{"id":6561,"date":"2022-08-30T18:26:33","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T17:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6561"},"modified":"2022-09-01T09:45:24","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T08:45:24","slug":"for-the-icing-on-our-top-start-here-comes-aston-vanilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6561","title":{"rendered":"For The Icing On Our Top Start &#8211; Here Comes Aston Vanilla !"},"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\/528685262\" 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\/528685262?et=rUlG_XoNToNnCwhXeAcSDA&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=Ax9gQsjLtsbIZfBKgngEC3lKkpZDjkfUyGyD6mACQFQ=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"396\" 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>And so Aston Villa will arrive at The Emirates to find us top of the league and well on the way to our first title win since 2004 !<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Manchester City are chasing us, two points behind in second place but we all know they are not going to last the race. Their two best players have decamped to North London to be reunited with their old coach Mikel Arteta, who is now almost home and hosed, as the youngest manager to win the Premier League, with only 34 games left to play.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>\u201cYou\u2019re living in a fantasy world,\u201d I hear you say, \u201chave you stepped through the back of your wardrobe and arrived in some fanciful land of make believe ?\u201d\u201cYou leave me to worry about that,\u201d I would answer, \u201cit\u2019s narnia business !\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>No doubt all sensible people will be telling me to calm down, be realistic, there\u2019s a long way to go, just take it one game at a time, don\u2019t count your chickens, and all the usual admonishments that suck the joy out of early season dreams. Well, at the moment we are bang up there, all things are possible, and while they are, I am going to enjoy and overexpect the hell out of every last second of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>The TV presenters and pundits all seem obsessed with the question of whether or not we can make the top four this season. They seem to think it is the only way we can continue on our upward trajectory &#8211; \u201cThey simply have to get top four !\u201d, they all say as one. Anyone would think it\u2019s some kind of trophy &#8211; the very idea !<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>At the beginning of August and the end of pre-season, I was challenged by TTG to include two very specific biblical references in a blog piece, in response to a few Jesus based puns which the poor fella clearly couldn\u2019t compete with! His \u201cimpossible\u201d references were Ecclesiastes and Nehemiah!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Well, I have to tell TTG that there has been much early season talk in the changing room about the new kit suppliers, E Cleese &amp; Sons Ltd. Before the Fulham game this snippet was heard as final pre-game preparations were made &#8211; \u201cHave you tried the new Elasties sock garters &#8211; they\u2019re much easier than the old ties to put on, cos they\u2019re just one size and all stretchy, like.\u201d\u201cOh yeah, the new <em>&#8216;E Cleese Elasties&#8217;<\/em> are really cool, man !\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>At the same time, another player was getting a final check by the physio following the on pitch warm up, \u201cHow\u2019s that knee feeling, Ben?\u201d&nbsp;\u201cWell, it\u2019s not really my <em>&#8216;Knee, Er, My Er&#8217; <\/em>calf is still a bit tight though.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>I think it was \u00a320 you bet me, TTG \u2026?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>The History<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the first meeting in October 1904, there have been 199 11 v 11 games&nbsp;between the clubs. Of those Arsenal have won 85, Villa have won 69 and there have been 45 draws.They were all Premier League games bar 2 in the FA Cup &#8211; of which Arsenal won both. If we draw a relatively random line from the beginning of the Emirates era, a scary 16 years ago, Arsenal have won 17 times, Villa have won 6 times, with 5 games ending all square. Maybe worryingly, by far our worst run has come since July 2020, which saw the first of 3 consecutive defeats. The two most recent games, however, saw us return to form with a 3-1 home win in October 2021, and a 1-0 away win in March of this year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>The Villa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Villa have made a really poor start to this season and lost again on Sunday to West Ham, who themselves took 3 games and 74 minutes to come up with their first goal of the season. Since losing Jack Grealish to the Sheikhs of Abbly Dabbly (c BtM) Villa have lost their threat and their shape and appear currently to be the epitome of the cliched rudderless ship. On the radio phone-ins after Sunday\u2019s game their fans, to a man, were saying that Gerrard is out of his depth and should go. He has already lost 15 times in his 31 games since being appointed ten months ago. Many of them noted that he didn\u2019t acknowledge the crowd at all after the final whistle and feel that he knows he is \u201cgone\u201d already.&nbsp;By all accounts he was quite fortunate to get his first big break in management at Rangers. At the time, Celtic were managed by Brendan Rodgers &#8211; Gerrard\u2019s boss at Liverpool when the latter\u2019s disastrous slip in the final game of the season cost the Scousers the title. Indeed, at the time of the appointment a Rangers spokesman said, \u201cWe were looking for someone with previous experience of stopping Brendan Rodgers from winning the league.\u201d \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Players of note for Villa will be striker Ollie Watkins, who always seems to look pretty harmless whenever I see him play except, of course, against us when he regularly seems a danger and far too often scores. Philipe Coutinho is their quality player who, if he is up for it and on form, can be a game changer, and in defence, Tyrone Mings &#8211; but we all know that already. Personally, I would welcome Emi Martinez back to the Emirates. I know some people feel he has been a bit disrespectful to Arsenal since joining Villa, but I have honestly not heard his complaints myself. My own view is that he served the club uncomplainingly for ten years while being sent on a long series of loans. He then played brilliantly for us when called on to deputise for the injured Bernd Leno, helping to win the FA Cup and Charity Shield, and might be justified in feeling a bit miffed to have been sold straight afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With only a couple of days of the current transfer window left, we continue to be linked with a number of players. Nicolas P\u00e9p\u00e9 has now gone on loan to Nice, which was facilitated by the player agreeing to a 25% cut in his wages. Nice will pay 50% of his original wage and Arsenal 25%, leaving some room in the financial fair play calculations maybe for another arrival, or two? One of those is rumoured to be Pedro Neto but Wolves are very reluctant to sell and would demand a high price for the winger. If that doesn\u2019t materialise, as seems likely, attention could turn to Jeremy Pino of Villarreal. According to The Independent, he has been linked with Arsenal all summer. \u201cHe is a forward who can play either side of the striker and is comfortable with both feet&#8221; &#8211; he would certainly be less comfortable if one foot was missing! Wilfred Zaha has supposedly been linked again in the last 24 hours too. This would be a very strange one for me, as he just doesn\u2019t seem to fit the profile of our recent acquisitions &#8211; but what do I know?<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One player who does fit the profile is Youri Tielemans, 25, and in the last year of his contract. Again according to The Independent, Leicester have finally been prompted to drop their asking price, thus bringing a deal \u201ccloser than ever\u201d. A long shot could be Bayer Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby. According to Fabrizio Romano it would take a major offer to persuade Leverkusen to sell, but they have just signed Calum Hudson-Odoi on loan from Chelsea, so maybe 2 and 2 will add up to 4 \u2026?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Finally, good luck to Ainsley Maitland-Niles who appears about to depart. Bournemouth, Southampton and a number of foreign clubs are interested.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Availability&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thomas Partey and Oleksandr Zinchenko continue to be assessed ahead of Wednesday with respectively a tight thigh and a slightly sprained knee. Especially in the light of our opposition\u2019s form, I would be surprised to see them for this game. Manchester United await us this weekend and there is no need to take any unnecessary risks. We hear today that Mo Elneny picked up a \u201csignificant injury\u201d in Saturday\u2018s game against Fulham and is expected to be out for a \u201cconsiderable spell\u201d. (that courtesy of Ornstein)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>That would mean a probable starting line-up of:&nbsp;<br>Ramsdale; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney; \u00d8degaard, Lakonga, Xhaka; Saka, Jes\u00fas, Martinelli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>And right there is the good problem of having a much stronger squad. There are cases for Tomiyasu and Nketiah to start , especially after a great 30 minutes from Eddie on Saturday, but who do you leave out? I don\u2019t think anyone deserves to be \u201cdropped\u201d, but I do think Saka needs some protection. His position is the one where there is no obvious cover at the moment, but could there be a surprise call for Marquinhos, who has been tearing it up in the U23s? Personally I think we have to move on from the idea of a first eleven and \u201cwhy do we need Y if we already have X?\u201d We start the season in four competitions and will hope to progress a long way in all of them. All our players will be needed, and sometimes changes will be made for tactical and fitness reasons.&nbsp;It won\u2019t mean a player has been dropped just because they are given a rest for a game or two. We have damaged too many players in the past because we had no options. Now we have, wise choices can be made.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>And finally \u2026\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Much is made these days of Running Statistics and their importance to success in the modern game. Clearly running around like a headless chicken is unproductive and a huge waste of energy on a football pitch, but intelligent running is now demanded by top coaches and appears to really matter to the final result. So far this season Arsenal are top in the running league &#8211; and top of the actual league &#8211; much improved Leeds are second and Aston Villa, with their poor start, are bottom. So incensed was new Man Utd manager Ten Hag, after their lazy, shambolic performance against Brentford, that he went with the players on a \u201cmake up distance\u201d run, to show them that they are all in it together, and it was going to hurt him as much as those players. Interesting tactic and they have sadly won their two games since. We will clearly have to match them, at the very least for endeavour, when we play them this coming weekend.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Holic Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the first four games of the season, the Arsenal have scored an average 2.75 goals per game, and conceded only 0.75. Aston Villa, in almost complete contrast have scored 0.75 and conceded 1.75. Some people make a decent amount of money by relying on stats just like these, so it\u2019s to be hoped the theory holds good for this match. The bookies seem to think so, offering a best of 1\/2 on a home win, 19\/5 on a draw and 33\/5 on a Villa win. If you just cannot resist a bet, your money has more chance of growth going on Martinelli to get the first goal at 6\/1, or Saka is at 13\/2. If you favour a longer term investment, Arsenal are currently quoted by Betfred at 10\/1 to win the Premier League this season. Man City are unsurprisingly 4\/11 on, with Liverpool at 6\/1. You pays your money \u2026..<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The officials for this one are &#8211; Referee, Robert Jones; Fourth official, Craig Pawson; VAR , Darren England.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The TV and Kick Off<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game is on Wednesday 31st August at the slightly earlier than usual time for an evening kick off of 19.30hrs, UK time. It will be shown live on BT Sport.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you are going, or jumping round the living room, enjoy the game !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images And so Aston Villa will arrive at The Emirates to find us top of the league and well on the way to our first title win since 2004 ! Manchester City are chasing us, two points behind in second place but we all know they are not going to last the [&hellip;]<\/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\/6561"}],"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=6561"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6579,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6561\/revisions\/6579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}