{"id":2411,"date":"2021-02-20T15:39:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T15:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2411"},"modified":"2021-02-21T20:49:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T20:49:46","slug":"is-this-a-good-time-to-being-playing-the-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2411","title":{"rendered":"Is this a good time to being playing the blues?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This weekend sees the visit of the high-flying league leaders to The Arsenal, who will, no doubt, want to bring City down to earth with a heavy dose of bumps. We have returned from our Italian job mildly frustrated not to have put the tie away, but on the whole I think confident that we can finish it at our new home in Greece next week. Confidence is something we will need for this game as our visitors have won 12 on the spin and in the process blown away all predictions of a close finish to the PL this season. Can we make it an unlucky 13 for the men from Manchester? Let us hope so for while we should show respect for their footballing prowess and the excellent job done by Pep & Co we can at the same time recognize that Man City are, fundamentally, cash-doped cheats, liars and purveyors of values that would not be out of place in the meanest of Dark Age slums. In my opinion. Enough of them and their iniquity for now as I am more interested in The Arsenal\u2019s fundamentals, if I may put it that way, and from where I am sitting they are looking basically unchanged after the last two games \u2013 as goes Auba so go The Arsenal. Let\u2019s hope he has put his scoring boots back on for this one, if he even plays of course, as predicting Mikel\u2019s selection for this game is really quite a challenge. The boss himself has made it difficult with his startling new idea of playing the same XI two games running \u2013 whatever next? Three in a row? He wouldn\u2019t would he? A visit from the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Footballers will surely follow. Anyway, for what it\u2019s worth let\u2019s give it a go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

As I write this preview on a Saturday night in Osaka, I have no news on any injuries picked up in the Benfica game and know only that Thomas Partey remains unavailable. We are in the midst of a run of challenging games and our 10th<\/sup> place league position means we need every point we can get \u2013 in the circumstances I think Mikel will certainly take a risk or two but also keep an eye to the next few games as well. In the circumstances, the only selection I actually feel sure of is Leno in goal. I believe KT will start and that Hector will get the nod over Cedric at right back. There has been some criticism of Hector\u2019s performance in midweek but I would say that from an attacking point of view he scored against Leeds and would have had an assist against Benfica but for Auba\u2019s profligacy. I believe Rob will return for this one to partner Gabriel as three games in such a short space of time is asking a lot of David Luiz. In midfield I think Mikel will favour the more conservative approach of starting Xhaka and Elneny though Dani has done little wrong in the last two games and it is simply a feeling on my part (and not a good one I suspect many of you may be saying to yourselves). Up front it must surely be time for a break for Saka and ESR and a return for the now well-rested Pepe and Laca. That leaves us with the XI below, which I freely admit may be largely incorrect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Bellerin Holding Gabriel Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elneny Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepe Odegaard Auba<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

They have as I said won 12 in a row, beaten us in 9 of our last 10 meetings and were described during the week by Mikel as \u201cthe best team in Europe at the moment\u201d. Arguable though that may be, City also have De Bruyne available again and a strength in depth that if not pivotal has certainly been very important to their rise to the top in this most congested of seasons. Additionally, they are stronger defensively this season and are one of only three teams in the PL with a better goals against record than us this season. However, they are like anyone beatable, and we beat them 6 months or so back. We know how they play, we know who their danger men are – De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Sterling (who has done well against us in recent games although, as I may have mentioned before, he deliberately fell on Mustafi\u2019s leg and injured him in the FA Cup Semi-Final. He was sulking at the time as the referee hadn\u2019t fallen for his very best dive just prior) and of late Gundogan, who is on a ridiculous goal-scoring spree. To state the bleeding obvious, we will need to be at our best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

What to do? Actually, this was a trickier assignment than selecting the starting XI. At a loss as to how to proceed I decided to take a radical step and hope you will forgive me for breaking one of The Guvnor\u2019s cardinal rules and introducing religion into the preview. Yesterday, I bravely sacrificed a fine leg of lamb to the Thrice Blessed Dennis in the traditional manner of my forefathers (20 mins per lb at 180 degrees) and sought for inspiration. Dazed by the succulent aroma of Larry, I decided to aid my meditations with a bottle of Gigondas and it was, in the fullness of time, the combination of the two I believe that allowed me to understand that Dennis was telling me to savour the benefits of home cooking because he wanted me to get on a home win for The Arsenal! Not needing to be told to read the runes twice I quickly ascertained that the remarkable odds of 11-2 about a home win for The Arsenal were available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should in the interests of your wallets remind you that we have not won a game after any of my previews this season. Though that is deeply saddening for me, it is not even close to how saddening it was to hear that some morons are racially abusing Willian online. I regret having to finish on such a note but it is important we speak out when the tiny minority of tiny-minded do disgusting things. Go away, we don\u2019t want you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COYGS! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend sees the visit of the high-flying league leaders to The Arsenal, who will, no doubt, want to bring City down to earth with a heavy dose of bumps. We have returned from our Italian job mildly frustrated not to have put the tie away, but on the whole I think confident that we […]<\/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\/2411"}],"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=2411"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2414,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411\/revisions\/2414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}