{"id":7474,"date":"2023-02-23T22:09:10","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T22:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7474"},"modified":"2023-02-26T19:21:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-26T19:21:33","slug":"and-leicester-quest-for-title-winning-consistency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7474","title":{"rendered":"‘And Leicester’ Quest for Title-Winning Consistency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday afternoon the Gunners trek to the East Midlands city of \u2018And Leicester\u2019 in search of the grail of high-calibre consistency.  As a wise old soul once said, you can\u2019t win the title unless you pound the lower league clubs like Leicester into submission.  Another test of this famous maxim stares us in the face.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this, their first of 15 remaining league fixtures, the Arsenal will look to expand on the platform they built last week in their dramatic 4-2 victory at Villa Park, which followed a rough patch of four straight winless games in league and cup.  Their top-of-the-table stay had been interrupted before Arsenal\u2019s come-from-behind win and Manchester City\u2019s late concession at Forest restored the Gunners\u2019 lead to two points with a game in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most worrying part of the four game rough patch was that opposition managers seemed to have exposed Arsenal\u2019s Achilles heel, and begun to copy each other\u2019s tactics.  Even Pep Guardiola borrowed from the Sean Dyche playbook, deploying Bernardo Silva to kick Saka off the park in the league fixture as Arsenal limited Citeh to 37% possession but couldn\u2019t handle their quick counterattacks that turned the game.  Mikel Arteta will have been thinking about these things, and let\u2019s hope we see some new growth popping up out of the frozen ground, as it were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Art de Roch\u00e9 wrote in The Athletic about last week\u2019s match, Arsenal\u2019s uneven performance left unanswered questions defensively \u201cbut they proved they can slug it out, and every league title winner needs to do that occasionally.  With a week until they return to action against Leicester City, the focus moves to raising their levels for 90 minutes, not just a half.\u201d  Such a sustained and determined display is exactly what the players and fans need to recognize the steel of champions as the title race gets serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018And Leicester\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a supporter from afar, for years I wondered about the meaning of the phrase \u201cAnd Leicester\u201d \u2014 which those of you in the know used to toss around loosely in the old Goonerholic bar as if anybody reading it would fall down dying in hysterical laughter.  Once or twice I even looked up the phrase to see if I could learn its meaning without revealing myself as a neophyte but my searches came up with little useful information.  To my surprise, when I looked it up this time I found a comment by a Leicester fan, \u2018Pork Pie Fox\u2019 by name, recalling a theory about the inspiration of a song that was sung (probably still is) by Arsenal supporters headed to the East Midlands.  This Pork Pie fella recalled that \u201cwhen fans from London headed north the signs on the road used to say ‘The North and Leicester’ and it basically came from there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all follow the Arsenal,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over land and sea, and Leicester!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all follow the Arsenal,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onto victory!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should we win on Saturday or even if we don\u2019t, each and all should raise a glass to Dave Faber, the Goonerholic himself, who chimed in on this question in his Aug. 30, 2014 preview entitled \u201cAnd Leicester\u201d (of course).  The great man wrote: \u201cI have waited until the final whistle has blown at Goodison before considering the preview of our trip to Leicester, hereinafter to be compulsorily referred to as And Leicester, in honour of the song we amended in the early seventies. Quite why things got so lively at And Leicester, both when we played there and when venturing further north through the station, I\u2019m not entirely sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of a certain age, the actual destination upon arrival in Leicester was Filbert Street, rather than the King Power Stadium of today so I looked for an apt picture of the old ground.  As I was leafing through scrapbooks I got sidetracked by this photo of Martin Keown, the man our roving correspondent c100 spotted last week in the TV studio atop the lower stand at Villa Park.  Well, that\u2019s Keown in the photo remonstrating while Robbie Savage lies in an ignominious heap with grass-stained posterior pointing skyward (Lee Dixon offering moral support) in a nil-nil draw played at Filbert Street 22 years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Earlier in the season it looked like Leicester might not even be a Premier League away day destination next year seeing as they were mired in the relegation spaces.  After eight matches played they were dead last in the table, and did not win their first league game until October 3rd, but three wins each in October and November saw them rise to mid-table relative comfort.  Recently, the former denizens of Filbert Street haven\u2019t been doing too badly either, as relatively struggling teams that are about to play the Arsenal tend to improve suddenly for some reason.  In the last month the Foxes have not only won more often than not, they racked up the goals for fun in their 2-4 win at Villa on February 4th and in their hilarious 4-1 demolition of Tottenham Shitespur the following week, before last Sunday\u2019s 3-0 defeat Old Trafford left them 14th in the table but only five points out of the relegation places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I turned on Leicester\u2019s game against the Red Mancs in the 65th minute, only to find that the match was effectively over as a contest, with the score 3-0 and the atmosphere languid.  In the next 35 minutes no Leicester player impressed unduly and the match ended without further scoring.  The commentators said Leicester played well in the first half and could have gone ahead if not for two excellent saves, but no doubt they are saving their luck for this week\u2019s game, and the Gunners had best beware not to be ambushed again as they were at Everton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal XI and All That Dough<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking a punt that Lonestar may have been on to something last week when he wrote in this space that Vieira would start at Villa, I\u2019m going out on a limb to predict that the man from Feira will start against the Foxes.  Xhaka must need a rest eventually, after all.  It is a bit easier to see the Portuguese starting after his assist on Gaby\u2019s game-clincher at Villa, and in the light of his interview on the Arsenal official website, \u201cVieira on improving and adapting to life in London\u201d \u2014 featured during the week.  But speaking of Feira as I was, Vieira\u2019s home town has celebrated the foga\u00e7eiras<\/em> since the Middle Ages when people offered the foga\u00e7a<\/em>, a sweet roll, to their patron saint to rid the region of the plague.  If Vieira scores the winning goal at Leicester, here\u2019s what we\u2019ll all be baking on Saturday night:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Other than the insertion of Vieira, the team that started at Villa should be the same one we see this week, with Xhaka still available if we need to tweak our personnel at any point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

White \u2014 Saliba \u2014 Gabriel \u2014 Zinchenko <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d8degaard \u2014 Jorginho \u2014 Vieira<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka \u2014 Nketiah \u2014 Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018holics pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal to win is only available at oddschecker at 3\/4 odds so if you want a challenge you might look at Martinelli to score first, which is available at 17\/2.  Odd(s)ly, the odds for either Trossard or Smith Rowe (!) to score first are slightly lower, with both of them listed at 8\/1.  I didn\u2019t check the odds but a punt on Vieira to score first should also earn you some kneaded dough.  Curiously enough, each of Trossard, Smith Rowe and Vieira features in his own solo picture among this week\u2019s 19 training photos on the official club website, so make of that what you will.  Disclaimer: Apologies if I misinterpreted the odds above, but I have hardly ever looked at those websites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Arsenal to win sounds reasonable enough given a decent performance by our players and also by the men in the odd-colored shirts: Craig Pawson (referee) and Michael Salisbury (VAR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game, \u2018holics, and those who will be making the trek to \u2018And Leicester\u2019 please be sure that we can hear your voices across the pond!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday afternoon the Gunners trek to the East Midlands city of \u2018And Leicester\u2019 in search of the grail of high-calibre consistency.  As a wise old soul once said, you can\u2019t win the title unless you pound the lower league clubs like Leicester into submission.  Another test of this famous maxim stares us in the face.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"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\/7474"}],"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=7474"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7491,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7474\/revisions\/7491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}