{"id":4385,"date":"2021-12-14T16:57:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T16:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4385"},"modified":"2021-12-16T11:19:59","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T11:19:59","slug":"clawing-some-points-from-the-hammers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4385","title":{"rendered":"Clawing Some Points from the Hammers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:488px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1263196782\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:121.72131% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1263196782?et=bMFJZeF-Rs9ZMQV_LGnyLg&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=oVEK5Z18VpFM1Cc-itPVMO6TOfqXrw4PjolpOMEwTQI=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"488\" height=\"594\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This Wednesday night will see the Gunners take on West Ham in a game that provides an opportunity for us to leap-frog them in the table and strengthen our chance of a return to the Champions League at the end of this season. If we accept, and I think sadly we must, that the top three are already away and gone, then the games against West Ham, Man Utd and possibly Leicester, Wolves and the marshdwellers are the ones that may matter most when the dealing\u2019s done at the end of the season. Indeed, many have already got this one down as a must-win game for us and whilst I can\u2019t quite agree on \u2018must\u2019 as we are still only 16 games into the season &#8211; we could quite easily win, lose or draw this one and finish 4<sup>th<\/sup> or 10<sup>th<\/sup> come May \u2013 it would definitely be a welcome win. Despite the loss at Old Trafford, we are ahead of the curve in our particular mini-table at the moment with pleasing drubbings being handed out to the spuds and Leicester. The team itself should be in far better heart after a decent win against Southampton (excepting Auba obviously) and another home victory would go a long way to banishing any lingering away day blues from our recent trips North. An important one then but who will start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Starting XI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First things first and we know for sure one player who will not be in the Starting XI. As the club tersely announced today\u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Following his latest disciplinary breach last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will no longer be our club captain, and will not be considered for selection for Wednesday\u2019s match against West Ham United. We expect all our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards we have all set and agreed. We are fully focused on tomorrow\u2019s match.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Short and to the point. It is difficult not to regret what has happened and at the same time accept that the club has made the right decision. Clich\u00e9d it may be but, no player is bigger than the club is as true now as it has ever been. Various media have of course been quick to conclude this is the end of Auba\u2019s career at The Arsenal and that he will be gone in January. Perhaps he will, certainly he\u2019ll be gone to AFCON, however we don\u2019t have to look far to see an example of a captain booted out of the job and yet still here and in the side. If we don\u2019t get a result against West Ham, Auba could feasibly be straight back in the side for our next game. Personally, I\u2019d like nothing better than to see Auba back in the side and knocking goals in left, right and centre for the rest of the season but we are just going to have to wait and see how this will play out now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you would expect this was a hot topic at Mikel\u2019s presser today, however rather than regurgitate the many questions and answers I will summarize the main points below<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Auba was informed of the decision face-to-face by Mikel<\/li><li>The dressing room has accepted the decision as it is clearly in line with our agreed standards<\/li><li>The captaincy will remain within the current leadership group<\/li><li>It is very painful situation but we had to do it and would have done it even if Auba had scored 10 goals in the last 5 games<\/li><li>MA will not discuss details of his conversation with Auba<\/li><li>It is still too early to say what will happen next. Time is needed for everyone to digest the situation<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Moving on to the rest of the team MA confirmed that all our players are clear of Covid currently and available to play, excepting those with already existing injuries \u2013 i.e. Kola and Leno. MA has already talked about the need to rest players at times during the busy December schedule. Will he choose to do so for this game? On the one hand we have the importance of this game but on the other we have the fact that naming an unchanged XI will mean three matches in a week for the players. I believe we will go with the unchanged option though it would be no surprise if there are one to two changes. That leaves us with\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Ramsdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Tomiyasu &#8212; White &#8212; Gabriel &#8212; Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Partey &#8212; Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Saka &#8212; \u00d8degaard &#8212; Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Lacazette<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a side I like though a place will have to be found for ESR sooner or later. CM is a problem but I am simply going to refuse to write anything further about Xhaka. Not a very good attitude for a blog I must admit but sod it how much more can we really say about a very average trundly midfielder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Onwards then to the opposition<strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>West Ham<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was a time in the mid-70s when I didn\u2019t really mind West Ham as they played decent football in a period of often dour defensiveness and apart from the occasional cup-run and the annoying Alan Taylor they weren\u2019t really a threat at the business end of the season. The Cup Final in 1980, a couple of trips to their thuggishly infested home ground later in the 80s, and the disgusting public and unpunished murder of Arsenal supporter John Dickinson in 1982 swiftly put an end to any such ambivalence. Thankfully, these days football is a far safer sport for supporters and West Ham are now, in their current incarnation, ensconced, shamefully it must be said, at the tax-payers expense in a shiny new stadium. Though their epic journey from ignorant hooligans to grubby parasites has not been without recidivism &#8211; additional security measures were required in the ground to protect the West Ham board from their own supporters &#8211; they have at least managed to put together a fairly decent side with their ill-gotten gains. They did well last season (for them), and currently sitting in 4<sup>th<\/sup>, with wins over Liverpool and Chelsea in their last six games they appear at first glance to be on course for another Top 6 finish. However, it is also worth noting that those actually somewhat fortunate wins over Liverpool and Chelsea are their only wins in the last 6 games and with Antonio struggling in front of goal it may be the lack of a top-class striker is starting to find them out. Certainly, they looked to be lacking a spark in their 0-0 draw with Burnley at the weekend. Nevertheless, I expect they will be a good test for our young side as although the oddly well-respected Moyes\u2019s teams never actually win anything they also rarely cave and are usually vaguely well-organized at the back. I expect them to keep things tight and we will have to watch for the likes of Fornals, Bowen and Lanzini on the break but we have a good recent record against them \u2013 winning 7 of the last 10 in the league and I hope to see us make that 8 of the last 11 tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Holic Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Conscious that I have waffled on longer than usual I will cut straight to the point. 2-0 at 12\/1. Seems about right at those odds, though I should warn you I nailed the score against Southampton and two in a row does seem unlikely \u2013 about 25\/1 now I come to think of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, as always, I hope you will all enjoy the game wherever you may be \u2013 COYGS!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images This Wednesday night will see the Gunners take on West Ham in a game that provides an opportunity for us to leap-frog them in the table and strengthen our chance of a return to the Champions League at the end of this season. If we accept, and I think sadly we [&hellip;]<\/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\/4385"}],"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=4385"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4398,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4385\/revisions\/4398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}