{"id":2672,"date":"2021-04-01T15:18:28","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T14:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2672"},"modified":"2021-04-04T10:50:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-04T09:50:51","slug":"lets-have-the-spirit-of-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2672","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Have the Spirit of \u201889"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“It’s up for grabs now!” From Arsenal.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If it\u2019s difficult for me to pick up the threads after an interlull that seems to have lasted longer than usual because the \u2018International Powers That Be\u2019 have squeezed an extra uninspiring fixture into the fortnight, it must be tough for the boss and the players too. I struggle to recall the momentum that we built up in the weeks before the break only to climb a single place in the table to ninth. However, in the final 55 minutes of the last game against the Spammers we displayed all the drive, verve, interplay and skill that I would like to see all game, every game. That display contrasted starkly with the woebegone, gormless 35 minutes that preceded it and that whole game rather epitomised Arsenal\u2019s season to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We come into our home fixture against Liverpool on the back of a record of 11 wins, 5 draws and 5 defeats in all competitions since Christmas having scored 34 goals and conceded 20. Not title winning form by any means but an improvement on the first half of the season. However, we have had a recent stutter in our last two games with a last five of DLWWD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current champions have made a complete pig\u2019s ear out of their championship defence. Over the same period since Christmas, Liverpool\u2019s record is 7 wins, 3 draws and 9 defeats in all competitions, scoring 22 and conceding 21. Their last five may indicate an upturn in form: WWLLW which should focus our minds. Your guess is as good as mine on the impact of the interlull on the form of both teams but it would be nice if we resumed where we left off and were on our game from the first whistle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liverpool is one of the few English clubs against whom our record is less than favourable. The first meeting between Woolwich Arsenal and Liverpool took place on 28th<\/sup> October 1893 ending in a 0-5 League Division 2 thrashing at our home ground in Woolwich. While such drubbings have been rare, across all 232 meetings between the clubs we have won 81, drawn 61 and lost 90 (35% wins). Astonishingly, given our relative success, it gets worse in Premiership matches where we have won 16, drawn 19 and lost 22 of 57 meetings (28% wins). Our home Premiership record is of course better, with 10 wins, 11 draws and 7 defeats in 28 meetings (36% wins) but it\u2019s still not spectacular. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This prompted a detour into the archives (I am an amateur archaeologist) to discover whether Liverpool are indeed our bogey team. In Premiership terms they are certainly our least favourite opponent but we have lower win percentages against five other clubs: Brentford, 20% in 10 games, between 1935 and 1947; Burton United, 33% in 6 games, between 1901 and 1904; Millwall, 22% in 18 games, between 1896 and 1990; Oldham Athletic, 25% in 20 games, between 1910 and 1994; Oxford United, 33% in 6 games, between 1985 and 1988. That might slightly temper my enthusiasm for the Bees to gain promotion to the Premiership. Instead I think we should bring back Reading against whom we have notched up an 80% win record in 10 meetings between 1898 and 2013!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to the matter at hand, we sit in 9th<\/sup> place on 42 points, 9 points off 4th<\/sup> place which is currently occupied by a bus stop in Fulham (10 points if you factor in our markedly inferior goal difference). We are currently 7 points off 5th<\/sup> place, the only league position guaranteed to qualify for the Europa League though the FA Cup Winner\u2019s place seems likely to be transferred to 6th<\/sup> place and hopefully the League Cup Winner\u2019s place will go to 7th<\/sup> place when Shitteh smash the Marshdwellers in the final. Our visitors currently sit in 7th<\/sup> place, 4 points ahead of us on 46 points and only 4 goals to the good (our GD is +8) with Everton sitting between us on 46 points with an inferior goal difference of 3 but with a game in hand. Thus, with 11 games to play, a win against Liverpool would be an important step towards securing European football through our league position next season. On the other hand, Liverpool will see a route back into the top 4 being enhanced by winning this match. We should expect both sides to be \u2018at it\u2019 (ahem!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What of the teams? Given their desire to regain a Champions League place for next season, we can expect Liverpool to play their strongest eleven. Hopefully that will still mean they are as vulnerable defensively as they have proved to be so frequently this season, misfiring in midfield and having to rely on a burst of brilliance from their burnt-out front three. On current form, I would identify Jota as their dangerman despite his recent layoff due to injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We simply have to choose our strongest eleven too and hope that the dreamlike malaise that struck at the beginning of the last game has dissipated and that our tendencies to individual errors have been eradicated. I think controlled movement of the ball up front and a high press like we finished with at the Council Stadium will serve us well. Sadly, both Saka and ESR (who have both been instrumental in our renaissance this season) sound very doubtful. Perhaps the latter may make the bench. Hence, I would start:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Cedric, Luiz, Gabriel, Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u00d8degaard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9p\u00e9, Lacazette, Aubameyang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Holic Pound? The Bookies favour a low scoring draw and history does demonstrate their logic. However, the Arsenal desperately need three points and if we can commence with and maintain throughout the drive we showed against the Spammers then I think we will gain them. So, let\u2019s have the spirit of Anfield from 26 May 1989 and it\u2019s a punt on 2-0 to the Arsenal at 18\/1 for the Holic Pound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the match, Holics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, in case you\u2019ve missed our news, we will be marking the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the \u201971 Double with five special events. Dates will be announced as soon as the match schedule for early May is confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

If it\u2019s difficult for me to pick up the threads after an interlull that seems to have lasted longer than usual because the \u2018International Powers That Be\u2019 have squeezed an extra uninspiring fixture into the fortnight, it must be tough for the boss and the players too. I struggle to recall the momentum that we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"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\/2672"}],"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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2672"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2687,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2672\/revisions\/2687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}