{"id":12668,"date":"2026-01-18T06:43:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T06:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12668"},"modified":"2026-01-19T21:27:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T21:27:56","slug":"the-trip-to-jerusalem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12668","title":{"rendered":"The Trip to Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Image attributed to Immanuel Giel. I thought I\u2019d have a local Nottingham landmark this time instead of a Forest cut down gag as it was 0-0. The oldest inn in England and 1189AD dating are entirely unproven claims but I liked it inside anyway.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal ventured to the heart of England yesterday to play the third in a run of four away games. Our hosts this time were Messrs Marinakis, Edu, and Dyche as we lined up against last season\u2019s surprise package Nottingham Forest in exactly the kind of match we\u2019d want to win for a successful title challenge. The blue half of Manchester had already amused my bouche by dropping all three points against their no-account neighbours but as we all know by now the main course, while not entirely bad, was not as satisfying as it could and should have been in the circumstances. Dessert was the appalling sight of a testicularly ginger blob grinning in an unpleasantly ugly fashion \u2013 I have already asked my broadcaster to blur his features in future as it is our duty in a caring society to protect the young and easily traumatized.  It was 5AM so I was obliged to skip the digestif, but after a pleasant night\u2019s sleep and what I must admit was a fairly cursory rewatch I find the only things I can positively report in the cold light of day are<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 We are, as of now, 7 points clear
\u2022 We kept a clean sheet and didn\u2019t concede a shot on taget
\u2022 Er\u2026 we didn\u2019t lose<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game itself had kicked-off as a gorgeously fading winter sun set over the wine-dark and yet somehow picturesque River Trent (for those of you who haven\u2019t been or weren\u2019t watching he is employing poetic license or simply lying if you prefer — Ed.) <\/em>and an Arsenal team sheet that showed three changes from the midweek win against Chelsea. Raya returned in goal as expected as did the slightly less expected pair of Martinelli and Madueke on the wings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya
White Saliba Gabriel Timber
Zubi Ode Rice
Madueke Gyokeres Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, a rich bench menu that welcomed back Mosquera (the returnee that MA had hinted at in his press conference):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa, Mosquera, MLS, Merino, Eze, Jesus, Havertz, Saka, Trossard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norgaard was one to drop out of the squad for Mosquera\u2019s return.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st<\/sup> half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suspect that very few of our gentle readers will want to plough through a detailed account of the game and as I don\u2019t want to write one either, I will summarise a few highlights in a forgettable match as best as I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game started slowly, but from about 15 minutes in we started to get on top and at that stage it looked like only a matter of time. The chances came and went, Martinelli\u2019s miss just before the half-hour was the pick of them, but Forest defended reasonably well to be fair and finally got back into the game as half-time approached. Timber (I prefer him on the right) tested my heart function with a risky foul on Hudson-Odoi that the referee correctly called as just a pigeon\u2019s foot outside the area but the free-kick came to nothing. Shortly afterwards Gyokeres was put clean through, but didn\u2019t control the ball well enough and Murillo was able to get back and block the shot. It was then the turn of Raya to cause me a rush of blood with his rush of blood as he sprinted out to deny Jesus, just the once mind, mostly missed the ball but then recovered quickly to punt it out. The half-time whistle woke me from a gentle doze and I hoped Mikel would do the same for The Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2nd<\/sup> half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinelli for whatever reason did not reappear for the 2nd<\/sup> half. Would it once again be Leo Trossard who made the difference? No, is the short answer. And neither would it be Saka, Jesus or Merino who came on about 10 minutes into the 2nd<\/sup> half when I think Mikel\u2019s limited patience had run out. Off came Ode, Madueke and Gyokeres. Bukayo came closest I thought when he forced Sels into a very good fingertip save with a header, Merino, another regular saviour, should have scored, Eze came on for Zubi, we huffed, we puffed etc etc but we didn\u2019t get a goal. There was a contentious penalty decision that is probably best summed up as 80% given in the CL but only 20% given in the PL. And that\u2019s about it really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the aftermath, Mikel coherently explained why he thought it was a penalty and Dyche babbled nonsense as you\u2019d expect. Mikel also summed up the game and I will, as is my wont with a deadline to meet, just steal some of his summary again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst of all, credit to them because they are really well-organised\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut the reality is we created four massive chances (Gabi M, Declan, Mikel Merino and Bukayo) and on top of that a very clear penalty so the fact that we haven\u2019t won the game is disappointing\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe made a step, a smaller one than we wanted but it\u2019s a step\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can only agree with all that really, it was disappointing result and no doubt supporters will point to those they see as culpable (insert name of favourite whipping person) but the fact is we tried many players in attack during the game they all failed to put the ball in the net. Manchester City looked leggy and were outplayed yesterday and Liverpool drew at home to Burnley, it really isn\u2019t an easy league!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two away cup games and now an away day in the PL have been ticked off the list. On to Milan next and the final instalment of the CL group stage, be nice to round it off with a win though to be honest this Milan game is the away trip of least consequence in some ways. Regardless, the lads should be in good heart as there is still all to play for and the rest of the season to enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Arsenal ventured to the heart of England yesterday to play the third in a run of four away games. Our hosts this time were Messrs Marinakis, Edu, and Dyche as we lined up against last season\u2019s surprise package Nottingham Forest in exactly the kind of match we\u2019d want to win for a successful title […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668"}],"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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12668"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12672,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668\/revisions\/12672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}