{"id":7515,"date":"2023-03-03T18:59:20","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T18:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7515"},"modified":"2023-03-05T12:13:50","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T12:13:50","slug":"a-perfect-day-for-bananaskin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7515","title":{"rendered":"A Perfect Day for Bananaskin?"},"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\/1242615221\" 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:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1242615221?et=eAAIQjXKRnJPbv3JOgYySQ&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=ezwWFuglPML1duTWOYI7w9V2bUfQrjXLYn06tnqdq08=&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=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>After a rousing midweek home defeat of Everton (4-0, in case you&#8217;ve <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/uJNrK_JdzJ0?t=1\">forgotten<\/a>), on Saturday the Cherries of AFC Bournemouth visit the Grove for another 3 pm (London time) kickoff.  Bournemouth come to play in the throes of a relegation-centric campaign, under new ownership, and with 3rd-highest odds of 9\/1 that coach Gary O&#8217;Neil will be the next Premier League manager to sit on the tin tack.  Two draws and a win from their last 5 are an improvement only considering the rest of their 11 games since the World Cup are losses.  As I have feared too often this season, we have a banana skin of a game on our hands.  Of course, if we weren&#8217;t top of the league (did you know?) we&#8217;d play fewer teams that could prat our fall, as it were, so there&#8217;s that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bournemouth&#8217;s battle to stay up is in high gear, with only 3 points keeping them off the bottom of the table.  Yet in the absence of other results a win at the Grove would drive them above West Ham into 16th place.  They have been hit by injuries to some of their key players, including Cook and Tavernier, neither expected to start, if indeed to see the bench on Saturday.  O&#8217;Neil has played a variety of teams and lineups in hopes of finding something that works; 5 at the back against City last Saturday decidedly did not.  Expect to see Neto in goal, record-signing Lerma in midfield alongside Biling, Quattara, and Traore in support of Solanke up front.  Smith, Stephens, Senesi, and Zemura will defend, with Mepham as first substitute or a fifth defender depending on how they line up.  Their desire to win will be strong, and Arsenal will have to keep attention and focus high to avoid slipping up.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for Arsenal, there are more than nine stories to tell about their season so far, and one of them is the emergence of William Saliba as our Rolls Royce-esque defender par excellence.  When we played Bournemouth on the South Coast in August his defensive nous continued to blossom in full view of a worried home crowd, and he scored what will likely be his <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/sKd9H9Np_N0?t=1\">goal of the season<\/a> from the edge of the box.  If supporters&#8217; use of the &#8220;Tequila&#8221;-based chant had been occasional and somewhat faltering before the goal, after such sublimity they sounded off in a swell of away support that has continued at every game since.  His strong partnership with Gabriel in the center of defense should enable us to resist the low-scoring Cherries&#8217; attempts on goal; that Bournemouth are one of four teams under 20 goals so far this season will make that an easier task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We return to the Grove with only one notable injury concern from the Everton game, and that&#8217;s Eddie&#8217;s knock picked up from an assault by the balance-challeged Onana in the final minutes of Eddie&#8217;s superb substitute appearance.  He is expected to face a late fitness test, and if he appears at all it will be from the bench behind Trossard.  Jorghino, removed from the Everton game at the half due to illness, is reported to be back to 100%; he will likely start from the bench as well, given Partey&#8217;s return to full fitness.  It is possible Arteta will change some things around, but I expect he will want the starting 11 to retain a razor&#8217;s edge sharpness regardless of the quality of our opponent.  So we should line up as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Ramsdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">White &#8212; Saliba &#8212; Gabriel &#8212; Zinchenko<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Partey &#8212; M\u00f8 &#8212; Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Saka &#8212; Trossard &#8212; Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Expect changes earlier than usual to give bench players time to play if Arsenal score early, and hopefully often.  Bournemouth&#8217;s goals against are the highest in the division, averaging two per game against less than one per game they score.  Remember, this is the team that shipped 16 goals in three games earlier this season, leading to ex-manager Scott &#8220;the Vest&#8221; Parker&#8217;s sacking after his fourth game.  Let&#8217;s hope their defense has returned to that sort of form, and given evidence from their last loss seeing us win 3- or 4-0 would not be a surprise.  But again, it&#8217;s a perfect day&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Holic&#8217;s Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you fancy a punt on the game anything less than an Arsenal 4-0 win will get you less than 10s, but Arsenal 4-1 Bournemouth will nearly double that at 18\/1.  Arsenal 5-0 gets you 21\/1, but add a Bournemouth goal and 5-1 lands on 35\/1.  Xhaka or Jorginho are on for first goalscorer at 18\/1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those of you going, enjoy the game and the cool, cloudy London afternoon, hopefully fortified by a fine pre-game lunch at the pub or restaurant of choice (calling Don Carlo&#8230;).  Even though &#8220;it&#8217;s only Bournemouth&#8221; bring your voices and roar our lads on as you&#8217;ve done all year, every game, let&#8217;s keep the Grove a fortress visiting teams fear to visit.  Let&#8217;s continue with our &#8220;gorgeous arrogance&#8221; (courtesy Peter Drury) and bring home another win, Gunners!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images After a rousing midweek home defeat of Everton (4-0, in case you&#8217;ve forgotten), on Saturday the Cherries of AFC Bournemouth visit the Grove for another 3 pm (London time) kickoff. Bournemouth come to play in the throes of a relegation-centric campaign, under new ownership, and with 3rd-highest odds of 9\/1 that [&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\/7515"}],"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=7515"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7528,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7515\/revisions\/7528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}