The early kick-off tomorrow sees us travel to Crystal Palace to take on a side that currently sits one place and one point ahead of us. None of us had hoped to find ourselves in tenth position at this stage of the season but such has been the upturn since Mikel Arteta’s arrival that it now seems more appropriate to look at the teams above us and wonder who we might leapfrog than to look down the league at who will soon be overtaking us.
However, a generally positive feeling around the club and some improved performances are not enough to transform us back into the teams of old that would head off to Palace expecting to get a win. We still have a lot of work to do this season and beyond. Hopefully this weekend we can grab some points, goals and confidence to bring back north of the river as we need some results if we are to head back up the table. But the quality of our performance is also something the manager and fans alike will be watching carefully. There have been a lot of individual improvements, I cannot think of a single player who does not look better, as well as the team shape and work ethic being drastically improved. If we keep this up tomorrow then we give ourselves a decent chance of a result. Did the scare against Leeds help convince our lads of the importance of maintaining their work-rate and desire?
We have Chambers and Tierney both unavailable for a while yet and Hector Bellerin is back in light training but not ready to return to the first team. Aubameyang did not feature at all in Monday night’s FA Cup win so presumably he will be straight back in the side. It was the home game against Crystal Palace this season that saw the awful behaviour from Granit Xhaka that, until recently, looked like it had precipitated his January departure from these shores. However Arteta has rehabilitated him sufficiently that I would expect him to partner Torreira in the centre of our midfield. Personally I hope he leaves in the summer but whilst he is in the middle of the park for us I hope he plays with the confidence of the Man Utd game, not the Xhakaness of the first half against Leeds. It appears that Kolasinac will be okay to play at left-back but Saka had recovered from a minor knock to come on at Leeds so will be a surprisingly capable understudy if called upon. Martinelli and Reiss Nelson will both be hoping for a run out, the latter will have eyes on a start.
Palace apparently have most of their player injured so their lineup will probably be ten blokes plus Zaha. The same as every week then. They are well-drilled and hard-working under Hodgson and, as ever in the Premier League, we can expect a tough game.
A guess at our line-up:
Leno
AMN, Sokratis, Luiz, Kola
Torreira, Xhaka,
Pepe, Ozil, Auba
Laca
Despite a note of warning that the players have to put in a shift I am unexpectedly confident that we will come away with three points. Therefore the inaugural Holics’ pound is on 2-0 to the good guys, which I think the Guvnor would approve of. Expect our players to work hard and keep a lid on Zaha, who Arteta will be as aware as everyone else is Palace’s main attacking threat. We will be fighting for a clean sheet and I expect us to continue our improvements further up the pitch with a couple more goals. I think we might also see Laca rejoin the goalscoring party. After some hard-working displays that have helped his team it is about time he finished a chance off.
All the best to all those travelling to the game and of course to the rest who will be in front of screens in various locations around the world.
Finally, a reminder to all Holics that tomorrow would have been Dave’s birthday. Make sure to raise a drink for him and cheer on our beloved Arsenal extra loud. Wherever he is right now he’d love three points as a birthday present but, so used to taking Arsenal’s varying fortunes in stride, I think he would be even happier to see all of us in here continuing his legacy.
Cheers Holic and Holics!
Great preview GSD and a great tribute to Dave! Nicely done! 😉
“10 blokes plus Zaha. Same as every week.“
Great job GSD!
Brilliant, GSD. An excellent preview, sir.
Great preview GSD, you have hit all the right notes, and I like the shape of your compact team in the center of the page. 🙂
So well done could it have been written in your game attire?
Great stuff, GSD.
Here’s hoping for three points and a successful debut from the Holics’ pound.
COYG
By the way, 2-0 to the Arsenal and a 5-0 win for Liverpoo would see normality restored insofar as the direction to look for sp*ds. Just saying.
Excellent preview GSD on your premier debut – you’ve a very high bar to those who follow. A bar of course is a familiar place for Holics 🍺🥃🍷😉
Hoping for a continuing improvement in team performance with a 2-0 win – a hat trick of clean sheets no less 🙏.
Wherever you are watching have a great time.
well done, gsd. reads delightfully and has everything i’d want in a preview. nice touch towards dave at the end.
2-0 sounds good. any number plus a clean sheet works for me (not looking for a 0-0 draw, but i’m sure it’ll be pointed out that 0 is not a number, but a placeholder)…
Holics, wherever you are in the world, when you take your selfie or have an expensive portrait shot while toasting the Guvna’s birthday tomorrow, do remember to post it in the WhatsApp group so that Victoria can send it to Dave’s family. Sláinte! 🥃
Top preview, GSD, and especially the final paragraph.
Nines on the 2-0 might have been a bit skinny for the Guv’nor. I’m guessing he would have been tempted by 3-1 at 14-1. If whoever took Laca’s shooting boots would return them to him, that is a very possible scoreline.
given our newfound picture posting ability, post them here, too!
Also, I wonder if Arteta will keep the same back four he deployed against Leeds — Sokratis, Holding, Luiz and Kolasinac. We’d have less attacking threat on the right with Sokratis playing right back again, but yield less space for Zaha to run into when AMN surges upfield.
Thanks everyone. Kind words much appreciated.
bt8, I must give all formatting credit to Arthur who even messaged me to check if I’d like him to centre the team selection. I thought it looked good and I’m glad you did too. That ATG is a bit magic!
I am gonna be out all day tmoro and won’t even be able to check my phone until sometime after 6pm. So I’ll have to wait to find out what happened. Any sort of win would be great. And I do like the idea of us keeping clean sheets. With any luck we’ll put in a blinder and win 5-0. Sokratis hat trick from right back 😎
Great work GSD! I really like your preview. Also, I must say that the site looks fantastic. Well done Artur and others. I have been away for 7 days and my WhatsUp froze at 999. I don’t mind of course. Au contraire (regards to the ‘Only Fools and Horses’ fans), the Bar is indeed in the safe hands.
I would be really happy with any victory tomorrow…just to keep building the confidence.
COYG!
Palace have the league’s 4th best defensive record but the 2nd worst attack. Masters of the nil-nil?
ESR joins Huddersfield on loan. Lots of sheep to watch out for in them hills up there, but good luck to him.
Tyreece John-Jules is being loaned to League One Lincoln City and Ben Sheaf has extended his loan at Doncaster Rovers through the end of the season. Still no confirmation yet of where Nketiah will be sent, although Bristol City has been mentioned. I wonder, however, if Arteta wouldn’t prefer to see him go abroad where he could play at a higher level. Wherever he ends up, though, like all the loanees, he needs regular games.
Good stuff, GSD.
Ned @ 11, Sokratis at RB again. No. Please. @17 I read that Norwich and Villa are also interested in Eddie. Either might really make or break him.
mikel said he was debating what would be better for eddie…keeping him or loaning him. i hope he thinks keeping him would get him more games, i’d like to see him develop here and get us goals playing with gabigol. arsenal’s forwards of the future.
GSD @12
You did all the magic here fella I barley tweaked it but at the same time thank you. 👍🏻
Please no more Sokratis at RB again, that incident by the corner flag was awful. He also has a habit of doing that just makes a big deal out of nothing.
The case for Sokratis at right back is that (i) AMN can be run ragged by pacy wingers and (ii) that he risks being stranded upfield leaving space behind for Zaha to run into on the break. The case against is that Sokratis is Sokratis. He did play right back pretty often for Werder Bremen and occasionally for Borussia Dortmund, including after coming on as a sub against us in a 2013 Champions League group game at the Emirates that we lost 2-1. Arteta was our captain that night, as it happens.
There are not many who could have pulled the Sokratis 2013 trivia out of a hat with quite your facility, Ned. No wonder so many people think you have a team of monks doing your research. 🙂
He doesn’t?
COYG
Ned @21, you have just demonstrated why we missed you and were so distraught that we thought we had lost you and the monks!
Takes the quarter century and
tips hat to the dinosaur in the
room 🦖🎩
10 blokes and Zaha was indeed a
cracker – and not that far short of
the truth either. Palace have loaned
Tosun from Everton but not sure if
it’s too late for him to start.
The 2-2 game at home was a low
point for us this season and ought
to be a motivator for this team.
I’m curious about today’s game
and the next 3 as they will really
show the size of the task facing
Mikel. Bread and butter games
against well organised but not
ultimately top quality opponents
– can we fight consistently over
90 minutes and show that extra
bit of class needed to grind out
wins on a regular basis? Our January
fixtures will give us some important
indicators I feel – who is for real and
who is just pretending for the new
manager? A cold day in South East
London and later Burnley is as good
a place as any to find out.
I’m hopeful as always but 2-1 hopeful
as I can’t believe we’ll deliver another
clean sheet. COYGS!!
Best of luck to ESR at Huddersfield
– I really believe he is the long term
replacement for Mesut and I hope
the experience will work out for him.
Best of luck to Ben Sheaf as well.
He seems to be getting regular
games at Donny Rovers.
Personally I’d loan out Eddie too,
the situation hasn’t changed really
and he still needs to get experience
playing week in, week out to build
his overall game.
I nearly missed Tyreece John Jules
but after clicking on the handily
placed link to the right all was well
🙂
Best of luck to him too.
On ESR to Huddersfield. A gift from a friend for Trev.
Anything is pawsible at The Terriers. He might get a little hounded at first and be given a ruff time given his age but they’ll be barking up the wrong tree if they think he’s going to roll over and play dead. He’s great going furward and can be a golden retriever in terms of fetching the ball from opposition pawsession. He can also whippet in from wide positions and when unleashed can really raise the ruff, causing the opposition to have a howler.
Good @ 21, Ned and its to Sokratis’ credit that as an ageing CB he can put in a convincing shift at FB. There is possibly also a case based on Germany’s WC win to play Mustafi there. My preference is AMN. Arteta has already had a positive influence. I hope to see him cope admirably with any fleet footed winger that Palace deploy against him. I also hope to see him develop into a potent box to box MF player, but if not, becoming an outstanding RB would be fine.
Enjoy the game. I’m much more optimistic than I would have been in the dark days of, well, a few weeks ago. 🙂
Vintage stuff @30, BtM. 👏👏
A toast to Dave. Sláinte, Guvna.
COYG
Testing the new link function and a happy birthday to Dave
Hope we keep this up.
Barely letting Palace have
a kick.
* tumbleweed *
Raising an imaginary glass to ‘holic at halftime.
I can’t seem to uplink pics. What am I doing wrong?
Choosing photo from gallery. Adjusting size to smallest (was 1.1 MB). But it won’t upload file (no file selected).
Not sure I am the most qualified to answer Countryman seeing as my picture came out sideways, but I used the 2nd largest of the four file sizes , and an iphone
CM100, I am not the most qualified either but as you point out your image at 1.1MB exceeds the max limit of 1.0MB. Make it smaller again and it’ll work for you. I make them smaller by sending them to myself by e-mail and choosing the smallest size offered.
Cracked it. Thanks Bath
bt8
I have flipped you image 🙂
There are multiple, free, online image resizers – enter image resize online into Google. I can’t remember which my favourite was back in the days when I used to do it. There should certainly be no need to sign up for anything.
Lousy result today. Fingers crossed for a return to Arteta-inspired improvement.
COYG
Artur, many thanks for redeeming my public image by 90 degrees. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>