Arsenal shift from the bus stop to the seaside on Monday night for a ridiculously scheduled 4th round cup tie away to Bournemouth.
The match however will find the Gunners in good heart after a courageous performance last week. A similar showing for 90 odd minutes should surely be enough to take the recently reticent Cherries shouldn’t it?
Therein of course lies the challenge for The Arsenal in its current incarnation – can we take the first 30 minutes against Palace and the last 60 against Chelsea and produce the kind of performance that
Mikel Arteta is demanding. Personally, I’ve been impressed by MA thus far and believe he is on the right track to finding the focus, fitness and ferocity – insert the F of your choice – this team has lacked for too long. A cold Monday night on a windswept coast is as good a place as any to start.
For those of you looking for good omens – we have never lost to Bournemouth in the cup. Of course we have never played them in the FA Cup but we have actually only lost to them once ever in all competitions and the day may come when we lose to the Men of the West again but it will not be this day.
Who will play?
Both clubs fielded relatively strong XIs in their respective 3rd round ties despite facing Championship opposition at home and I see no reason to expect any change in that policy tomorrow. Emi for Leno again, Luiz and Auba suspended, Kola and Nelson unfit, which leaves MA with selection decisions mostly made for him by circumstances. Cases could be made to give starts to AMN, Dani, Eddie or most likely Guen but I think the starting XI will be…………..
Emi
Hector Papa Rob Saka
Torriera Xhaka
Pepe Ozil Martinelli
Laca
And what of Bournemouth? They have struggled mightily for goals recently, firing blanks for four PL games in a row until a much-needed 3-1 win against Brighton. One bright spot for them will be that Calum Wilson has started scoring again recently and does have 3 in 6 games against The Arsenal. Another Wilson, Harry, has also been playing well in patches this season. However, a goal difference of 23-37 shows they have been struggling at both ends through a winter of mostly discontent. The bookies currently have them as 2nd favourites for relegation and no doubt survival is their first priority for the remainder of this season.
The Holic Pound
A mostly misfiring Bournemouth attack and a generally generous Arsenal defence sees the old enemy favouring a 1-1 draw for this clash of a resistable force against a movable object. However, we will not surf those negative waves Moriarty and instead let’s back our heroes to fill our banks with gold at the
attractive odds of 33-1 on a 4-1 Arsenal win. Not very charitable I know but I prefer the Cherries roasted in a pie and their stones nailed to the Dorset on the way out – get it done Gunners! Finally, a happy and safe trip to all Gooners making the long or short journey tonight.
First? I decided it would be cheating to go for a first post after a WhatsApp publication notification without reading and properly commenting.
A good debut OM, complete with sensible team selection, realistic comments and a shout out to Mattie’s heroes.
COYG
Good stuff, OM. Let’s avoid a draw please. I think Hector may just have returned as our first pick RB and so AMN is the more likely starter at Bournemouth. Good looking team.
Is this our first main post from far flung Japan? It’s a mighty fine debut Matt. 👏👏👏
Lots to chew on in your excellent preview, OM, but the cherry pie and associated images are standouts. May the second score prevail. COYG !!
Nice going, OM. Fine debut. You have picked off the Cherries precisely.
4-1 is a brave call. Will be delighted if you are right, but I would venture that 2-1 is more likely, albeit at less attractive odds.
Guendouzi may start for Torriera if only to give the Uruguayan more recovery time. If Papa doesn’t make it, might Arteta be tempted to play Xhaka at CB again, rather than Mustafi?
OM,
Well done!
What an excellent ( and highly optimistic) preview that underlines the feelgood factor that Mikel Arteta is slowly establishing. We don’t need extra fixtures , so while a draw wouldn’t be a disastrous result , it will be much more satisfactory in every sense if we can go through first-time. I believe we can and I think 2-1 might be the score . As for the team I agree with Btm about AMN at RB and Ned about Guendouzi playing instead of Torreira . We might also see Nketiah starting upfront with Laca on the bench .
Let us hope it is a fruitful evening for us and our FA Cup journey continues towards Wembley .
I found this article on our shiny new CB quite interesting.
https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/pablo-mari-arsenal-why-he-is-no-normal-signing-by-mikel-arteta-4313032?fbclid=IwAR0X-RvZGel7cmAPXBhIIvpjEcZIu2j7NSwX2v_6zQjjUfJjwRikNjrwOuA#popup-sso
nicely done, matt. i love your optimism!
Excellent preview OM. The Buddhist element in your acronym and your new homeland has clearly had no calming influence on your enthusiastic score line and fruity prose (oooo err, Mrs) . I am inclined towards the prediction of the more conservative amongst us and predict 2-1 to the Arsenal (one of the Guvna’s favourite punts) given our proclivity to defensive generosity and paucity of chance creation. I expect AMN to start at RB alongside Sokratis and Holding in the centre, Ceballos for Özil and Eddie for Laca but otherwise as you predict. No draws please.
COYG
Thank you all for the kind
comments – more difficult than
I expected but very enjoyable
to write.
Ned – I’d certainly play almost
anyone in front of Mus just now
if I was MA. Better for him and
us if he leaves this week I think.
I don’t mean to be harsh and wish
him luck but his time is done.
@9 Bath
🙂
In fact, I did pass on several
more or less rude Cherries
puns for fear of having to
moderate my own post….
Scruz,
My sympathies to you and all our American friends on here on the death of Kobe Bryant.
Taken far too soon
thanks, ttg. a tough day.
our club is as classy as ever.
Thanks for the link iBtM
I don’t know anything about
Mari really other than he’s left
footed. I did read that he’d never
actually met Pep which made me
wonder how much MA actually
knows him, and also that he has
good positional sense, usually code
for slow. No idea if those things
are actually true.
Anyway best of luck to
him at Arsenal of course.
matt, watching his vids he doesn’t look slow. reminds me of kozzer, who could run a bit. looks like excellent timing; you have to have some of all of it to be named defender of the year in any league.
@14
That’s good scruz and I hope
for the best as always. We could
certainly use another Kozzer.
Horrible, the helicopter crash. My heart goes out to all who were affected by its impact.
The other reason to avoid a draw at Bournemouth is that the replay will be in the Premier League’s winter break, which messes up the whole idea of having a break so the players get a rest and the injured more healing time with the horse placenta. Typical FA.
lol@ned, forgot about that horse placenta.
Yeah Klopp is sulking about the
timing of the replay. Surprised
Maureen hasn’t yet come to think
of it.
Cheers Matt!
No need to think, OM. Maureen is 100% sulk mode.
Telegraph article in which Arteta hints that Mustafi can be rehabilitated:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/01/26/mikel-arteta-backs-rescue-shkodran-mustafis-arsenal-career/
So can we assume he will be here until at least the summer?
Martinez,
Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Saka,
Guendouzi, Xhaka,
Pepe, Willock, Martinelli,
Nketiah
Bench: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Torreira, Ceballos, Ozil, Lacazette
Bit less strong than expected.
Willock for Ozil is the only real surprise, though.
Portsmouth away in the next round if we win.
Chelski get Liverpool or Shrewsbury at home
The neighbours get Norwich at home if they beat So’ton in the replay.
There are moments I feel like I am talking to myself.
I know that feeling Ned. It’s one of the few ways I can hold an intelligent conversation 😉
Two medium strong teams tonight. Interesting to see if young Eddie has made progress whilst he’s been away. Past 2 years he’s still to establish himself. Hopefully Mikel see’s the potential and will assist him in becoming 1st team regular.
I also fancy the Holic favourite of 2-1.
COYG
Excuse my manners OM, a very fine debut preview 👏👏
Exactly, Uply.
Thankyou for this news Ned.
Since we started the Whats App Group there is prodigious traffic on there at times but less deeper debate about team, tactics etc on here. I get a bit overwhelmed by the volume of What’s App messages, emojis whatever .
Your analysis of the teams is spot-on. They are not starting Callum Wilson which may be because he has had injury issues. We should be able to do this tonight if the attitude is right from the outset .
COYG
COYG!!
how’s that for in-depth, ttg? 😜
get in saka!
What a great start 1-0 Bacary Saka – super goal. We’ve settled down well 👍
eeeeedddieeeeeeeee
2-0 Eddie – another lovely move / goal. Stupid delay for VAR.
yeah, no doubt. i thought VAR was supposed to look for “obvious” errors?
man, gabigol looks so good. ake did well, but eddie was *there*.
about 35 minutes in we lost our rhythm when xhaka lost the ball trying to pass out of defense. the last 7 minutes or so the cherries are juiced.
looks to be we stemmed the cherries’ tide.
HT 2-0 playing comfortably. Allowed them back in last 10 min. Same again 2cnd half please.
They got into it when Fraser moved out wide and Pepe isn’t tracking him back . Until then we had a spare man every time. We need to avoid the brain farts and keep moving the ball quickly . Xhaka is playing as a left-sided centre back to free up Saka who is effectively a wing-back . Keep steady lads ! I love tge movemen5 of Willock and Nketiah upfront
Was going to say you’re the pits scruz but then decided you’re really a bowl full. 😉
lol, bt8, of what, i wonder 🙂
ttg, dead cert. i am digging everyone’s movement, even pepe’s, up front. and the balls from mus and xhaka have been da kind.
time to wrap this up into a nice package, bake it, and serve hot.
Ridiculously scheduled tie OM? The youngsters seem to like it, and Maria and C100 have met up so what more do you want?
oh no, martinelli down.
so glad not to see him clutching his achilles.
don’t be stupid, guendo.
interesting thing as this game devolves into handbags and niggles. that just plays into bournemouth’s hands. so often this has happened and we’ve NOT scored the two goals, then we give up a late one, or a penalty, or a freekick goal. the other thing i see is we’re giving back to them what they’re giving to us, willock just took out ake on the edge of their box; gosling and guendo are vying for matching shades of yellow…
speaking of achilles, that looked like mustafi’s. if so he’s not going anywhere in january, or even in the summer, if at all.
who’s on the bench. rob?
man, it’s easy to get milestones when you’re talking to yourself. rob it is.
damien got very lucky there.
dani in for pepe. hopefully he’ll run with the same purpose, but be better defensively.
willock fighting cramp.
Dani was in the news this week for all the wrong reasons, rumors that he wants out of Arsenal.
I meant ridiculously scheduled
for me bt8 🙂
So far so good as you say though
apart from Mus injury
Hmm Hector down, Wilson off,
Wilson on
@52. I oughta know scruz. But it makes the stats look good. 💪🏻
looks like hector got the wind knocked out of him.
yeah, you do know about it. but you also used to riff with cba on a time, so…
Good morning Japan
Yeah, I almost caught on to his wavelength a few times before he veered off in a new direction
Good effort from Cook, just
wide.
indeed, that was always a tough ask…
Is the score still the same?
looks like he came off the worse with the headbanging, matt.
yeah, 2-0 to the good guys.
4 minutesish plus stoppage time.
lovely throughball from dani for saka.
Morning I should say bt8.
Hopefully we see this one out
from here for 8 minutes.
8 minutes stoppage!
guendo flashes just over after nice containing work by half the team.
god did we fall asleep.
if this turns into a draw, we’ll show we’ve gained nothing over the last four weeks excepting a bit more excitement.
can we control the rest of the game and win? COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
Past their bedtime 🙄
Finally!
brave work, emi.
nice game, lads. on to portsmouth!
FT 2-1 Phew !
saka motm, i think.
Well wrong team, wrong score
but all’s well that ends well
I suppose.
I never find it easy to watch us in the second half away from home even with a comfortable lead. We murdered them in the first half but I felt we dropped a level in the second and Bournemouth were much more direct. Mustafi looks seriously injured and if with Chambers out for months and Mavropanos out on loan we will almost certainly need to find another centre back.
I liked Guendouzi, Willock , Martinelli and Nketiah tonight but in the end we made harder work of it than we should have. Still it’s a milestone for Arteta – his first away success and clea4 progress in terms of team style
Agree scruz@80
We were scrappy 2nd half but
saw it out which made a nice
change
In that first half, I thought the ‘holics pound looked nailed on, OM. Second half, not so much. But in the Cup, it is the win that matters, so on to Portsmouth.
Mari seems to be the new CB
I was surprised Rob still couldn’t
get a start tonight.
Excellent first half. Decent second. Lots of good performances and I’m very pleased about Saka and Eddie getting the goals. They are both players who have the ability to contribute goals and it would be huge for us if they could both get a few more as the season progresses.
I’m a bit gutted to lose the clean sheet at the end, but I suppose in the cup it doesn’t matter too much as long as we go through.
If Guendouzi can cut talking to refs out of his game, he will be one hell of a player. Mustafi had one of his best games for us that I have seen. Perhaps Arteta can turn him around. I hope his injury is not as severe as TTG fears. Saka was outstanding, and not just for his goal. He is developing into a handy defender — shades of winger-turned-left-back Ashley Cole, dare one say it. Martinelli worked his socks off as always and produced quality. Nketiah had a good game, took his goal well but made you realise how much chasing and harrying Laca does when he plays. Willock back in his old Academy role of attacking midfield. Is he, rather than ESR, the Ozil heir apparent?
Cheers for the preview OM. An excellent debut.
Well the Holic favourite 2-1 scoreline romped home.
As TTG said we mullered them in the first half but a struggle in the second half – it was a hard watch as the game went on. Surprising to say we looked more fragile when Holding came on for the injured Mustafi ( who’d a thought it ). It looks like another bad injury.
Saka and Martinelli going from strength to strength. Lots of good energy from the team and the heads never dropped when we came under pressure in the last part of the game. Lots of positives and the team continues to progress under the new regime.
Me too for the pound Ned
🙂
Ned. Totally agree about Guendouzi talking to refs way too much. I thought he had one of his best games for a long time and there were a few really nice bits of close control in tight midfield areas when he found a way out and played a good pass.
matt@85, i hope the mari deal goes through after what i read…we want him on loan with an option to buy; they want to sell him. given mustafi’s achilles has got to be in ribbons, he won’t see a pitch until at least october. that means we should just buy mari and be done.
gsd@91 agree with you and ned. he needs to hush. i also think g was letting the ball do more of the movement for him, and positioning himself better to hare after it. at the start of his time at arsenal he touch-stopped the ball, then turned after flicking it a little ways, and that was getting caught on.
I hope Mustafi isn’t badly hurt. Always a real worry when someone is stretchered off and he was having a good game.
Hoofs it long
Thanks GSD @88
And also to Uply and Esso earlier
I was happy to see Joe W back starting,
he’s dropped off the radar a little.
Nods it down
scruz@92
We will have too many CBs on
the books but agree we should
sign Mari as he’s relatively cheap
and only 26.
MA can then sort out who he
wants and who he doesn’t by
the summer.
Picks up own nod down, senses
lurkers aplenty in the box and
hangs over a cross for……
Bang!
matt@98, agreed. with mus out, chambo out, bellerin and holding coming back (and stop-start, no doubt), having someone else for defense (i can see two from mari, luiz, sokratis, or holding at any given time, with xhaka spelling for number 5). and yes, something for ma8 to sort out, i’d rather winnow fewer from more than worry about having enough.
well in for the ton, gsd.
Nice finish GSD.
Good to see the ton up and an
away win the same night, been
rare recently
Well in for ton gsd and of course scruz for a meritorious tabs.
The CB’s we have keep falling like flies. Hopefully no more go into fetlock. Next year we have the already signed Saliba, currently remaining at St Etienne until the end of this season. He is very rated but will have to be special to be able to adjust from the much softer ligue un to the demands of the premier league (see Pepe for example).
At least Mari ( assuming he is actually signed ) at 6’3” adds much needed height to the centre of defence – mind you Per was 6’5”” and I don’t recall him being domineering to the high balls ( awaits Trev’s riposte ).
Cheers Scruz and Matt. You’re right about the ton and the away win. Let’s have a lot more this year.
This line was lurking deep in the BBC’s match report:
Arsenal have been in talks over a £10m deal for 26-year-old Flamengo defender Pablo Mari but the move has currently stalled..
Deal not as done and dusted as we thought?
Well in for the ton, GSD.
@105: in the report about Mustafi’s injury, not the match report: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51275134
ned, i saw it was stalled, too, but that might be a misinterpretation of his returning to brazil, which was previously arranged.
The cost for Mari seems to be
gradually creeping up – 10m
now – we’d better sign him quick
before it goes up again.
We should know in the next day
or so as the medical is done and
it will certainly leak out once
Mari arrives back in Brazil.
One other positive tonight –
Laca, Auba, Ozil, Torreira and
Luiz all got a rest for various
reasons and should be good to
go for Burnley away.
Additional tenth ton.
OM. Flamingo smells a big pay day.
Unless that’s bird poop.
Eagle-eyed there bt8, I think
you’re eggsactly right.
We’d have to be cuckoo to overpay
so the deal may go tits up.
The two CBs we were linked with last week both use Canales as agent. He was the agent who squeezed Emery into the selection process at the last minute and there may be confusion over the Mari deal because he is trying to get two pay-offs here. Deals with Brazilian clubs are notoriously depifficult to do because of image tproghts and ownership issues but this appears to be because ( and my business head finds this amazing) Edu travelled to Brazil, spoke to Flamengo , brought the lad back and oversaw the medical before we had agreed the structure of the deal . Either that or one side or other is moving the goalposts as part of a ‘ negotiation ‘ . Allegedly the lad is very keen on the deal and given Mustafi’s injury ( his ankle was very compromised in that challenge ) we must get something done . I would expect it to go through at the last minute but as he was supposedly starting pre-season training yesterday I doubt if he will be up to speed for some time
Image rights was well and truly mangled in my last post. Perhaps a metaphor for the confusion over the deal !
Surely not another January
signing who is “3 weeks” away
from full fitness
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>