MATCH DAY BLOG: TROSSARD, ZINCHENKO, AND JESUS REWARDED
Someone added me to a tweet about Unai Emery getting a good response from the Arsenal fans this afternoon. I have to be clear that any beef in this land is between me and Emery and it’s all one way. He should get a good response. I didn’t rate his tenure, but it’s not his fault he wasn’t fit for the job. His performance at Villa has been nothing short of miraculous because Villa is his level.
- Ambitious club searching for Europe
- Players that are looking for the next step
- Lots of control over who he signs
Arsenal needed more. He wasn’t that. It’s fine. Any manager following Wenger was going to have a tough time.
So how is Arteta going to approach today? My gut says he’s going to go all in and put out the strongest team. If there are any missing players, my suspicion is they’ll be knocks, versus any sort of rotation.
We need to beat Villa, they are very dangerous if they get ahead, we have already been smacked by them once this season.
If there’s any rotation coming, I reckon it’ll be next weekend at Wolves away.
I’m currently watching Liverpool and the hangover from Europa is very clear. No one ever talks about the disadvantage Europa football has on teams in the run-in. If this is how they play against Palace after a home game, imagine what they’re going to be like away at Fulham next week? People think Klopp is going to throw the Atalanta game, but I can’t see him limping out of a trophy in his last season. He can already see the Netflix episode in his head. He’s dreaming re-runs of overturning a 3 goal deficit against Barcelona.
It’s a longshot… but that’s what the golden goodbye is all about!
The dream for Arsenal is to get an early lead and exit the game with players leaving the pitch on 60 minutes. Premier League Gods won’t let that happen, but there’s no reason for us to be too fearful. Villa has a weak squad, they’ve been opened up all season with through balls, they played a tough game on Thursday night, and Arsenal is in great form.
We also have Arteta in the dugout which is a big advantage.
City dealt with Luton with ease yesterday, we have to get into the gear they are now powering up against. Pep Guardiola and his boys were always the target, not Liverpool. They time their seasons to perfection and they are close to looking like perfection now.
So are Arsenal. Today is a good chance to have a no-drama day and take the Premier League title down to the last six games.
Also worth noting that Spurs were dreadful against Newcastle. Lucky for them they have a 15 day break to get things right, but let’s be honest, no one likes heading into holiday after a walloping like that.
I wrote all of this an hour ago: This section is my quick reaction to the teamsheet.
- Raya
- White
- Saliba
- Gabriel
- Zinchenko
- Rice
- Odegaard
- Havertz
- Saka
- Jesus
- Trossard
Trossard gets a run out which feels very much deserved after his performance against Bayern. He’s probably one of our best finishers, he will get chances today, this could work really well for us.
The rest of the team is as expected. No hard rotations. No shocks. Just a big starting 11 that needs to get a win!
P.S. JW1 in the comments suggested I get a Substack ready for Monday so you can have a play around with it. I had strong recommendations from some writers I respect. You get email, an app, and easy to read articles. Think it could be a nice upgrade.