{"id":8816,"date":"2023-11-24T10:41:14","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T10:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8816"},"modified":"2023-11-26T10:02:08","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T10:02:08","slug":"time-to-get-down-to-buzzness-in-west-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8816","title":{"rendered":"Time to Get Down to Buzzness in West London"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We now enter every football fan\u2019s favourite time of year, where there are no inconvenient international breaks, with all your star players returning from far flung lands with torn hamstrings or half a leg missing and all the games coming thick and fast. Saturday marks the first of ten games in 37 days for Arsenal. By the time 2023 rolls over to make way for 2024 we will be over halfway through the league campaign and, bar a catastrophe, into the knockout stages of the Champions League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First up is Brentford who Arsenal have already beaten this season in the League Cup. They remain Ivan Toney-less although they are not without ammunition; Bryan Mbeumo has taken over the mantle in the absence of Brentford\u2019s star man. The Cameroonian has six goals this season for the Bees and caused the Arsenal defence some problems in the League cup earlier this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brentford are currently enjoying what is arguably the most fruitful period of their history. Finally promoted back to the topflight in 2021 after more than seven decades away, they were widely expected to be battling the drop but finished in a very respectable 13th<\/sup> place. You will all remember that the Bees maiden Premier League victory came against Arsenal on the opening night of that season as goals in each half from Sergi Canos and Christian Norgaard earned Brentford a famous victory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were able to build on this in 2022\/23 with a ninth-place finish, just two points off a European place. Quite an achievement for a club of their size. It is always great to see smaller clubs establish themselves with the big boys after going about their business in a financially compliant manner rather than via winning the football lottery. Last season was also a memorable one for Brentford fans as they remarkably ended the campaign as West London\u2019s top dogs finishing above Fulham and, hilariously, Chelsea. In fact, since Brentford\u2019s promotion they have won at Stamford Bridge in every season, by an aggregate scoreline of 8-1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, towards the end of the season Brentford were dealt a major blow when their talisman, Ivan Toney, was awarded a nine month ban for dozens of gambling breaches. He remains in the shadows until January so when he does play again it may well be for a different club. Arsenal and Chelsea are the two rumoured destinations, but they are just rumours, so we\u2019ll wait and see. There have also been rumours he\u2019ll sign a new deal, which Brentford fans will hope to be the case. The England striker scored 20 goals in 33 appearances last season so he is clearly capable of leading the line for a top club although there would be questions regarding his physical and mental state after not playing for so long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of team selection, we will certainly see at least one enforced change from the win over Burnley as David Raya will be ineligible to face his parent club. This means it is almost certain we will see a return between the sticks for Aaron Ramsdale for 90 minutes at least. According to Fabrizio Romano, Arsenal have opted to make the signing of Raya permanent and that will be activated in June 2024 at which point Brentford will receive a reported fee of \u00a327 million following on from the \u00a33 million loan fee we paid in the summer. But we\u2019ve all heard about the famous Arsenal goalkeeping conundrum from thousands of pundits and ex-players and just about anyone Sky Sports have been able to find so I will not bore you with it once more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the defence there have been murmurs Ben White is nursing an injury which kept him out of the Burnley game so Tomiyasu may retain his position at right back. Thomas Partey is injured until the end of time itself, so I suspect Havertz will start in midfield again. As much as this signing makes no sense to any of us, I have seen slight improvements in the German\u2019s game in recent weeks. And by that, I mean he has looked 1% more like a footballer and not as though Arteta and Edu were out in Magaluf the night before a game and pulled out anyone who looked like they could still walk and asked them if they fancied a game. I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll come good!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should see the return of Martin Odegaard who has missed the last couple of games with concussion which he reportedly suffered in training. A ball to the back of the head perhaps? My money is on Cedric. Up front I\u2019d expect it will be Saka and Martinelli down the wings with Trossard through the middle over the fit again Gabriel Jes\u00fas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am expecting a tough physical game but one which we will win. 2-0 according to my sources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

COYG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We now enter every football fan\u2019s favourite time of year, where there are no inconvenient international breaks, with all your star players returning from far flung lands with torn hamstrings or half a leg missing and all the games coming thick and fast. Saturday marks the first of ten games in 37 days for Arsenal. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"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\/8816"}],"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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8816"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8820,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8816\/revisions\/8820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}