{"id":8619,"date":"2023-10-27T14:16:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T13:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8619"},"modified":"2023-10-28T20:56:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T19:56:37","slug":"back-to-league-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8619","title":{"rendered":"Back to league action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"M8oF_4fAQxZfeBmzAvWbrA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1201049\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'M8oF_4fAQxZfeBmzAvWbrA',sig:'DFX5dafjrz8EHWcyqGA09Bd0F2tb7Cw_UBUw2uy3eik=',w:'418px',h:'594px',items:'1201049',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Following a successful trip to Sevilla, we return to league action on Saturday, playing hosts to Sheffield United. Although the records at 11v11.com show this will the 118th match between the two clubs, it might be argued that it is the 119th, but the FA Cup fith round game in the image above, on 13th February 1999 has been expunged from the record. Why was that, I hear our younger readers ask? Draw near, gentle readers, and I shall relate the tale at mercifully short length.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 76th minute of the non-game, with the score at 1-1, Sheffield United&#8217;s Lee Morris went down injured and their keeper booted the ball off to allow the trainer to come on. Play restarted with a throw-in and Ray Parlour attempted to give the ball back to the Blades only for Nwankwo Kanu, making his debut after signing from Internazionale and unaware of the prevailing etiquette in the Premier League at the time, to intercept the ball and pass it to Marc Overmars, who scored. Cue pandemonium. Hard as it might be to believe, the referee refused to disallow an Arsenal goal and the match ended 2-1. Arsene Wenger offered to replay the game and the FA, no doubt relieved that someone, anyone, was prepared to attempt to restore some sporting integrity to their flagship competition, accepted the offer. The replay followed 10 days later with Arsenal again running out 2-1 winners. I am indebted to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/1999\/feb\/14\/deniscampbell.theobserver\">Guardian<\/a>&#8216;s contemporary report of the game. Those with access might care to read Amy Lawrence&#8217;s account of the incident on <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/4612439\/2023\/07\/07\/unsporting-goal-arsenal-sheffield-united-did-that-really-happen\/\">The Athletic site<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sheffield United have a reasonably successful history. Invited to join the new Second Division of the Football League in 1892, they went on to finish top of the division thus becoming the first team ever to be promoted. Five years later, they topped the First Division. They remained in the First Division until the 1933-34 season, never matching their 1897-98 success but as a fairly solid middle to upper-middle of the table team who picked up four FA Cups. After five seasons in the Second Division, they finished second earning a promotion that had to be deferred for seven years owing to the suspension of football during the Second World War. There followed 30 years of see-sawing between first and second tiers of the football pyramid until five disasterous seasons that saw them relegated first to the Third and then, for one season only to the Fourth Division. After a couple of years in the Third Division, they won promotion to the Second only to be relegated again at the end of the 1987-88 season. back-to-back promotions saw the Blades return to the First Division for a couple of years before it was rebranded as the Premier League. Since then, they have yo-yoed between the top three tiers of English Football, with three years in the top tier, twenty in the second and six in the third. When they won League One in 2016-17 they became one of only five clubs to have been champions of each of the top four tiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our record against the Blades provides grounds for optimism<\/p>\n\n\n\n<table>\n  <thead>\n    <tr>\n      <th>Competition<\/th>\n      <th>Won<\/th>\n      <th>Drawn<\/th>\n      <th>Lost<\/th>\n    <\/tr>\n  <\/thead>\n  <tbody>\n    <tr>\n      <td>League Division 1<\/td>\n      <td>36<\/td>\n      <td>19<\/td>\n      <td>33<\/td>\n    <\/tr>\n    <tr>\n      <td>FA Cup<\/td>\n      <td>7<\/td>\n      <td>3<\/td>\n      <td>7<\/td>\n    <\/tr>\n    <tr>\n      <td>League Cup<\/td>\n      <td>4<\/td>\n      <td>1<\/td>\n      <td>3<\/td>\n    <\/tr>\n    <tr>\n      <td>Premier League<\/td>\n      <td>4<\/td>\n      <td>4<\/td>\n      <td>2<\/td>\n    <\/tr>\n  <\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n<p>although our mediocre Premier League record should give pause for thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;What is the strongest city in the world of football?&#8221; runs the old joke. &#8220;Sheffield,&#8221; comes the answer, &#8220;because it can prop up two tables at the same time&#8221;. Indeed our opponents are not enjoying the greatest results this season and currently stand bottom of the table with a single point to their name; their average of a little less than one goal scored and three conceded per match gives them a goal difference of -17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Talk on the forums I found veered between dispirited and downright dejected, with Blades fans seeming to recognise their team is playing poorly at presnt and spending their time in the traditional search for a scapegoat. Sadly I was unable to penetrate the fog of nicknames to identify any particular targets. Suffice it to say that Arsenal should have enough talent available to deal with whatever team Sheffield United put out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two competing schools of thought over Arsenal&#8217;s team. Many will argue vociferously that you shouldn&#8217;t change a winning team without good reason while others will say equally loudly that playing a team currently adrift at the bottom of the Premier League offers the ideal opportunity to rotate the squad and allow some of the fringe players some game time. Take the goalkeeper, for instance &#8211; should we play Raya in this game to give him the chance to rebuild his confidence after a couple of dubious performances, or is it time to reintegrate Ramsdale into the first team and allow the essential understanding among the defence to re-establish itself in a game where there may be less, rather than more, pressure? I am delighted that Mikel Arteta is the man who is paid to resolve this type of conundrum as I&#8217;m confident that his decision will be made on a better basis than mine would be. I anticipate his starting XI will be<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">White-Gabriel-Saliba-Tomiyasu<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Zinchenko-Rice-Odegaard<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Martinelli-Nketiah-Saka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If he&#8217;s feeling frisky, Arteta might start one or two from Kiwior, Nelson, Vieira, Smith Rowe or Trossard but I would expect to see them on the substitutes bench, coming on after around 60 minutes, or hopefully a little earlier in the second half if we have the match nicely wrapped up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Holics&#8217; Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am not a big betting fan. Maybe this is why I am so surprised to find odds of 1\/7 on the winner of a two-horse race. Clearly a flutter on a win for Arsenal is not for you if you are looking to make your fortune. Specific results seem to offer better hopes of a decent return with 10\/1 on offer for our old favourite 1-0 or 11\/1 for 2-1. For those of a more optimistic turn of mind, 25\/1 is available for 6-0 or 5-1, while pessimists might consider 19\/2 against a draw of whatever score. Surely only the real doom mongers among us will be drawn to the impressive 22\/1 against a Sheffield United win?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there you have it. I hope those going to the match have an experience to  savour that lives long in the memory &#8211; I wish I were going with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COYG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Following a successful trip to Sevilla, we return to league action on Saturday, playing hosts to Sheffield United. Although the records at 11v11.com show this will the 118th match between the two clubs, it might be argued that it is the 119th, but the FA Cup fith round game in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"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\/8619"}],"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\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8619"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8631,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8619\/revisions\/8631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}