December 26, Monday, 8pm GMT, Emirates Stadium
In their long-delayed 15th game of the Premier League season to be played on Boxing Day, six weeks after Arsenal defeated Wolves away thanks to a Martin Ødegaard double in their last game prior to the World Cup interregnum, the Gunners will at last resume their title chase at home against West Ham United.
What have the Arsenal players been doing all this time? Well, the ones who haven’t been with their various national squads in Qatar spent part of the time playing in victorious friendlies against Lyon and Milan, two matches held 500-odd miles to the west of Qatar as part of the “Dubai Super Cup” in the emirate of Dubai. Arsenal then continued what amounts to their second pre-season with a 2-0 home loss against Juventus on Saturday December 17, in another game I did not see. That game was followed this week by a behind-closed-doors friendly with Luton Town which ended 0-0.
But nearly all the players who were at the World Cup were back with Arsenal for those three friendlies, so there has been time, albeit brief in some cases, to get back into the rhythm of daily Arsenal training. But how will the team be able to refocus their physical and mental energies back to the task at hand, i.e., the weekly rigors of a Premier League title challenge? It’s hard to say, but most of Arsenal’s World Cup contingent have had at least two weeks since returning to the squad. Ben White, Matt Turner and Thomas Partey returned on December 11, and Granit Xhaka, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Bukayo Saka shortly thereafter. Only the return of French defender William Saliba, whose team played in the final, was delayed longer. According to Mikel Arteta in his pre-match presser, Saliba was expected to return Friday, three days prior to facing the Hammers.
On December 3rd, the day after Gabriel Jesús’ only World Cup start, we found out that he injured his right knee, and would have to return to London for surgery. The Brazil medical staff expected him at the time to be sidelined for at least three months, and I have seen nothing to contradict that estimate. What a jolt of bad news, potentially derailing our title hopes, and presumably sending Edu scrambling for reinforcements in the transfer market. In any case, the next chapter of our season will not include our iconic Brazilian striker. It’s a big disappointment but such challenges were always going to occur during the length of a Premier League season, and especially considering that the first three months went off with nary a glitch.
The question is, how can Arsenal rise to this and the many other challenges ahead. We will begin to get some answers against the Hammers, but no doubt there will be plenty of surprises along the way. Speaking on Sky Sports on Monday, Arteta was expecting as much when he said: “We have the confidence that we are in the right path but as well we have the red lights and alarms there because what is coming in the second part of the season is something unprecedented and we need to be ready for it.”
The Hammers
As recently as the week before the World Cup there were people in the media, social or otherwise, saying that West Ham’s first 15 matches (including nine losses but only four wins) were so poor that David Moyes deserved the sack. With no Premier League games played in the last 42 days, the East Londoners remain in 16th spot in the table entering this match but Moyes is still the Hammers’ manager so at least the Spammers didn’t hit the panic button and do away with their most successful manager in recent history as certain other clubs have done.
In terms of reintegrating players back into the squad, West Ham enjoy one advantage over Arsenal because they had only three players in the latter stages of the tournament compared to the Gunners’ five (Martinelli, Jesús, Turner, Ramsdale, Saka). England midfielder Declan Rice and Brazil forward Lucas Paquetá are the two most prominent West Ham players who remained with their national teams until the knockout rounds. But Nayef Aguerd, the Hammers’ Moroccan defender who appeared in only four league matches for them before he featured in Morocco’s steadfast defence until injuring his thigh in their triumph over Spain, will probably miss this match. On Tuesday it was reported that the Hammers could be forced to play without Michail Antonio and Gianluca Scamacca, their only two strikers, so they might not be able to put as much pressure on the Arsenal defenders as a result. The expected makeshift striker, Jarrod Bowen, will try to ramp up the pressure as much as he can, but his absence from the West Ham midfield could also leave that area weakened. Defender Kurt Zouma will miss out due to knee surgery, so old hand Angelo Ogbonna may come on in his place. But no matter who plays for them, the Hammers are facing a relegation scrap, so Arsenal cannot expect an easy three points in this one.
Arsenal XI
Excepting the injured Gabriel Jesús, some of the players who didn’t play much at the World Cup should be prime suspects to feature against the Hammers. Many of that group were first choice prior to the World Cup anyway, but in the case of White (sent home early), Ramsdale (spent the tournament on the bench), and Zinchenko, Tierney and Ødegaard (countries did not qualify), they should be well rested and have extra motivation to get right back into the first team. But Zinchenko and Tomiyasu may not quite be ready to play 90 minutes according to recent reports, while Smith Rowe (I was hoping he would be ready by now!) and Nelson are both sidelined with injuries. Based largely on which players featured in our friendlies against Lyon, Milan and Juventus, the team should look something like this:
Ramsdale
White Holding Gabriel Tierney
Partey
Ødegaard Xhaka
Saka Nketiah Martinelli
Man with the whistle (MWTW)
Michael Oliver, need I say more? Quite possibly, but I certainly oughtn’t.
The ‘holic pound
If the above-mentioned MWTW doesn’t mess things up too badly like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, we could look up at the end of the day and see an 8-point gap has opened up between ourselves and Manchester City, who do not play until Wednesday, at Leeds. What with Gabriel Jesús being out for a while, I can think of no better scenario than for his replacement, Eddie Nketiah, to bring home the bacon with a briskly dispatched first half brace, and our defence to see it out calmly from there: Arsenal 2 West Ham 0. That’s my prediction, and I’m sticking to it!
Keeping that positivity flowing, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Eddie take things up a notch now that he will be surrounded by a cast of first-teamers, rather than the bench-warmers that we have become used to seeing him play with in his Europa League and Carling Cup starting opportunities. So bring it on young man, there’s no time like the present to flower before our very eyes.
Enjoy the game, ‘holics, and the long-awaited return of our Arsenal-focused routines. And Merry Christmas to everyone who’s celebrating.
Thanks bt8
Irrespective of any issues outstanding, nothing less than an emphatic win is expected or required.
I’ll go with your 2-0 but hope for 3 or 4.
UTA,
Football is back at last!
Cheers bt8. I won’t chance a prediction after this break, especially with West Ham having sometimes been a bogey team, but let’s hope the train keeps firmly on track even in the absence of GJ.
Merry Christmas all!
Good going, bt8. So cheering to read a proper Arsenal preview again. I’ll take your 2-0, but, like Noosa, would prefer a wider margin. I do hope Eddie comes good and his extended run in the team is the making of him.
Hope, too, that you are surviving the bomb cyclone blizzard OK. Stay warm and safe.
Good stuff, bt8 !
Liking the “Table Dance / photo “ combination at the top. It’s certainly Eddie’s time to shine, and your point about him playing with better players is a good one. A fast, dominant start at home against a weakened Wet Spam should render 3 or 4-0 quite achievable but, in this league, you never know.
Great to have proper football back again. Let’s hope we can quickly sheik (sic) off the effects of winter Qatar 😉
I’ve missed your puns, Trev! 😀
Hooray! Footballs back! My West Ham ST holding mate is, as always, ultra pessimistic before this game. After a traditional Boxing Day meal of cold meat, red cabbage and bubble and squeak, I’m looking forward to heading down to North London for the game. Nice preview bt8, all the way from the frozen waste of the Twin Cities. I like your prediction of 2-0. Come on you Gunners!
Fast start out of the blocks followed by a couple more on the break and then a gentle stroll of olés. 5 nil.
Excellent preview bt8!
Your team looks about right. However I would like to see Saliba resuming his partnership with Gabriel. Given that he didn’t really play in the WC that should be feasible.
Speaking of WC impact on PL teams, this is a useful analysis https://theathletic.com/4007894/2022/12/20/premier-league-injuries-world-cup/?source=user_shared_article .
Unfortunately for us we lost one of our most important players to injury. And until we find a solution in the transfer market in January it’s a great opportunity for Eddie to step up and show us why he deserves to wear #14 for Arsenal. He made significant progress in the last one year and time to fully justify club’s faith in him.
Hopefully ESR, Tomiyasu and Zinchenko are all very close to being match fit.
Season’s greetings everyone! Those going to the game enjoy your prolonged festivities with Arsenal cheers. 🙂
Come on Arsenal!
Glasses raised in Donegal,Derry,Belfast and Glasgow to David Faber
‘holic !
Thanks for an excellent and very welcome Arsenal match preview, BT8. I sincerely hope we can pick up our pre-WC momentum from the off but the resumpton of normal PL proceedings after an extended break is such novel experience that I find it hard to predict the outcome of this one or indeed our onward form.
I will be absolutely over the moon with the 2-0 win that you predict but I will actuallly be absolutelty delighted with any kind of win. It would be great if we returned with the form we showed in November with newly normal 2022-3 standards resumed but I wouldn’t bet on it. Everything has been thrown in the air and we have to see how they have landed! I really don’t know what the regulars in this hostelry have been smoking to make them all so optimistic. I cannot share these delusions, sorry. It’s the Spammers and it will be hard fought and will require trench warfare. I hope that the team aren’t so blasé!
You all need a bucket of cold water thrown over you!
Bath@9 : I agree with you that (a) this would be a very difficult game and (b) just winning any which way would suffice.
On the other hand, it is not unlikely that with the crowd behind them the team may remember how they were playing and with the jolt of confidence can dominate the game. I take some — albeit guarded — optimism in the relative freshness of Ødegaard and even Partey and Xhaka . Vieira seems to be doing better in his mid-season friendlies and he has the quality on the ball. I have a feeling Saka and Martinelli will take a couple of weeks to get truly going again.
Good preview and Merry Christmas to all.
Feliz Navidad, y’all!
Merry Christmas to all Holics. May it be a blessed and peaceful one and just a nod of recognition to Dave Faber who made this blog possible. He died three years ago today .
Thanks for the excellent preview Bt8.
This really is a weird feeling and like Bath I think this will be a game that is very difficult. If we can win 2-0 I will be like a dog with at least two appendages . Itgink Saliba will play but we need to find our rhythm. I’d love seven points from the first three games back but it will be a real struggle. Time to keep the faith
Happy Christmas, ‘holics. As ever, a glass raised to the Guv’nor.
merry christmas to all holics everywhere. raising a glass to dave, thank you for your humane, sane approach to blogging, life, and friendship.
and may he have had his rest these past six weeks: it is back to work on monday with maria, holicdad, chris, terry, cba and others!
Merry Christmas to all the Holics far and wide!
And good to see you in Brendan – cheers🍻
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Lang may your lums reek.
I also raise a glass to the Guvna’s memory, a diamond still sorely missed and to cba, Chris, Terry et al.
Good to see you Brendan – still miss yer da too.
Dave Faber. The man who brought us all together but sadly left us three years ago on Christmas Day. A glass to him will be raised a bit later, it’s still a tad early here in Minnesota. Wishing Dave could be with us, along with the others in scruz’s list above. And Greetings, Brendan and all the cba clan including Herself.
A glass raised at Castle Ned to all in Scruz’s list, too. All of them missed but none more than cba. The crack between him and St Peter at the Pearly Gates must have been something to behold.
Not intended by any means to make anybody feel overconfident but Sky reports “In 25 away games against the ‘big six’ as West Ham manager, Moyes has recorded zero wins, four draws and a hefty 21 defeats.”
If only history were always destined to repeat.
Cheers all. Having a dry one today here so raising a virtual glass to Dave and all.
Sky also reporting “Tottenham’s attempts to tie down Antonio Conte before the Premier League resumes next week look set to fail despite offering their Italian manager a Tottenham’s attempts to tie down Antonio Conte before the Premier League resumes next week look set to fail despite offering their Italian manager a £1m-a-year pay rise.”
Not sure about what others might think, but if I were offered that kind of pay rise and I refused it, it would probably be because I had my eye on greener pastures. Maybe he was thinking more like £1m-a-week as an adequate incentive to babysit those bonzos. 😱
The above should have read like this: “Tottenham’s attempts to tie down Antonio Conte before the Premier League resumes next week look set to fail despite offering their Italian manager a £1m-a-year pay rise.”
Merry Christmas to all of you ‘holics’! One for Dave!
And thanks @bt8 for the comprehensive preview. I just can’t wait for the kick-off.
I hope Eddie will have a hell of a game.
4 : 1 to the good guys.
COYG
Also reported on Sky: “Arsenal are close to agreeing a new contract with Gabriel Martinelli that will see the Brazil international become one of the club’s top earners.”
Let it be so.
Interesting comments by Conte about resting Romero, Lloris and other Totty World Cup stars this weekend.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64090081
Richarlison apparently is out injured for a month putting him out of action just long enough to miss the Arsenal game in mid-January.
Unai Emery reportedly wants to replace Martinez with Morocco and Sevilla’s Bono because of Emi’s ‘particular’ character. I wonder if there was any previous when Emery was with us.
IT’S BACK!
🎉🎉🎉
Are we back?
😬
Huge tree matches before the FA Cup. Good luck with travel, Boxing Day goers!
Thanks for a fine preview bt8, and the snippet on Moyes poor record against the Big Six as West Ham manager @21. As I recall he had the same piss poor record as Everton manager as well. Let’s hope he’s too old to change. 3-0 to The Arsenal.
I can say I have enjoyed the first 45 mins of the PL’s return….
Or even the first 55 but not so much the following 40. At least they didn’t win…
Sums it up nicely Ollie.
Time for bed to be up in time for the game that counts.
A draw at Brentford is a poor result for anyone looking at top four.
Moyes’s career history in matches he has managed against us, Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and the neighbours is P230 W46, D54 L130, which is a 20% win record and a 57% loss record.
BBC report: “Chuba Akpom’s hat-trick kept up Middlesbrough’s surge towards the Championship play-off places with victory over Wigan Athletic. The striker took his goal tally to 12 for the season.”
Oh, I didn’t realise be was back from Greece.
Anyway, strong line-up, so we’ll be able to see the exact difference with playing Nketiah in place of Jesus.
Exactly Ollie. I’m fascinated to see how Eddie does with this supporting cast. Put away the handbrake please.
Faustus with the right prediction that Saliba would make the team. 👍🏼
Antonio makes it for the Hammers despite suggestions that his ankle might not be completely healed (?)
Sky report: “’Arsenal submit Mudryk offer’
Arsenal have submitted an offer to Shakhtar Donetsk for winger Mykhailo Mudryk, according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano.
The Gunners have reportedly lodged an initial offer of £35.2million, which could rise to £52.9m with add-ons.
Shakhtar have no intention of parting with the 21-year-old Ukraine international for that price but the players is understood to have his heart set on a move to the Emirates.”
Great to see Arsène back there. No VAR though?
COYG
Get in! Saka!!!
Needed that….
And that!! Gabi!!
Lovely goal from Eddie and 3-1. We’ve turned it around excellently 2nd half and that has got to give Eddie confidence.
Nice to see Zin back too
A shot of Le Prof, who must be impressed with our 2nd half performance.
I know I was 🙂
It was an important 45 minutes given the little niggles of doubt at half time
Well that was pretty great in the end! It’s good to be back!
Well in for the half-ton, Ollie.
Nice to see AW allowing himself a little smile when his name was sung. And delighted that it was sung.
Excellent all-around performance in the end. Back in the groove, and long may we stay there.
Agree with Matt @45-49. Especially 49. 🤜🏼
Well in Ollie for the clinical half ton.
Heh cheers bt8. In my excitement I didn’t even notice!
And Ned.
Agree with Ned @51. Arsene must have been sweating it a bit at halftime but seeing that smile was great. Mikel out, Arsene in.
Just kiddin’ ya
Well in for the half ton Ollie.
A most encouraging 2 cnd half performance – we look well and truly back. All those on the pitch played a strong match – no heads dropping with this squad. Great to see Eddie play well and scored a superb goal. Odegaard brilliant.
Speaking after the game, Thierry Henry says “We are here to stay” and who’s to say we aren’t?
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