Morning.
Arsenal are in Premier League motion this night, away to Brentford. The lead on the prime has been minimize to only 3 factors after Man Metropolis’s fully predictable win over Fulham final evening, however I don’t suppose Mikel Arteta and his gamers would have been anticipating something much less.
With an FA Cup tie towards Wigan on Sunday, I don’t suppose that is the sport the place we’ll see too many adjustments. Maybe there’s a call at left-back between Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie, however I feel the Italian will get the nod. There’s additionally a midfield option to make with regards who performs with Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice. The supervisor was coy on the supply of Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka, however with Kai Havertz set for a spell on the sidelines (extra on that anon), it’d be very helpful if we had the captain again.
Whether or not he’s prepared to begin what’s going to be an intense away sport within the Premier League is one other matter, however there’s Eberechi Eze at our disposal, and the very fact he hasn’t been out of motion for just a few weeks makes him the plain selection. It’s been fairly attention-grabbing to see the Rice/Zubimendi partnership develop over the course of the season, and whereas it’s not fairly a double-pivot in the way in which it will usually be deployed, their stability ought to provide Eze an opportunity to play extra as roaming 10, which I feel fits his sport higher.
On the wings the presence of Leandro Trossard can be very helpful, however he went off in direction of the tip of the Sunderland sport. Once more, we’re ready to see how severe that’s, but when not you’d assume it’d be Gabriel Martinelli on the left, and Noni Madueke on the opposite facet. Then the striker selection between Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus turns into fairly attention-grabbing. The previous scored twice in our final sport, however hasn’t actually clicked in a trio with these two exterior him; the latter was poor towards Sunderland, however brings a technical degree that is perhaps extra aligned with the 2 wingers.
My intestine feeling is that it’ll be Gyokeres, however when you’ve got somebody like Eze taking part in nearer to him then you definitely offset a few of that. And if, for instance, Odegaard is again and given the nod, he has to play greater up the pitch than we’ve usually seen from him this season. No matter your view of his type of late, there’s no argument that he’s far more practical in superior areas so let’s see what occurs there.
Brentford, as we all know, are an actual risk, and are having fun with a implausible season. There’s been numerous chat about Thomas Frank and the job he did at Sp*rs within the wake of his (predicted!) sacking yesterday, however no matter his failings there, there’s no query in regards to the high quality of the work he did at Brentford. Generally evaluation of a supervisor turns into too binary, however maybe what occurred him and what’s taking place with Keith Andrews tells an even bigger story.
{That a} supervisor who works at a well-run membership will discover it troublesome to do his greatest at a membership that may be a perpetual shambles, and that the well-run membership can extra simply determine and rent a alternative who can stick with it the nice work of the earlier man. The setting is so necessary, Andrews has performed a implausible job, however – taking nothing away from him – it helps that he’s at a membership that’s steady and good; whereas Thomas Frank went into one the place the choice making has been, for years and years, a way under sub-standard. The record of males who got here earlier than him tells you that story very clearly.
So, count on this one to be powerful, bodily, and exhausting work. Brentford have the second highest scoring striker within the Premier League this season, they play quick, transition soccer, and we’re going to need to be switched on to take all three factors from this one. Mikel Arteta says:
It’s one other powerful sport. We all know Brentford at residence as effectively, the previous few outcomes they’ve had, the teaching workers have been superb. So, credit score to them, as a result of they’re a prime facet.
Arsenal’s job is sort of easy, simply win video games. That’s simpler stated that performed, after all, however as a lot as Arteta performed down the 9 level lead on the weekend, he gained’t permit his gamers to concentrate on the three factors it’s now. The duty stays the identical, exit and get three factors. It doesn’t actually matter how, it’s the end result that issues, however after a strong win on the weekend, it’d be helpful to tick one other troublesome away sport off the record, and put the ball again in Metropolis’s courtroom. Fingers crossed.
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Simply to the touch on the Havertz information which broke final evening, it seems as if he’s going to overlook a few month with a muscular downside. That’s an actual blow, clearly, as a result of he’s been so constructive since he returned. Hopefully it’s one he can come again faster from, however we’re going to have deal with out him for the time-being.
However as a lot as it’s a blow, that’s been the fact of most of our season anyway. He didn’t make his comeback on the pitch till January, and whereas I don’t have the time this morning to rely what number of video games precisely he missed, however it was tons. And we did fairly effectively. So, whereas I’m as gutted as all of you, and I do fear that accidents is perhaps our largest obstacle to success this season, I feel now we have to lean into the information that we are able to do it with out him, and when he’s again once more it’s a well timed increase.
Arteta can’t permit the gamers to lean right into a ‘woe is us’ mindset when one other participant is absent. It makes life tougher, however it doesn’t change what we have to do. I additionally suppose there are gamers like Eze, Odegaard and Saka who may give us extra consistency of efficiency and finish product, and onus now could be on them (and the remainder) to step up and offset Kai’s absence.
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Proper, let’s go away it there this morning. As ever, we’ll have reside weblog protection for you, all of the post-game stuff on Arseblog Information, and there’s a preview podcast on Patreon in case you want one thing to hearken to within the meantime.
For now, have an excellent one, and I’ll catch you later for the sport.
