Last week, while idly pondering Manchester City’s stadium name, I discovered that Etihad is only the second-largest airline in the UAE, trailing Emirates, the leader. What with Arsenal having named their stadium Emirates and signed a long-term “Fly Emirates” shirt sponsorship, some people might think Arsenal should be able to get better commercial deals than City, seeing as Emirates must have plenty of money to spend, but I will leave that point for others to determine. In any case, Manchester City sport a much larger transfer budget than Arsenal, who never seem to be pursuing the same players as City in the transfer market, at least not in my reading of the headlines over the dozen years since they were purchased by Sheik Mansour of the Abu Dhabi royal family. None of this is to say Arsenal cannot compete with their oil-rich rivals, or even to defy the odds and come up with a win on any particular occasion, but let’s just say the scales are tilted against them. But enough of the grim reality.
On Wednesday evening Mikel Arteta returns to the Etihad, the site of his top-level coaching apprenticeship of three and a half seasons under Pep Guardiola, to lead Arsenal into a battle that most observers will give him little chance of winning against the two-time defending Premier League champions. Guardiola will do his best to give his protege another coaching lesson, but this time not a friendly one. Pep was not only Arteta’s mentor but gave him his first chance to coach at a big club, albeit in an assistant role. Arteta was Guardiola’s right-hand man during City’s 2017/18 and 2018/19 Premier League title-winning seasons so this match; being the first time Arteta faces his old employers since he left to become coach of Arsenal, it should be an emotional and memorable occasion for the two men.
Arsenal last played Saturday at home when they saw off West Ham by 1-0. Their opponents will be playing on a day’s less rest, last having played Sunday at Old Trafford when they lost by two goals and were unable to score. Arsenal next play Saturday away at Brighton while the Citizens host Burnley the same day, so on Wednesday both clubs will be playing their second of three games within a week, and the managers will need to consider the fatigue factor in their team selection and substitution decisions. Arsenal currently sit ninth in the table, trailing Manchester City in second spot by 17 points. The positive spin is that City lag league leaders Liverpool by an even larger margin of 25 points, which made me feel much better until I realised Liverpool have collected more than twice as many points as Arsenal, but Liverpool will not be the opponents at hand in any case. Despite their recent decline City are still more than capable of outclassing any opposition, particularly when playing at home. In their last four league encounters, City have outscored Arsenal by 11 goals to one, and by five goals to nil at the Etihad, so Mikel will need to come up with a better game plan than his two predecessors were able to do.
There
was some fairly egregious last-minute rescheduling of this fixture,
which was postponed from the weekend before last when City defeated
Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup final, and Arsenal dispatched Portsmouth
in the FA Cup. The Premier League announced the new date just seven
days ago, presenting considerable added difficulty for teams and fans
who will have had to readjust their travel schedules. Arsenal
announced: “The game will be played next Wednesday to avoid potential
fixture congestion for both teams towards the end of the season. We are
pleased to confirm that the club is subsidising coach travel to/from
Manchester for this match.” Hopefully, more than just a few traveling
Gooners will be able to take advantage of the travel subsidy, hastily
rearrange their plans, attend the match, and see a performance that
justifies all their effort.
Pending appeal Manchester City are banned from European competition for two years because of financial shenanigans, so the race is on for fifth place, the final Europa League spot, and despite all odds Arsenal are still in the hunt. Will Guardiola be able to motivate his players to expend maximum effort when there is relatively little of tangible meaning left to play for? Having just lost the Manchester derby, the air seems to be coming out of City’s sails a bit, so it might not make a great deal of difference to some of them whether they finish in second or third place, but there is no way to know for sure until the game is played. But young players like Phil Foden must have greater motivation compared to older teammates like David Silva. City are still in the Champions League and the FA Cup but their season has an air of disappointment about it. This week Raheem Sterling was quoted in the press saying the players have been “slacking” which could be a rallying cry, a call for help, or both at the same time.
City have suffered the loss to injury of central defender Aymeric Laporte for much of the season. Last year Laporte looked capable of becoming Vincent Kompany’s successor in the heart of defence when the club’s long time captain returned to Belgium. But Laporte was injured in August and missed the next five months. He played in three of City’s last four league games but has not yet played 90 minutes so their defence is still in a relatively unstable situation, and the team news says Laporte will not play on Wednesday. Most of the season Laporte’s position was filled by 34 year old defensive midfielder Fernandinho who did a decent job but apparently not quite good enough to keep City in the Premier League title race. Nicolas Otamendi at centre back and Kyle Walker at right back have been near certainties in the team but Benjamin Mendy and Oleksandr Zinchenko have shared the left back position. City’s midfield foursome has been stable with Kevin de Bruyne, Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva starting most Premier League games. David Silva has played a significant number of minutes but fewer than last year as he winds his career down, and Riyad Mahrez has featured on the wing more often than last season. Sergio Agüero has played less often as he and Gabriel Jesus have shared time at the main striker position. Speedy Raheem Sterling has played more minutes than any other player excepting De Bruyne and their dependable goalkeeper Ederson.
Team selection
Against the Hammers Bernd Leno was most observers’ Man of the Match, and he will surely keep his place in the Arsenal goal. The back four must feature David Luiz, who has so much experience against big teams on big occasions, but Arteta has an interesting decision as to Luiz’ centre-back partner between Pablo Marí, who played calmly and effectively against Portsmouth and West Ham earlier in the week, and Shkodran Mustafi, who returned to full training last Thursday after his 2020 resurrection as Luiz’ regular partner was interrupted by injury. Hector Bellerin and Bukayo Saka should be the fullbacks assuming both are fit.
Under three managers Granit Xhaka has been one of the only constants in the Arsenal team, despite my protestations, and I see no likelihood the Swiss will be left out of this one. Dani Ceballos is in an excellent run of form and it would be a shame to rest him now, but it would be great to see Joe Willock get a chance in the advanced midfield role filled since Arteta’s appointment by Mesut Özil. The timing of this match, given the number of games Özil has played in a brief period, suggest there could be an opening for the young man. Reiss Nelson impressed in his 30 minute cameo against West Ham in place of the frustrated Nicolas Pepe, and it would be refreshing to see Nelson play there from the start at the Etihad. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, who scored in his last two substitute appearances, should take their places in the remaining attacking positions.
The ‘holics pound
Arsenal will concede in this game, I don’t think there is any way around it. If we can avoid conceding two goals we will be doing well considering all the creative players and finishers at Manchester City’s disposal. But I don’t think we will manage quite that well defensively, which is why I’m going for a scoreline of 2-3 with Gabriel De Jesus to score first and Sterling second, but Auba to go bang bang bang in a scorching second half salvo. Quite enough to cure your halftime blues, I would think! Come on Arsenal, let’s see you hang with the big boys. Have a good one, ‘holics.
Great stuff, thanks bt8!
The poster we appreciate
Holic pound is on two-three
Who am I to disagree?
2-3? Sweet dreams are certainly made of that, OM.
Good going, bt8b. Another cracking preview.
How great to wake up and find anew posting in the bar. And such a positive one!
I’ll be keeping everything crossed this evening for a favourable result. Woe betide any goat of sacrificial age that crosses my path during the day.
COYG
Cheers bt8. Lovely preview that sets the scene for the match well.
I like the holics’ pound too. We must follow Dave’s example of betting on results in favour of the good guys, so why not assume we will concede and plump for an attacking response to see us to three points?
Welcome to Mulerise14 who showed up in the last drinks. If there are any other long time ‘lurkers’ (readers who don’t post comments) from Dave’s bar who fancy adding your voices to this new bar then we would all like to hear from you.
There is a tipple of your choice on the bar…
Plus one for all the old hands, both regular and returning. Always a pleasure.
Great preview packed with info, bt8. As Pangloss observes, it’s a wonderful thing to wake up to!
I’d love to start the day with a glass of whatever you were drinking while you wrote it because at my most positive, I can just about anticipate a draw. It’s the Celtic gloom that drags me down!
COYG
Cheer up Baff.
I’m sticking the Dino pound on 1-0 to The Arsenal. I’d love to see us put on a rearguard action and keep a clean sheet as we hold on to an early lead bobbled in off David Luiz’s arse.
COYG!
😀
👍🏼
Thanks Gunnersaurus……Man city has nothing to loose by the outcome of this game and we have everything to gain by the by not loosing.If a’thing Man city of this season looks like a pale cousin of the last season’s team.They sure can be gotten at,they are vulnerable at the back,we should set up in a way that would magnify their vulnerability a la counters.
Please could someone help me play the videos of our first 3 or 4 games for Arteta-i remember bournemoth,chelsea,man united games-the energy to our pressing,the pace of our passing and the speed of our counter,we need to go back to that.We have started being ponderous in possession of recent.
All our pace burners should start(Aubumeyang Martinelli and pepe).Martinelli should start central,that would throwing city a curveball alright,for he is a gadfly,the likes of which defenders hate to play against.Laca can be braught on later.
Here is to holic pound……2-3 Arsenal and Arsenal won it against all odds…cheers
The odds on a 3-2 win for The
Arsenal are a mouth-watering
54-1 and even a 1-0 win is 33s.
I was quite shocked until I thought
about how bad we’ve been away
for quite a while. Time for a change.
Thanks to all for your kind comments on this post, especially to Scruzgooner for a great photo caption! And welcome to the drinks, Mulerise14 !!
Tempting if daunting odds there, OM.
Great preview, bt8. I would prefer Mustsfi over Mari, Nelson over Pepe and Martinelli over Laca to start. However, Laca is likely to start given his recent goal scoring form and experience. A draw is the best I can hope for.
Congratulations to all concerned for getting this site going. A great way to remember and honor Holic.
Sobering reminder of bigger issues than football in Olympiakos’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, testing positive for Covid-19. He was at the Ems for the Europa League second leg last month, though the club says that no Arsenal staff who came into contact with him then have reported any symptoms since. Stay healthy, all.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51814887
Hello ksn, nice to see you here!
Hello
I’m sorry for what I said last night
Some of the boys brought out bottles of stout they’d made.We all were there. It is like the United Nations there. I was born in Scotland with all the vocal joy that gave himself
I really don’t think though that I will be around much but me da told me to so I’m observing the oul cunts wishes
He really was a nice man . He said stuff to provoke reactions.
Indeed the English grandchildren one of mine included still had to wipe their feet over exaggerated to give back any Donegal soil they were thinking of stealing AGAIN ! 😃
They loved it We did it this morning
Thank you David’s family and cheerio
Brendan,
I think I speak for all when I thank you for your kind words @16. You are right of course, we didn’t know your dad. All we knew was the character he chose to portray in the old blog. That was a character that we loved and were exasperated, quite often at the same time.
Remember him with love and affection. We will.
To find out cba may have liked jazz is a crushing blow… I thought he had taste (minus his inexplicable infatuation with The Ramones, which we “discussed” occasionally)
🙂
He made me laugh when he accused me of being an ex soldier once. Me! I was shit scared of being in the cubs.
Good times.
Thanks,OM. Nice to be back; really missed the company.
Cynic
I don’t think Feo likes jazz either. More a hip hop kinda guy.
ksn and Brendan, It’s good to see you both back. Cheers!
Thanks, bt8.
Lots of activity around the blog. Marvellous to see !
Firstly another really good preview by Bt8 – comprehensive analysis of the background to the game and likely team selection . I’d go with Mari , I’d play Guendouzi and Ceballos in midfield and Martinelli wide on the left . I’m not sure if Bellerin will play and Arteta hinted that Soares May be in the squad . Its hard to envisage anything better than a draw with the midfield he will actually play but if Bt8’s prediction comes true I will be ecstatic!
Welcome Mulerise , Welcome back Ksn and great to hear from you Brendan . Your da was very much loved in this bar .
Nice to have a long swig of Red Bull !
Spuds one down, 2-0 on aggregate. Not great from Lloris
Lloris is no Leno. Bit conflicted, as Spuds crashing out may allow them to focus on the league.
2-0 (agg 3-0). Game over. Sliced open down the left
I can see the match reports now as the commentators are working up to it:
Plucky Tottnumb were desperately unlucky to be knocked out of the CL in a tie that should have been postponed until their fatally injured key players had recovered and become available for selection. This depleted team really deserved to go through and certainly would have done if MeltyFace and some other c**t had been fit. No other team has ever had to suffer such a handicap.
In other news Jermaine Jenas is in therapy.
Jermaine, Glenn, Gary and Crouchy are een that you know that Sp*rz were depleted tonight. They dared to do.
Spuds dared to be done and
were, nice of them to cheer us
all up with their amusing antics
on The Buffon Show.
Oh dear – The Buffoon Show
I meant to say. I have spuds
for fingers and mash for
brains 😥
Anyway best get the mockery
in now in case things go sideways
at The Emptihad.
Jonathan Liew writes an epitaph to the Spuds
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/mar/11/farewell-champions-league-campaign-spurs-leipzig
Heavy rumours around that City game cancelled Wednesday night due to corona virus and linkage of cv positive Olympiacos President
Confirmed, it’s on Arsenal.com
It is postponed.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/manchester-city-match-postponed
You beat me to it, C100.
If none of the players has developed any symptoms 13 days after some of them were in contact with Evangelos Marinakis (and I assume we would have heard of it if they had), then hopefully none of them, or the club staff at risk, have contracted Covid-19.
Here’s hoping all stay fit and well.
Heavily washed fingers crossed
that everyone at club stays well
@32
Thanks CM – a very enjoyable
read though I’m a bit with
Potsticker in that I don’t want
things to disintegrate completely
yet as then even Levy might pay the
money to get rid of Maureen.
A draw with Manure this weekend
would be good.
And I must spare a thought
for bt8 who will have to rewrite
later in the season!
That could be three fewer goals for Auba this season, Matt. 🙂
Left foot, right foot, header
hat trick too 🙂
The Olmpiakos guy is in charge
of Nottm Forest too. Though
their next match isn’t postponed
yet and the Olympiakos / Wolves
game is also going on albeit behind
closed doors. That might make me
a little nervous if I played for Wolves
and doesn’t seem a logical decision.
OM@41: I think the reason that our game is off, but Wolves’ is on is because our players met Marinakis 13 days ago. Thus, the game falls within the 14-day quarantine period. Had it gone ahead, the Man City players would then have to go into isolation for 14 days as they would have been in contact with possibly infected individuals (i.e. our squad) during the potential incubation period. The Wolves’ game is on Thursday so the Olympiakos players would be beyond the incubation period even if their game with us were the latest date that they were first in close contact with Marinakis. This assumes no one else at Olympiakos except Marinakis has shown symptoms or that everyone there has tested negative for Covid-19. The same logic probably applies to Notts Forest’s next game.
Alternatively, UEFA could be a bunch of tosspots who don’t know what they are doing.
The latter may be the correct explanation.
I must admit I’m leaning to the
latter as well Ned.
The former has a few assumptions
whereas the latter has a neat
Occamist (is that a word?) ring
to it.
Thanks Countryman100 @32. Nice read and made me laugh. Not everyday that you see Mourinho feel so helpless. Saw the first half of a Spurs match and was surprised by the sort of dominance Leipzig had over an outclassed Spurs team.
Thanks TTG @ 23.
Good to see the bar re-opened and thanks to all involved in that process. Onwards.
UTA.
Nice preview bt8, even though it took me three days to read it !
And now the game is off due to the Coro…. well, you know. Seems eminently sensible in the circumstances, if costly for would be travelling fans and disappointing for the rest of us. Hopefully the club will do the right thing when those travelling fans eventually get to make the trip.
Thanks for dropping in, Brendan. Your dad was brilliant in here. I had a bit of offline contact with him a few tears ago now, in trying to remotely help him with his neck pain. He’s sorely missed.
Good to see the activity on this new site – have we gone viral yet – er, oh well …..😳
Hello Noosa,
Nice to you here again too.
I imagine Noosa is a little
quieter than usual…..
Not strictly football, but this is an informative read in the London Review of Books on SARS-CoV-2.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n06/rupert-beale/short-cuts
hilarious from mediawatch today, even as covid-19 is scaring the piss out of us: “At what point does just carrying on largely as normal [playing games to full houses] even as Italy and Spain take ever more drastic steps become actively irresponsible? Do Spurs deserve credit for being ahead of the curve and proactively ceasing all football activity several weeks ago?”
🙂
and let’s hit the half ton, just for fun.
I apologise fellas
Didn’t mean to whatever
I don’t know any of you
but my father said
shout hello
they’ll know me
was gonna say nothing
Goonerholic was a name I knew when I stayed
In Donegal
respect his memory
He was a good person to my father
and vice versa
Nice people die
It’s shite
And
I’m
Trying
To
Wallop
his
Memory
Down
Long
Stuff
Fuckin sorry
Himself would laugh
but it s one of mine
wrote that
cheerio
me da was a good man
And he loved all of you
Sorry Brendan. Join us in the next article!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And himself knew music but he called people who set great store in who played this or that ‘trane spotters . He gave me two guitars. I have a garage
We really are missing him he was brilliant just so nice