Match day – I’d almost forgotten what they felt like! How about you?
And how are you feeling about this particular match day? Positive? Apprehensive? Just glad to have something football-related to talk about?
Yep, me too. All of the above. But as I think I’ve already said this week (I never bother re-reading my own nonsense), I do wish we could have had a slightly less tricky game as our first one back, if I’m honest. If we’d have had Brentford tonight at home and then Wolves away, or Wolves at home first and then played them away in a few weeks. The reason I say this is because we’ve had so long since a win, since any kind of football, that it feels like we need to get some kind of momentum back in to the team and I fear that this evening might represent quite a tall order for Mikel Arteta’s young team.
Wolves are good. And tough to break down. The have conceded just eight goals at home all season, whilst scoring only eight goals too. That’s in 10 games. So whatever any pundit might say about the two teams, tonight feels like it will be a very low scoring affair. One goal is probably going to do it either way. We just have to hope that it is us that gets that one goal.
The potential good news is that apparently Tomiyasu is training and has been with the team. Mikel Arteta wouldn’t give anything away on whether he is available tonight, but if he is fully fit, then we have to hope that the club have run all the right checks and balances and if he is available to play, it is a big boost to us. The way he plays and the style and approach we have is imperative to have Tomi back in the team because he offers more aerial prowess, we can shift our formation and approach better in games, but also we are less vulnerable to the counter switch long diagonals because he is so much better in the air. And that’s important because Wolves like to sit in a low block and occasional move the ball forward with longer balls. They rank the fifth highest in the league for longer passes/balls and given that they make a lot of tackles and their ‘keeper makes a lot of successful saves, the numbers point towards a team who is strong at the back, with a good ‘keeper who are hard to break down but still have longer outlets to cause us problems.
And the home fans will be loud and boisterous tonight. They will all be in their pubs near the ground beforehand feeling pretty confident up against an Arsenal side who has won once in the last six games since Wolves returned to the Premier League in 2018. That was at Molineux in July 2020 during lockdown and was without a crowd in the stadium so it shows that we haven’t exactly fared well when there has been fans in the ground roaring them on.
So I consider my expectations well and truly managed tonight, because we have had a bit of a pants January, we are up against a very good and organised Wolves side, who will sit in a low block back three and will be difficult to break down. What we don’t need, is any silliness, like last season, in which we dominated them completely, but ended up going a man down and a goal down at halftime, before losing Leno in the second half and ending up being beaten to a very good Moutinho strike. Wolves are probably a better side this season than they were last season and they beat us home and away last season so I don’t think there are many Gooners seeing this as a banker by any stretch of the imagination. In fact we have cause to just think that a draw wouldn’t be the worst result in the world and with Tottenham and Man United dropping points yesterday, there is an argument to say we haven’t lost any ground if we draw this evening.
But at the same time, this represents a fantastic opportunity to put us back in the driving seat in terms of points on the board and in terms of the Champions League spaces. A win this evening will cancel out the Scum’s extra game advantage and then if we can do it at an away ground of a team who are also in the hunt for the European places like Wolves, it would probably seem like a double benefit for us. But again, I think it is a big ask looking at form, our history there, the way Wolves set up in a back three that if we’re all honest about, we’ve never really coped that well against. It is something that Arteta has to master and hasn’t done to date, but we need to find a way of unlocking these kind of tactical set ups if we are going to make that next step up.
As for the team, if Tomiyasu is fit, then it has to be Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka as your base of seven. Then you can take your pick from Odegaard, Saka, Smith Rowe and Martinelli behind Lacazette. I think he goes with Martinelli and Saka in the wide forward positions, with Odegaard in the middle because he was the guy who was most in form of late. It would be harsh on Smith Rowe but there will be other games for him. He is also – along with Pepe – a great option from the bench and certainly it gives us the opportunity of mixing it up if the starting XI isn’t firing as the game progresses.
Wolves will play with a 3-5-2 and will have Saiss back from the AFCON, and Sa in goal as well, with Coady and Semedo also making up that back line, along with Kilman, Dendoncker in their rear-guard. Their midfield is where their magic happens and we will need to keep Neves and Moutinho at bay if we are to get anything from this game. Up to Jimenez is a good player and Podence caused us problems out wide last season, scoring at the Emirates.
I really hope we start this game strongly. We need to show that the last two weeks in the sun has brought the intensity to this Arsenal team and having gone through a disappointing January on the pitch and off it in terms of reinforcements, I want to see an Arsenal team chomping at the bit to get our season back up and running with a bang.
Fingers crossed for tonight peeps. Catch you all tomorrow for a de-brief/post-mortem.
Excellent article as always pal.