{"id":6163,"date":"2022-05-11T17:34:38","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T16:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6163"},"modified":"2022-05-13T09:38:46","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T08:38:46","slug":"carry-on-at-your-convenience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6163","title":{"rendered":"Carry On At Your Convenience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The penultimate away fixture for this season takes us to the other end of the Seven Sisters Road, to finally play the COVID delayed north London derby at the Armitage Shanks Arena – that name is official, by the way – just try Googling the aforementioned arena and up pops our header photo!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We go to the Armitage Shanks four points clear of our rivals, knowing that a win will guarantee us Champions League football next season after a five year absence, and a first St. Totteringham\u2019s Day since 2016. Chelsea sit a mere one point ahead of us as I write this, and look eminently catchable in third place. Who\u2019da thunk that after our injury and COVID ravaged start to the season that saw us bottom of the pile after the first three games? A draw would mean we would need one more win to be sure of a top four finish, and after that it becomes too complicated and too tense to even warrant thinking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

End of season fixtures with \u201ctop\u201d facing \u201cbottom\u201d are a lottery, as top teams have to deal with the pressure of winning a seat at football\u2019s top table and the commensurate financial gains, while those at the bottom are fighting for their lives and don\u2019t much care how they do it. Throw in the ever present inconsistencies of the referees and VAR and a season\u2019s dreams can go up in smoke in a few mad seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have to say I took the Arsenal\u2019s offer of a season ticket holiday this season due to COVID, the threat of infection from a 60,000 crowd and late, overcrowded trains – but it seems I\u2019ve missed a lot of fun. The atmosphere has clearly been much improved this season, according both to those who have been going to matches and the noisy evidence from the TV coverage. Maybe those taking the holiday have opened the door for other supporters to take their chance to attend matches, and they have enjoyed the experience, an emerging team and the new unity within the club, and have sung out loud and proud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal appears to be a happy club again and that is great to see after too many years of turmoil at the end of Arsene Wenger\u2019s reign, and four years of challenging transition under Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta. Arteta has now accepted a contract extension until the end of 2025, which is great news for stability in the upcoming transfer window and the longer term plans for the club. He has done a terrific job in remodelling the squad, setting the standards for those who want to play for this club, rejuvenating the team and giving it a new identity with the way he insists on playing. It hasn\u2019t been easy, and not always wonderful to watch, but a lot of lessons have had to be learnt and there is now the genuine prospect of something very exciting happening with his new young team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This season has been, in Arteta\u2019s words, \u201ca rollercoaster\u201d but it has certainly been more fun – so here are some links to even more fun to get us in the mood for the trip to the toilet bowl –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dancing monkeys<\/strong><\/a> – on oldie but goldie, always worth a watch, and as well as Tottenham, has a dig at Chelsea too<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fine Wine – by The Laughing Gooners<\/strong><\/a> – an Arsenal take on the Morecombe and Wise theme, featuring some great wins over the Spuds, and others<\/a>

A New Generation<\/strong><\/a> – an absolutely brilliant video and soundtrack (Sweet Disposition, by The Temper Trap) telling the story of this season. If you don\u2019t mind a large lump in your throat and tears in your eyes, watch this!
(there is probably an advert to clear first)

The Angel<\/strong><\/a> – by Louis Dunford If there\u2019s anyone who still doesn\u2019t know, this is Louis Dunford\u2019s autobiographical song about the Arsenal, the surrounding area and what growing up in it means to him. There\u2019s a lot of hope that at least the chorus of this song could become the new Arsenal anthem. Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

It appears to be only Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey who will be unavailable for us. Ben White and Bukayo Saka are both ok. I imagine Tomiyasu will revert to right back to defend against Son, so the decision for the manager is whether to move Cedric to left back for his experience, or go with Tavares in his more natural position?

Update: White and Saka to face late assessments – dot com saying today (11\/5) there are some doubts about the pair. I would expect Holding and Smith-Rowe to come in if necessary – not Pepe after last weekend.

Granit Xhaka and Mo Elneny look certain to continue in central midfield – the latter has just signed a new contract until 2025, which completes for him a remarkable comeback from his loan spell at Besiktas. Not many players re-establish themselves having been told they should look for a new club, but he has stepped in at a crucial time for us and played really well. He is an uncomplaining, loyal squad member and deserves his extension on current form. My main worry, in what is bound to be a fierce encounter, is that Xhaka will retaliate against a bit of treatment designed to wind him up and get sent off. Please, please just don\u2019t. Rob Holding also deserves a shoutout for the way he has played while Ben White was injured. Another uncomplaining, solid squad member, and I hope he will be here next season to complete our compliment of centre backs with a returning William Saliba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In attack it seems unlikely that Mikel Arteta will deviate from his recent first choice quartet of Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli and Nketiah. I would expect this side to start –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Cedric; Elneny, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Nketiah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tottenham are definitely without the quartet of Reguilon, Doherty, Tanganga and Skipp for the rest of the season. Harry Kane will hopefully be suffering mentally from the knock-back of knowing that Manchester City, where he\u2019s yearned to be for almost two years now, have signed Erling Haaland, so he\u2019s maybe looking at yet another year of trophy-less life in the toilet bowl. I have also taken the liberty of sending a little gift to Son Heung-Min. It\u2019s a specially prepared lasagna from spin-off recipe box company Hello Not So Fresh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\ud83d\ude0f\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Paddy Power have Spurs at 11\/10 to win, Arsenal at 23\/10 and 5\/2 the draw. Ladbrokes make Spurs 21\/20 favourites to win, with Arsenal at 5\/2 to win the match but 2\/5 to finish in the top four. Our new striking sensation Eddie Nketiah is quoted at 14\/1 to net at least twice, 5\/1 to be first goal scorer, and 2\/1 to get on the score sheet at any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match referee<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Tierney has been appointed referee for this one. That\u2019s the same referee who didn\u2019t send Harry Kane off for this<\/a> – if you like old bollocks, there\u2019s a lot of it being talked right here by Dermot Gallagher (tap to unmute).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cross everything you can right now, especially as the VAR is \u2026. wait for it \u2026. the referee who danced an outrageous little jig when the Spuds scored against Arsenal at The Emirates \u2026. yes ! it\u2019s Mike Dean!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game kicks off on Thursday 12th May at 19.45 UK time, and is on TV on Sky Sports. By 22.00hrs we could be back in the Champions League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\ud83e\udd1e\ud83c\udffb\"\"\ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffb\"\"\ud83e\udd1e\ud83c\udffb\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on you Reds!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The penultimate away fixture for this season takes us to the other end of the Seven Sisters Road, to finally play the COVID delayed north London derby at the Armitage Shanks Arena – that name is official, by the way – just try Googling the aforementioned arena and up pops our header photo! We go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"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\/6163"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6163"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6180,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6163\/revisions\/6180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}