Salvete Omnes!
Notting Hill Carnival just wrapped-up a couple weeks ago and Mardis Gras remains five months away, so why the traditional festive wrapping for this current epistle? Well, unlike the dour goings-on in the land of infernal heat (over forty-four days exceeding 39˚ C this summer), infernal drought (fifty-seven consecutive days without measurable rainfall this summer), and infernal wickedness (as this is a football blog, I’ll leave examples to your Google search…but the examples are legion), as the Premier League Champions (Mikel’s “Attacking Champions” no less), surely the football has furnished a much-needed distraction and respite for these forlorn eyes. Maybe?
Fresh off our complete and utter demolition of a tough European opponent away to Napoli (who have never given up 4.0 xG at home…never) and in the midst of one of our brightest Premier League starts, you’d be forgiven for thinking these are halcyon days for the Gooner faithful worldwide. Encouraging statistics and interesting nuggets abound:
- The Arsenal have scored nine goals in three Premier League matches; all from open play.
- The Arsenal have conceded one goal over the same period (lowest total xG (0.9) conceded in the Premier League so far).
- Odegaard, Saka, and Havertz are back amongst the goals, assists, and shots.
With all the good work taking place on the pitch, I’d have expected everything to be all sunshine and unicorns. But, no sir, the grass is green, the ball is round, the Premier League is the toughest league in the world, and certain corners of our support have turned their cannons inward training them on certain members of the squad. Bish bosh to all that rubbish talk. Given the rich vein of form the Champions currently are in (did I mention our patch is golden?), I’m having none of it. Folks who have been good will come good again, and we are walking in fields of gold.
The Opposition
The Mackems have begun the sophomore season of their most recent return to the top flight in decent form. Although they deserve all the credit for staying-up in style last season, it remains to be seen if they can effectively press onwards, especially with European competition in the offing. From the first three Premier League matches, Sunderland have won one, lost one, and drawn one. Fresh off a 1-nil defeat of Hull City in the League Cup, the Régis Le Bris will have his Black Cats well-up for hosting the Gunners on Saturday night. A special thought by the way for the traveling support who have just about a snowball’s-chance-in-Hell of making it home after the match…the broadcasters and the Premier League could, and should, do better by the fans. Sunderland were a miserly outfit at home, and they strengthened over the summer with seven inbound including Malick Fofana and (giggles) Kevin Danso. We will battle a team in good nick, confident, and leaning-in to the underdog/besieged narrative, and we will need to approach the encounter appropriately. I would expect Le Bris to bring Ballard back in for Danso and set up thusly:
Roefs
Reinildo — Mukiele — Ballard — Meunier
Xhaka — Sadiki
Hume — Le Fee —Angulo
Brobbey
The Arsenal XI
This team currently has an embarrassment of riches in both player form and player availability. Timber is well on his way back; Mosquera is progressing; and I reckon no news is good news as far as Saliba is concerned. The captain is back scoring for fun; Tzolis has four assists since joining the club (his assist to Odegaard was sumptuous); and, if Saka has as many shots against Sunderland as he did against Napoli, well somebody is getting a hiding real soon. Our defense has been imperious (whisper it, but I think the €he£ski defensive record of fifteen goals might just be under threat) – Konsa, what a signing?!?!
Left back is a bit of a worry. Will Mikel try to squeeze one more start out of Benjamin White so soon after Napoli? I think he will (but I would expect a Timber cameo around the eightieth minute). Will Bruno give Dekkers a breather? Did Zubimendi do enough in Naples (Napels, even! 😊) to ease Myles Lewis-Skelly out of his starting role? All good headaches for the gaffa, but I expect Arteta to keep his personnel selection stable through to the international break. Barring any late fitness hiccups, this line-up would not surprise me:
Raya
White — Konsa — Gabriel — Calafiori
Rice — MLS
Saka — Odegaard —Tzolis
Havertz
Mikel has shown tremendous improvement in his timeliness of tactical substitutions, so I would expect significant freshening up on sixty minutes or so. If we can continue with our fast starts and keep getting six attackers in and around the Sunderland eighteen-yard box, we should be able to take a significant early lead. Let’s make sure we bring our favorite shooting boots (no box-fresh studs for this encounter, please).
The ‘Holic Pound
Last year’s trip to the Stadium of Light in November left a very bad taste in our mouths. Brobbey’s last minute equalizer did little to ease our nerves in a season where every away ground serenaded us with “Second again, olé olé!”. Well, the worm has turned, ye bastids. We’re the Champions now, and I agree with Amy Lawrence who urges the traveling support to forego the “We know who we are” chant for “Champions again, Champions again, Champions again olé olé!!” Not for nothing, the Arsenal have been righting many of last season’s wrongs, and I would say the Mackems have what’s coming their way. 0-4 to the Arsenal will do quite nicely.
Come on you Gunners!
MCMBD/BMBD
Thanks Lonestar
Glad you’re surviving the mini apocalypse weather wise.
I fear 4-0 is a touch optimistic bu he’ll, I’ll go with it.
UTA
Oui cher indeed LG, let the good times roll!
Great intro and I agree with all of it. It baffles me why anyone wouldn’t just enjoy being a gooner these days but I suppose they should have my sympathy really. The Napoli manager, Allegri, and their players were very clear on just how good we are.
Personally, I don’t buy into the whole underdog thing for Sunderland. Sleeping giant for a while maybe but they are a big club, with a shiny new stadium that they fill with close to 50,000. Anyways, if that approach works for Le Fee, and it has so far, then good luck to them. I think you can’t watch the first season of Sunderland Til I Die and not have a smidgen of sympathy for the fanbase.
I’d be very happy with 4-0 😃 But, a clinical 2-0 would work for me too.
Thanks for the entertaining preview Lonestar, and hearing of your sweltering weather am sending a tall iced tea (or ten) your way down the bar. By the time halftime comes along I’m hoping we will have an advantage and by full time some free flowing football would be nice but any win will do including the old 1-0 to the Arsenal. Napoli redux?
Cheers for the kind words and generous sympathies, everyone.
Shana Tovah to all our Jewish Gooner (and non-Gooner) brethren. May your new year be sweet.
MCMBD/BMBD
Excellent preview, LG. Fans unhappy at anything Arsenal given our current state are simply bad actors or people desperately unhappy in their own lives projecting outward.
I shall be watching from a bar in Montenegro with 5 other Gooners on the last evening of our away trip. There are far, far worse ways to watch.
COYG
Thanks for a stupendously optimistic and equally enjoyable preview, Lonestar. I’ll take any win but your 4-0 would be delightful. Let’s do this. MCMBD
Having found over seven weeks of English summer, with frequent high 30s ‘heat waves’ without a single drop of rain, to be more than a little draining, the prospect of 44 days exceeding 39C sounds appalling, LG. At least you have air-conditioning aplenty to take the edge off.
Entertaining preview from which I learned quite a bit about our opponents. I’d like to see Zubi and Bruno start in midfield but your suggestion Mikel will stick then rotate around 60 minutes is probably correct.
4-0 would be a great treat. As long as we come home with all three points this time around I’ll be quite happy with any scoreline.
Are other Gooners teed off with the need to subscribe to a minimum of three TV Chanels to be able to watch all of Arsenal’s games (and four if you want to watch your favourites in Scotland)? Bah, humbug.
A rumbustious read, Lonestar. Let me add a Long Island tea to bt8’s offering.
4-0 would be a joy. As others say, any win will do, especially a comfortable one, but vanquishing the disappointment of last season’s trip there would be welcome.
BtM@7: It is getting to be the same on this side of the pond when it comes to needing multiple subscriptions to watch all the games. NBC, which holds the US rights for most of the PL games, has got adept at divvying up the matches among its various streaming and premium cable channels, and then you also need an Amazon Prime or YouTube TV sub for the PL games NBC doesn’t hold the rights to, and a Paramount sub for the Champions League. Plus, all the streaming services are hiking their prices right now.
Merci Lonestar (with bonus odd literal translation title).
I’ll go for just 3-0 to the good guys. Or the better guys anyway, I don’t actually mind the Mackems these days. Might prove a tricky tie again though.
Hope your weather improves (not sure the wickedess will any time soon….), it is actually very nice here now, a lovely 25°C and sunny this afternoon, which makes me rather annoyed about the late kick-off.
Sounds good, CER @ 5. I’ll probably just head to the Lions for this one here.
There are engineering works on the RER in the middle of Paris this whole weekend again, but thankfully the connection to get there is just the right side of the works.
I forgot to moan about the 8pm UK time kick-off, as well as being nonsense
for the travelling faithful it also means an annoying 4AM kick-off in Japan. Midweek
and weekend 4AM kick offs 😡
And I moan about it because this looks like a perfect ‘beers outdoors’ afternoon here, 9pm doesn’t cut it. Not mid-September anyway. I am annoyed with this.
Sky sports have a lot to answer for….
Just a couple of points of correction.
The kick off time is down to TNT not Sky and we’ve scored 6 goals so far this term
A very upbeat and positive preview Lonestar . I enjoyed it but I fear 4-0 is way too optimistic. After a midweek trip to Napoli and Mikel keeping the team in the sauna at Colney for a laugh on their return this has 1-0 to the Arsenal written on it.
To look at what our team might be I think we have to take in the next two tough away games coming up at Ipswich and Brighton . I expect serious rotation at Ipswich so we may see quite a familiar team tonight especially as we rotated a bit on Wednesday.
Sunderland are a very tough nut to crack at the Stadium of Light in the first few months of the season.
Best wishes to the Countrymen who have not been put off by the ridiculous kick off time which interferes with the Last Night of the Proms !
Villa v Forest would have been the sensible pick from today’s games for an 8pm kick-off as it would probably take only an hour to get back to Nottingham from Brum. Not that Sky does sensible.
Ned
At the risk of being pedantic it is TNT who fixed this kick off time
Sky are innocent ( this time!)
You come for the reports and previews — you leave with a big smile on your face as the joyous spirits and generous hearts of the scribes help you to find the everlasting child in you. Thank you Trev and Lonestar for a fabulous report and a stirring preview!
Rice played the full 90 minutes in midweek the sweltering heat of Napoli, covering grounds and gaps and even multiple positions. His physicality, athleticism and commitment are outstanding, but that’s all the more reason to keep him as fresh as we can. And if we are leaving him on the bench, maybe Bruno complements Zubimendi better? Allowing Rice and MLS to influence the match as finishers later in the second half.
So, my preferred starting lineup:
Raya
White-Konsa-Gabriel-Calafiori
Ødegaard-Zubimendi-Guimarães
Saka-Havertz-Tzolis
Rice, MLS, Merino and Eze to see out the game.
Not conceding goals is a great habit, let’s carry on with that and a measured 2-0 will do just fine.
Come on Arsenal!
A very strong looking Arsenal U21 side lost 4-1 at home to Chelsea today .
Our team featured Dowman, Salmon, Tyjon, Scanlon and the other lad from Man U, Upson, Ibrahim and a strong looking bench . We have two points from three games
The U18s beat Palace 2-0 for their second win of the season
Raya
White, Gabriel. Konsa, Calafiori
Lewis-Skelly, Rice
Saka, Odegaard, Tzolis
Havertz
Bench: Kepa, Hincapie, Eze, Timber, Gyokeres, Madueke, Merino, Zubimendi, Guimaraes
Lonestar nails the starters. Now for the score…
TTG@15: I stand corrected, and plead to only picking up on OM’s post. We far-flungs know nothing of the broadcasters on your distant isle…
It is now 111 days since the neighbours scored a league goal. We’re going to need a second clock…
Thanks Lonestar for a cracking preview. You’ve got the team right, getting the score correct as well should be easy easy. Mikel’s MO is not to change a winning team and this is continued for the delectation of those at the Stadium of Light. Assuming no unforeseen injuries occur it should be a happy journey back home for all the trafelling Gooner including our own Countryman100 & Son.
The Makens will be up for it but we are to the challege whatever way is necessary. S nicely controlled 2-0 to the good guys seem about right.
COYRRR
@15 TTG thanks, I suppose I should say TNT in my post @11,
but when I read it back I thought it’s still true anyway 😂
And apologies to Ned for leading you up the garden path
Well done on the team LG and CoYGs!!
And welcome back Timber!
Been a long road.
Ollie @11
Still ‘beers outside’ weather down here in La Drôme…
got caught in an embuscade (‘ambush’…for the non French speakers) earlier…beers and Blackbush.
Managed to escape back home for the match!
Cheers!
0-0 half time, I thought we had the better chances.
Also, shouldn’t we be allowed to take our corner, and
not get a nonsense booking for our manager.
Mustn’t grumble i suppose
Bruno and Jurrien on, hope that is nothing too serious for Ben.
Be a good time and place for Bruno’s first goal
We have an amazing team! Just wow. Arteta for president. He is a genius, a true football genius.
COYG
Arteta already has a much more important job Las 😂
Is that the first penalty against us in an age?
It was a ridiculous decision to me, but I suppose we might
have got away with one or two last season
Stout defence, clean sheet, first goal for Bruno,
penalty scored, ridiculous penalty not scored and
2-0 to The Arsenal, tough job done well 👏👏👏👏👏
Phew!
For me, they were the toughest opponent we’ve faced this season.
Very tough game. Very good win. There were days in the not so distant past when an Arsenal team would have buckled under the pressure imposed by Sunderland. This team is built of silky steel. Despite the pressure some of our passing moves were incredible, our finishing not quite so much so.
If Sunderland try as hard and play as hard against other teams who visit them, few will leave with three points.
Good work JML! And yes probably.
I agree with Btm. This is a fearsome place to come .
That was not a penalty . I can understand the refereee might have not had the optimum view but VAR should have seen the judo roll . The VAR commentary by the assembled muppets I shown on screen was pathetic . Stuart Atwell is not fit for purpose
Great save by Raya and wonderful strike by Bruno .
A ferocious game played in cauldron under the influence of a muppet referee and visually impaired VAR has been summarised well by Matt @30 &31, JML @32 plus BtM @33.
What a fantastic save by our well deserved MotM, Raya, and what an outrageous first goal for Bruno! Always loved that boy!
Surely it’s a coincidence that Sunderland play in Stoke shirts?
Karma is a real bitch, isn’t it, you Makem scum?
Three points from a tough away gig and a clean sheet. Nothing not to like.
I hear Stevie Wonder is on VAR at Brighton. He couldn’t be worse than Atwell
Decided we weren’t going to brave the 200 mile journey home from Sunderland last night so stayed in an unusual combined 3 star hotel and Indian restaurant just outside Durham, for very reasonable cost. Turned out to be a great decision. Very nice pint with the owner when we got in about 11.25. Pulsating game. The locals don’t like Bruno. Top of the league!
The away support came through loud and proud on my broadcast. As did the booing of Bruno.
Rode the park and ride buses with the Mackems. Which was interesting. Arteta seems to wind them up big time, although they were very admiring of the team.
Watching Foden get sent off and Rashford be peripheral reminds me of two or three seasons back when the discussion was where each of England’s three world class talents should play for their country and who was best out of they and Saka.
Can’t understand why Foden got a red. Surely a boot in Fernandes’s nuts is a natural position?
A mid-table quality performance at best by manure. Not competitive against 115ers with ten men. I had expected more. Should have known better, they have a very poor squad.
BtM@45: Spot on. ManU put up the worst performance of an XI against 10 men that I have seen in a long while. City defended well, but the Red Mancs made it much easier for them than it should have been. None of Carrick’s substitutions changed the fact that they weren’t working City as hard as they needed to. Tactical naivety.
Meanwhile, Enzo Fernandez may have swapped a dark blue shirt for a light blue one, but it hasn’t made him any less despicable. And why wasn’t Bruno Fernandes sent off or at least carded for kicking Foden in the back? And another and: why was the Man City forward, who was in an offside position and who dived across the flight of the ball when Haaland scored, not deemed offside? Even if you miss the ball by the thickness of your hair product, surely you are involved in the play by diving for the ball in the middle of the goal ahead of a covering defender and in front of the keeper?
>>>>>>>>>>>>