With Arteta not doing his presser until today, there’s still a bit of time for us to chew the fat over different things, so I thought I’d start today by doing that with the results from last night.

Tottenham Hotspur.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

I fully realise their next game is against us. I fully realise that there is absolutely zero chance they are as dire as they have been at home all season. I fully realise that there’s no way they will be as terrible – conceding 2.48xG to Newcastle, 21 shots, five on target, two big chances missed for the Geordies – against us. I also realise that we may have to face our old foe, New Manager bounce, because Thomas Frank sounded like a beaten man in his post-match presser. But if you can’t laugh at this situation, when can you?

I saw somebody on Sky Sports say it would be so Spurs to get relegated – or finish close to it this season – and go on to win the Champions League. That made my heart skip a beat for a second, but then I had to remind myself about their ‘run’ to winning that thing:

  • Woeful Man United last season in the final
  • Bodo/Glimt in the semi-final
  • Frankfurt in the quarters
  • AZ Alkmaar in the round of 16

The Champions League will throw up tougher challenges, so hopefully they can get knocked out of that as soon as possible, and Thomas Frank remains in charge for the foreseeable future. Please.

The only downside – which also has an impact on the relegation situation – is that West Ham were denied a win against Man United; a Man United side who, I was reading yesterday, are quietly confident that they can make a late charge for the title. Yesterday I thought ‘stranger things have happened’ and they’re ONLY 12 points off us. It’s 11 now, but if we can beat Brentford tomorrow night, it moves to 1,4 and that should be that for any notion that they are a competitor. I’d prefer it to be City in their position and United to be in City’s position, but there you go.

There was some amusement for the Chelsea draw at home to Leeds, but with them 12 points off us, see Man United for where they are at and what their possible title charge could look like.

Tonight, our title challenge gets a little more squeaky bum as Fulham get dispatched at the Emptihad as they perennially do, but as I said yesterday and the day before, we just have to handle our business. That business will be Igor Thiago first and foremost, and whilst all season I’ve enjoyed his goals for Brentford as he’s in my FPL team, this match week I hope he is as quiet as a mouse.

That’s not how the fans are feeling, for obvious reasons, because Brentford are flying, sitting fifth in the form table guide – above us in seventh! They’ve won their last two games, which included two really impressive away wins at Newcastle and Villa. I saw some of the highlights from that game at St James’ Park and they probably could have had a penalty before Newcastle initially went ahead through some poor set-piece corner defending, but they should have been two-up before Brentford got their good first, and then their penalty, which looked a bit of a dodgy and fortunate one for me. So Newcastle created plenty of chances, and you’d hope that we can also do the same. The thing we will have to watch is Outtara. He is rapid, he’s a good finisher (as that game showed), and he is the kind of guy who works perfectly in a system where his team doesn’t have a lot of the ball and goes from back-to-front very quickly. There will be plenty of pondering over the next 24-36 hours as to who starts for Arsenal tomorrow, but with that in mind, I don’t think you can look beyond Jurrien Timber at right back. He’s the guy who is think is probably better suited to tackle somebody like Outtara.

Anyway, I mentioned their fans, so what are they saying? Here’s a few select quotes from one of their forums – Griffin Park Grapevine:

They are not going to know what’s hit them.

And:

I have a good feeling…

And:

Only Arsenal have more points than us in the last 10 games, we’re playing some of the best football we’ve ever played, we’re at home and the team spirit is unbelievable. KA is proving he can mix it up with unexpected changes so let LegoHead worry about how they can contain us.

There are other comments in there that, dare I say it, are pretty level-headed and respectful about us. I have seen none of that from Wolves, Forest, Leeds, Aston Villa threads, but the Brentford fans in the thread I watched talked about our squad depth and how we will certainly field a strong team tomorrow night. That goes without saying, but it’s interesting to see them acting pretty normal and not just chucking insults our way like most of these threads do from other teams. I’ve always liked Brenrford. Just not tomorrow night.

Bit of bonus reading that I did beforehand on the official site – nice interview with Eze talking about his first six months at the club. It’s a nice read, but a common thread for a new player, much like we heard from Rice. He talks about the level of information he’s had to take in compared to the rest of his career; he is working under a manager who demands a lot and drills so much tactical insight into his team, that we see on the pitch how versatile this Arsenal side is. I think a few of us have voiced very minor concerns about his lack of game time of late, but if you take it in the context of a player who is having to learn and adapt to a completely new way of training, playing, taking on info and instructions, perhaps it makes more sense. Arsenal and Arteta are also in a position where they have a deep squad and many players who have been in that environment for some time, so to have the luxury of being able to give a player like Eze points in the season in which he can take a beat, might be better for his long-term adaptation to The Arsenal way.

I do think he’s got a massive part to play in the latter part of this season. Not least because last season he came alive in the run-in, but also when you look at where he seems to come alive, it is in big games. He scored for Palace in the FA Cup Final and Community Shield. He’s scored a hat-trick for us against the Scum – he’s a player who relishes the limelight I think and every game is going to start getting massive if you think about how we’re now at what is known as the slightly cliched ‘business end of the season’.

I back him to get more minutes, as well as more important moments, for us still to come this season.

Back tomorrow after both press conferences have been done and we can start to think about how we might line up.