{"id":6800,"date":"2022-10-15T14:43:35","date_gmt":"2022-10-15T13:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6800"},"modified":"2022-10-17T10:12:08","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T09:12:08","slug":"gunners-sighting-with-clinical-aim-to-pick-up-the-points-amid-yorkie-doo-doo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6800","title":{"rendered":"Gunners Sighting with Clinical Aim to Pick up the Points amid Yorkie Doo-doo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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On Sunday afternoon, seven days after they dispatched Liverpool at home, the top-of-the-table Gunners will be looking to keep their momentum moving steadily forward as they take on Yorkshire outfit Leeds United at their Elland Road ground.  Leeds may not be as far north, and certainly isn\u2019t as picturesque as midweek stopover Bod\u00f8, but seeing as Elland Road used to be called the Old Peacock Ground, it\u2019s a highly suitable venue for Arsenal to strut their table topping stuff.  But while the Gunners remain top, they have to keep earning it week upon week if they intend to stay there, and Leeds away has the potential to be a banana skin (or another metaphor of your choosing) if the players\u2019 focus and application aren\u2019t quite right.  As we witnessed at Bod\u00f8, it\u2019s not possible for any team to bring their best performance to every match so this will be another important test of our young team\u2019s stamina and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dirty Opposition<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leeds survived a serious relegation scare last season when their newly hired Yank manager dragged them over the line into 17th position at season\u2019s end after taking the reins from sacked Argentine club legend Marcelo Bielsa a few months prior.  Jesse Marsch, the Yank in question, is an Ivy League graduate (Princeton, doncha know) and came to Leeds in February after coaching stints at three member clubs (New York\/Salzburg\/Leipzig) of the Red Bull empire between 2015\u201321, a stretch that was highlighted by two straight Austrian league championships.  According to the Guardian\u2019s pre-season preview of Leeds (https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2022\/jul\/22\/premier-league-2022-23-preview-no-10-leeds<\/a>), Marsch\u2019s teams are known for their intense high pressing and the 4-2-2-2 system he developed in his time at Red Bull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This season Marsch has been selecting a first XI comprised mostly of players from the Bielsa era (Harrison, Koch, etc.), with a few new faces mixed in.  Prominent among the newbies is speedy 21 year old winger Brenden Aaronson, whom Marsch brought in from Salzburg as the second most expensive U.S. signing ever, lagging only Christian Pulisic of Chelsea.  Aaronson has been getting positive reviews for his contributions to the Leeds attack, and has started all eight fixtures to date.  Elsewhere in attack Patrick Bamford has returned from last season\u2019s injury plague to provide greater attacking threat, but hasn\u2019t scored any goals.  31 year old Spanish striker Rodrigo is their top goal scorer with four, followed by Luis Sinisterra, a Colombian winger signed from Feyenoord, who has scored two.  Presumably Sinisterra was brought in to replace Raphinha, Leeds\u2019 star man of the last few years who left over the summer for Barcelona, and whose creativity won\u2019t be easily replaced.  Leeds currently occupy 14th spot in the table having scored 11 goals but conceded 12.  Last week they ended up losing 2-1 away to Crystal Palace after dominating the first 45 minutes but falling away in the second, so Arsenal\u2019s fresh legs off the bench could play an important role if their anticipated first half barrage doesn\u2019t materialize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel, who was rested in Norway, should resume his customary position in central defence, along with Xhaka and Partey in midfield, and Jes\u00fas and Martinelli in the forward line.  I expect Jes\u00fas could be particularly energetic in this one, and I might fancy a bet on the Brazilian scoring the first goal, or even another one on 3-1 to the Arsenal with one goal each by Jes\u00fas, Martinelli and Saka in that exact order.  I don\u2019t know the odds but they ought to be pretty attractive to the betting-inclined, so there you go!  The team should remain unchanged from the one that dispatched Liverpool so delightfully:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partey, Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d8degaard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka, Jes\u00fas, Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you fancy an additional bet I would put your money (not mine) on a 4-1 scoreline with the goals by the same three players plus a final salvo by late substitute Vieira, so get scavenging that long lost cash and have at it!  If you\u2019re watching on the telly, don\u2019t forget to look for our very own Countryman100 who should be leading the charged-up chorus in the away section.  But most importantly, do your utmost to root the Gunners on to a victory of any kind, be it clean, dirty or somewhere in the middle.   It\u2019ll keep us top, I know because the table says so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game \u2018holics! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sunday afternoon, seven days after they dispatched Liverpool at home, the top-of-the-table Gunners will be looking to keep their momentum moving steadily forward as they take on Yorkshire outfit Leeds United at their Elland Road ground.  Leeds may not be as far north, and certainly isn\u2019t as picturesque as midweek stopover Bod\u00f8, but seeing as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"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\/6800"}],"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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6800"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6804,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6800\/revisions\/6804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}