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The Seagull Has Landed

Oct 1st, 2021 by

Landed on me again, actually. The preview for last season’s away fixture at Brighton and Hove Albion in late December 2020 fell to me, and coincidentally the Seagulls have landed on me again this time around. Being just after Christmas, last season’s effort was a fairly pantomimic piece where Neal Maupay was cast as the villain having, in the previous fixture in June 2020, nobbled Bernd Leno and then added insult quite literally to injury by scoring their winner in the fifth minute of added, sorry, injury time. As if he needed to get any more annoying, Maupay repeated his 95th minute scoring trick against Crystal Palace on Monday night and robbed Patrick Vieira’s reinvigorated side of the extra two points they reportedly deserved.

From 1935 until the early 1980s, Arsenal dominated in games against Brighton. Three league games in the space of nine months in 1982 and a FA Cup defeat in 1988 saw Brighton repairing the balance sheet, and then after 1988 there was a pause of 25 years before the teams locked horns again in 2013. Our record against them since then has been W5, D2, L3, maybe a little too close for comfort against a supposedly much smaller club. The losses in that run occurred unsurprisingly between 2018 and June 2020. Hopefully our recent improvement will continue this weekend although it’s unlikely to be easy pickings as Brighton currently sit an impressive sixth in the table and have lost only once in the opening six games of the season.

Personally I have found them a bit of an irritant in recent seasons despite the fact that they have been playing some decent football under manager Graham Potter. Maupay is the real problem, an annoying little cheat of a player who does sadly have talent and will have to be carefully managed on Saturday evening. It does feel though that we should be beating the likes of Brighton without too much trouble, but they have been obstinate defenders and tough to overcome. They also score the majority of their goals from set pieces, so we will have to be well organised.

A much less irritating man to come from Brighton is comedian Simon Evans. I did include a clip of his in the above mentioned preview, about Brighton and Hove in general. This next clip reveals his opinions on football, and while not entirely complimentary about the fans, it does include a piece about another player which all Gooners will enjoy …….

https://youtu.be/Up7L0xvR45o

The Teams

After a very difficult and disappointing start to the season, our recent improvement has coincided with the introduction of some of our new players and the return to fitness of some older ones in crucial positions. Tomiyasu looks to be an excellent buy at right back / centre back, Ben White and Gabriel have the makings of a good partnership at centre back. Thomas Partey, on his return from injury, is finally looking like the player we thought we had signed from Atletico, and the promising Albert Lakonga is going to get a chance to establish himself alongside Thomas as Granit Xhaka has now been diagnosed with a “significant injury” to the medial ligament in his right knee and will be out for three months. Aaron Ramsdale has very quickly confounded his doubters and looks to have swiftly reduced Bernd Leno to second choice keeper.

Tavares has looked interesting too with lots of pace and determination to get forward from the full back positions, and should be good support, if not yet competition, for Kieron Tierney. These young, energetic and skilful players, when combined with “old hand” Martin Odegaard and the rapidly developing likes of Smith-Rowe and Saka already, and Azeez, Patino, Balogun and Martinelli waiting in the wings, are beginning to offer hope that we can begin to challenge again.

Mikel Arteta has come in for a lot of stick over the last twelve months with many already calling for him to be sacked. While some of his tactics have been extremely conservative and some of his selections – and substitutions – have driven us to distraction, last Sunday’s win against Tottenham was a revelation. Hopefully it was a sign of things to come as the manager begins to work with the squad that he is now overhauling. It is a cliche but the manager sees the players every day in training and maybe he genuinely didn’t believe they were capable of the kind of play that blew Tottenham away until he had made his own additions. At any rate there didn’t seem to be any lack of spirit or togetherness on Sunday and it was good to see some smiles back on the players’ faces. I would love to see Arteta turn things around and achieve success with the Arsenal. He took over a club that was a mess from top to bottom. The latest signs are that he deserves a decent chance to make things work.

I hope there won’t be a lot of changes to the team at present. We are six games into the season and need to develop partnerships and understandings. I would like to see the team that beat Tottenham, minus the injured Xhaka, given the chance to start this one. For once we have no other injuries or illnesses to prevent it.

Ramsdale

Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney

Partey, Lakonga / AMN

Saka, Odegaard, ESR

Aubameyang

For Brighton, Danny Welbeck is seeing a specialist about his hamstring injury, while Steven Alzate, Enock Mwepu and Adam Webster are ruled out. Yves Bissouma’s knee injury is “making progress” and will face a late test.

Interestingly both Mikel Arteta and Graham Potter have been nominated for the Premier League Manager of the Month award for September.

The Holic Pound

Typical odds for this game seem to be around 11/5 for a Brighton win or a draw, and 7/5 for an Arsenal win. Better returns are available through betfair.com for things like Martin Odegaard to assist a goal at 5/1; Aubameyang to score first at 11/2; Saka to have 2 or more shots on target at 7/1. You pays your money …

If it helps to make a decision the head to head record in all competitions is P23, Arsenal wins 14, Draws 4, Brighton wins 5.

The referee for this one is cuddly Jonathan Moss, and manning the VAR will be Chris Kavanagh, for anyone who holds strong views on him …… Kick off is at 17.30 UK time and is live on Sky Sports.

Enjoy the game, all!

Posted in Match Preview | 53 Drinks »

Arsenal Blow Tottenham Away with Stunning First Half Performance.

Sep 26th, 2021 by

Remember how you felt after the Manchester City game? #Arteta Out was trending on the less responsible Twitter feeds and C100 was wondering if he could invoice the club for a non-performance, a tank of petrol and two full English breakfasts. Middlesex Wanderers were amazingly top of the table and loving it. We were bottom with no points and no goals. Tonight North London is proudly, overwhelmingly RED after a first-half performance as good as we have seen from an Arsenal team for a very long time.

I watched today’s game from my sickbed. Please forgive a slightly truncated report which may lack a little cohesion but I haven’t been at my best today. I’ve posted two negative Covid tests so maybe NLD nerves played a part! I really didn’t expect such a tonic but the quality and vibrancy of that first half was wonderfully uplifting. We began with pace, zip and intelligent movement. Goals looked inevitable. Let’s look at how they arrived.

On 12 minutes Saka bewildered the S***s defence before turning the ball across for ESR to pass the ball home 

Arsenal 1 Tottenham 0 – Smith Rowe 12 minutes 

After the goal Tottenham had a bit of possession but a blistering Arsenal counter-attack on 27 minutes began with Xhaka who received a hospital ball from Ramsdale. He turned the ball on to Tierney who passed it to Aubameyang, who held the ball up today better than I’d ever seen him do. Auba was on the halfway line when he received it and he simply flicked it into the path of ESR and made for the S***s box. ESR tore through the Middlesex right flank and turned the ball across for Aubameyang to direct the ball into the far corner. Sky chose to make an issue of what I thought was a foul on Xhaka.

Arsenal 2 Tottenham 0 – Aubameyang 27 minutes 

The Grove was in ferment as the score reflected the vast superiority that Arsenal were exercising over a pedestrian, dispirited S***s side. Things got even better after Kane lost a challenge on the edge of our box and crisp passing from Thomas and Odegaard found ESR, driving out of our half. ESR passed the ball to Saka on the right of the S***s half and he drove at Dier in their box. Harry Kane desperately tried to get back into the game by sliding in on Saka but his challenge on Saka was incomplete and more of an assist than a tackle and Bukayo rolled the ball across Lloris and into the net.

Arsenal 3 Tottenham 0 – Saka 34 minutes 

In addition to the goals, we’d seen Partey foiled at the near post by Lloris and Auba crack the ball narrowly over. Apart from a missed free header by Kane, Tottenham created nothing. It was the biggest interval lead in a North London Derby since Sky started keeping records 

Half-time:  Arsenal 3 Tottenham 0 

The second half began with two shouts for penalties, one at each end and neither given. Gabriel was charged into as he attempted to meet a Tomayisu cross. Then to most Gooners’ amazement, White’s ill -timed challenge on Kane who as ever made a massive amount of it was not awarded by Craig Pawson. We were fortunate there and it may be Kane’s colossal overacting counted against him.

Arsenal dropped off to protect their lead, S***s brought on Skipp to replace the ineffectual Alli at half-time and many Arsenal legs seemed to tighten as their first half efforts took their toll and maybe a realisation of what they were achieving hit them. 

Kane forced a low save from Ramsdale, cleared by Tomayisu, and our new keeper tipped a Moura effort onto the angle of post and bar before he conceded his first goal as Arsenal keeper when he could only parry a Son drive into the corner 

Arsenal 3 Tottenham 1 – Son 79 minutes

The late concession led to a few nerves but sensible substitutions providing double coverage out wide enabled us to see out time without too many alarms 

Full-time: Arsenal 3 Tottenham 1 

So what conclusions can we draw? 

I may have mentioned in the blog being disconcerted late last season when the Marshdwelling element of my family suggested that only Aubameyang might get into the Tottnumb side. I think most of us saw an Arsenal nucleus that has been built on carefully that suggested much better times. Today was an affirmation of that. Most top sides have seven outstanding players of quality and character. Today we had Saka, ESR, Auba, Partey, Tierney and the superb Tomayisu who fitted that description. In addition Odegaard took up some wonderful positions though he coughed the ball up a little too much, Gabriel and White showed promise as a central defensive pair ( my concern is whether in a two White is physically strong enough) , Ramsdale looks everything that Leno isn’t and even Xhaka today played with strength and exuberance.

I think there has been a very good reaction from most Arsenal fans who actually support the team rather than troll from the sidelines. We’ve bought into a longer-term project which will require patience and resilience. We need clear signs of progress and a new generation we can believe in. I think we have exactly that in the squad Arteta is building. There will be setbacks and beating a very average Tottnumb side is not a complete vindication of what has happened since Arteta took over. But it is a very encouraging start 

That first eleven which we’d not been able to put on the pitch before is much more interesting, exciting and better coached than Tottnumb’s eleven. NES is an underwhelming coach who will find the flaccidity of this performance very hard to recover from.

Not only is North London RED but we may be on the cusp of a real revival of our fortunes. Arteta has certainly earned the opportunity to initiate his brand of football which was discernibly exciting and progressive today. 

Enjoy your bragging rights, Gooners! They are well-deserved on the basis of a fine afternoon in North London which is currently drenched in RED! 

Posted in Match Report | 89 Drinks »

Never Mind the Bollocks. Just Mash the Spuds.

Sep 25th, 2021 by

“Pepe prepares to face Eric Dier”

Every season, this is the biggest game we play.

Before the fixture list is out, if you asked me which is the one match I most wanted to win, it would be Spuds at home, every time.

Furthermore, it is also the match I most hate to lose. Getting turned over at our own ground, against any incarnation of the shower from the wrong end of Seven Sisters Road, is one of the worst things in my footballing experience. I detest that feeling.

It must be avoided at all costs.

First, a quick recap of how we got here… an unfortunate situation against Brentford led to a gloomy loss, followed by two predictable losses against top sides. Since then, we have won one-nil twice. And we’ve won a couple of League Cup matches along the way. For me, the Brentford game is the only unexpected result in there (although I would never consider the away game at Burnley a banker for this team!)

This match against our old rivals could go either way, we have not seen enough of our new look side to know how they will approach this one. Of course, if it goes to the good guys, then we will all be feeling a lot better when we look at the league table on Sunday evening.

However, as we get Partey back, introduce Tomi, White, Ramsdale, Lokonga (and Odegaard) into regular first team duties, and generally look to reshape our team and the way it plays, I am not sure how much we will learn about our prospects from this one-off game. We will need longer to evaluate where this team is headed this season.

And I think that is a great thing to focus on… Amid all the varying opinions about the manager, the executives, the owners (maybe there are less varied opinions about the Kroenkes, heh) and where the team is going, perhaps sometimes we spend too long worrying about the big picture?

I’m going to take this derby as a one-off, on its own merits.

All I want to see from our lads on Sunday is full commitment. The new boys will have been told about this one and I want to see them give everything they have against the worst club in football. I don’t care if it ain’t pretty. I don’t care about the evolution of the team, the tactical nuances of Arteta vs Nuno, or how scrappy our goals are. I just want us to win. By any means necessary. Just win.

Personally, I am sick to the back teeth of the constant drama at our club.

Its like a soap opera. I suppose that’s why we make such an effort to teach all our young foreign players to speak like they want roles on EastEnders.

Seriously though, there are so many different voices, all talking at cross purposes, and I (as a long-time regular in Dave’s bar) am finding it hard to feel connected to those Arsenal fans who express their views without a level of respect for fellow fans. Add this to the untold waves of biased, agenda-driven tripe that the wider media, in all its glorious forms, is heaping down upon our beleaguered fandom, and the current existential crisis of our club does seem to have outrun the focus on the, you know, actual football.

I do not want to get into the rights and wrongs of that. Everyone has their opinion. And opinions are like noses – everybody has one, and everybody picks their own.

I just want to observe that there is nothing to galvanise a fanbase, a club, and bring everyone into unity, like the marshdwellers leaving their own Toilet Stadium and squelching their way over to our place with plans to take a result back to the sewers. For a couple of hours on Sunday we can tune out all the noise around the club and make some noise cheering on The Arsenal as we go toe to toe with the chicken-basketball worshipping servants of evil.

In his presser, Arteta made a distinction between fans and supporters. I guess he is just saying that it is important we all get behind our team. He is right that the supporters in the stadiums (home and away) have been absolutely stellar recently. They have led by example.

I am really up for this, because we need to be pulling together, and on Sunday we all will be. Every Gooner, everywhere, without exception, will be willing us on for a victory we could really do with. There is nothing like a North London Derby to remind us of our club motto.

The Arsenal

Ramsdale

Tomiyasu – White – Gabriel – Tierney

Partey – Lokonga

Pepe – Odegaard – Saka

Auba

Unusually, everyone is fit and available for selection. That almost never happens.

I can’t see Leno back in for this one. I think the jersey is Ramsdale’s to lose and I am happy with that. The back four picks itself. I think Arteta will partner Lokonga with Partey to add some extra stability, although he could play ESR instead, with a dual role for Odegaard and the Croyden de Bruyne. Pepe might be on the bench for ESR anyway, but I am plumping for Pepe to be the Agent Of Chaos tasked with pegging Reguilon back.

Xhaka is available to start. I will support him if he does. I hope he does not. The holics’ pound assumes that he won’t start. If he does then I will be less confident.

Sometimes last season it was hard to be certain of more than about five players in the starting lineup. I hope we continue with a more settled eight or nine guys in the league, with adjustments being measured and fluid, rather than wholesale and jarring.

The Scum

I hate this bit. I don’t care about their team, or their tactics, or anything to do with them, really. But this is a preview, and some of the learned patrons of this bar will doubtless have thoughtful contributions to make about how we might setup to counter the threats posed by a team that we absolutely cannot lose to.

So, since I can’t just say that we should do a Tuchel (bring on Kante at half-time to win us the game) I suppose I’ll do a bit of research and see what they have been up to since the ironically named Senor Espirito Santo began leading the hordes of darkness.

* Give me a minute. Talk amongst yourselves. *

Well, I feel somewhat dirty. Don’t say I don’t go into bat for you lot. After a rummage through the muck, it turns out they won three without conceding a goal, and then lost 3-0 twice, to Chelski and to a Crystal Palace side who cast them out like the snakes they are. Top coaching from St. Patrick, that.

They are playing a 4-3-3 that morphs into a 4-3-2-1. Kane will not necessarily start highest up the pitch, that may be Son. Both are dangerous and Kane would love to kick-start his season with a goal against us.

Hojberg, Alli and Ndombele may start in midfield. I’d prefer to play against Harry Winks, but there is nothing to be afraid of either way.

The French chap captains them and keeps goal. New signing Emerson Royal will play at right-back, so we will all be hoping Tomi comes out looking much the better player. Reguilon will be left back. Good player, but very annoying (ditto Hojberg). Romero partners Eric Dier at CB. I dearly hope Dier has one of those days of his where he looks like he’d get subbed off on Hackney Marshes.

Apparently, they have not created many chances but have finished well, whereas we are the other way round.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

The holics’ pound

For my first prediction of the season, I am going to go with the underlying stats, which say Spurs are not creating many chances, and with Aaron Ramsdale’s bloody-minded determination not to concede his first goal in our colours against this disgrace of players (if anyone has better suggestions for the appropriate collective noun for Spuds players then please let them loose in the drinks.)

So, having decided Spurs won’t score… how many do I think we will manage?

Well, a classic 1-0 to The Arsenal is available at around a predictably meagre 7s. That would be a hat-trick of 1-0 wins for us.

A 3-0 thumping can be had at 1/20 to 1/25, depending on where you shop for it. That would be a hat-trick of 3-0 defeats for them.

However, the money is going down the middle. 2-0 to The Arsenal is available at around 11/1, and goes up to around 20/1 if you put Auba down to score one of them. 

Wherever you are on Sunday, I wish you all the best.

And when the match rolls round and you are screaming our lads on, in the stadium, the pub, your own lounge, or anywhere else, then I, and all the other Gooners around the world, will be screaming along with you.

Victoria Concordia Crescit

Posted in Match Preview | 76 Drinks »

Blind man’s bluff – the Carabao Cup tie with Wimbledon

Sep 22nd, 2021 by

When this game was scheduled it was expected to be shown here in the US on ESPN+, which would have made fine lunchtime watching on the West coast. Alas, it was not to be, and so this report is brought to you, in the main, by the fine voices of the Arsenal commentary squad…whose names I failed to get at the start or the end of the match.

Needless to say it is not the optimal way to “watch” a match. Given the ongoing attention to various “colorful” details of the clubs, the players, the coaches, and the fans, the reportage of the playing of the game was somewhat lacking. Still, I managed to compile 4 pages of notes while listening, and I’ll mix in overall impressions with moments from the commentary team. Hopefully I’ll be able to create a semi-vivid picture of the game. And for those of you who went to the game, even if you were held up by Picadilly line works issues, please add your commentaries in the drinks below.

We started the game in a 4-3-3:

Leno

Cedric — Holding — Marí — Tavares

Lokonga — Partey — AMN

Gabi — Laca (c) — Nketiah

Apparently we started out well, dominating the opening exchanges only giving Wimbledon rare chances on the break for the first half hour. We moved the ball quickly up the field, and across it, with Gabi being particularly active; at one point he started a move for Cedric to cross for Nketiah, only to see the end product be a goal kick.

One such move led to our first goal, as Gabi interplayed with his teammates across the box then was brought down by Guinness-Walker in the 10th minute. Captain Laca stepped up and sent Tzanev the wrong way, sticking the ball to the keeper’s left, in the bottom corner.

Arsenal 1-0 Wimbledon (Laca, 10′)

AMN, Lokonga, and Partey were passing in a number of triangles, and continued to move the ball quickly from defense to offense, often in breaks of 4-6 players, only to see the ball at the end blocked, intercepted, or out for a corner. But Wimbledon were remaining dangerous on the break as well; in the 18th minute Capitola Rob had to head over the bar a Wimbledon cross after they broke upfield, though it ended with Gabi on the turf after clearing the ball and getting caught.

On 23 minutes Eddie tried an overhead kick (see photo above) after some good exchanges by the front six, and missed; he was nearly booked for it, apparently, though it’s clear the danger to the Wimbledon player might have been the latter’s own fault. Lokonga flashed a shot over the bar from a corner on 26 minutes…perhaps his and Eddie’s audacity was just part and parcel of Arsenal enjoying themselves on the pitch on the half hour. McCormick was shown the yellow card for a foul on Gabi, who took some time and treatment before he was up again to play on.

Arsenal continued to defend what breaks Wimbledon were able to muster and Wimbledon enjoyed more of the ball as the second third of the match began. Nonetheless we were still pressuring them, and in the 38th minute had a shot from Cedric saved for a corner after a good move involving Gabi and Laca. Gabi then had his shot from that corner put behind for another, thought that came to nothing as Cedric hit the first defender…sigh. A later corner to the near post was nearly flicked in by Nketiah, and led to a freekick by Gabi on 41, which was disappointingly wasted. In one minute of added time Heneghan was booked for fouling Eddie; this was followed by a shot from Tavares that was blocked, then a corner, which was headed over by Laca.

Arsenal 1-0 Wimbledon (Halftime)

The halftime commentary left our two announcers and went to the studio, though before they left they did say AMN had played a good game at center mid for the first half, though he was a bit sloppy, and raised some questions about his passing range. They praised Nuno for his strength and direct running, and passing. They also acknowledged that the game must not be streaming worldwide as they had so few Twitter comments/questions/whatever they use to drum up interest in their halftime festivities.

The first quarter of an hour of the second half was more to Wimbledon’s liking than Arsenal’s, especially after they substituted Pressley for Palmer up front. He was able to take advantage of Arsenal sloppiness for a couple half-chances, and the voices of the Wimbledon faithful were raised high and proud in the evening sky. In truth, both sets of fans could be heard throughout the game, giving vociferous evidence of their value in this post-Covid season.

On 59 minutes Thomas hit a driving shot low to their keeper’s left, and Tzanev got down well to save, but the corner led to nothing. It was Thomas’s last action as he was replaced a minute later by ESR, even as Mebude replaced McCormick for the visitors. Mebude was quickly involved in a break for Wimbledon, with Pressley running at our defense before passing to Mebude, only to have the pass cut out for a corner (that, like all their other corners, led to nothing).

Again and again Wimbledon looked like they would be dangerous on the break, only to have their moves snuffed out by the Arsenal defense…who turned nice, quick movement into breaks of their own. A good run by Gabi into the box brought us another corner; Nuno blasted his shot over the bar after Marí’s headed ball from the corner was saved.

On 69 minutes Wimbledon threw on their last sub, Chislett for Rudoni, in an effort to get their left wing juiced up to push for an equalizer. Arsenal started putting higher and higher pressure on their goal, leading to a wasted corner after some fine play back and forth across the box. Saka replaced Gabi (big clap for Gabi) in the 76th minute, and very shortly ESR scored our second after interplay with Tavares, Laca, and Saka.

Arsenal 2-0 Wimbledon (ESR, 77′)

Wimbledon must have drooped at that point; who wouldn’t have? To their credit they fought on, blocking a Lokonga shot in the 80th minute. However, Arsenal recycled the ball, finishing with passes from Saka to Cedric to Eddie…who flicked in a sumptuous goal with his off foot, if I understood rightly. The goal of the game, the announcers implied.

Arsenal 3-0 Wimbledon (Eddie, 80′)

That was Eddie’s last meaningful contribution to the game, as he was replaced by Balogun in the 84th minute. The game largely petered out after the third goal, though the commentators pointed out Wimbledon was still doing their best, and their fans were up on their feet to get them going. In the 90th minute Saka drove the ball downfield and got a good shot away, but it was just wide left. Apparently he was very dangerous after coming on, as one might expect. He had the final shot in the game, after running at their defense and playing a 1-2 with Laca; Saka’s powerful shot to the upper right corner was well saved by Tzanev.

And the whistle sounded.

We get to the next round of the Carabao Cup (26-27 October), when we’ll play Leeds United at THOF. Rumor has it tonight’s game will be up later on the .Pravda, though I wouldn’t put real money on a bet about it. Similar rumors abound about it being on ESPN+ on demand after 24 hours; my feelings about that are similar, with respect to a punt.

I do hope anyone who was there (ahem, C100) can flesh out the above with more/better information. It’s a really bad way to enjoy a football match. Thanks for reading!

Posted in Match Report | 36 Drinks »

Wimbledon- An Uncommon Story

Sep 21st, 2021 by

We have a new author in our stable, aka CER The Younger. Welcome, 21st Century Gooner!

Courtesy of womblesofficial.com

The Gunners take on AFC Wimbledon on Wednesday night in the third round of the Carabao Cup. We can probably expect a heavily rotated side, as after picking up back-to-back wins and clean sheets following the international break the pressure has eased on Mikel Arteta somewhat. This coupled with the fact that we have a meeting with that lot down the road on the weekend. But that’s not to say the boss will take the visitors lightly. We have already seen that Arteta is a man who takes the cup competitions seriously. Since being appointed in 2019 he has enjoyed a good record in non-premier league games. We, of course, won the FA Cup in 2020 after beating Manchester City and Chelsea, won the Charity Shield a few weeks later and made the semi-finals of the Europa champions league last season. At the same time, we can hope to see a couple of the lads from Hale End get a run out.

But what do we know about our South West London visitors other than they live underground, overground wombling free? Well, they are a relatively new club, having risen from the ashes of the former Wimbledon FC in 2002 after their controversial relocation to Milton Keynes 50 miles north of their SW17 home. Their fans were understandably furious about this, so they decided to do something about it, forming the phoenix club AFC Wimbledon. They had to begin at the bottom way down in the ninth tier of the English football pyramid. They have been promoted an impressive six times since then and since 2016 they have plied their trade in league one (that’s division three in old money) just two divisions below the Premier League. Impressive. They also have the record of being the only club in the football league formed in the 21st century. So, despite their brief history, this is a club with great pride in their club and what they have achieved. We can expect to see a side with a lot of togetherness and fighting spirit, who will be eager to compete and not just happy to be playing top class opposition (now we’ve stormed to the dizzy heights of 13th). That said this is a game we really should be winning.

But what kind of team can we expect to see? Arteta surprised many with his strong selection in the previous round with Aubameyang, Pepe and Saka all starting. We romped to a 6-0 win that night although this was partially because West Brom played the kids. We will not get that benefit against this AFC Wimbledon side, with many of their players quite possibly viewing this game as a chance to put themselves in the shop window. Following Leno being usurped by Aaron Ramsdale for the PL team, it is more than likely the German will start in goal. At the back it may well be the out of favour Cedric Soares on the right-hand side with the chuckle brothers, Holding and Mari in the middle. Then on the left it’s a toss-up between the dynamic and rangy Tavares and part-time minder Sead Kolasinac. Bearing in mind we have just signed the former and are trying to offload the latter you would expect Arteta to go with the Portugal U-21 international.

Onto the midfield. Will it be 4-3-3? For the first time in a long while on Saturday, the boss went with his preferred 4-3-3 which was effective in the first half before waning in the second half as the Ginger Testicle’s Orcs set about playing the Tony Pulis school of neanderthal football. Much like they say, “Thursday is the new Friday”, Burnley are the new Stoke. Anyway, I digress. It is likely that we will see the Egyptian Pirlo sitting in the middle of the park orchestrating the game with his five yards sideways passing to the centre backs. We may well see one of Ainsley Maitland Niles or Albert Sambi Lokonga sitting next to Elneny with both players coming on as second half substitutes at Turf Moor. It will be interesting to see who plays in the creative midfielder role. It is unlikely Arteta will want to risk either Emile Smith Rowe or Martin Odegaard ahead of next week’s derby but if not highly rated 17-year-old Charlie Patino may get a run out. The teenager impressed in the U-21’s 2-1 defeat at Swindon in the Papa John’s last week and many scouts have said that he is set to go down “the Phil Foden route”, where instead of being a flat track bully in youth football he will be given opportunities with the first team. How soon those chances will present themselves remains to be seen, but he is certainly tipped for a very bright future. Clearly the BFG is making sure these kids are eating their Weetabix.

Up front, Arteta has a plethora of options. Hopefully we see Martinelli on the left, with a bit of luck the Brazilian can get a goal or two to kickstart his season. Up top it may well be Lacazette leading the line. The Frenchman has rarely got a look in this season due to a combination of Covid and falling out of favour. He will almost certainly be leaving on a Bosman at the end of the campaign so in all fairness it would make more sense to play those who are part of the long-term project. So again, it could be anyone out of the Frenchman or Nketiah or Balogun who has returned to academy football since that chastening evening at Brentford. There’s the classic, too good for youth football but not ready for topflight football. Quite the dilemma. A loan to a top half championship club and regular first team action would do him the world of good. Then we could see Pepe on the right perhaps. He has had a strange start to the season, but he is finally getting a regular run of games this year it seems. Again, Arteta will not want to run the risk of an injury to a key player ahead of such a huge game, but we are lacking in right wingers with Nelson off in Holland on loan.

So, it is all set up to be an interesting evening under the lights in N5. A chance for those who can’t regularly attend to go and watch their heroes in action and another chance for Arsenal to continue the momentum ahead of the derby. COYG!

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