{"id":6642,"date":"2022-09-17T05:26:19","date_gmt":"2022-09-17T04:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6642"},"modified":"2022-09-18T17:42:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T16:42:57","slug":"a-buzz-has-grown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6642","title":{"rendered":"A Buzz has Grown"},"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:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1334021711\" 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:63.973064% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1334021711?et=ndIEGYucStFeGNTkBIQwkQ&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=gYnGbCm2Rw8neU_CQ0PTsMk9HI--RIcrpEWvPUQe_vY=&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=\"594\" height=\"380\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal visit Brentford&#8217;s Community Stadium for the first Premier League clash of the new season with the Bees this Sunday lunchtime.  This fixture was moved up in time from later in the afternoon due to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.  It will be the first time either team has played since her death eight days ago: on 3 September Brentford was at home to destroy Leeds 5-2, while on 8 September the Queen&#8217;s memory was honored with a minute&#8217;s silence before the second half of Arsenal&#8217;s 2-1 defeat of FC Z\u00fcrich in St. Gallen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Gunners remain remain top of the league, with 15 points from 18 on offer, with the Bees having garnered 9 points from the same number of games.  Arsenal and Brentford are a pair of teams that really have very little history against one another, and most of it is from 1947 and before.  We have won two of our last three games against them, since 2018, but the loss was the horror-show we played at Brentford to open their first top-flight season since&#8230;1947.  Between COVID and bedding in new players, and Brentford&#8217;s emotional high from being back at the top table, we lost 0-2 to begin the run of three-straight losses to start our 21-22 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, since then we&#8217;ve gotten better and better (with a bit of rollercoastering along the way), finishing last season 5th to Brentford&#8217;s 13th, including beating them at the Emirates 2-1 in February.  Well done to them for staying up; and while they sit eight places below us they&#8217;ve got the same goal differential, having scored 1 and let in just 2 more than we have.  They are not going to be pushovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brentford<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Led by the impressive Toney, who sits third on the goalscoring table behind the erstwhile Haaland and the ubiquitous Mitrovic, Brentford usually employ a 4-3-3 (though they thrashed Manchester United lined up in a 5-3-2).  Ex-Arsenal schoolboy Dasilva is a regular in the squad, playing on the left, either up front or in midfield; he offers another goal threat.  Their defense, in front of Raya in goal, is anchored by central defender Mee (great grandson of our own Bertie), with rumored Arsenal target Aaron Hickey at right back.  They are a tough team to beat, and a team that has shown the ability to come back from being down:  all of their draws this season are the result of the Bees scoring late goals to bring the scores level at the final whistle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brentford will be without midfielder Norgaard, sidelined since he end of August with Achilles tendonitis; of their other two absentees, Pinnock (knee) isn&#8217;t in contention, but Tenes (thigh) is the subject of a late fitness test.  Neither of the latter two have played yet this year, but Norgaard will be a loss in the center of their midfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the season has gone on, the buzz has grown.  Our players have raised their games, and even in our loss to United we played well <em>except against the long ball over our high line&#8230;damn it!<\/em>  We are scoring more freely, defending (generally) well, and very often playing some of the best football we&#8217;ve played in a decade.  The crowd is into it, home and away, supporting players when they falter and geeing them on when they&#8217;re on top of the game.  If we could convert the better part of our chances, rather than the lesser, we would be beating teams by scorelines that reflect our dominance rather than winning by a goal and peering somewhat nervously through our hands towards the ends of games.  Of course, that&#8217;s a longstanding issue at Arsenal, and it&#8217;s hoped as The Process, led by the Premier League&#8217;s Manager of the Month, continues to unfold that will prove to be another box ticked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Expect to see our usual 4-3-3, though with Tierney instead of Zinchenko, and Lokonga instead of Partey.  Injuries to the second of each of those pairs will reduce or eliminate them from contention.  It&#8217;s a tossup between White and Tomiyasu at right back (I&#8217;d like to see Tomi start), whereas the front three, the center of defense, and our keeper are nailed-on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Martinelli &#8212; Jesus &#8212; Saka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Xhaka &#8212; \u00d8degaard &#8212; Lokonga<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Tierney &#8212; Gabriel &#8212; Saliba! &#8212; Tomiyasu<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Ramsdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides Zinchenko (lower leg) and Partey (thigh) we&#8217;re expecting to be without Cedric (knock) and ESR (groin), as well as longer-term absentees Nelson and Mo&#8217;neny.  It&#8217;s possible that Zinchenko, Partey and Cedric will pass late fitness tests, but none should start.  That leaves our bench a bit thin, with Nketiah, Marquinhos, Vieira, White, Holding, and Turner ahead of some mix of the injured and three younger players to be named later&#8230;likely Partey, Awe, and Walters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Holics Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If our defense can keep Toney quiet and we keep our wits about us until the end, I think we can win this one with a similar scoreline to our last game with them, 2-1.  However, that&#8217;s only available on 8s, while 3-0 and 3-1 Arsenal wins are offered at 16s and 14s, respectively.  For those of you going to the game, enjoy, sing your lungs out, and give our players the benefit of the best of your energy.  Considering the events of this unusual week, and with more happening in London and away at international games in the coming fortnight, it&#8217;s the perfect time to help the team recover from the events at Old Trafford and stake our continued claim at the top of the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COYG!! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Arsenal visit Brentford&#8217;s Community Stadium for the first Premier League clash of the new season with the Bees this Sunday lunchtime. This fixture was moved up in time from later in the afternoon due to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. It will be the first time either team has [&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\/6642"}],"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=6642"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6668,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6642\/revisions\/6668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}