{"id":4823,"date":"2022-02-18T17:04:57","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T17:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4823"},"modified":"2022-02-20T01:20:39","modified_gmt":"2022-02-20T01:20:39","slug":"banish-the-brentford-bogey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4823","title":{"rendered":"Banish the Brentford Bogey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From standard.co.uk<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, we entertain Brentford for their first visit to the Emirates since September 2018, when we saw them off 3-1 in the Third Round of the League Cup. A late strike by Alexander Lacazette, who had come on for ESR making his first start in the senior team, complemented a brace from Danny Welbeck. Laca was a goal-scoring striker back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our previous home league game against the Bees was more than three-quarters of a century ago. Reg Lewis and Jimmy Logie were our goal scorers in a 2-2 draw in October 1946 in the old First Division, only the fourth game at Highbury after the post-war return of league football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis scored 392 goals in 451 games in an Arsenal shirt. However, having broken into the first team in 1938-39 after scoring prolifically as a teenager for the Football Combination side, he lost the first bloom of his senior career to World War Two. Only 176 of his games and 118 goals count for the record book. Otherwise, Ian Wright might have chased Lewis’s goal-scoring record, not Cliff Bastin’s. Perhaps, TH14, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis was 26 when league football resumed after the war. His Brentford goal was one of 29 that season. He and Ronnie Rooke, of whom we have spoken recently, scored 47 goals in the 1947-48 title-winning side. The apogee of Lewis\u2019s career was scoring both goals when we beat Liverpool in the rain-sodden 1950 FA Cup Final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the elite group of 19 who have scored 100 senior goals for the club, only Ian Wright, Ted Drake and Jack Lambert notched their century in fewer games than Reg Lewis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apian Bogey<\/strong>
In his programme notes for the October 1946 game, ‘Marksman’, the nom de plume of programme editor Harry Homer, noted that \u201cIt seems that the humming of \u2018The Bees\u2019 in the past often boded ill for us of \u2018The Gunners\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brentford had the hex on our all-conquering team of the 1930s; we beat them just once in eight attempts. When we won the league in 1937-38, the Bees did the double over us. As Marksman put it, ‘many, in fact, called them our bogey team.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bogey returned for our most recent meeting, the 2-0 defeat in the opening game of this season in West London. We fielded a team more deprived by Covid than realised from the outside when the team sheet was handed in. Nonetheless, it was the first time we had lost to a newly-promoted team in their opening game of the season since Bristol City beat us in Malcolm Macdonald’s debut game in 1976.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Chelsea and City following, cue general weeping and gnashing of teeth as Arsenal was cast into the outer darkness by those in the less enlightened parts of the Goonerverse and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Opposition<\/strong>
Yet now only City, Liverpool and Chelsea have won more league games than we have while only Norwich City and Watford have lost more than Brentford. Last Saturday’s scoreless draw with Crystal Palace broke a five-match losing run, seven counting FA and League Cup defeats. That is the Bees\u2019 worst run of form since 2007 when they were in Division Two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One problem has been scoring goals; 26 in 25 league games. Ivan Toney is the leading scorer with six. Fellow strikers Brian Mbeumo and Yale Wissa have three apiece. Toney has not proved as prolific in the Premiership as he was in the Championship, not because he has become a less efficient striker, but because he is getting fewer chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manager Thomas Frank will hope that his Danish compatriot, Christian Eriksen, will address that. Eriksen joined in January after recovering from a cardiac arrest last June during a Euro 2020 game. While, thankfully, fit to resume his career, he has still to regain match fitness. He had an hour’s run-out in a friendly on Monday, but a place on the bench on Saturday is probably the most to expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toney is more likely than not to return, having missed the past two games with a leg injury. Otherwise, Brentford will likely line up with the same players in the same flat 3-5-2 formation that served to defeat us on opening day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal<\/strong>
Our XI will, perforce, be much changed. Only Tierney, White and Xhaka of that starting XI are nailed on to kick off on Saturday. One of Smith Rowe or P\u00e9p\u00e9 may join them depending on how Arteta replaces the suspended Martinelli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the others from that day, Mari and Chambers have been sold, Leno (back from a Covid absence) and Lokonga are now cover for Ramsdale and Partey, respectively, and Balogun is out on loan, as are four others who were on the bench, Hein, Bellerin, Maitland-Niles and Nelson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having had more than a week to recover from the backs-to-the-wall heroics of Molineux, I would expect Arteta to name at least nine out of his Wolves starting eleven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice of Martinelli’s replacement falls between Smith Rowe and P\u00e9p\u00e9. I favour the latter to start. It looks as if ESR is still being nursed through injury and his minutes managed, plus the way around a 3-5-2 is to counterattack down the flanks. Arteta, of course, may take the opposite view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other uncertainty is at right-back. Tomiyasu is so important to Arteta\u2019s scheme of play that the manager will play him for as much of the game as he feels the defender can manage without aggravating his injury. That may mean a start or coming off the bench. C\u00e9dric Soares is his understudy. White to right-back and Holding partnering Gabriel in the centre of the defence is an option, but Arteta will, I believe, want to keep the White-Gabriel partnership developing. A tough call on Rob, who was outstanding during his 25 minutes at Wolves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsdale
Tomiyasu\/Soares, White, Gabriel, Tierney
Partey, Xhaka
Saka, \u00d8degaard, P\u00e9p\u00e9
Lacazette<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bench<\/span>: Leno, Soares\/Tomiyasu, Holding, Tavares, Elneny, Smith Rowe, Nketiah<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It scarcely needs to be said that this is a game we need to come out of with all three points. We need a substantial run of wins to have a shot at securing fourth place or even a top-six finish. Sixteen games to go, including trips to Chelsea, West Ham and the neighbours and visits from Liverpool and Man Utd, leaves little room for letting points slip against mid-table sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ‘holics’ pound<\/strong>
The bookies have us as odds-on favourites. There is scant value to be found unless we rediscover our shooting boots. A 3-1 win can be had at 13s and 4-0 at 21s. Yet, Brentford tends not to get beaten heavily. A more realistic 2-0 is available at a miserly sixes, as is the classic 1-0 to The Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game, \u2018holics near and far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, we entertain Brentford for their first visit to the Emirates since September 2018, when we saw them off 3-1 in the Third Round of the League Cup. A late strike by Alexander Lacazette, who had come on for ESR making his first start in the senior team, complemented a brace from Danny Welbeck. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823"}],"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\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4823"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4837,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823\/revisions\/4837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}