{"id":1166,"date":"2020-07-31T23:09:20","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T22:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1166"},"modified":"2020-08-02T15:58:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-02T14:58:13","slug":"cup-final-preview-2020-the-fourteenth-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1166","title":{"rendered":"Cup Final Preview 2020. The Fourteenth Time."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The build-up to this year\u2019s Cup Final has been muted in comparison to years gone by but make no mistake: this is a huge game for The Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as a chance to claim the trophy and\nextend our record number of victories to 14 it also provides us with a last\nchance to sneak into Europe for next season. And it\u2019s an opportunity for\neveryone to have a cracking day and a celebration, which we could all do with,\njust as long as our boys in red can do the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have not spoken to any Gooners who are anything but glad to see the back of a league season blighted by Covid-19 and a set of performances and results which led us deservedly to our lowest finish in years. However, for the second year in a row, we have a Cup Final against Chelsea which will go a long way to defining how we view this season as whole. When the dust has settled on Sunday morning, and many of us are gingerly nursing hangovers, the matter of whether we earned them through celebrating a famous victory or drowning our sorrows at another painful defeat will be, for many, the yardstick by which we measure our entire season. And the impact won\u2019t stop there. The outcome of tomorrow\u2019s game will set our trajectory through the transfer window and the close season. How badly do we need European football to attract players, retain players and swell the coffers so we can invest in a squad we all know is lacking in the required quality? Mikel Arteta has been unequivocal in stating how important he thinks it is for us to be in the Europa League and I expect him to have our players revved up fully for one last big push to get us over line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are no excuses on Cup Final Day. It\nis time to give \u2018absolutely everything\u2019 to borrow a well-used phrase from the\nmost successful manager in the Cup\u2019s history. There is so much riding on this\ngame that we can expect, nay demand, a performance as committed as the one\nwhich took us past the financially doped team in sky blue in the semis and on\nto the financially doped team in darker blue waiting for us at Wembley. They\nhave already showed how little the market has changed for them, lashing out\nover fifty million on Timo Werner. Hopefully their lack of belief in Girioud\nwill prove wise as he has a terrible game tomorrow. But we all know he is the\nplayer who could score when it matters most and sink his old club. I certainly\nhope he has his worst Cup Final ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did happen to see a short interview with\nHector Bellerin in which he revealed that he has co-designed the suits that we\nwill be wearing to the game. Although the lack of fans will make this the\nweirdest Cup Final that has ever been it is still an occasion with a huge\namount of history. There is something special about Cup Final Day. For me,\nseeing our players arrive in their matching, immaculate suits is always a great\nmoment, and I like that Hector has been asked to have a hand in their creation.\nNice touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teams will be interesting. I do not\nthink we are particularly well-suited to playing Chelsea and I think we may see\nsome changes from both managers. I fully expect a tough game and two sides\nfighting it out all over the pitch. Just as it should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinez<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holding,\nLuiz, Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellerin,\nXhaka, Ceballos, Maitland-Niles,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepe,\nLaca, Auba<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what I reckon MA8 will do. It gives\nhim Saka and Eddie on the bench to change the game if we need something. Laca\nwill almost certainly have to drop onto Jorginho to stop him pulling all the\nstrings in midfield. Tierney as a CB means we won\u2019t see Sokratis or, God\nForbid, Kola in there. Mustafi is injured and misses out on the final again. That\nis hard on him and it is rather worrying how much of a loss that seems. We must\nhope Holding plays this final like he did the last one. David Luiz is the joker\nin the pack. Will he have an imperious game and stick it to his former\nemployers? Or will he look like some sort of deep-cover enemy operative sent to\ndestroy us from within with his frizzy haired ineptitude?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chelsea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fat Frank will field ten pillocks and\nOlivier Giroud. I shall have particular aversion to Azpilicueta and Alonso,\nboth scumbags. Mason Mount has been playing well recently and will need\nwatching. Jorginho has been very effective against us in the past. Willian may\npossibly be playing his last game for them and is always full of energy and\nguile. Kante is available after a minor injury. They will be well organised as\na team and won\u2019t make it easy for us. Although I am no fan of Lampard he is\ndoing a good job there and he will be as eager as our own former captain to get\na first FA Cup win on his CV. One area where they are not blessed is in their\noptions between the sticks. Hopefully whoever gets the nod will have been\nstudying De Gea closely in their semifinal and be ready to fumble in a couple\nof soft ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthony Taylor is the referee. I wish he\nwasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will need to create some chances for our\nfront three. We will need to be solid at the back. We need to make sure our\nmidfield duo do not get overrun. I do not think we will see anything new\ntomorrow. We all know the limitations of some of our players, yet we have all\nseen them work their socks off and fight for every ball and become more than\nthe sum of their parts. When they do this they have gotten results recently off\nteams better than Chelski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The holics\u2019 pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course I\u2019m gonna lump it on the good\nguys, but for some reason I do have a good feeling about this game. 2-1,\nrepeating the 2017 scoreline has a nice symmetry to it, especially as we beat\nCity in the semi that year too. 1-0 is also tempting. However, I am thinking of\n2002- of Freddie, John Terry on his arse and the wonderful \u201cit\u2019s only Ray\nParlour\u201d, and with those thoughts in mind the holics\u2019 pound is going on 2-0 to\nthe Gunners. William Hill prices that at 14\/1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In writing this preview and thinking ahead\nto the game I will be far from alone in noticing my thoughts turn to Dave\nFaber, Goonerholic. The maestro whose original bar and writing brought so many\nof us together and who I sorely wish was writing this preview instead of me.\nHis passing at the end of last year was the bitterest pill. He loved The\nArsenal as much as anyone I have ever met, yet he was also someone who once\nleft an FA Cup Final at half-time because he had a friend that needed his help.\nA truly classy man. I can think of no more fitting tribute to Dave than another\nFA Cup victory but even if we do not manage that we must manage a performance\nthat he would be proud of. Remember to raise a glass for Dave. I\u2019m sure he is\nsomewhere pulling strings on our behalf and getting ready to sing himself\nhoarse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the unprecedented global situation\ntomorrow is a day when we come together as a club. No matter how far we are\nseparated by distance, or by anything else, tomorrow is a day when we reflect\non Rocky\u2019s famous words, then we stand together and show the world who The\nArsenal are. We will wear our yellow ribbons, sing our songs, cheer our team\nand share a few laughs in the drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And come home with another FA Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have a good day Holics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The build-up to this year\u2019s Cup Final has been muted in comparison to years gone by but make no mistake: this is a huge game for The Arsenal. As well as a chance to claim the trophy and extend our record number of victories to 14 it also provides us with a last chance to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1168,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166\/revisions\/1168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}