{"id":8717,"date":"2023-11-07T21:26:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T21:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8717"},"modified":"2023-11-09T01:12:38","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T01:12:38","slug":"ripen-pick-extract-and-savour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8717","title":{"rendered":"Ripen, Pick, Extract, and Savour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lest you get the idea that the title refers to the tactics of the Spanish Inquisition, I must nip that notion in the bud immediately [nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! — eds.]. That is to say, early-harvest extra virgin olive oil is made this time of year from Andalusian olives that are harvested as they darken from green to purple, so seeing as the harvest time is now I thought it fitting to observe the stages of the ripening olive, and imagine the purple one as an Arsenal win.  Needless to say, we don\u2019t want a green one in Wednesday\u2019s home Champions League game against Sevilla but a half purple olive would keep us near the top of Group B after our excellent win in Seville that was powered by the brilliance of Gabriel Martinelli and the injured Gabriel Jesus.  But for the Gunners to get a decent draw in the knockout round they must top the group, making three points a near imperative.  With six points Arsenal lead Lens by a single point with the French side facing PSV away in the evening\u2019s other game.  Sevilla and PSV are level on two points but the Dutchmen have an inferior goal difference, the result of their 0-4 loss in North London in Arsenal\u2019s only home match to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The astute reader will have noticed more than three olives pictured above, and as we saw on Saturday at Newcastle every game has more possible outcomes than simply win, lose or draw.  In a match that should have ended 0-0 the referees awarded Newcastle a goal that never should have stood as Gabriel was shoved in the back when in position to clear, and Arsenal\u2019s brilliantly resolute defensive performance went for nought.  Difficult as it must be to recover psychologically from such an injustice in a few days\u2019 time, Arsenal must take the positives from that game and quickly refocus on a very different competition and opponent.  The confidence gained from knowing that Newcastle would not have won without the referee\u2019s intervention should count for something, a little like the olive with just a hint of purple on the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Having won just two of their opening eight games in La Liga, and drawn their first two group stage matches, Sevilla sacked Jose Luis Mendilibar a month ago after just seven months on the job during which he presided over their seventh Europa League title win.  Sevilla dismissed the old olive picker with the club placed 14th in La Liga, and replaced him with Uruguayan Diego Alonso, but after drawing his first three league games in charge they are currently down in 15th spot so it appears the Andalusians are still awaiting their new manager bounce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before his first game in charge Alonso had to decide whether to build his team around legendary defender Sergio Ramos, who had been in and out of the team under the previous boss.  The 37 year old Ramos returned to Sevilla, his boyhood club, after winning five league titles and four European Cups with Real Madrid.  Ramos featured in Sevilla\u2019s team against Madrid, against Arsenal at home, and at Cadiz on October 28 when Sevilla fought back to draw 2-2 after conceding twice as the team errantly tried to play out from the back.  During the week Sevilla did some hard traveling for a Copa del Rey win at minnows Quintanar in the eastern province of Cuenca, and for Saturday\u2019s league match at Galician side Celta where they scored late to draw 1-1 after their relegation candidate hosts had a player sent off.  Ramos was rested for both of those games so it is likely he will be in the team against Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first group stage match between these clubs, played two weeks ago at a rainy Estadio Sanchez-Pizjuan (see Countryman100\u2019s excellent match report, \u201cOutstanding Jesus Ensures Big Arsenal Win in Spain<\/a>\u201c), Martinelli and Jesus each scored a spectacular goal as Arsenal took a big 2-1 away win.  Jesus\u2019 assist for Martinelli\u2019s goal, scored just before halftime, was a thing of beauty.  Ten minutes after halftime Jesus doubled the lead, unleashing a ferocious drive into the top corner. Unfortunately, Jesus came off late in the second half with an injured hamstring and is not expected to be available for some time.  Sevilla halved the deficit a few minutes later but Arsenal held firm to see out the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

I expect Mikel Arteta will pick his perceived strongest team for this all-important game, and based on his selection patterns and the players he has available I expect it to look something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya
White — Saliba — Gabriel — Zinchenko
Havertz — \u00d8degaard — Rice
Saka — Nketiah — Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only changes I might make would be to bring in Ramsdale for Raya, and Tomiyasu for Zinchenko but Arteta is certainly not likely to drop the Spanish goalie now if he hasn\u2019t dropped him already so I\u2019m hoping for big performances from Raya and also from Havertz, who seemed to bring a modicum of mojo to his game at St. James\u2019 Park a few days ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018Holics Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By all means cheer on the Arsenal loudly and proudly as the occasion must demand. If my prediction of a 1-0 home win (with Eddie Nketiah doing the goal scoring honors) comes through for you, don\u2019t forget the olive in your post-match victory Martini, unless of course a Negroni is the featured item on your celebratory cocktail menu. I\u2019ll be lifting a sparkling water myself, but much as eggs must be hatched, we mustn\u2019t savour our drinks until they are shaken or stirred, as the case may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Lest you get the idea that the title refers to the tactics of the Spanish Inquisition, I must nip that notion in the bud immediately [nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! — eds.]. That is to say, early-harvest extra virgin olive oil is made this time of year from Andalusian olives that are harvested as they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8717"}],"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=8717"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8734,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8717\/revisions\/8734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}