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Hairless Hurzeler Hurts Hopeless Highburians

Sep 19th, 2026 by

First Half 

Hopes were high as the teams took to the pitch. That was as good as it got. Brighton started with a man for man press out of possession and we were forced into error after error, unable to hold onto the ball and giving it away time after time as we were hurried. I have never seen an Arteta team turn over the ball more times. On 31 minutes, the inevitable happened and the ball came to Groß outside the box. With nobody closing him down – in fairness while another Brighton player made a good decoy run inside him, he had time to look up and crack his shot past Raya off the inside of the post.  This in no way acted as a stimulus for Arsenal who simply at no stage were at the races. Just before half time, Kostoulas scored pretty much a carbon copy of the first as we invited him to shoot from distance which he duly did, screaming one into the net.  Not a single Arsenal player had a good first half. Two goals conceded from long shots invited by not pressing the man on the ball. Both excellent finishes.   Arteta outthought and Arsenal outplayed. 

Half Time: Brighton 2 Arsenal 0

Second Half

The second half saw no Half Time substitutions for Arsenal and no change in performance. We looked every bit as listless and enervated as we had done in the first half. Brighton continued to exhibit huge and relentless energy levels while we seemed to amble and shamble about with very little vision or purpose to our play. After 12 minutes of second half play, a corner from the left-hand side saw nobody get close to challenging Chema Andrés, who had the simple task of heading the ball into the net. 

Brighton 3 Arsenal 0

Arteta threw on some subs with Zubimendi and Merino coming on for Timber and Guimarães.  Merino in particular seemed to be wearing his boots on the wrong feet for the first five minutes, turning the ball over and getting caught in possession. There was no noticeable upping of the Arsenal wattage at all.  The best Arsenal chance came when Gyökeres – on for a distinctly unimpressed Ødegaard – gave a very good reverse pass to Havertz, freeing him up for a one-on-one with the Brighton keeper. 21CG and I looked at one another, with the telepathic message being “there’s no way he’s scoring this”. Havertz hit his shot straight at the keeper when almost anywhere else could have resulted in a goal. The Arsenal fans began to exit.  We did not get any better.

Final Score: Brighton 3 Arsenal 0.

Conclusions:

Brighton deserved their victory and were the better team by a country mile.

Not one Arsenal player came out of the game with any credit whatsoever.

Arteta was totally outthought and his team outfought. 

File under B for bin.

At least we’re not Sp*rs. Although we gave a more than passable impression for 90 odd minutes today.

On to the next game.

COYG

Posted in Match Report | 41 Drinks »

Can Arsenal Clip Brighton’s Wings?

Sep 18th, 2026 by

Next up in a tough pre-interlull sequence of four away fixtures, is Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium, perhaps the toughest challenge of them all, given current form. Can this Arsenal squad extend its current run of victories?

This is Brighton’s tenth consecutive season as a top flight club since gaining promotion in 2016-17. The Seagulls have gained wide respect for their management structure, scouting network, shrewd managerial appointments, player development and consistently successful player sales and replacement. Credit appears to be due to owner Tony Bloom and his advanced data modelling approach which they use to identify suitable players, coaches and support staff.

Brighton flirted with the lower reaches in their first three seasons in the Premier League but from 2021-22, they have finished 9th, 6th, 11th, 8th and 8th. Potter had them playing attractive progressive football and gained his poisoned chalice of head coach at the Bus Stop on the strength of that ninth place. De Zerbi bettered that by gaining sixth place and their first foray into Europe which undoubtedly affected their league position the next season but has finally landed in the cesspit up the road. Hürzeler has maintained Brighton’s exalted status with two consecutive 8th places. The German coach has an impressive record (42 wins, 26 draws and 27 defeats in 95 matches since taking charge in June 2024) and has developed a highly competitive team producing free-flowing, attractive football but he just can’t resist the occasional snide comment and seems to have a particular problem with the Arsenal. 

That spikiness may be a result of his own record against the Arsenal. Since promotion to the Premier League, Brighton’s record against the Arsenal is 5 wins, 5 draws and 8 defeats which is very respectable given the relative size of the club. However, Hürzeler’s own PL record is 0 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats plus another defeat in the League Cup whereas Potter delivered 3 wins and de Zerbi 2 wins against the Arsenal. Do you think he might be up for this game?.

Brighton underwent a massive squad overhaul in the summer with 11 new signings costing roughly £150-180 million while letting go established players for some £160-190 million. Major purchases include Vušković, a promising 19-year-old Croatian centre-back from Sp*rz; Yohanna, a highly-rated 19-year-old Swedish winger from AIK; Struijk, an experienced 26-year-old centre-back from Leeds; Andrés, a defensive midfielder from Stuttgart; Azeez, a winger from Millwall; Hadjam, a left-back from Young Boys; Costinha, a right-back from Olympiacos; Svoboda, a centre-back from Venezia and David, a forward on loan from Union SG (another club associated with Bloom’s Jamestown Analytics). Midfielder Baleba left for Manure for ca. £70m, van Hecke joined Sp*rx for ca. £50m, Rushworth left for Coventry after a season on loan for ca. £22m while Welbeck joined Chelsea for £5m and Julio joined Burnley for £3m. It might be observed that each player could have chosen to join a better outfit.

The Seagulls got their PL campaign off to a great start with a 4-0 home demolition of Villa but then suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat at the Bus Stop despite 74% possession and matching the hosts’ 6 shots on target. 3-0 down after 30 minutes, they were the better team for the rest of the game. Their  next game was a 1-1 home draw with Leeds despite again dominating possession and taking 20 shots at goal. In their last league game they again dominated possession at 70% as they trounced Coventry 5-0 away, and they were by far the better team after the first 10 minutes in their comeback win in midweek at Old Trafford. Clearly, taking the lead against this team is no guarantee of success.

Hürzeler generally deploys a highly fluid 4-2-3-1 formation which dynamically shifts into a 2-4-4 or 4-3-3 during the build-up phase. However, he started with a back three against Manure.  Will he revert to a back four against the Arsenal? Your guess is as good as mine. I suspect he may not.

Brighton have a significant injury list: Mitoma, Minteh, Hinshelwood, Wieffer, Ferguson, Tzimas and March are long term absentees; Azeez has returned to full training but Hürzeler says that he will not be ready for this match; O’Riley played 60 minutes and Rutter 8 minutes in midweek and both may be involved from the bench against Arsenal. Hadjam has reportedly recovered from his injury vs Manure and will probably be on the bench.

In their 4 league games to date, Hürzeler has usually started the following XI:

Verbruggen

Kadioglu, Vušković, Dunk, Boscagli;

Groß, Atari

Gomez, Yacouyé, De Cuyper

Kostoulas

I have to confess that I only recognise Verbruggen, Dunk, Vušković and Groß in that XI. Dunk and Vuškoviċ have looked a reasonably solid centre-back pairing this season but I would expect Saka, Tzolis, Ødegaard, Guimarães, Merino and Havertz to be capable of unsettling them with their high press and fast interplay though high crosses in open play will be of little value. Groß was a major force in their midfield against Manure and effectively ran the game and he will need to be looked after (in the nicest possible way) by someone, probably DR41. Groß, Yalcouyé and De Cuyper might be regarded as their major threats although Brighton’s goals have so far been shared around. In four games each, Groß has 2 goals and 2 assists, Yalcouyé has 2 goals and De Cuyper 1 goal and 2 assists. Hinshelwood, who is currently injured, scored 2 goals in a single appearance and four other players, including the two centre-backs, have one goal each. Brighton currently sit in 7th place and are the top scoring team in the PL with 13 goals, having conceded 5, and their goal difference of 8 is the best in the league.

What about the Champions? With Konsa proving a fabulous deputy for Saliba, the only question mark in defence is at right back. According to MA8 on Friday, he is “very optimistic” that Mosquera, White, Timber and Hincapié will be available for selection. It would be simply unheard of if all our full-back options were available to begin to share the heavy load that position now calls for. However MA8 can be extremely Delphic in his answers to press conference questions and we may be fortunate to have just one of those players ready to start, hopefully at least, Timber. Salmon had an excellent match against Ipswich at RCB and he looks so composed and competent; if we are short for right back cover the youngster could be useful on the bench to provide cover, though I thought Zubimendi did very well at RB in midweek and may be pencilled in as cover for that position as well as in midfield. In midfield the big question is whom to add to Rice and Ødegaard: Guimarães for forward drive and penetrating passing or MLS for defensive cover? Although Merino could add a bit of both I suspect MA8 might reserve him for reinforcement of our central attack if necessary. I expect Guimarães to be the third starting midfielder.

In our generally excellent midweek showing, the player whose performance might have thrust him into the next starting XI was, of course, Max Dowman, but at 16, a run of first team games would be asking too much, despite his huge talent. Dowman may possibly make the bench but careful time management is clearly the order of the day for someone of such tender years. Madueke’s performance against Ipswich cemented his right wing back-up position but he still has work to do to displace Saka despite our number seven not yet hitting his best form. Unfortunately, neither Gyökeres nor Eze produced performances in midweek that will give Mikel Arteta any selection headaches for Brighton. They will both be on the bench. I expect to see us to start with:

Raya

Timber Konsa Gabriel Calafiori

Ødegaard Guimarães Rice

Saka Havertz Tzolis

I predict a tight, hard-fought game. Brighton will employ a high press and will work hard to regain the ball as far upfield as possible – much like ourselves –  and if unsuccessful in that, will present us with a double row of defenders in a low block. We will need to be at our slickest in playing out from the back to beat that press and must move the ball quickly into attack before they can reset. Ødegaard and Guimarães will be key components to a victory. I fear that this game is likely to be settled by a nervy one goal margin, or may possibly end in a draw. 

The Holic Pound? You can get 8/1 on both 1-0 and 2-1 to the Arsenal, or 17/2 on 2-0 to the Arsenal, 14/1 on 0-0, 15/2 on 1-1 or ‘the value bet’ of 15/1 on 2-2. If you don’t suffer from terminal Celtic gloom, as I appear to, you can plump for 3-0 or 3-1 which are both offered at 14/1. I would be delighted if we could keep another clean sheet but this feels like a game in which we may concede and we will have to score more than a single goal to win. Thus the Holic Pound is going on one of Dave’s favourite scorelines: 2-1 to the Arsenal.

Enjoy the game, Holics. It’s not being shown live in the UK so happy stream-hunting for those of that persuasion.

Posted in Match Preview | 31 Drinks »

Tractor Boys Beaten by School Boys!

Sep 16th, 2026 by

Max Dowman celebrates scoring his second goal in Arsenal’s win over Ipswich Town. Image by ESPN

First, an apology for the tardiness of this report. I volunteered to fill this gap in the schedule and due to some work confusion completely forgot about it. However … enjoy … I hope!

A Tuesday evening trip to Suffolk for the 3rd round of the Carabao Cup saw Mikel Arteta ring the changes from the team that had won away at Sunderland just 72 hours before. Nine of them altogether with sone positional novelties among them. 

The Gunners lined up as:

Kepa;

Zubimendi, Salmon, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly;

Guimarães;

Merino, Dowman;

Madueke, Gyökeres, Eze.

That was the best I could make of the formation, and it included 16 year old Max Dowman, 17 year old Marli Salmon and, lest we forget, the still only 19 year old Miles Lewis-Skelly. 

Our replacements included a Brazilian international and two Spanish World Cup winners, such is the strength of the current squad.

While 15 year old “phenomenon” JJ Gabriel is apparently demanding to leave Manchester United due to limited opportunities, Max Dowman, 16, has waited quietly for his first minutes of the new season and what minutes they were. As the nights slowly but surely draw in towards autumn, the lights were on at Portman Road for the eight-o-clock kick off and were augmented by a dazzling display by the just-out-of-school boy. 

The game was only 7 minutes old when he exchanged passes with Eberechi Eze and ran straight at the heart of the Ipswich defence. That run included what I will call the “Kanu feint” – the one that left a number of Deportivo defenders on their backsides in a Champions League tie at Highbury as he walked the ball into the net. Max’s feint left 29 year old, 6’3” Ipswich defender, Cedric Kipre, on the floor – similarly to the the Everton defender he sent sprawling at the Emirates – before he nudged the ball onto his ‘weaker’ right foot and fired in at the left hand post past a helpless Christian Walton. 

Not a bad night’s work for a 16 year old. But it was only half done. Two minutes into the second half, Martin Zubimendi pushed the ball into the Ipswich area where Dowman, back on his left foot, calmly curled the ball past the keeper and inside the far post to complete his first senior brace and put the Arsenal 3 – 0 to the good.

In between those Dowman strikes, Noni Madueke had doubled Arsenal’s lead after a Bruno Guimarães tackle freed the ball which found itself with Mikel Merino. His chipped pass found Madueke on the right hand side of the area and the winger adjusted his body position before driving the ball past Walton with the outside of his left boot. So 2 – 0 after 16 minutes. The handbrake was well and truly off and Set Piece FC were in full flow. I have to admit at this point, utterly spoilt as I am, that I was disappointed with our corners. Is anyone else feeling slightly disappointed that we haven’t scored from a single corner in our first six games!

After Dowman’s second goal, Arsenal continued to probe until Merino picked up a pass from Guimarães and struck from just outside the area. It was a lovely strike with his left foot which cannoned in off the left hand post to make it Ipswich 0 – 4 Arsenal.

Anis Mehmeti pulled one back for Ipswich from a driving assist from substitute Clark. Ex-Arsenal Hale End graduate Chuba Akpom – can you believe he is 30 years old? – grabbed them a second consolation in added time with a neat turn and shot from 12 yards. He had fouled MLS in the build up which I’m sure VAR would have spotted had it been employed. Oh yes it would!

Mikel Arteta had been able to leave Bukayo Saka on the bench and Declan Rice at home, such is the strength of the squad. None of our full backs was risked either with a tricky game scheduled for Brighton at the weekend. Marli Salmon gave an impressive display at centre back and 18 year old Theo Julienne came on as a late sub at right back.

The night, though, belonged to Max Dowman, of whom Mikel Arteta purred, “He’s an unbelievable player because of the character that he has and how much he loves to play at the biggest stage and still handle the situation so naturally. That’s his biggest quality. At 16 to already do what he does, it’s just incredible.”

And isn’t it great, as fans, to see that despite the depth and quality in our squad, there is still a pathway into the side for the incredible youngsters the club is producing.

Finally, a word for the loud and proud travelling Gooners. I’m sure there will be an on the spot report to look forward to from C100 if he hasn’t already beaten me to it.

Posted in Match Report | 33 Drinks »

Next up, the Carabao Cup at Portman Road

Sep 15th, 2026 by

Editor’s note: due to some geeing-up of the Goonerholicsforever populace by North Bank Ned, we’ve topped the £1000 pound mark in donations for this year’s Predictathon. We’ve gotten to £1055 from 25 donations, plus another £128.75 for “gift aid” from the donors. Well done to all who’ve donated, as TTG’s drink in a couple of posts back shared, Willow are very pleased. We’ve re-posted his note in the first drink below. And Week 4’s Predictathon update is now in the usual place at the tab above…

Our beloved Arsenal head to the heart of Suffolk on Tuesday to take on Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup 3d round. It’s an evening game at Portman Road, so if our travelling fans squint (perhaps after a few pints of Tolly Rodger) they might see the ghosts of Ipswich past emerging from the twilight mist…

The Tractor Boys have a varied history of success since the club of amateurs began kicking around the leather in the late 1870s. They won a number of championships in the Southern Amateur League, including 3 in 5 years at the same time Herbert Chapman’s Arsenal were dominating Division 1. Having waited more then 50 years to join the ranks of professionals, did so in 1936, promptly winning the Southern League trophy and finishing runners-up the following year, for which they were elected to the Football League’s Third Division South in 1938.

With only marginal success after World War 2 they managed to hire Sir Alf Ramsey in the mid-1950s after he completed his playing career for the scum up the road. Notwithstanding that taint, he brought immediate success to the Blues, winning promotion from the Third to the Second to the First Division in 1961. And then he won the First Division Championship at the first time of asking, dethroning that mob from Middlesex. That’s a note to spear wrongfully audacious Spurs fans with, if you like…Ipswich has a more recent First Division championship than they do! Sir Alf left the club to pursue a greater dream with the England national team.

They stayed in the top league for most of the 70s into the 80s under Sir Robert Robson, winning the FA Cup and UEFA Cup as well as finishing runners-up two seasons running in 1981 to 1982. It took four years after Sir Robert left for Ipswich to slide into the Second Division; they’ve largely stayed there since, with a few years back in the First Division, and a couple down in the Third. They were bought by the US investment group Gamechanger 20 Limited in 2021, and after a couple of indifferent seasons were promoted to the Championship, and the next year to the Premier League. They went straight back down only to come straight back up for this season.

Ipswich Town
The club have brought Strasbourg’s Gary O’Neil in as manager to see if he can get this tractor running well and remain in the Prem. So far, so good, as they sit in 10th place after the first four rounds. They score about as freely as Arsenal do, with their latest success against Palace coming with a last-minute winner. They are coming into this game with no one on the treatment table, so their players will be competing among themselves for a place in the squad. One player we can expect to see is ex-Arsenal “star of the future” Chuba Akpom on the bench, if not in the starting lineup; he signed permanently for Ipswich after spending a decent season there last year on loan from Ajax. Can you believe he’s now 30?

While their 10th place position is the envy of teams like United, Villa, and Spurs, their defense is not…even United put five past them! Tied for second-worst tally in the league with Coventry on 10 concessions, it is possible O’Neil will stray from his usual back four of Davis, Greaves, Diop and O’Shea in front of Scherpen in goal. In their Carabao Cup second round win over Leicester he rang in three changes in defense and a different ‘keeper, so he has priors for fielding a “cup team”. His defensive midfield pair usually is two of three from Palacios, Lukic, and Nuñez, though the same calculus applies to the cup as with the defense. In short, I have no clue what sort of team O’Neil is going to field.

The Arsenal
Did you know that we come in to this game on the back of six straight victories in all competitions? Just kidding, of course you do. We sit top of the league, with one of the better goalscoring tallies and the meanest defense. And we have only scored one set-piece goal all year, Saka’s penalty this past Saturday at the Stadium of Light! Where have you gone, Mr. Jover?

With White hobbling off at halftime on Saturday, and Mosquera not in the squad since his own hobbling exit at Villa Park two weeks ago, Timber is seemingly our only option at right back. There are rumors that Mosquera could be back, and Arteta has the option of blooding Salmon, from the bench or from the start. He and Dowman both trained with the first team today, according to Jeorge Bird (the expectation being they won’t play in tomorrow’s EFL Trophy tilt against Leyton Orient). Saliba is still out until December, leaving two of Konsa, Gabriel, Salmon, and Calafiori to fill our central defense. I’d start Konsa and Salmon, regardless of footedness, and leave Gabriel on the bench with Calafiori, so starting Hincapié on the left. While the approaching three-week interlull gives Arteta a little bit of freedom to mix and match through the game, but we certainly don’t want any further injuries to our defensive corps.

We have no injuries to our usual midfield sextet, though I have to believe Ødegaard, Rice, and Lewis-Skelly will start on the bench. Depending on where the boss can see Dowman playing Zubimendi, Merino, and Dowman in the midfield would be a treat to see feeding a front three of Eze, Gyökeres, and Madueke, leaving Saka to join the benchwarmers. Otherwise, Tzolis on the left, Eze in midfield, and Dowman on the right with Madueke on the bench feels right. In spite of his heroics against Sunderland, and much as I consider his keeping suspect, I’m guessing Kepa will start in goal.

So I will plump for this lineup to start:

Kepa
Timber — Konsa — Salmon — Hincapié
Zubimendi — Eze — Merino
Dowman — Gyökeres — Tzolis

While I expect an Arsenal win, I can’t tell if it will be a tight one, or if we’ll really get our juices flowing against a relatively poor defense. I mean, if United can put five past them, why can’t we? I do expect, regardless of whom Arteta starts, that our defense will be able to do enough to keep their goals scored to one or none. To that end, a 3-1 Arsenal victory gets you 10/1. However, if you have a gut feeling that our injuries in defense and changed team will mean Ipswich might score two, you can get 25/1 on Arsenal 3-2 Ipswich, and you can double that to 50/1 if we replicate the United 5-2 score!

Regardless of the actual score, an Arsenal win with no further injuries will do me just fine, and I hope the travelling fans have a safe and enjoyable time. Watch out for what comes out of the mist at Portman Road, though…and hoist a Tolly Rodger to our success!

COYG!

Posted in Match Preview | 33 Drinks »

A Raya at the Stadium of Light

Sep 13th, 2026 by

A slight dislocation of services at Goonerholic Towers has left us with a late substitute report which will focus on the issues rather than the detail of the match. Arsenal maintained their 100% record at Sunderland with a very hard fought 2-0 win. If Sunderland play with anything like the intensity they did in this match very few sides will exit the Stadium of Light with three points. It was a hugely committed performance in a game which was marred by a poor decision by the officials which could have left us with a mountain to climb.

That we didn’t was due to a brilliant penalty save by David Raya who was inspirational in goal as he so often is. The man is a League Champion, a World Cup winner and has a very strong claim to be the best goalkeeper in the world currently. The upgrade on Ramsdale that was so controversial a few years ago was eminently justified. Let us go over the key points of an enthralling Premier League match.

Arsenal’s starting eleven was the predictable one that had begun the Chelsea match seven days earlier. The ground was throbbing with noise and passion and Arsenal had to adjust to a big challenge barely forty eight hours since returning from Naples. Our three thousand marvellous fans sang loud and proud not cowed by the 8pm kick off time in the far North East. Saka might have done better when Rice found him in space behind the Sunderland defence and then Kai Havertz span onto a probing Ødegaard chip and Roefs had to tip over his acrobatic effort. Sunderland responded aggressively to both the challenge of subduing Arsenal’s attack and trying to put pressure on our goal. Ballard, who began his career at Arsenal, looked particularly energised and narrowly failed to connect properly with an excellent Xhaka cross from a free kick on the left. The intensity of the game took its first casualty when Ben White tweaked his groin and had to leave the game at half-time.

Arteta was particularly wired and the referee decided to show him a yellow card for failing to stay within what looked in truth to be a small technical area . The pressure a physically big and well-drilled Sunderland team were putting us under was a problem for him to ponder in the half-time interval. Brobbey, the man mountain upfront for Sunderland, was proving as obdurate as he was in this fixture last year but Konsa and Gabriel remained redoubtable and prepared for a serious second half battle. 

Half-time Sunderland 0 Arsenal 0

Jurrien Timber returned to the team in place of Ben White in the second half  and MLS was replaced by Guimarães. Myles had been caught in possession a couple of times in the first half but the addition of a former Newcastle skipper, unsurprisingly, did little to dampen down the atmosphere!  

The game exploded in the 52nd minute. Sunderland earned a throw in level with the penalty area and Ballard seemed to be thrown to the ground as the ball looped into the area. The referee pointed to the spot immediately and VAR acquiesced with his decision fairly instantly. In reality, Ballard had looped his arm into Konsa’s and thrown him over in a move more akin to Judo than football. Konsa was very much the innocent party but there seemed little sympathy for the Arsenal man’s plight . 

Enzo Le Fee fresh from converting a spot kick at Brentford last week drove a very presentable penalty low and hard to Raya’s left but the Arsenal keeper leapt across brilliantly to turn the ball against the post and away. A huge moment in the match. Within two minutes, momentum in the match had changed. Arsenal built pressure on the left and Rice slipped the ball to Bruno twenty five yards out in a central position. Our new Brazilian paid off a big chunk of his transfer fee with a beautiful curving drive which arrowed past Roefs into the top right hand corner. A wonderful strike which Bruno embellished with a wind up celebration that was very much intended to annoy the Mackems. 

Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 – Guimarães 53 

Sunderland were far from beaten and subjected Arsenal to heavy pressure but as we know Arsenal’s defence is made of very stern stuff and Raya was in imperious form. His best moment was a double block from a close range Mukiele effort. Mr. Brookes the referee moved into yellow card mode penalising players on both sides including Gabriel for appearing to act as peacemaker in a touchline conflagration. Arsenal brought on a brand new midfield (but not a brand new striker, Gyökeres being unused again). Timber headed in a teasing Ødegaard cross but was just offside. Brobbey continued to  try to bully the unbullyable (is that a word?) Arsenal defence and in injury time, Guimarães sent Saka through. Reinildo, who was booked in the first half, was fouling Saka for over twenty yards, yanking his shirt off his shoulder and when Bukayo subsided to the ground in the penalty area the referee awarded a spot-kick and gave Reinildo a second yellow card and his marching orders.

Saka’s spot kick was in a similar place to Le Fee’s but had more speed and Roefs could only help it into the net. 

Sunderland 0 Arsenal 2 – Saka, pen, 90+6 – & Full Time

Counting the Community Shield this was our sixth win in a row, four of them away from home and it was a gutsy, mature performance. Arsenal are making themselves more unpopular with each passing day but under the resentment is a grudging respect for the sheer strength and quality of game management of our squad .

Raya was named Man of the Match, quite deservedly, but there were a number of notable performances. Our defence was rock solid and it was nice to see Timber back. Rice and Ødegaard maintained their excellent form and Bruno added a different dimension when he joined the fray. The verticality of his passing makes us so much more dangerous. Havertz worked his socks off. I don’t feel Bukayo is yet at his best but he has scored three goals already. 

We can now play our second eleven in the Carabao Cup and allow our hard working stars some time off before what will be another very tough match at the Amex. 

Posted in Match Report | 23 Drinks »

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