Match report (Gooners/ Chelsea & Liverpool) & preview of Burnley.
Match report (Gooners/ Chelsea & Liverpool) & preview of Burnley. I haven’t been around to do individual match reports lately because of certain circumstances (family/ hospital, etc.); however, I have…
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I haven’t been around to do individual match reports lately because of certain circumstances (family/ hospital, etc.); however, I have been attending all the games. But what would there have been to report anyway… great results!!!; We are ahead of Villa. We will be playing in the Champions League next season…, or has our fantastic playing style put the Gooners, Chelsea and the Bin Dippers in the shade? Sadly, no to all… all three matches are the same… we started off well… took a dip and allowed our opponents to score (and win). Yes, win… in the last fifteen or twenty minutes, we fought like a team possessed… but nothing more. In the case of the Gooners and the Bin Dippers, we scored goals, but not enough to reverse the score-line in our favour.
At all the three games, there were boos from the crowd/ abuse directed at the players and Ange. Shouts like (to Ange) “Show some passion…” “get your hands out of your pocket,” and “Go back to Australia, you Koala bear numpty,” and that were just the more respectable comments. As for the players, when they came over to our end (at away games), they received, “Fuck off,” “Show some passion, you overpaid Prima Donna’s”, etc. But most fans had left by then. God knows what will happen next season if things haven’t improved. But I hope for a good summer’s transfer window, removing some of the dead wood and strengthening our bench. In other words, we get the team Ange wants…
We are currently fifth in the table, with 60 points. Villa are fourth on 67 pts, and we still have to play City. We can kiss the fourth spot goodbye. Even if Villa lose all their games, I can’t see us catching them up.
Then there are Newcastle, Chelsea, and United, who are on our coattails; they could even overtake us. We could end up replicating last season’s position (8th). I say United, but they’ve just been hammered by Palace 4-0. If they are to achieve anything it will be a sacked manager.
A quick summary of our three defeats, starting with…
The Gooners…
Arsenic and Old Lace overcame the hurdle of a north London derby and an anxious finale to maintain momentum in the Premier League title race with a vital victory over us.
The Gooners’ meeting with their bitter rivals was considered the most dangerous of their remaining fixtures. They took ruthless advantage of our defensive flaws to establish a three-goal lead by half-time.
The Gooners, being the Gooners, were then thrown off course when a dreadful clearance by goalkeeper David Raya presented Cristian Romero with a goal after 64 minutes, the nerves really jangling when Son scored from the spot three minutes from the end of normal time after Declan Rice fouled Ben Davies, but that didn’t stop us from walking away with our heads dangling down.
Getting that out of the way… we visited Pochettino’s new home in West London/ Stamford Bridge…
Pochettino’s Chelsea beat us 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to keep them in the hunt for European football – and deal a massive blow to us of qualifying for the Champions League next season.
Their Trevoh Chalobah opened the scoring when the defender rose to meet a Conor Gallagher free-kick with a powerful header midway through the first half. Then, there was a lengthy video assistant referee check for a possible block by Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella on Brennan Johnson during the build-up, but the goal stayed.
We didn’t create many chances, but Cristian Romero had our best opportunity when he headed wide inside the six-yard box in the first half. Chelsea took control in the 71st minute when Cole Palmer’s free-kick from the edge of the area struck the bar, and Nicolas Jackson headed the rebound into an empty net.
That victory sent Chelsea into eighth place, just two points behind Newcastle in seventh and a possible European spot.
We, meanwhile, are seven points behind Aston Villa with a game in hand in our battle for fourth place.
Our defeat means Liverpool have now clinched Champions League football in 2024-25.
To be honest, none of these results were a surprise. Next up… a trip to Anfield.
Our dramatic decline continued as our hopes of reaching the Premier League’s top four faded even further after we were well beaten by Liverpool at Anfield.
Aston Villa’s defeat at Brighton left the door open for us to make a late push for next season’s Champions League. Still, even a late comeback could not prevent a fourth successive defeat as the Scousers found form again after their recent slump.
Mohamed Salah (or More Salad) scored with a far-post header from Cody Gakpo’s cross after 16 minutes. Andy Robertson added the second right on half-time. We lost discipline, and Vicario had to separate team-mates Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal as they went off at half-time, with matters not improving for Ange Postecoglou’s side as we were over-run by a rampant Bin Dipper team after the break.
Gakpo headed the third from Harvey Elliott’s delivery five minutes after the interval, the latter getting on the scoresheet himself in the 59th minute with a glorious curling finish from 20 yards into the top corner.
The scousers then inexplicably switched off to allow our substitute Richarlison and Son to give us unlikely hope. Still, it was too late, and we remain seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with a game in hand.
So, that is our fourth defeat in a row: the Magpies, Arsenic, Pochettino’s team and the Bin Dippers. All courtesy of crazy weak playing. Not enough passion… well, not enough passion until the game is nearly all over and then the normal awakening and Hey Presto… we still lose, but with some found gumption trickling through our veins.
So, what about our next game (H)?
Burnley… (match preview)
I expect us to continue where we left off from our previous games… a good or reasonable start… then we concede one goal (or more, maybe) – never mind that they are in the relegation zone – but with fifteen minutes left, we start to show that magical, but sometimes elusive gumption and either equalise or, yes, maybe get that winning goal.
TEAM NEWS
Spurs…
Timo Werner, Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies have been ruled out for the remainder of the season. Ange Postecoglou should have no fresh injury concerns heading into the weekend.
Burnley…
Vincent Kompany’s side have several season-ending injuries but should have no fresh injury concerns. Luca Koleosho may return from a knee issue.
Possible team line up… probably the same as the Liverpool game… or maybe not. Depending on who Ange is punishing for the previous bad results…
Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Emerson Royal, Bissouma, Lo Celso, Richarlison, Maddison, Son, Johnson
My Prediction…
I have to go for a win… 3-2; simultaneously, I wouldn’t be surprised if they get a draw out of us or even nick it. They will probably fight with more guts than us, anyway, at least in parts of the match.
As for the other games: I can’t see us beating City, so I will probably go for a 4-1 City win… as for Sheffield United… they may be relegated, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t got any tricks up their sleeves… after all, they are against us… which should spur (no pun intended) them on.
Would you call this a transitional season, or is Ange out of his depth, as some fans have been saying? And what about Levy? For the Liverpool game, the placards were out, “Levy and Lewis out” etc. If we don’t improve next season, there will be more of that… working with Levy can’t be easy… I can’t see Ange throwing in the towel unless Levy doesn’t back Ange the way he wants to be supported. Plenty of clubs out there will be happy to throw money at Ange so that he can challenge for the League Title and all the other trophies.
We started the season so well, but we dived spectacularly after our home Chelsea game. Before Pochettino’s encounter with us, we started dreaming the impossible dream… and then fell flat on our noses. Still, we could make a Europa League position, which is a step up from last season (no European football)… one step at a time… Rome wasn’t built in a day… unless you are one of the Manchester clubs (ok, not so United nowadays… City have cracked it… putting their United inferior half in the shade… a sky bluer shade!!!!! better than shit red).
Up the Spurs!
Glenn
