Arsenal followed up their excellent victory at Chelsea in midweek with an equally impressive win over fellow top 4 challengers, Manchester United. The Gunners came into the game knowing a win would take them into fourth, above Tottenham at least for a few hours. Mikel Arteta made just one change from Wednesday’s win, with Cedric returning at right back in place of Rob Holding. Paul Pogba was United’s only notable absentee. On three minutes, we made the dream start. Granit Xhaka whipped in a diagonal cross from the left, Raphael Varane swung at the ball and missed it, Telles did the same and it found its way to Saka who cut inside on his left and saw his shot parried by De Gea but only as far as Nuno Tavares who gleefully tapped home for his first Arsenal goal. 1-0 to The Arsenal!
This served as a wake-up call to United as they began to gain a foothold. Anthony Elanga burst through on goal but a combination of Tavares and Ramsdale thwarted the youngster. A few minutes later, United intercepted a very poor pass out from the back from Ramsdale and the ball found its way to Bruno Fernandes and if it wasn’t for an excellent block from Gabriel the goalkeeper may well have been left with egg on his face. His dip in form is slightly concerning but I still don’t think he’s droppable just yet.
Arsenal then began to reassume their dominance as we threatened to double our lead. Odegaard sent Nketiah through on goal after some scintillating interchange in the midfield, but he smashed his shot straight at De Gea. But Eddie wasn’t to be denied for long. Another incisive pass from Odegaard found Saka who squared it to Nketiah who took a touch and smashed the ball past De Gea. But following the celebrations there was a VAR check which adjudged the striker to have been marginally offside when the ball was played to him. Harsh. But wait! During the review a foul from Telles on Saka was also being checked. This occurred before the goal meaning any foul would result in a penalty. After Craig Pawson checked the pitch side monitor, he pointed to the spot. So, no goal for Arsenal but we had the fall back of a spot kick. Once again, Saka stepped up to take it. He calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner sending De Gea the wrong way. A mature penalty.
Merely two minutes later, our lead was halved as Nemanja Matic floated a cross to the back post, Ronaldo ghosted in between Tavares and Gabriel to poke the ball past Ramsdale who was in No Man’s Land. 2-1. We were able to navigate our way to the break without any further hiccups. As the second half began, we began to see a United resurgence. The visitors dominated possession and nearly found themselves level when Dalot was sent through, but his fierce shot was tipped onto the post by Ramsdale. An excellent save. A few minutes later, Manchester United were given a golden chance to equalise when they were awarded a penalty after Tavares handled following a corner. It was a definite penalty. Bruno Fernandes, a man with the most punchable face in the league, and possibly the universe, stepped up to take it. He tried to be clever with his silly little hop, skip and jump routine but it backfired when he saw his spot kick dribble onto the outside of the post. Get in! I was watching this game in a pub in central Manchester surrounded by some of the most Mancunian Mancunians you could ever meet, and you could honestly hear a pin drop. Apart from a loud shout of “get in!” That was me, obviously. Hands down my favourite moment of the season so far.
That penalty miss really knocked the stuffing out of United and Arsenal began to regain their composure by playing a game of keep ball, sapping up all of the visitors momentum and spirit. They really did look a disjointed side. Yesterday they announced that Erik Ten Hag will be taking over in the summer from Ajax and he really does have a huge rebuilding job on his hands. I look forward to watching them suffer the absolute dross we’ve been subjected to in the last few years. They really are in for a shock if they think they can just offload all their detritus in one go. You can’t sell something nobody wants as we found with Ozil and Kolasinac and countless others. We won’t tell them. It will be funny to watch the meltdown on Twitter when they can’t comprehend why no one wants to pay £50 million of the Queen’s finest for Phil Jones. I’ll send them a postcard from the Bernabeu when we get there. Although I’m not sure it will get to Kazakhstan in time for their Conference League crunch match with Kairat Almaty at 3pm on a Thursday afternoon. I digress. We made sure of the points with twenty minutes to go when Xhaka cashed in on his annual howitzer against Man United from twenty-five yards out. He really has been excellent in the last two games as has Elneny. Credit where it is due.
From that point we saw the game out comfortably. There was a nice moment near the end when Tomiyasu came on for last moments. It turns out he is alive after all. I honestly did wonder if I had simply imagined his existence for a while. Hopefully he stays fit for the final five games because we’re going to need him. But it was another fantastic victory against a Big Six side. I would love to know the last time we beat two Big Six sides back-to-back. I would be willing to put a decent amount of money on it being pre-Emirates era. It really does flatten the myth Arteta’s sides can’t win big games.
The win puts Arsenal in fourth on 60 points. We go to another top four rival next Sunday, this time at West Ham. Hopefully we can end their already slim top four hopes as well. Onwards and upwards we go.
COYG!
Thank you 21CG, an excellent write. Just to reiterate the shocking yellow for your favourite manc who should’ve received a red. I would love if we get up to 3rd, you never know, a bit of luck, a bit of skill…COYG
Bravo, 21cg. Ned, are the monks on it yet?
Bravo 21CG you’ve produced a very colourful and enjoyable description of events in what I thought was a match where, for once, we had the rub of the green and some luck on VAR I found it a very tense watch but Xhaka’s thunderbolt settled those nerves and he and Elneny did a great job in midfield . I’m very concerned about Ramsdale’s form. He made one fine save when he tipped the drive onto the post but he hasn’t impressed me for some time now. White didn’t have his best game either and we were endebted to Rob Holding for solidifying the defence late on. I was also delighted to see Tomi back at the end . He is by some distance the best piece of transfer business we did in the summer although Odegaard also showed his importance to the side. He’s a terrific footballer .Tavares scares the life out of me I’m afraid . He could have given three penalties away today . Usually they are given for United and would have been up there .
With the Totts struggling against a tough Brentford side it’s been a great week for us. Let us hope Bukayo is not seriously hurt. I also hear Partey is now on an exercise bike so perhaps we may see him before long.
Advantage Arsenal but we must hold our serve and hold our nerve
Great stuff again 21CG, another enjoyable one to write, Dennis loves you!
A week is a very long time in football it seems and great credit has to go to
team to come out of this one with the points after a quick turnaround from
the Chavski game. Elneny and Rob have proved themselves great squad players
to have when the going gets tough and the younger players have responded to
our goal famine with a 7 goal feast in the last two. The most impressive part of
our season has been, for me, how well this group has responded when the pressure
is on. It is all still to play for in terms of the CL spot but that is just a temporary target
in the end and what most of us want I guess is to get back to thé to the top of the
league, from that perspective we seem to be well on the right path. Tricky away days to come at Wham, spuds and a rejuvenated Newcastle but it’s nice to be in the fight after the
last couple of seasons and now we’ve got a team that’s up for that fight. COYG!
What a great week!
@3 Good points TTG. MA has decisions to make about the defence. Obviously other teams will have seen Nuno’s performance and will see that as an area to attack us in the next couple of games. MA was asking for the crowd to get behind Nuno after the game but it must be tempting to put Tomi back in and move Cedric across for the Wham game. Bowen will be dangerous and generally favors that left hand side to get in behind defenders.
Though to be honest Cedric was a bit shaky himself at times against Manure.
I wonder if we will start with the same formation as against Chavski and bring Rob back to start. I’d stick with Aaron, though Bernd is a great back-up to have.
In 2020, we beat Liverpool in the league and then Man City three days later in an FA Cup Semi-final. The last back-to-back league wins against a Big Six side was in 2013 when we beat the neighbours and then Liverpool at Anfield next game.
Ollie, thanks for your observations on Ramsdale in the previous drinks. Very much the same impression that I got from afar. I don’t think his form has dipped as much as TTG suggests, but he is having occasional moments that make our hearts go into our mouths. We are, though, holding him to a much higher standard than outfield players in expecting him to be flawless every game.
Entertaining and well written match report, 21CG.
I tend to agree with TTG that we rather got away with one yesterday. Despite Ferdinand on BT Sport whining like Violet Elizabeth Bott in the post match analysis, underlyingly he had some good points. The walking time timebomb that is Tavares could easily have given away another pen and technically Xhaka’s goal could have been scrubbed out for Eddie being offside and in the goalkeepers eyeline. Both of these fail the “what would I have thought if they had been given against us” test. At the same time, it’s nice to get the rub of the green once in a while. And for once it was nice to hear professional referee apologist Peter Walton applying all his powers of sophistry to find ways to support the referee’s decisions in our favour. I suspect he may now need to go and lie down in a darkened room. Although he ought to check that Ferdinand isn’t already in there.
Cheers 21CG.
Yeah, I think that sums it up Ned.
I had two Man U fans in front of me. Father and son, didn’t seem an obnoxious sort, but I enjoyed seeing them put their heads in their hands when Fernandes missed that penalty.
I think Dave would have given them an earful.
Also chatted to some nice old gentleman there, so I enjoyed my pilgrimage to block 32.
Great stuff 21CG. I’m loving the image of you sat in a Manchester pub, surrounded by true Mancs (no hiding away in the Union bar for you), the head in hands horror of Fernandez missing the penalty, stunned silence, broken only by the sight of the diminutive student (I’ve met you and can attest to the fact that you are by no means a “big old unit”) rising to his feet with an echoing shout of “get in”. You were probably lucky that you escaped with your teeth intact!
It was a crazy day in North London. It felt very much like the Chelsea game; two flawed teams going at it hammer and tongs with poor defending all round. United’s wingers were having a field day, the classy Sancho torturing Cedric in the first half and Elanga running past Nuno time and again. United seemed to make chance after chance. It was a very nervy North Bank after some dreadful defending brought the game back to 2-1 and the consensus was that we would would need another. So it proved when the frankly awful Nuno handled and a penalty was given. Now I must claim some credit for what subsequently happened. I loudly declared “well he never misses a penalty”. The jinx was in. Fernandez hopped up like an Easter bunny (WTF) and hit the post. Cue pandemonium and Ramsdale doing his best Keown tribute. It felt like a turning point and so it was. United’s heads dropped. Then with just over 20 minutes to go, came Granit’s banger. What a hit. The Mancs never looked like getting back into it after that.
Now I have watched the MOTD highlights and there is no doubt we had some luck with VAR. Well about time. The atmosphere, as I’m sure others who were there (CER and Ollie amongst others) would agree, was fantastic. The most sung song on the North Bank, by some distance, was the new Arteta song, first sung in March, I think at Villa away
We’ve got super Mik Arteta
He knows exactly what we need
Tierney at the back
Gabi in attack
Arsenal’s gonna win the Champions league
This is the best relationship between the fans, the team and the manager since mid period Wenger. The team is inconsistent and gives us a roller coaster ride between the horror shows of Everton and Southampton and the highs of Chelsea and the Mancs. But I think we are all enjoying it.
An excellent account of a vital victory, 21CG. Despite having only seen only MotD, I share Cynic’s view in the previous drinks that ‘we got away with one!’ However given the misfortune in the losses against Brighton and Southampton and for many games before that, the several rubs of the green we gained in this match merely bring the swingometer a tad back towards the mean. Big performances from the midfielders and Saka. Scary stuff from Nuno – as blogs said, the lad is a bit mental. Nice goal though and he probably scares the shit out of our opponents when he runs forward as much as he scares the shit out of us when he is trying to defend.
Onward.
Great write-up, 21CG – enjoying the irony – humour – okay, pure piss taking of an ever loathable team. How that snidely little shit Fernandez stayed on the pitch is beyond me. I think he’s extremely fortunate that there’s no video assistance for the referee to intervene when a clear and obvious error has been made, as was the case with his yellow card for the studs up, late late stamp into Tavares’ ankle. Still he got his comeuppance with the penalty miss – richly deserved after that stuttering, faltering, ridiculous routine designed to bewilder the keeper, but utterly useless when you don’t even shoot within the entire eight yards of the goal. What a horrible little prick.
You’ve covered everything of import in the match. I would only add that it is so good to see the obvious, wonderful spirit that Mikel Arteta has created in the squad. And that despite being widely criticised for his man management and non – negotiables which have led to the departures of some crowd favourites, and some not-so-favourites.
Harsh, tough ? Maybe. The alternative is the disjointed rabble that Manchester United has become with their tolerance of ill disciplined youngsters and self promoting prima donnas.
Who ? Greenwood, McTominay, Fernandez, Pogba and, with all due sympathy for the sad loss of his new baby, Ronaldo (“I will decide when I go, when I stay and when I play”)
We have a very good manager who does that at the Arsenal.
Amazing ! Every club talks about family. Nowhere is it more true.
ESR looks like a little kiddie in his jim-jams saying goodnight to papa in that photo.
Good to hear the VAR being called out as incompetent on MotD last night, as it was our old “friend” Jared Gillet, who should be nowhere near refereeing games, on the pitch or in the booth, at this level. He’s an awful ref and a worse VAR, as he can’t help sticking his nose in except when he really should. Then he hasn’t got the bottle, even sat in a nice studio miles away from any adverse reaction he might get.
Here’s that song
21CG: I was remiss earlier in not complimenting you on an excellent match report.
So you’ve come in to not compliment him again ! 🤣
Cheers for a great report 21CG. Nicely done. I’m enjoying the image of your shout of ‘get in’ in a Manchester pub as much as everyone else. Well played.
Nice drinks above. That photo is magic.
Re VAR. They never give a player offside unless they touch the ball. There are a lot of times offside players unsight keepers but they don’t get given, so I see no reason to count us as lucky when that convention was not broken against us.
I dunno about the Cedric handball. Although the way my commentary acted as though it was a nailed on penalty, rather than a debatable decision with opposing, but legitimate, viewpoints, makes me come down on Cedric’s side. Again, probably a bit lucky though.
Tavares on Elanga first time round is one of those where VAR wouldn’t have overruled a penalty, but maybe not enough in it to award one. As much as we could be seen as lucky there, only by the modern standard. If you were playing in the park you’d not consider falling over because some bloke touched your shoulder.
Tavares on Elanga second time round starts outside the box. Never a penalty.
Ronaldo is offside. No arguments about it. Rangnick is already so used to the rules being changed for Utd that he fronts up on national TV to complain when it doesn’t happen.
And the most egregious VAR decision, by a long way, was the Fernandes non-red. There is nothing much to say about that, we’ve all seen it. Shameful use of VAR.
VAR, as ever, is defined by the competence of the people administering it. They are shite.
However, it’s a bit gauling that – despite being regularly shafted by VAR to the sound of no-one giving a fuck or saying a word about it – as soon as we get a couple of decisions go our way (in a game in which not all the decisions went our way, and a couple of the ones being called ‘lucky’ for us would have been called ‘routine’ for most clubs) all the narrative is about how we got lucky with VAR.
Bollocks to that. And to Manure. And the lot of them.
Europe, here we come!
Trev @19. 🤣
Trev@19: Where’s grammar VAR when you need it?
GSD@20: Well said. I would be remiss…
Jorginho haha
The failure of Jorginho and Fernandes casts more doubt on the slightly camp hop skip and jump approach to a penalty kick. It looks utterly stupid when you miss. And Fernandes was extraordinarily lucky not to be red carded for an awful challenge on Tavares . I would have thought United wanted to keep Tavares on the pitch! When people suggest United are treated differently to other teams ( ie much more leniently) this incident is worth quoting as evidence .
If we beat West Ham next Sunday ( who will be without Dawson ) we will qualify for at least the Europa League.
Oh well, Chavski won, barely deserved, but at least Jorginho’s utterly shit penalty made me laugh. Wham rested Bowen, Rice and Antonio, hope they do that against us as they looked toothless without them.
Tuchel says Rudiger is leaving Chelsea due to the financial impact of the sanctions.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/61209248
How many more Chelsea supergalactictos will follow him out the door?
A good weekend for Hector. He won the Spanish cup with Real Betis and Forest Green, of which is a part-owner, gained promotion to League One.
Arsenal and West Ham have scored 52 goals each. The only difference: Arsenal conceded 40 and they conceded 44.
https://mobile.twitter.com/afcstuff/status/1518220460177121282/photo/1
That Twitter post is great picture of Arteta talking to Wenger, and this quote by Frimpong: “(Arteta) was the type of person you knew would be a manager, he never stopped talking & learning. I remember we used to call him Wenger’s son because every time we used to go out on the training ground, he’d be there talking, asking Wenger questions.”
bt8@26: Under the terms of Chelsea’s sanctions’ operating licence, the club cannot sign new contracts. Unless that changes, for example, with the sale of the club, Chelsea cannot renew any contracts expiring this summer, i.e., Rudiger, Christensen and Musonda. They also cannot exercise their option to buy loanee Saul Niguez. Contracts expiring in June 2023 include those of Thiago Silva, Azpilicueta, Jorginho, Marcos Alonso, Barkley and Kante. They must all be sweating on the arrival of a new owner and possibly a new manager, depending on what happens to Tuchel.
Ned, I saw a picture of Petr and Marina sitting together the other day in the Stamford Bridge sunshine, probably wondering to themselves where they will be next year at this time. I don’t think we should welcome Petr into the fold a second time seeing it was a mistake the first time. At least for me it was a mistake, part of the strategy of snapping up Chelsea discards.
Two interesting games yesterday .
Barca lost 1-0 at home to Raya Vallecano . It is the first time in a single season that they have lost three home games in a row . Auba started but was subbed by Frenkie De Jong on 70 minutes. Real have all but won the title and while Barca are likely to make the CL it is possible they could be overtaken if the season ends very poorly for them.
I watched the second half of Arsenal Ladies who won 3-0 away to Everton ( not a good day to be a Toffees fan !) Their passing and movement and touch were of a very high order. They are likely to fall just short in the league to Chelsea who beat the Totts away from home with ten women yesterday .
Leah Williamson is a superb defender and Beth Mead an outstanding attacker. For those who consider women’s football to be of a poor standard watching Arsenal play yesterday would have made you think again
Ned, That’s great to hear about the good news for Hector, who turned 27 last month, and for his club Betis. Here’s a song for his adopted part of Spain.
I wonder if Hector still might not have some mileage left for a successful return to London.
bt8@34: I doubt Hector would come back to understudy Tomi, given he is starting at Real Betis, his boyhood club.
Thanks for the info Ned, good to see Hector doing well, a very likable guy though I agree he’s unlikely to come back.
Craig Eastmond, once of this parish and now captain of Sutton Utd., is leading them in the fight for a play-off place in League Two
https://www.suttonunited.net/teams/first-team/squad/midfielder/craig-eastmond/
Seems to be doing well
Craig Eastmond was a member of the Arsenal team that won the Youth Cup in 2009, with Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin, Luke Ayling, Henri Lansbury, Kyle Bartley, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Gilles Sunu, James Shea, Thomas Cruise and Sanchez Watt. Some real talent there and decent professional careers, but it underscores how difficult it is to step up from youth to senior football at the highest level.
I wouldn’t have guessed Coquelin to be the one playing in a CL semi final 13 years later.
Jack Wilshire – Aarhus
Francis Coquelin – Villarreal
Luke Ayling – Leeds
Henri Lansbury – Luton
Kyle Bartley – West Brom
Jay Emmanuel Thomas – contract terminated by Aberdeen
Gilles Sunu – Chateaureoux
James Shea – Luton
Thomas Cruise – released by Torquay and left football in 2015
Sanchez Watt – left Wealdstone at end of 2020 season
That list also underscores how special Saka, ESR and Gabi are to be playing for us in the PL.
Looking at the list you would have to say they have all had pretty good careers in football. Jack had the most talent but injuries got him. Ayling has done really well. I thought Lansbury was going to go far and he still might be a Premiership player next season.
Excellet report 21CG!
Mo had his best performance for us, more aggressive than usual and did an excellent job not only as the outlet in playing out from the back but also cutting off their counterattacking avenues and forcing turnovers high up the pitch. Granit too has been at his best (and avoided his worst tendencies) in the last two matches and his passing has lately been more progressive than usual.
Nuno, once he learns to defend positionally and be a bit more composed on the ball, will become a more capable deputy to Kieran. His attacking instincts and physicality are already a big plus. However, one indirect negative of him playing on the left back position is that probably makes Mikel’s mind up about not playing Gabi in front of him as then we will have two chaos merchants lining up on the left, even though Gabi is defensively turned on all the time. But maybe once Tomi is back to his right back position — offering much more security, composure and control on the right flank — we can accept the madness on the left side a bit more.
On a completely different topic, best wishes to Unai, Coquelin and the rest of the yellow submarines. I think Unai’s time with us helped him to become a better manager, and he was always a very good coach. If he can take this Villareal team to the final it will be a truly remarkable achievement.
Ned @ 37
I was saying exactly that to someone yesterday when we were talking about that youth team. To make the step up at a club like Arsenal, who give youth more opportunities than most, a player has to go from a reserve to an international in one season. If they don’t make that kind of impact and at least get into contention for their national squad they are unlikely to become a regular first team player.
Luke Ayling has done well as his route from Arsenal to Leeds saw him playing for a while at Yeovil I believe. Quite a climb back to the Premier League from there. On the other hand Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was a natural talent, who was reckoned to be able to play in any position, but basically couldn’t be bothered. Big waste. His loss.
Other than Wilshere, JET was the most talented. From memory though he was determined to be a centre forward when he just didn’t have what it takes. He would have made, in my opinion, a fantastic ball playing centre half. As it is he had the career which many a headstrong, unduly self confident youngster has gone on to have.
And Coquelin is still in the CL semi-final this season (though I think I didn’t see his name in the Villareal squad in their last Liga match, so not sure if he is injured).
We’ve seen some extraordinary matches recently
Citeh 2 Liverpool 2
Citeh2 Liverpool 3
Chelsea 1 Real3
Real 2 Chelsea 3
Our own matches against Chelsea and United and tonight a quite superb game between Citeh and Real Madrid . Part of what made it a great game was that Real played football unlike their city neighbours in the last round AND the referee was excellent tonight . A lot of foreign refs are much better than the ones we have in the PGMOL
Being better than a PGMOL ref is a low bar these days, TTG. Sadly.
Trev@43: I’d not thought of your benchmark, but it is a good one. Foden at Man City would be a non-Arsenal example.
The first half-ton in a while heaves into view.
Crosses the ball to a dangerous area
Nods it in.
Well in for the half-ton, C100.
Football London runs its rule over our reputed top 10 striker targets:
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/gabriel-jesus-darwin-nunez-tammy-23780000
Well done C100.
Coq starts tonight. Come on Villareal!
Ned, I’d be tempted for only a few of them. Some are ok, but not for PL, tiny built, lack of strength, height.
Darwin would help us evolve I guess, ahem.
Schick seems a good option from what is available/atteinable. Jesus only as a short term solution.
Haven’t seen much of Osimhen but is highly rated.
What about Haaland? 😝
Ned ,
I found the list interesting and credible . I’d add DCL because he fits the profile but he seems highly injury prone nowadays . Schick gad an excellent Euros and he and Jesus might be the two best options . Osimhen looks very quick and Nunes seems a natural goalscorer .
I guess with the sales we are likely to make in the summer we might generate
Leno £20 m
Runarsson £3m
AMN £10 m
Mavropanos £5 m
Xhaka £20 m
Guendouzi £9m
Torreira £12m
Pepe £20 m
Nketiah £2m
Nelson £4 m
Laca 0
Total £ 105 m
The saving in wages overall is about £700 k a week ( £35m annualised ) but about £200k a week is off the books because of loan transfers . If we reached the CL and with the likely funds taken from reserves we might be able to work with a transfer budget even bigger than our net spend last year. We trimmed the wage bill significantly in January too. So we might see the addition of at least four players IF we reach the CL
One question is where Nketiah and Balogan would rank on that list.
Osimhen looks strong in the air, and seems to have remarkable hang time, as well as being quick. I wonder, though, if his first touch is a bit loose for the PL. Schick and Jesus for next season would certainly be an upgrade on what we’ve got now.
Not come across this writer before, but this article is rather good. https://theafcnewsroom.com/features/how-mikel-arteta-transformed-arsenal-into-top-four-contenders/
C100
That article is very good indeed , thanks for posting . Some stat laden drivel can confuse but he uses his data very helpfully to make key points . To think our defence contained Bellerin/ Sokratis/ Mustafi and Kolasinac! No wonder we struggled at times .
My sense is Arteta is a very good coach indeed and that he is benefiting from a refusal to panic . I’d love to see him working in the CL next season , but obviously with a much stronger squad .
I suspect Alexander Moneypenny is an alias but if not I think I knew his sister when she worked for MI6 😃
C100@56: Thanks for the link. Mr Moneypenny makes a well-structured and convincing argument. He is right to highlight the importance Arteta attaches to the intangibles — mentality, maturity and the experience and expectation of winning; collectively, the culture — as the catalyst needed for talent, coaching and tactics to create title-winning teams. Recruiting for that is critical, as both Klopp and Pep have shown in their different ways at ‘Pool and City, respectively.
Separately, You Are My Arsenal seems to be a US-based writers’ collective with similar values to our fine establishment.
Jorge Bird reports that Saka trained today, which is good news.
It’s been a long week. Do we play soon?
*Resorts to answering his own question.*
Sunday. 4:30pm. Away at West Ham.
Good enough for me. So long as three points are on the menu. I hope we can get a bgood waiter.
*wretches after seeing who the referee is*
“bgood waiter” above turns out to be none other than Mike Dean. 👹
Chelsea-ManU draw probably best result for us.
The complete official results of the three way tournament with points totals as follows:
Arsenal 6
Manchester United 1
Chelsea 1
TTG @ 57
Alexander’s sister is now running a restaurant/bar in Noosa.
UTA.
Christ, we’ve been linked again with Marcus Rashford in the gutter press. God save us from rubbish strikers. I wouldn’t want him if he was free.
Oh. My Word.
Thanks vm Paul. The memories of an Islington upbringing came flooding back.
It’s not that God doesn’t love everybody else. It’s just that he loves us more.
COYG
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>