{"id":1080,"date":"2020-07-14T08:30:26","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T07:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1080"},"modified":"2020-07-16T06:30:52","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T05:30:52","slug":"spicy-red-rubber-nears-final-fences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1080","title":{"rendered":"Spicy Red Rubber Nears Final Fences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The thirty years during which the answer to\nthe question, \u201cWhich ship has never arrived in Liverpool\u201d would raise a chuckle\nhave now passed into the depths. The Premiership finally sailed into Albert\nDock a week or so ago to be greeted by a crazed multitude of Liver birds and\nboys, only too delighted in such unique circumstances, to translate \u2018social\ndistancing\u2019 as scouse for Party!<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent times have been tumultuous for tomorrow\u2019s\nvisitors. Liverpool F.C. has veered from the brink of bankruptcy and the relative\ndepths of the EPL to national, global and financial prominence. In doing so,\nthey\u2019ve been sold by two American cowboys to two rather smarter American suits.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ve shuffled multiple managers before\nsettling on the heavy metal charisma provided by their new talisman Jurgen\nKlopp. Theirs is currently a success story, which most would line up to emulate.\nArsenal, currently in the down phase of its own tumult, would be very close to\nthe front of that queue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So will Wednesday be Black Sabbath, leaving\neveryone of an Arsenal persuasion Paranoid? Or will The Wizard, Mikel Arteta\u2019s Never\nSay Die attitude transform his Fairies Wearing Boots into War Pigs determined\nto win this sty? Will power chords be muted for melody, leaving \u2018Move on Up\u2019 echoing\nharmoniously through Emirates\u2019 empty tiers on a warm summers evening in North\nLondon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a danger this may become a \u2018no win\u2019\ncontest for Arsenal.  Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lose<\/strong> and, particularly after Sunday\u2019s visit to the Toilet Bowl, the\nvultures will circle, crowing tales of ineptitude, deriding and belittling talk\nof an Arteta renaissance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Win<\/strong> and the phrase \u2018Dead Rubber for the Reds\u2019 will appear prominently\nin reports from the front, from a game in which \u2018Liverpool\u2019s players were\nalready on the beach having won the title weeks ago\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s an additional ingredient in\nthis mix. A tasty, chewy tit-bit of a morsel that should add even more scouser spice\nto a fixture that is usually already one of the most competitive and\nentertaining of our home season.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liverpool\u2019s chances of going unbeaten and\nmatching Arsenal\u2019s Invincible season evaporated in the winter sun at Watford in\nFebruary. Only Wenger\u2019s team holds (and likely ever will) a golden League Title\nTrophy. However, the BinDippers have three games left in which they can win 100\npoints to become Centurions, thereby matching the records of Barcelona, Real\nMadrid and Man City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And more, should they win all three games\nLiverpool will match Juventus\u2019 all-time record of 102 points, a remarkable\nachievement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But<\/em><\/strong>, should Arsenal\nwin, the chance of both of these accomplishments will disappear faster than the\nwheels off a Ferrari parked in Toxteth. So, in the circumstances, while Liverpool\nplayers may appear de-fuzzed, fume free and creamed all over by Nivea, it\u2019s\nunlikely they\u2019ll arrive \u2018beach ready\u2019 for this game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Context<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Arsenal\u2019s games at Anfield can\noccasionally produce a feast of goals (3-6, 4-4 and 5-5 in recent memory)\ninvariably, fewer goals are scored in London. Klopp\u2019s Liverpool defend well and\nunder MA8, Arsenal have lost the sartorially inelegant \u201cmore porous than a\nstring vest\u201d look that Unai inspired. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chances can be expected to be relatively\nfew tomorrow night and it may well fall to the striking talents of the two\ngolden boot predators, Aubamayang  and\nSalah to decide which team will emerge as victor from this spicy red rubber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This season\u2019s earlier fixture in Liverpool\nended with the home team in the ascendancy. But many will remember the moment\nwhen Adrian\u2019s botched clearance fell to Aubamayang. PEA\u2019s lob at the empty\ntarget dropped narrowly and agonizingly wide. Then Pepe squandered an opportunity\nto write his name across the sky when he had a free run in on Adrian but slid\nhis finish straight at the keeper. It could so easily have been 2-0, setting up\nthe chance of a second away win in the new season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Put simply, Arsenal can\u2019t afford to miss\nchances of that quality if they wish to emerge as winners this time around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then we need to pass back, and pass\nback again, to the other end of the field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The return of Bellerin and Tierney has added\ndefensive quality and attacking potency. Arteta has done a sorcerer\u2019s job of\nturning leaden feet into, well, less leaden feet with the three-man peculiarity\nthat is Mustafi, Luiz and Kolasinac. Playing together regularly, this back five\nhas added solidity and reduced porosity, contributing to a pleasing number of\nclean sheets. One happy outcome of the injury to the excellent Leno has been\nthe revelation of the outstanding secret super-sub Martinez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, despite the sorcerers\u2019 efforts, the\nback three is only ever a magic wand wave away from turning into the Keystone Cops,\nthe Crazy Gang, the Marx Brothers or the Three Stooges and providing a comedy\nact to match the best of them. They can\u2019t and don\u2019t represent the future of the\nclub and, I suspect, won\u2019t make another appearance together for Arsenal. Surely\nthe spell is broken?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Opponents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one needs me to tell them that Liverpool\nhas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n