{"id":14259,"date":"2026-08-29T12:38:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T11:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=14259"},"modified":"2026-09-01T10:43:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:43:59","slug":"ding-ding-round-two-of-the-arsenal-title-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=14259","title":{"rendered":"Ding Ding – Round Two of The Arsenal Title Defence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Today\u2019s image, supplied by the author, is either Southampton\u2019s new coach \u201cscouting\u201d or a cryptic movie reference to Aston Villa\u2019s squad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The current Premier League champions, The Arsenal, make the trip to Aston Villa this weekend for our first away game of the new campaign. Fresh-off a couple of 3-0 wins the last two weekends, our confidence should be high as we take on the Villa outfit, whose own confidence is surely correspondingly low after starting the season with a good tanking at Brighton. However, results taken in isolation rarely give a true picture and this is game we lost last season to Gabriel and my extreme annoyance. With the greatest respect, as always, to Fat Frank and his plucky, but ultimately mediocre, little Coventry team I think this could be a much truer test of where we stand right now. However, more of Villa anon. First up, the Champs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who will be front and centre for The Arsenal this week?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the presser Mikel was upbeat on the possible participation of Bruno Guimaraes and Ezri Konsa, good to know Boss but I hope you realise you are just making my job harder here!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the title above I think I will start by saying Kai will be at the front and your guess is a good as mine about the centre. I am fairly sure David Raya will be at the back and Gabriel, Ode, Bukayo and Tzolis will start too which leaves us with\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

???  ???  Gabriel ???<\/p>\n\n\n\n

??? ???<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka Ode Tzolis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any two from Ben, Konsa and Mosquera will start on the right of defence and perhaps, if MA wants to prioritize defensive solidity, Hincapie over Califiori on the left. In the centre I think we will see two from MLS, Declan and Bruno G, although that is only if we assume the excellent Zubi and Merino will be on the bench with Kepa, Vik, Eze, Noni, and then whoever misses out in defence and midfield. Regrettably, Max and Ethan may be the two to drop out of the squad from last week \u2013 I suppose some will argue it should be Noni dropping out but I don\u2019t believe the boss will share that opinion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what of my own guess for the little that\u2019s worth? The newbies may come on second half and MA will stick with last week\u2019s starting XI. Not a sentence I think many will write this season as the team will probably change from match to match with greater regularity than ever before but for now it will do for me…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben Mosquera Gabriel Calafiori<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MLS Declan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka Ode Tzolis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Opposition \u2013 Do they know who each other are?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a venerable old club things have been positively sprightly at Aston Villa since the end of last season. Despite their Ropey League triumph against Freiburg more than half of their starting XI that day have gone or are at least on their way out the door \u2013 Digne, Rogers, Watkins, Tielemans, Martinez and of course Ezri Konsa to our very own selves. I do have to take a moment to digress here and ask has there ever been a more suitable match than Emi Martinez and Chelsea? Surely his good chum Enzo gave him the lowdown on the lowdowns? Anyway, among others Manzambi and now Suspicious<\/s> Nicolas Jackson have come in up front, Zion Suzuki has joined in goal, Gomes from Wolves and Goretzka, lately of Bayern Munich, in midfield, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, on loan from West Ham, and Ruggeri, from Atletico Madrid, in defence. And last and least Garnacho from Chelsea. A very significant churn whichever way you look at it and I look at it as a very mixed bag of churn indeed. However, some Villa fans bravely chose the optimistic route \u2013 i.e. the team needed rebuilding anyway and not to worry as Unai Emery will manage the situation \u2013 but that wasn\u2019t a take that looked too perspicacious last weekend as they quickly went 4-0 down at Brighton playing like a team that had only met at breakfast. Let\u2019s hope they are no better this week and that we can take full advantage of their current uncertainty \u2013 by the way psst… Mikel, I have watched Suzuki in goal for Japan a number of times and he is really not confident on crosses. Fill yer boots lads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I expect that whatever mix of old and new starts for Villa they will take Unai\u2019s usual approach and I also expect we will be primed to go righteously for their throat. Dominate the game, don\u2019t let them get a foothold, punish their inevitable mistakes and quieten the crowd \u2013 I am sure the lads will know the pack drill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Latest News<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flattery is the sincerest form of imitation or something like that and so I will happily copy Trev\u2019s idea from last week and chuck in my tuppenceworth on a few topics hot off the now historical presses.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First-off, best Goonerholic wishes go with Reiss Nelson as he seeks pastures new. No doubt the now seemingly endless discussion on  \u201care The Arsenal good at set-pieces and winning the PL but rubbish at selling?\u201d  will be in full flow \u2013 personally I know which ones I\u2019d rather be good at but each to their own of course. In Reiss\u2019s particular case, his contract was terminated by mutual agreement this week in what I assume was an acceptance of the current reality \u2013 i.e. he was not going to break into this Arsenal squad and the club had not been able to realize any transfer value. No doubt dissatisfaction has and will be expressed in places about our \u201cselling\u201d skills but I think the intention on both sides was for Reiss to move on a couple of seasons ago \u2013 a reasonable plan on paper but the injury gods struck and decent loan opportunities at Fulham and Brentford could not achieve the desired results. I see no reason to make a song and dance about that and instead will remember the sheer joy of his winner against Bournemouth in 2023, great goal, great moment and I wish him all the best and hopefully more great moments! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other major news is that I have changed the name of the city of Osaka to Matt! and will now be The Gooner Formerly Known as OsakaMatt or Matt!Matt for short. It\u2019s all the rage apparently as even UEFA would like Infantino to become the The Prisoner Formerly Known as FIFA Supremo or Prisoner No 6 for short and will ask the Swiss to oblige. Whilst Infantino is mostly certainly severely challenged ethically, in my opinion, I hope UEFA will recall he is also a slimy creep<\/s> slippery and the law can be a double-edged sword that takes a very, very, very long time to swing \u2013 the withdrawal from FIFA tournaments would have been a much quicker path, albeit politically riskier and more painful in the short-term. Personally, I\u2019d prefer a coalition of the slightly less corrupt (yes, I mean you Ceferin and your new chums) moving forward but then who cares what I think as I have only a medium-sized city named after me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the good news front the transfer window is nearly over. If we do sign someone, great, but to be honest my main hope is that we sort out some decent loans and find solutions for Gabriels Jesus & Martinelli as well as Fabio Vieira. The absurd nonsense that is the current transfer system has been well-covered by various Holics in the drinks and I warmly commend their thoughts on the embarrassing antics of various PL clubs \u2013 the whole thing has become ridiculous and if only we had some sort of PL Supremo<\/s> Commissioner to put a stop to such shenanigans masquerading as \u2018business models\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Result<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On to the nitty gritty. As mentioned above I believe Villa are vulnerable right now and I also believe we can exploit Suzuki\u2019s lack of confidence so I will just go for a third three goals in three weekends \u2013 at least one of the three from a set-piece. Having pinned those 3-0 colours to the red and white mast I will of course take any win away from home in the Premier League. As ever, I hope Holics far and wide will enjoy the game, whether from chaise longues at home or plastic seats at Villa Park!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on you Gunners!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The current Premier League champions, The Arsenal, make the trip to Aston Villa this weekend for our first away game of the new campaign. Fresh-off a couple of 3-0 wins the last two weekends, our confidence should be high as we take on the Villa outfit, whose own confidence is surely correspondingly low after starting […]<\/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\/14259"}],"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=14259"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14278,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14259\/revisions\/14278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}