{"id":212,"date":"2020-01-26T10:41:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T10:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adobrzanski.ddns.net\/goonerholics\/?p=212"},"modified":"2020-01-26T10:41:02","modified_gmt":"2020-01-26T10:41:02","slug":"gunners-mustnt-think-of-retirement-in-bournemouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=212","title":{"rendered":"Gunners mustn\u2019t think of retirement in Bournemouth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Arsenal shift from the bus stop to the seaside on Monday night for\na ridiculously scheduled 4th<\/sup> round cup tie away to Bournemouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match however will find the Gunners in good heart after a\ncourageous performance last week. A similar showing for 90 odd minutes should surely\nbe enough to take the recently reticent Cherries shouldn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therein of course lies the challenge for The Arsenal in its\ncurrent incarnation \u2013 can we take the first 30 minutes against Palace and the last\n60 against Chelsea and produce the kind of performance that <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mikel Arteta is demanding. Personally, I\u2019ve been impressed by MA\nthus far and believe he is on the right track to finding the focus, fitness and\nferocity – insert the F of your choice – this team has lacked for too long. A\ncold Monday night on a windswept coast is as good a place as any to start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of you looking for good omens \u2013 we have never lost to\nBournemouth in the cup. Of course we have never played them in the FA Cup but\nwe have actually only lost to them once ever in all competitions and the day\nmay come when we lose to the Men of the West again but it will not be this day.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who will play?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both clubs fielded relatively strong XIs in their respective 3rd<\/sup> round ties despite facing Championship opposition at home and I see no reason to expect any change in that policy tomorrow. Emi for Leno again, Luiz and Auba suspended, Kola and Nelson unfit, which leaves MA with selection decisions mostly made for him by circumstances. Cases could be made to give starts to AMN, Dani, Eddie or most likely Guen but I think the starting XI will be\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emi
Hector Papa Rob Saka
Torriera Xhaka
Pepe Ozil Martinelli
Laca<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what of Bournemouth? They have struggled mightily for goals\nrecently, firing blanks for four PL games in a row until a much-needed 3-1 win\nagainst Brighton. One bright spot for them will be that Calum Wilson has\nstarted scoring again recently and does have 3 in 6 games against The Arsenal.\nAnother Wilson, Harry, has also been playing well in patches this season.\nHowever, a goal difference of 23-37 shows they have been struggling at both\nends through a winter of mostly discontent. The bookies currently have them as\n2nd<\/sup> favourites for relegation and no doubt survival is their first\npriority for the remainder of this season. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nHolic Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mostly misfiring Bournemouth attack and a generally generous\nArsenal defence sees the old enemy favouring a 1-1 draw for this clash of a\nresistable force against a movable object. However, we will not surf those\nnegative waves Moriarty and instead let\u2019s back our heroes to fill our banks\nwith gold at the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

attractive odds of 33-1 on a 4-1 Arsenal win. Not very charitable\nI know but I prefer the Cherries roasted in a pie and their stones nailed to\nthe Dorset on the way out \u2013 get it done Gunners!\n\nFinally, a happy and safe trip to all Gooners\nmaking the long or short journey tonight.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal shift from the bus stop to the seaside on Monday night for a ridiculously scheduled 4th round cup tie away to Bournemouth. The match however will find the Gunners in good heart after a courageous performance last week. A similar showing for 90 odd minutes should surely be enough to take the recently reticent […]<\/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\/212"}],"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=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}