{"id":944,"date":"2020-06-19T17:20:16","date_gmt":"2020-06-19T16:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=944"},"modified":"2020-06-20T19:26:33","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T18:26:33","slug":"gunners-must-turn-tide-in-brighton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=944","title":{"rendered":"Gunners must turn tide in Brighton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The matches come thick and fast in Project Restart and though the\nink has barely settled on a miserable trip to the Emptihad we are back on the\nroad again, perhaps halfway down the line by now. The weekend sees us journey\nfrom London down to Brighton for a game that offers the opportunity to rebuild\nconfidence after a match in which, according to Mikel Arteta, \u201ceverything went\nwrong from the first minute\u2026\u2026 every possible accident that could have happened\ndid\u201d.  Hard to argue with that and I\nwon\u2019t, onwards we go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our recent record against Brighton is not particularly\nencouraging, one win in five and that back in 2017, with the nadir our home\ndefeat in December during King Freddie\u2019s short-lived reign. Although it is not\na game I wish to remember, duty calls and so I will remind you that we started\nslowly, were dominated at home by Brighton in the first half (yes, that\u2019s\nright, thine eyes do not deceive, the ignominy of it all still galls six months\nlater) and although we improved after the break with the introduction of Pepe\nmore sloppy defending gave Brighton an 80th<\/sup> minute winner. The boos\nrang out and though they certainly won\u2019t this weekend we will need to be much\nsharper mentally and physically this time. Graham Potter, Brighton\u2019s current\nmanager, played three centre-backs that day and we duly conceded to one of them\nat a corner. I see no reason he will not try to repeat a winning formula and it\nis to be hoped we will be aware of the danger. The Seagulls squawked noisily in\ntheir opposition to neutral venues before this oddest of seasons resumed as\nthey believe rightly or wrongly that home advantage will be significant in\ntheir battle against relegation \u2013 they are currently two points off the bottom\nthree. Well, at home they are and we will see on Saturday whether they were\nright. I believe the first 15 or 20 minutes will be crucial as they so often\nare after a bad game. Concede early and our fragile confidence will again come\ninto play. We must be made of sterner stuff this time, rock like in defence, a\ncertain rapacity in attack and a morale boosting three points should accompany\nus home from the sea.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who will play?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So who are the men we entrust with the task of sticking it to Brighton? Though I cannot pretend to know the thoughts in Mikel\u2019s mind as he balances the needs of an immediate win against the demands of a busy schedule my guess is that he will stick with most of the starting line-up from the last game. Some changes however are enforced. Mari is lucklessly out for the rest of the season already, Luiz is banned and Xhaka unlikely to be available. Of those not involved on Wednesday it\u2019s extremely doubtful Torreira, Soares or Papa will suddenly be deemed fit enough but needs must in Rob Holding\u2019s case and with he and Mustafi our only available actual CBs I expect that to be our default pairing. Rob has not had many opportunities of late but he is by all accounts a nice lad (just ask scruzgooner if you don\u2019t believe me) and I very much hope he takes what may realistically be a last chance for him with Mari to sign and Saliba to arrive soon. See, there is a place for sentiment in football!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In central midfield too, options are limited and I expect Guen and\nDani to be our starting pair unless Mikel has a surprise rabbit in the shape of\nJoe W to drop back or AMN to provide a more defensive centre. In attack Mikel\nhas again spoken very positively on Eddie this week, which in all likelihood\nmeans no place for Laca. The wide players are I think anyone\u2019s guess \u2013 mine you\nsee below but it could easily be Saka, Martinelli or Pepe starting in place of\nNelson or even Auba based on his body language on Wednesday. On Ozil I won\u2019t\ncomment for tactical reasons (that is code for I have no clue what is going on).\nOur early season dream front four of Ozil, Pepe, Auba and Laca feels a long\ntime ago now with all available and only one likely to start. Regardless, reading\nbetween the lines on Ozil\u2019s probable absence it should mean another opportunity\nfor Joe Willock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The side then\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hector – Mus – Rob – Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guen – Dani<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nelson – Joe W – Auba<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eddie<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is an XI with great potential but also an XI that, it must be\nfaced, may give away goals and lack the know-how to battle out a bits and\npieces type win. It is a learning process for several of them and in an\nunforgiving league we must support them with opportunities and I am glad that\nMikel has the balls to do so. It would be great to see the youngsters get a run\nand put together two or three well-worked goals but after Wednesday any old win\nwill do to get us moving again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

And what of Brighton? With the quick turnover in games I must\nconfess I have not looked at them in any great detail. I do know they had yet\nto win in 2020 before the break, a run of 9 league games. They struggle to\nscore but have a good defensive record. Sadly, that is a profile we have not\nexcelled against this season. They have a full squad to choose from and will no\ndoubt scrap hard etc etc. I do also know we are better than them and I of\ncourse say that with the greatest respect for their little club.  Three points are up for grabs and it is never\ngood to let seagulls get the fishy on the little dishy (with apologies to Alex\nGlasgow). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

As an inveterate gambler from an early age I will happily\nrecommend a punt. The bookies make The Arsenal only slight favourites to win\nthis one outright and a 1-1 draw is the most fancied result at 6\/1. Not\nsurprising as Brighton with 11 draws this season and a goal a game ratio are\nonly a couple short of our own 13 drawn games. That being said, I am not in the\nbusiness of betting against an Arsenal win and I believe good value lies in the\n20\/1 available for 3-1 win. We are good enough and the youngsters brave enough\nto see us home. I also expect to see Auba back on the scoresheet but the odds\nare not attractive at this particular moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick tidy up of some other news sees David Luiz\u2019s agent kindly reminding us that 23rd<\/sup> June is the day for contracts to be sorted by and we will know by then whether his client is staying. Arteta has been positive in saying that he will not judge Luiz solely on one game \u2013 a courtesy several of the players on Wednesday must hope he will extend to them too \u2013 and that he would like Luiz to stay. I would not put my own pound on Luiz staying but we shall see shortly and I assume also get updates on the situation with Dani, Mari and Soares too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, it only remains for me to wish a happy and safe trip to the comfort of their sofa, armchair or other preferred item of furniture for all the bonny Gooners everywhere <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The matches come thick and fast in Project Restart and though the ink has barely settled on a miserable trip to the Emptihad we are back on the road again, perhaps halfway down the line by now. The weekend sees us journey from London down to Brighton for a game that offers the opportunity to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"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\/944"}],"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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=944"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":949,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions\/949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}