{"id":2115,"date":"2021-01-01T20:41:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T20:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2021-01-03T16:27:29","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T16:27:29","slug":"gunners-to-slip-in-and-out-of-the-black-country-without-incurring-baggage-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2115","title":{"rendered":"Gunners to Slip in and out of The Black Country Without Incurring Baggage Fees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As Arsenal happily say goodbye to the old and hello to the new, they enter 2021 with ever more daunting challenges including an anything-but-trivial visit to the West Midlands on Saturday evening, so it may be a good time to pause and digest a morsel or two of trivia.  The far-flung or more recently hatched ‘holic may wonder why it is called the Black Country (coal seems to be a core issue), or any number of diffuse musings related to our newly promoted opponent this weekend.  As I found out with this computer thingy, West Bromwich Albion\u2019s distinctive badge features a throstle bird perched on the branch of a hawthorn tree.  No less interesting, I assure you, WBA, as the club is often called to fend off any shortage of pixels or newspaper ink, has a longstanding rivalry with Black Country cousins Wolves, with whom the Baggies contest the joint oldest derby in English league football.  As to why the club’s nickname is the Baggies, and other conundrums, I refer the reader to this excellent fact sheet detailing nearly every aspect of Baggies ephemera: http:\/\/www.baggies.com\/faq\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As to the match at hand, The Hawthorns will see its first Premier League visit by Arsenal since 31 December 2017 when the sides played to a 1-1 draw, and Arsene Wenger presided over his record 811th Premier League match as manager. Arsenal\u2019s lone tally that day was credited as a Baggies own goal from a deflected Alexis Sanchez free kick, and it kept them in fifth position in the table. The point Alan Pardew\u2019s side earned kept them undefeated in three consecutive home matches against Arsenal and moved them off rock-bottom but was not enough to save them from relegation or Pardew from a sacking as they finished the season on 31 points, last place in the table. Swansea and Stoke were relegated with them, but only the Baggies have managed a return to the top-flight. Three years later, Arsenal will start the game not in fifth place but on the edge of a relegation fight despite their two big wins earlier this week. As of Christmas Day, Arsenal sat in 15th spot with 14 points, just seven points better than the Baggies, in 19th spot with seven points. Since then, the Baggies drew with Liverpool at Anfield before getting pounded by Leeds at home, while Arsenal engineered a holiday rejuvenation with victories in the Boxing Day derby at Chelsea and Tuesday\u2019s seaside jaunt to Brighton. As pitiful as it sounds, Arsenal garnered 30% of their season-long points haul this week alone, but at least we increased our advantage over the Baggies to a more respectable 12 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems both managers are looking at this game with eyes open, as a six-pointer among direct rivals. Immediately prior to the win at Chelsea, as the Gunners had suffered a wretched stretch yielding just one victory in 10 Premier League games, Mikel Arteta told the BBC that the next week was going to be crucial in ensuring his side was not dragged into a relegation battle. A few days later, with six points gained, Arsenal\u2019s perspective on that and other matters is a good deal more positive.  As I mentioned, we are 12 points removed from the Baggies in one direction so it is worth adding that we are also only 12 points away from second spot, behind only Liverpool. We must remember that the Premier League is no longer a four-team title race, and nearly all of the mid-table clubs could move quickly up or down the table given the right infusion of ingredients.  And a timely reminder it is, as the transfer window opens Saturday, although Arsenal got an early start by announcing the loan of Sead Kolasinac back to Schalke, the German club whence he came.  Hopefully, one or two other old faces will soon follow Kolasinac out the door giving youth greater opportunity to shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team News<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally, the same group of players who traveled to Brighton should make up the squad at The Hawthorns.  On Thursday the club announced that Bukayo Saka will be available for selection despite the knock he received late in Tuesday\u2019s match. The aging Brazilian duo of Willian and David Luiz are back in full training after illness. Young Brazilian samba star Gabriel will not be available as he is still isolating due to a Covid-19 exposure issue, and Thomas Partey returns to full training next week so will unfortunately not yet be in the squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In midfield we could see Dani Ceballos come in for Mo Elneny who looked a bit off the pace at Brighton.  Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli have transformed the team in the last two matches, and the young Englishman must retain his place but after Alexandre Lacazette\u2019s virtuoso cameo at Brighton, the Brazilian may have to settle for a cameo of his own this week.  The back five should be unchanged but in 27 training pictures on the Arsenal website, every player shown is wearing long sleeves excepting Kieran Tierney, who could be in for a big performance at left-back if the cold weather holds.  With nine players on the bench there is a lot of flexibility for Mikel Arteta depending on the situation when substitutes may be needed, but it would be great to see Joe Willock or Reiss Nelson at some point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellerin, Holding, Pablo Mar\u00ed, Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceballos, Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith Rowe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka, Lacazette, Aubameyang<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Allardyce, West Brom\u2019s relegation scrap specialist, said recently that he regards the Gunners as his bottom of the table rivals. Good luck with that one, Sam. Among his numerous clubs Allardyce has managed 34 matches against Arsenal, which is more than any other club, yet he has won only six, drawn eight and lost a whopping 20 times.  The corpulent one\u2019s biggest task could be to shore up the Baggies\u2019 leaky defence which has conceded a league-high 35 goals, five more than any other club.  His next biggest task could be to increase his club\u2019s goal-scoring threat as the Baggies have scored only 11 goals all season, which is more than only Sheffield United and Burnley, but only five fewer than Arsenal.  The Baggies are owned by Lai Guochuan, a 46 year old billionaire businessman who, according to Wikipedia, became rich by turning a small cannabis nursery into China’s largest landscape development and construction firm. But as he resides in China and only attends the occasional match, it will be interesting to see if the pot magnate splashes the cash in the transfer window in an effort to stay in the Premier League, or keeps faith with Allardyce to pull off a miracle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 16th<\/sup>, Allardyce signed an 18-month contract after Slaven Bilic was sacked, the club standing 19th in the table with seven points from 13 matches.  But Fat Sam\u2019s time as manager has started a bit worse than optimally as the Baggies lost 3\u20130 at home to Aston Villa before conceding four first half goals in Tuesday\u2019s miserable 5-0 home loss to Leeds. The Baggies\u2019 current form against big four clubs (not to say Arsenal is close to being one of those at the moment) has been better.  Aside from their 1-1 draws at Liverpool a week ago Sunday and at Manchester City on December 15, the Baggies lost all their league matches this month with an overall goal differential of four goals scored against seventeen conceded; and to make matters worse they garnered two red cards.  Under prior management, WBA lost four straight games in November including a 2-0 whitewashing by relegation rivals Fulham.  As of now, the Baggies have only eight points from 16 matches and remain next to bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing their utmost to implement the Allardyce \u201cprinciples\u201d at Liverpool, the Baggies took only five shots but were far more efficient with their chances, hitting the target three times compared to just two for the league champs. WBA (and ex-Arsenal) centre-back Semi Ajayi leveled in the 82nd minute after his team fought to keep the match within reach for over an hour after Liverpool\u2019s early opener.  By the law of averages there can be little doubt that the Baggies will revert to their tenacious Anfield form against the Gunners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The definitive predictions of WBA\u2019s tactical approach were published on this blog in a couple of the drinks following the Chelsea match report, by Countryman100 (\u201cWe all know exactly how Fat Sam is going to set up against us on Saturday. They will sit back. They will get free kicks and launch everything into the box. They will slow\/breakup the game.\u201d) and North Bank Ned (\u201cAllardyce will certainly get his team to be disciplined in defence, hold their shape and play for set pieces at the other end of the pitch.\u201d). As erudite as those gentlemen were, if you want to hear it from Fat Sam himself, his relegation \u201csurvival blueprint\u201d: https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\/news\/11662\/11031332\/sam-allardyce-shares-his-premier-league-survival-blueprint<\/a> hit the interwebs a few years ago giving many an opposition manager a good deal of insight as to exactly what Fat Sam\u2019s teams will try to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goonerholics\u2019 Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing as Leeds did the Baggies by five goals earlier in the week, and Allardyce then called for the season to be interrupted so his beleaguered side could recover, who is to say Arsenal cannot do them one better?  A decent return should be available on a 0-6 score so the intrepid punter might consider casting some savings in that direction.  A more realistic bet would probably be to take the shorter odds on 2-1 to The Arsenal with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang coming to the fore with a fine finish to break the halftime deadlock.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy New Year, \u2018holics!  It\u2019s safe to say that since our two big wins this week the level of enthusiasm in the bar hasn\u2019t been this high since September or so. A third consecutive win could send us nearly sky-high so the lads must be scheming, not to say snarling, to snatch it. As our Japan correspondent put it after the win at Brighton in midweek: \u201cNext, let\u2019s chew up Fat Sam. Just the sight of his bovine face annoys me so it\u2019d be nice to stick it to him\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As Arsenal happily say goodbye to the old and hello to the new, they enter 2021 with ever more daunting challenges including an anything-but-trivial visit to the West Midlands on Saturday evening, so it may be a good time to pause and digest a morsel or two of trivia.  The far-flung or more recently hatched ‘holic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"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\/2115"}],"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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2115"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2127,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions\/2127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}