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All in ’til the end — and believe

Apr 24th, 2026 by

And so to the Stadium of Stone, where we host long-standing rivals Newcastle United in Saturday’s early evening Premier League match. 

It will be the 199th competitive meeting between the two clubs, dating back to September 2, 1893, when the Geordies were our opponents in our first Football League fixture. The match ended 2-2 in front of 6,000 spectators at the Manor Ground, Plumstead.

Much miffed by this result, and still smarting from being placed in the Second Division of the Football League despite applying to go straight into the First, the Tynesiders promised to wreak revenge up north, which they did to the tune of 6-0 in the return fixture at the end of the month.

Many correspondents for this fine establishment have regaled us with Newcastle’s origin story and subsequent storied history. Not for the first time, I would particularly commend you to Bath’s previews of the corresponding fixture from last season, and the one before that.

Shifting sands

It is Geordie Arabia’s future, not its past, that currently commands attention. In 2021, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), acquired a majority stake in the club, raising hopes on Tyneside for a state oil-wealth-funded bonanza to rival that in the Oilands. 

Five years on, Newcastle has enjoyed some success, including winning the 2025 League Cup, its first trophy in over 50 years, but it still appears well short of its goal of establishing itself among Europe’s football elite by 2030. At three places below Sunderland, it isn’t even the top team in England’s North East.

The Saudi royal family make their Emirati counterparts look like poor cousins, but the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), introduced in 2013, have constrained Newcastle from making the massive short-term investment in transfers and wages that kick-started City’s rise and that of Abramovich’s Chelsea before that. 

Instead, PIF has played it by the book. We’ll let slide the diplomatic lobbying of the UK government to ensure the PL and FA found the {insert your adjective of choice here} Saudi regime fit and proper owners, although after Mike Ashley, that might have been a low bar. 

Nonetheless, the new ownership based the club’s long-term development on smart recruitment and sustainable spending rather than on raw financial firepower. The new Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) rule, which will replace PSR from July 1, will create some additional scope for PIF to invest in Newcastle, but not enough to be transformational.

It might even choose not to go that far. The kingdom is re-evaluating its substantial budget allocation for transforming itself into a global sporting power, as it diversifies its economy in preparation for a post-fossil-fuel world (other descriptions of its motivations are available). LIV Golf will bear the brunt of the cuts, but football will get its share. 

How tighter purse strings will affect Newcastle United, whose ownership is an outlier within the Saudi sports portfolio, remains unclear at this point. The Saudis are unlikely to sell such a trophy asset outright, and a bit of fancy footwork in selling St James’ Park to themselves, while partly a PSR accounting dodge, points to a commitment to a stadium revamp. Yet any Geordie still clinging to the hope that Riyadh will go full City or Chelsea to buy success by hook or crook should let go now. 

A PIF team due to make its annual visit to the club next week may bring greater clarity.

Howe’s he doing?

The struggle that Eddie Howe has had to build on last season’s fifth-placed league finish is far from being solely due to the owners’ refusal to flash the cash. 

The protracted Alexander Isak saga got the season off to a poor start. Neither of the new arrivals, Anthony Elanga and Nick Woltemade, has been able to fill Isak’s fleet and prolific boots, either individually or collectively, while Yoane Wissa went in the fetlock early doors and the team’s talisman, Bruno Guimarães, tore a hamstring just as the side was gathering some momentum after the turn of the year.

However, with the team plummeting to 14th place in the league with a W12 D6 L15 record, and having lost its last four games in all competitions, starting with a 7-2 CL paddlin’ by Barcelona, and eight of the last eleven, the wheels seem to be more than just spinning (I know, people who live in glass houses, and all that). 

As a result, there is talk of this being the Amersham Ancelotti’s final season at the helm. His participation in next week’s talks with PIF about Newcastle’s summer transfers suggests it won’t be, although in football, never say never.

Even if he stays, he could see his midfield gutted, with Sandro Tonali, Guimarães and Anthony Gordon potentially leaving, and his defence lose Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall, either to fund a much-needed rebuild or because they see greener pastures elsewhere. 

Keiran Trippier will hang up his boots when his contract expires this summer. Fellow veterans Emil Krafth and Fabian Schar are out of contract then, too, and Dan Burn will be entering the final year of his. So, too, sellable squad players Jacob Murphy, Joe Willock and keeper Nick Pope. That is a lot of potentially moving parts.

The opposition

Newcastle’s players will be familiar enough to the denizens of this fine establishment that I need only outline the team news and Eddie Howe’s likely selection.

Joelinton is suspended. Gordon, Krafth, Livramento and Schar are off games.

Guimarães came off the bench for the final half-hour of last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth after missing a dozen games because of his hamstring injury. Howe will be keen to start his influential playmaker — still the club’s leading goalscorer and top assists maker despite missing so many matches — even if he only gets an hour out of him before bringing on Jacob Ramsey.

Thus, I expect to see Ramsdale, formerly of this parish, in goal, behind a back four of Trippier, Malick Thiaw, Sven Botman and Hall. Five across the middle: Elanga, Tonali, Lewis Miley, Guimarães or Ramsey, and Ashley Barnes. William Osula up front. 

The bench will have Burn, who has an annoyingly good record against us — he has been on the losing side in only seven of 16 games with Fulham, Brighton and Newcastle — along with Willock, Murphy, Woltemade and Wissa.

The Arsenal

Jurrrien Timber is out, but Bukayo Saka and Ricardo Calafiori may be in the squad. I doubt either will start. Thus, no changes from last Sunday’s starting XI, although if Saka does start, Benny Blanco could replace Mosquera to get the band back together down the right.

Raya
Mosquera, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapié
Rice, Zubimendi
Madueke, Ødegaard, Eze
Havertz

The last time a team came to the Emirates and we were not at the top of the league was in Matchweek 5. As it happened, our visit to St. James’ Park in Matchweek 6 propelled us to the top. 

We are only off the pinnacle by the second tie-breaker, goals scored. With City playing an FA Cup semi-final against Southampton on Saturday, we again have the chance to use the Barcodes as a springboard to the top.

True, the title is no longer in our hands, but it is not in City’s either. All we can do is take all 15 points still available and hope City slip up, or, if we match them point for point to the end, to tonk a couple of teams along the way to erode their three-goal advantage in goals scored. 

A Willock consolation in 2024 is the only goal Newcastle has scored at the Emirates since the end of 2014. I can see us keeping another clean sheet. Gabriel would probably nail himself to the hands of the timepiece over the Clock End rather than concede another goal. 

However, our conversion rate (we rank 3rd in the league for creating big chances but 15th for taking them) makes me hesitant to expect anything more than a 2-0 victory, even though I would dearly love the floodgates to open.

We’ve got to be ‘all in’ and win the final five league games, as Arteta said in his pre-match press conference, starting with Newcastle. Believe, as Ted Lasso would say.

Enjoy the game, ‘holics, far and near.

Posted in Match Preview | 39 Drinks »

Time to Pin on a Pair

Apr 20th, 2026 by

Image courtesy of kribbox/Vecteezy

The Game

Well, what to make of that game? Prior to the match my only concern had been whether the real Arsenal would show up. The result is one thing but going gently into that dark night could not be countenanced in any way, shape or form. We had, I think it is fair to say, not done ourselves justice against Manchester City in the Carabao, against Southampton in the FA Cup or against Bournemouth in the Premier League. The first few minutes did nothing to soothe my nerves, early possession for them, a mistake from Raya, a chance that hit the post and a penalty appeal, (it wasn’t but it’s football and we have all seen more ridiculous decisions both for and against us). Nevertheless, I must own that that particular accumulation of early events all caused mutterings and palpitations of the unwanted kind. 

Fortunately, the team were made of sterner stuff and the next twenty minutes put paid to any concerns. There was no sitting back, we were true to Mikel’s pre-match word, we were there to win and we played like it. We pressed aggressively, we got in their faces and we looked dangerous again from set pieces; all good things to see. Then we gave away a goal, to be fair, it was a very good individual goal; Cherki wriggling through several challenges and finishing well. However, I had barely begun to wonder whether that would prove to be a turning point when Kai smartly closed down Donnaruma and we were level. Fine work from Kai got a deserved reward.  

I will not give a blow by blow of the rest of the match as in all honesty we would be here all day. Much happened, and at the end of the day, the fine margins did not go our way. We all know the result, there were great chances, possible red cards, howls of anguish, tempers were frayed, etc etc  – in other words it was a high-level game of football. However, we stood up, we certainly did ourselves justice and I have no complaints. Instead, I would like to focus on a few other points and also share my own thoughts on where we are now, who they are and what next. 

Our Performance

Firstly, why were we better than of late?  

This is the first question that I asked myself as I began this report.  Was it the return of Øde at No 10? Was it the selection of Kai up front? The move of Eze to the left-wing? Fighting words from Mikel? Who knows? Certainly not I, but whether it was those factors or others doesn’t really matter.  We were much better, we made better chances, and could easily have got something from the game. I, at least, was encouraged and I hope the players are too once they swallow the disappointment of the defeat. 

The Opposition

They played well, took their chances and got the points. Usually, as is our general wont on this blog, I would say fair play to them and move on. However, it’s the word fair that produces the rub, they are not known as Cheaty, C115ty, C130ty, etc for no reason, our fans (and others) do not sing “you know who you are, you cheating b%!%*s” for no reason. All that they have done is the fruit of a poisoned tree, a rotten tree with its roots firmly planted during the many seasons where they cheated, lied and defrauded all the clubs that played by the rules. They continue to lie and bluster because that is what they are – I know that, the PL knows that, all the fans from other clubs know that and even they themselves know that. In the circumstances, I cannot say fair play to them. Hopefully, the day will come when they will be held to account as I believe it must, but until then they are nothing. 

What Next?

I would like to see Bukayo Saka back as soon as possible and Jurrien Timber as well. But more than that I want to see the same attitude as in this game.  I read today that the last time we lost two league games in a row, we won our next eight. Well, that will certainly do very nicely for me as we seem to have about that number of games left if all goes well. Maintain the same attitude, get key players back and a CL / PL double is very much on. 

I haven’t, in all honesty, bothered to read any reports / reaction on the game. No doubt, there will be much whining, defeatism and so on but now is not the time for any of that – yes, we have lost some games, ‘ twas ever thus in football. 

It’s time for some home stretch hustle – score the goals, win the games, take the glory. 

Posted in Match Report | 61 Drinks »

Every Which Way but Lose …..

Apr 18th, 2026 by

I have, in the past, written match previews that have tried to provide a bit of variety. While not on the scale of Ned’s attention to detail, a bit about our opponents’ history, where and when they were formed, why, and by whom; some detail of the head to head record between the clubs; injury news and likely team selection; and because football is supposed to be fun, always a joke or two.

However, there is nothing funny about playing Manchester City. It is, unfortunately, a trial that has to be endured at least twice a season, albeit one that has provided some success in recent years. And speaking of trials, if the powers that be ever settle on and announce the results of City’s ongoing “legal” hearing, it may and should be one that we don’t have to suffer for at least the next season.

I have enclosed the word ‘legal’ in quote marks because, being the naive person that I am, I still don’t really understand how the matter of a football club breaking the rules of the league to which it is affiliated ends up in court. 

In any other walk of life you join a club, you obey the rules or you pay the penalty for breaking them. If you break the rules 115 / 130 times you generally get chucked out.

Let’s not forget that City have already been found guilty of breaking UEFA’s FFP rules a few years ago now. As is their wont, they managed to manipulate the panel of judges at their hearing, and those that they magnanimously agreed to allow to sit came up with some new rules on the timing of investigating financial irregularities and let them off with a relative slap on the wrist.

“That’s exactly what will happen this time”, I know some of you will be saying. In my naivety, I choose to believe that a proper ‘football’ sanction will eventually be handed down to them. If it is not, the credibility of the Premier League will lie in tatters.

The accountants and lawyers can juggle and try to justify the various amounts of money that have been sneaked into the club. What they can’t deny is that they have failed to cooperate with the investigation on numerous occasions. 

That is rather like not turning up for a drugs test. A certain Manchester United player will remember the consequences of that some years ago. The punishment for not turning up has to be at least as great as failing the test, otherwise nobody would ever turn up. Similarly, the punishment for non-cooperation with an investigation has to be at least as bad as being found guilty of breaking the rules. Otherwise just scrap the whole investigative process and let everyone do whatever they like.

If you can believe anything you read, the suggestion is that City’s guilt was established months ago. Since then, the lawyers have been arguing over the punishment to be handed down. That has to be a football sanction, not just a fine which would be utterly meaningless to an oil sheik – more or less a license to carry on.

It is inconceivable to me that clubs in the Premier League can expect fans to continue to pay such premium prices to watch a corrupt competition. Individual clubs can’t fight this on their own but they are also owned by very rich companies and individuals who collectively have to ensure, through their own legal challenge, that a fitting punishment is meted out. For me, that would be ten years in the National League and a string of asterisks next to their victories.

One thing is for certain, and that is whatever the result on Sunday, the media will continue to spout that City will go on a final winning run and Arsenal will ultimately bottle it. Why, I wonder, do they continue to praise and marvel at City’s illegal achievements? 

And why do they never laud Arsenal’s achievements in managing to fight neck and neck with the cheats for four years without having a single charge of impropriety brought against them?

 For now, though, we have to take them on, one more time, under the status quo. Just for fun I decided to have a look at the definition of ‘status quo’ and found it to be completely apt for my intended purpose. Do have a look – even Clock End Rider, who almost has Latin as his first language! – as it will practically take the place of a joke in this otherwise all too serious piece: “Status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the current, existing state of affairs or social, political, and economic conditions. It refers to “the way things are now” and is often used in contexts of wanting to challenge that, such as in policy debates, social structures, or legal matters.”
Nuff said, and now …..

The football.

I guess we have to start with team news which for us, at the moment, sadly means injury news. Bukayo Saka and Mikel Merino are out, while Timber, Calafiori, Ødegaard and Madueke are doubts but Mikel Arteta did say that “some” of them had a chance and would be assessed after the final training session. So, fingers crossed, but gently – we don’t need any broken fingers.

 There are endless possibilities regarding team selection given the injury doubts so, assuming none of them is fit to start, I will go for – 

Raya

Mosquera, Saliba, Gabriel, Hinkapie

Zubimendi, Rice

Dowman, Eze, Martinelli

Havertz

Interestingly, win, draw or lose, Opta still see us winning the league with their percentage chances of that listed as 98%, 89% and 69% respectively. Either of the first two options would be wonderful. Let’s not think about the third.

Apologies to those who are interested in City but I don’t care who or how they play. We all know they are full of expensive players acquired by false pretences who get away with murder on the pitch. Rather than a Holic Pound, we could maybe run a sweepstake on how many fouls Rodri and the odious little diving cheat, Bernardo Silva will get away with. At least the latter is leaving them at the end of the season. Good riddance!

I hope we will play positively without going gung-ho. But if we bore them to death and grab a scrappy winner from a corner, I’ll be absolutely ecstatic.
Safe journeys to any Holics, and others, who are travelling to the Emptihad. I know C100 and his son are going – any others? I won’t even be able to watch as my younger daughter has her final dance show tomorrow, starting at 5.00pm. I’ll hopefully be able to relax and watch a successful performance later in the evening 🤞🏻

Match officials

This shouldn’t even be a topic of discussion but we are playing Manchester City whose owners actually employ some of the referees who operate in this league!

The referee for this one is Anthony Taylor, from Manchester, and the fourth official is Paul Tierney, from Manchester. Despite my horror at this news, I was actually encouraged to discover that Manchester City have been refereed by Anthony Taylor 50 times, winning 27 of those matches, drawing 10, and losing the remaining 13. Those 13 losses were far more than I expected to find so I decided not to look any further into the details. (Please don’t, Ned!). Apparently we have nothing to fear anyway from the appointment as Taylor is a supporter of non-league Altrincham. Here’s hoping!

VAR is John Brooks – he of the Dracula hairstyle – and, no, I didn’t dare look to see where he comes from!

And finally …..

Thoughts are with Alex Manninger’s friends and family after our former goalkeeper was lost in a tragic accident this week at the age of 48. ❤️

Posted in Match Preview | 33 Drinks »

It’s Happy Hour Again!

Apr 16th, 2026 by

We approached this game in a state of disarray. 3 games lost out of the last 4, where we had lost fewer games than that in the previous 40. I and many others, had been to Wembley, Southampton and the Emirates and seen 3 performances the only descriptor for which is bloodless. We had had talk from Mikel about bringing lunch and dinner and getting behind the team. Ahead of this game the talk from the manager was of “no fear, pure fire.” After such Stentorian calls to arms, there could be no hiding place. Mikel has always been one for fierce words. Of late though, it has increasingly seemed that he has been shouting into the void. A performance aligned with the rhetoric was required.

The teams were announced and the injuries continue to be considerable, with Havertz not starting and Saka, Timber, Odegaard and Calafiori not even making the bench. Merino is still out. The bench contained 16-year-olds Dowman and Salmon, 19-year-old MLS and 20-year-old Harrison Dudziak, along with 2 keepers. Out of an 11 man bench. What is Arteta supposed to do?

Pre match, the crowd was deafening. A fabulous rendition of NLFE.  What little hair I have was on end.

Arsenal started at great speed. Pressing from Madueke.  Arsenal noticeably started very fast with quick forward passing. Players like Eze and Madueke showing, taking responsibility early on. Great to see as it is this that has been missing for the last 6 weeks. For the first 5 minutes, this was the Arsenal we have wanted to see for so long.

After 10 minutes Sporting began to see more of the ball. 12 minutes, a Sporting player with a name alarmingly close to Catamite faked an injury in a sad attempt to get a penally.  The nominative determinism adjacent Sporting player was truly pathetic, and was treated as such in one of the, at best, scatty, referee’s more insightful decisions.

17 minutes, Arsenal played around their press really well, only for Saliba to play a terrible pass giving the ball away and allowing a bloke with a tache straight out of a late 70s porn movie to take a shot. Fortunately, this went wider than I imagine the bell bottoms on said porn stars trousers may well have been. Had I seen such a movie. Which I haven’t.

20 mins, some other bloke should see a yellow card for a cynical foul on Madueke. Free kick. Terrible short free kick routine from Arsenal. Fortunately, Martinelli raced back to rob the Sporting player. Hmm.

28mins – best move of the day brilliant pass from Eze sees Zubi pass to Gyokeres who scuffs. Corner results but nothing comes of it.

Raya on 39 made the kind of awful pass out from his box that we would have absolutely slaughtered Kepa for, but, not for the first time, he got away with it. Then, on 42 they hit the post, a cross to the back post from Araujo who oughtn’t even to have been on the pitch after his first leg performance, went to Catamite who, unmarked, hit the post.

Half Time Arsenal 0 Sporting 0

Sporting started faster. When we had the ball, Gyokeres was a complete passenger. One long ball saw him rooted to the spot while his marker ran straight past him to chest it down.  This is not good enough.

On 49 from a short free kick Eze hit a shot which went 5 feet past the post. On 55 Madueke went past 2 on the right, crossed and Martinelli hit over. On 56 the invisible Gyokeres was taken off for Havertz.

Madueke had another shot just past the post on 56. Better. On 60, Madueke was taken out, yet again no foul. The referee was not good. Madueke had to be replaced by Dowman.

On 65 the professional cheat Araujo made an absolutely shocking dive trying to get a penalty. This player should not even be on the pitch at this point, after his dozen fouls in the away leg and rightly the referee ignored it.

After 71 minutes, Arsenal won what seemed like our first header by a forward. Havertz wins these, Gyokeres cannot. He increasingly seems to be a man confined to the ground as if he were wearing Neil Armstrong’s moon boots.

An alleluia moment on 78 when finally, Araujo finally received a booking after 170 minutes of seemingly licensed fouling. Presumably, the referee was simply embarrassed into it.

We then had 2 subs – Trossard for Martinelli.  Jesus for Eze.

On 83, a looped corner from Dowman wide of the back post saw Trossard head from 6 yards onto the post. It was noticeable how the vacuous commentary pair of Champion and McCoist reacted rather less animatedly at this one that the Sporting one in the first half.

Arsenal played the game out, pretty much without event.

Final Score Arsenal 0 Sporting 0

Notes:

Firstly. my moral cowardice meant I didn’t attend tonight. I went to Wembley, Southampton and then home to Bournemouth. I couldn’t take any more. Pitiful. I apologize.

Secondly, We are now in the semi-finals of the Champions League/European Cup for the first time in consecutive years. Ever.

Thirdly, 2 of the other 3 clubs we have beaten in the qualifying rounds. None of the other clubs plays in a competitive league.

D. Arteta has clearly known that we have been running on fumes for the last 6 weeks. As a result, the only tool he has had is rhetoric. It has been difficult, but sometimes this is all a leader can call on. This might not be our finest hour. But sometimes, we need to be told that that we need to put the effort in as if it were. I was lacking. The players were not.

Whatever happens from here on in, let’s just try to hold that in mind.

Posted in Champions League, Match Report | 42 Drinks »

Flagging, fearful Gunners to find front-foot fire

Apr 14th, 2026 by

And so to the Stadium of Stone for the second leg of our Champions League quarter-final against Sporting CP on Wednesday evening.

We renew an acquaintance that began in the second round of the Fairs Cup in 1969-70, a competition we would go on to win. A good omen, one hopes. 

We currently hold a slender but important lead over Sporting, which was not secured until added time in the first leg. Kai Havertz paid down more of his £65 million acquisition cost with a finish that looked simpler than it was. The travelling faithful, in good voice throughout the game, reminded the world of the value we have got for our money.

Up until that point, Dr F’s Iron Age Phoenician maritime merchant was, I imagine, thinking that an away draw is never a terrible result for a team in the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final, but the Pritani side’s need to score at home in the second leg would leave them vulnerable to the Olisipoans’ counterattacks. 

The late goal will have altered that ancient wisdom, and our man, no doubt, would have returned to wondering how to get the rest of the known world to adopt the Phoenician innovations of an alphabet and writing consistently in the same direction. Runes? Really? So late Bronze Age!

Rui Borges

Before the first leg, Rui Borges warned his team that we were a wounded animal. This time, he smells blood. Our visitor’s head coach will arrive at the Ems confident that his side has a sporting chance (I’ll get my coat!) of overturning its one-goal deficit by following the playbook he used at the Estádio José Alvalade — a disciplined defence and fast breaks, interspersed with tumbling and whingeing to disrupt the opposition’s attempts to build momentum.

Arteta blunted rather than vanquished that approach in the first leg, but it still took David Raya to prevent Sporting’s XG of 1.57 goals from their shots on target from spoiling a clean sheet. Sporting also had more shots on target than we did and took more shots in the box. I present this pot-pourri of statistics to remind us that our visitors pose an attacking threat we cannot ignore.

The opposition

Rui Silva, one of Portugal’s back-up keepers, should start in goal. The sharp-eyed among you may spot João Virgínia, once of this parish, on the bench. He is now Sporting’s domestic cup keeper, although Rui Borges drops him in favour of Rui Silva once Sporting reaches semi-finals.

The young Ivorian international Ousmane Diomande, who delivered the sumptuous pass with the outside of his foot that nearly led to an early Sporting lead in the first leg, should partner Portugal international Gonçalo Inácio in the centre of a back four.

Outside them should be Spain U-21 right-back Iván Fresneda and Uruguay left-back Maxi Araújo. Fresneda came off at half-time at the weekend after feeling a twinge, so the Greek international Georgios Vagiannidis, a £30 million summer signing from Panathanaikos, may have to continue deputising.

Araújo impressed in the first leg but also caught the eye for meting out some old-school Uruguayan defending on Noni Madueke. Seven fouls, but no card. Really? 

Club captain Morten Hjulmand, the Denmark international reportedly of interest to City as a replacement for Rhodri, should return after missing the first leg due to a suspension for accumulating yellow cards. Arguably, Martinelli would not have had the space to set up Havertz’s first-leg winner had Hjulmand been on the field.

He will anchor the midfield alongside seasoned Japan international Hidemasa Morita or Dani Bragança, who has been gradually building up his match minutes after a long ACL lay-off. Bragança got half an hour as a sub in the first leg and came off the bench to score the winner in the league at the weekend. Rui Borges values Bragança’s reading of the game and may look to get an hour out of him from the outset on Wednesday evening.

Ahead of the double pivot will be Mozambique’s right winger Geny Catamo and left winger Pedro Gonçalves, who scored from near the halfway line when Sporting knocked us out of the Europa League in 2022-23 and whose recent form has earned him a recall to the national squad after a four-year absence. 

Playmaker Francisco Trincão, whose moustache so impresses GSD, will complete the trio of attacking midfielders. He may once have spent an evening at the Ems twiddling it, as he was an unused sub against us in a Premier League game while on loan at Wolves in the 2021-22 season.

Luis Suárez should lead the line. That is the Colombian Suárez, who was on Watford’s books for three seasons, all spent on loan, not the bitey Uruguayan. Replacing VG14, he is Sporting’s leading goalscorer this season with 33 goals in all competitions.

One to watch from the bench will be Geovany Quenda, a Bissau-born 18-year-old who has been called up but not yet capped by Portugal. Quenda returned to the squad at the weekend after fracturing a metatarsal in December. Before that, he was an ever-present, having been given his debut by Rubin Amorin as a wing-back. Rui Borges has played him, Saka-like, as a right-winger or a left-back. Like Bukayo, Quenda is left-footed, quick and has excellent close control. 

Quenda’s first goal for the club relieved Cristiano Ronaldo of the title of Sporting’s youngest goalscorer. He is moving to Chelsea in the summer, so that will presumably bring a premature end to a promising career.

At the weekend, a well-rotated Sporting returned to winning ways, beating Estrela Amadora 1-0 in the league, a result Rui Borges called a sweaty triumph, although the phrase may have lost something in translation.

The Arsenal

Sweaty triumph or any close variant could not be applied to our defeat by Bournemouth last Saturday. The blinding light of revival needs to break through the dark clouds gathered overhead, sharpish.

In his pre-match press conference, Arteta kept the fitness updates close to his chest, particularly regarding Calafiori, Ødegaard, Rice, Saka and Timber, hinting that only one of those five first-choice starters would be fit to play. My punt on the starting XI:

Raya
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapié
Zubimendi, Rice, Eze
Madueke, Gyökeres, Trossard

I could see Cristhian Mosquera starting instead of Benny Blanco, and, assuming Rice is fit, the cream-crackered Zubimendi, who is a yellow card away from a CL suspension, being rested ahead of the Man City game. Nørgaard would replace him, despite also being a suspension risk. Arteta might also start with a set-up more akin to 4-4-2, with Havertz playing in the right channel and Trossard dropping to the bench to give Eze some creative room on the left.

Sporting showed in the first leg that they were by no means the easy touch some had expected. They are a determined and disciplined side, but one we should be able to beat at home — although much the same could have been said of Bournemouth. 

We stand, let us remind the Arteta naysayers, on the cusp of reaching back-to-back CL semi-finals for the first time. I can do no better than to rehearse Dr. F’s advice to the team in the previous drinks, play to your strengths but also play with courage and confidence. Or, as Arteta put it, no fear, pure fire.

To quote GSD, we need a result, and preferably a performance too, so we can go into a huge game next weekend ready to do the business. I will go for 2-1, if not a pretty 2-1, but, at this point in the season, it is the result that counts.

Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far.

Posted in Champions League, Match Preview | 25 Drinks »

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