getting charged by the FA?

• What do you think about Haaland after last time?

Pep Guardiola, in a constant mood of 'this meeting has overrun by 6 minutes and I need lunch so stop asking questions,' was allowed to spend a chunk of his time positioning Erling Haaland as the victim of bullying... the guy who threw the ball at someone's head last time and told Arteta to stay humble. He also capped it by saying his team played the game so fairly, it was a bit of a problem. No pushback.

Anyway, we can see City are clearly trying to send not-so-subtle coded messages to the ref: DON'T LET GABRIEL AND SALIBA BULLY MY GUY AGAIN.

Sadly, it'll probably work.

But the players won't be thinking like that. I've no doubt that Big Gabi will be dreaming about Haaland in his pocket. He will try to bully him and will set the tone early on.

That's a battle to watch.

I'm also interested to see how our players handle Nunes at right back and their new Uzbek defender from Lens who had a bit of a nightmare in the last game. It's really, really hard adapting from Ligue 1. This signing was a bit of a weird one that caught people off guard. He certainly looks like a young afterlife signing to me. Let's hope he plays like a Championship player tomorrow.

Arsenal have one major fitness concern, and that seems to be David Raya. If he's out, we're in a lot of trouble. Neto has cold hands, and after that blunder in the week... I'm sure he'll be praying Raya can pull on those giant gloves and take care of the afternoon for him. The Spaniard is so, so important to how we defend, how we attack, and how likely we are to keep a clean sheet.

These City games are putrid to watch. Two positives sucking the joy out of every inch of the pitch. This is a game even the tactics nerds struggle to enjoy because it'll be such fine margins.

I did think it was quite interesting to hear Pep Guardiola, man with a nation-state behind him, say this about replacing Rodri with Busquets:

"No - because he is so happy in Miami. The weather there is so delightful!

"There are players that can do it - but clubs don't sell or they are so expensive.

"So we cannot do it, but of course we thought about that because Kova and Gundo are helping us, but they are not proper, proper holding midfielders. We know that, so they are making an incredible effort and we are grateful for that.

"Many times over a tough period I know perfectly the players who stepped up to try and solve our problems we have with commitment and effort. That is why I am so grateful to a few of them."

Signing very specific players in a January transfer window is tough, even for the most monied of clubs. You can point to Spurs, who've been getting rejected all over the place. You could point to Villa, who have made moves on Asensio, Rashford, and Malen... two of those players have work rate issues, and one of them just isn't Arsenal level. Even Emery is saying finding a striker in January is hard.

"It is not easy because we don't want to replace with players that will not help us like I want."

The only thing you might suggest with Villa is they are loading up heavily on players that might allow them to shift on Watkins. Alternatively, you could say they are loading up on players that will give their squad the legs to confirm another year in Champions League and give them the chance to have a run at winning it.

I would imagine the phone will be ringing for Jason Ayto a lot over the next 48 hours. It'll be a pretty dreadful feeling to exit the window with absolutely nothing... but the point still stands. Adding players that aren't good enough to help is a worse situation overall.

If the players are there, Arsenal will find a way. I'm still confident something will be done. But that is just one fat line of hopium fueling that vision.

Back to the City game. Do or die. Someone needs to be a hero. If you win this game, whoever scored the goal could potentially be the 'this was the turning point' guy in the 2025 title-winning video. Players can step up to be the Marc Overmars of the moment tomorrow. Lose, and we're putting all our chips into a Champions League run that'll probably see a doubleheader against a City on the rise.

Big game. We'll be around for the On The Whistle. Subscribe to the podcast now for free and join the party.

P.S. Having a bit of a clear up in the comments section. This is an Arsenal blog. If you want to constantly sh*t on every aspect of the club while we sit 2nd in the league after moving into the knockouts of Champions League… do it somewhere else. It’s boring and stops others commenting.