{"id":4411,"date":"2021-12-17T22:03:24","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T22:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4411"},"modified":"2021-12-18T21:26:15","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T21:26:15","slug":"three-on-the-trot-or-to-elland-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4411","title":{"rendered":"Three on the trot, or to Elland back?"},"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:396px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1236147623\" 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:150% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1236147623?et=TxyS9uyrQcV8onQrbKn_hQ&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=QjyKxxgCXgd9iBdMtWTKV4KvmGqXJEcwpiwy0I_ri4w=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\" width=\"396\" height=\"594\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Or somewhere in between?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our boys in red and white are currently scheduled to head Norf, to the wapentake of the Shire Oak in Yorkshire&#8217;s West Riding, for Saturday&#8217;s game of Association football against Marco Bielsa&#8217;s crew bearing the white rose.  At this point neither squad is much affected by the latest variant of Covid, Omicron. Whether the match will go forward is up to the PL heads; half of this weekend&#8217;s slate of matches have been cancelled already. So this preview might be an exercise in windmill tilting, but that&#8217;s just fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dirty, Dirty Leeds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leeds will be glad of home comforts after being shredded 7-0 at Manchester City on Tuesday.  The Whites will thus have had an extra day to rest, but also an extra day to mull over their shortcomings and internalize their failings.  With only 9 points from 24 in eight games since we defeated them 2-0 in the Carabao cup at the end of October it&#8217;s fair to say that the early season promise shown by Bielsa&#8217;s tactics has faded.  We are currently 12 places and 13 points above them as they slip uncomfortably towards the relegation zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leeds is also suffering from a fairly severe injury crisis, with just 10 senior players available and an injury\/suspension list that is nearly as long.  Their dynamo, Kalvin Phillips, has just undergone hamstring surgery that will keep him out until well into the new year.  According to Sky Sports, that&#8217;s an excellent omen for Arsenal:  Leeds has lost 11 of 14 when Phillips is absent.  He&#8217;ll be replaced by the aging Forshaw.  Rodrigo, Cooper, Bamford, Struijk, Shackleton, and James are all scheduled to miss out because of various injuries, with Firpo missing due to a 5-yellow-card suspension.  The omens continue to mount: Leeds have only won 3 of 11 when Bamford is out, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If their injury list holds as above, expect them to line up with the remainder of their first team squad plus their usual subs on the pitch, and a crowd of irregulars on the bench.  Ex-Arsenal schoolboy Ayling is expected to captain the squad, returning from a long injury layoff, and he will lead a depleted defense with Llorente, and (most likely) Stuart Dallas and Cresswell ahead of Meslier in goal.  Forshaw should pair with Klich at the base of midfield, with Raphina, Roberts, and Harrison behind the young Gelhardt up front.  That lineup leaves a relatively untested bench of Klaesson, Jenkins, Greenwood, McKinstry, Summerville, Drameh, and Bate, though the rusty Koch&#8217;s return from injury will add a bit of experience to the substitutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Goalscoring will be a possible problem for Leeds, though Raphina will play an important part, as he leads Leeds in goals this season.  However, with Bamford and Rodrigo out the assists might be hard to come by.  Gelhardt is a live wire through the middle, having scored his first goal against Chelsea earlier this year.  Still, it&#8217;s hard to see how they can trouble Arsenal much, especially as the game gets into its latter stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal are coming off two improving games after two games of frustration, having last taken West Ham to task with a 2-0 win showcasing our strength, beauty, and fluidity across 90 minutes on Wednesday.  A Henry-esque goal by Gabi and a lovely nutmeg for a goal from ESR gained us the three points after giving West Ham basically nothing from the game, even before they were drawn down to 10 men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we can keep up the pace, the touch, and the vision that we showed Wednesday, Leeds might be scrambling for damage limitation, even though Arsenal&#8217;s away form is dismal: 2-1-5, with last away win at Leicester.  I expect a team unchanged from West Ham, with ESR starting on the bench waiting to be brought in as Leeds&#8217; legs tire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Ramsdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Tomi &#8212; White &#8212; Gabriel &#8212; KT3<\/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; M\u00f8 &#8212; Gabi<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Laca<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, I&#8217;d love to see a front six of<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Partey &#8212; Lokonga<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Saka &#8212; M\u00f8 &#8212; ESR<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Gabi<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>as Leeds&#8217; defense is threadbare and that group have the power, pace, and vision to rip them to shreds.  It would give Laca a rest, too, after two games running.  And keeping Xhaka out of the team isn&#8217;t necessarily a bad thing, right TTG?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously Auba isn&#8217;t going to be on the bench, and it will be a surprise if he ends up making it to Elland Road at this time of year.  Our quality in the last two games without him has been clear, and the holdup play and timliness of passing from our front quartet have been evident in most of our last five goals.  We will miss Auba&#8217;s smile, but perhaps not his recent laissez-faire play&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Holics Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal is well thought of to win this, in spite of our away travails; Leeds are at 3\/1 to win, and Arsenal is at evens.  The best score punt is probably Arsenal 3-0 at 19s, with a nice backup on 3-1 at 16s.  ESR or Saka to score can be had at 10-1, so have a nip at those, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Word on the street is that Countryman100 won&#8217;t be at the game, and it is uncertain that Clock End Rider and 21st Century Gooner will be going, so we may lack man-on-the-street reportage after the game.  But enjoy it on whatever Chris-esque flatscreen you&#8217;re watching, and share in the remote Gunner experience so many of us have for every game.  Something tells me we&#8217;re not going to be behind the couch for this one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Or somewhere in between? Our boys in red and white are currently scheduled to head Norf, to the wapentake of the Shire Oak in Yorkshire&#8217;s West Riding, for Saturday&#8217;s game of Association football against Marco Bielsa&#8217;s crew bearing the white rose. At this point neither squad is much affected by the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"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\/4411"}],"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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4411"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4421,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4411\/revisions\/4421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}