I think my biggest issue is that I am worried that nothing will change in a short period of time. As I said to somebody in the comments from yesterday’s blog, I was convinced – clearly misplaced – that we would see the likes of Timber, Calafiori, Odegaard, etc. But none were in attendance, and the result was the dross we got served up. My worry now is that, ahead of the Sporting Lisbon game, we’re not going to get from Arteta any difference in terms of the ability to change the team around much. We should, hopefully, have an Eze who can at least start, given that he got minutes on Saturday. But to me, it feels like that is not enough.

Hincapie being on the bench on Saturday would, I hope, mean that he can start tomorrow night. He hasn’t been out that long, so the ability to return to a better level of match sharpness should be there. That is good. Myles showed that whilst he’s still a good, young player who we all love, he still switches off where perhaps the Ecuadorian doesn’t.

I think the other thing that has me really worried about this week is that with every day that passes with certain players out, getting them back to a ‘best version’ of themselves takes longer. Odegaard was out for a while, came back against Sporting, and got injured again, which means his ability to be back up to match fitness has been diminished. If he’d have come back to Sporting and got 60 minutes, then played at least 30 minutes against Bournemouth, then you could be looking at the Sporting game tomorrow as another 60 – 70 minutes, to which the City game would be one that you’d hope he’d have enough minutes under his belt to be a better version of himself. But by picking up that knock against Sporting, then missing the Bournemouth game and having to find our information from that bloody Norway manager, it feels like it is two steps forward, one step back with him.

It’s worse with Saka. When he wasn’t featured against Southampton, having reported for England duty, I was thinking “that’s absolutely fine – he’ll get the rest and be a better version of himself for some of these massive matches coming up”. But by missing Sporting away, then Bournemouth at the weekend, it is nearly a month since he last played. That means his ability to be the Saka that we all NEED on Sunday is further diminished. Do you believe that if he’s in the squad, he’ll be able to have the impact we would need? I don’t. Not having just returned from injury, anyway.

It’s the same with Timber. He trudged off on 39 minutes against Everton on 14th March – exactly one month ago. With a month out, do we really believe that he can be back to full fitness for Sunday? To line up against a Doku who has just run Gusto ragged at Stamford Bridge? I don’t. If he’s ok to be in training, then Arteta can’t risk him tonight. Maybe he can give him 20 minutes, but then throw him in for the biggest domestic game of the season? That would worry me, if I’m honest with you.

And that’s why I’m so down right now, because the way this has all unfolded just feels like there is some kind of domestic curse that is enveloping us at this time of the season. The injuries, like last season, have been constant. The form has been pretty poor, but the performances have been dire, and when grouped all together, it just makes you feel a little weary, you know?

I guess you could say that City had the same problem in March. They drew to Forest, they lost to Real Madrid twice, and then also drew away at West Ham. But then they had that League Cup win and have been looking in great form ever since. One could argue that the very same could happen to us, and maybe a win tomorrow night against Sporting could help to boost those players ahead of Sunday. But it just doesn’t feel like it right now. As I’ve already said on the socials and in the blog yesterday, our record at City is utterly grim, so I don’t really hold up much hope for us.

Do you know what’s mental? Tomorrow night we play a Champions League quarter-final, at home, with a one-goal advantage, and I’ve spent most of today’s blog talking and thinking about that City game at the weekend. This is a Champions League quarter-final. We’ve got to the semi-final three times in our history so far, so a win or draw tomorrow means it’s only be the fourth time. Ever. But that Premier League title is the one that I’ve always wanted the most, and to see it slipping away as it has is, frankly, destroying. It’s one that I am going to feel the saddest about and, and even if by some miracle we were to then get ourselves into a Champions League final and win it, I STILL don’t think that will stop the feeling of the Premier League slipping away, if indeed that does happen.

Arteta will have his press conference this evening, and if I’m honest, all I want to hear from him is that some players are back and available for the squad. Even if not ready to start, I just want good news on Timber, Calafiori, Odegaard, Eze, and Saka. If we get some of that, then maybe tomorrow’s match preview blog will be a little lighter and airier one from me.

Catch you all tomorrow.

Well, having stood in Block Five yesterday, I will tell you this: Those Arsenal fans in my area of the stadium absolutely brought their dinner. By the time I got home yesterday, I had little voice left. Part of that was because I was screeching at the woeful performance in the second half, but before that, there was support and desire from the home fans to be that extra man for a very much makeshift Arsenal team.

And it felt like a very tired, leggy, and makeshift performance. Bournemouth may have had three weeks to prepare for this one, but that is no excuse for those Arsenal players to do just the basics all very wrong, as Arteta also admitted afterwards. White getting done in behind by the wide-forward (maybe Madueke should have tracked too) is one thing, but MLS just watching as Kroupi just ran past him to tap it in after a deflection as just bad defending. I don’t think that goal happens if you have Calafiori or Hincapie on the pitch. We all love MLS, but the performances of last season are a distant memory. He looked every bit the young and fallible player in that moment.

Overall, though, he didn’t actually have the worst game in comparison to some of his teammates. Martin Zubimendi, for one, has regressed so much that in my WhatsApp groups, there are genuine calls to change something now. Honestly, people, Zubi is starting to scare the sh*t out of me when he drops to collect the ball from Raya, which happens an alarming amount of times, I’m afraid. There was one moment in which it was a simple pass to Ben White in the first half that he just massively overcooked and knocked it out for a throw-in. Where’s the vertical line-breaker from the first half of the season? It can’t be down to fatigue when you’re doing that for 15-20 minutes. He’s just woefully out of form. I am wondering if some of my mates are right; perhaps we do need to drop him completely and get Rice into that six role.

Mind you, if he’s there, who is playing in the left eight spot? Maybe Eze, who wasn’t fit enough to do 90 yesterday, but certainly not Havertz. When he signed for us, Arteta tried him there, but it didn’t work, and as somebody has already pointed out on social media after the game yesterday, that’s three defeats out of four with Havertz playing in midfield. Of course, it’s not all his fault that the team has lost those three games – there’s a collective failing of multiple players that has led to this – but I think none of us believe him in that position is a viable one.

If you’re going to be kind to Arteta, you’ll say it’s because he has once again been robbed of key players. Still no Timber, Calafiori not in the squad having played on Tuesday, no Eze from the start, no Odegaard, no Saka, and a left-wing position with which whoever starts these days is utterly toilet. Honestly, Martinelli can get in the bin with performances like yesterday, then Trossard coming on did little else, unfortunately. But that’s being kind on Arteta, because he has to shoulder some of the blame after this one, too. After all, he’s the one who motivates them; he’s the one who needs to assess the opposition and set a team up to exploit our strengths and the opponent’s weaknesses, yet it felt like he just set up the team because of certain players being the ‘next one up’. For example, in Madueke, Martinelli, and Gyokeres, we have three runners. We’ve already seen that it doesn’t work. So why not go with Trossard? I know he’s been crap in 2026, but he has a better working relationship with Gyokeres than Martinelli does. Could we also have gone with Mosquera instead of Ben White? White has been playing a lot of football lately, and I just feel like Mosquera’s recovery pace is better than White’s. Could he have made a difference on that first goal? Maybe, maybe not, as I think the situation is still recoverable if the left back does his job.

But it wasn’t just players who were coming in a little colder. Gabriel and Saliba looked shaky, too. How Bournemouth were allowed to ghost in and just waltz through our defence for that second goal was ridiculous. It was pathetic. Spineless. Lacking in energy, cowardice. There are so many adjectives I could throw at such a shambolic performance.

Even after we went behind for the second time, there was still time for there to be a fightback, but this team looked inhibited. They ran out of ideas, and I saw the xG stats. We had 2.3 overall, but a big chunk of that was the Gyokeres penalty. In that second half, Big Vik was unlucky not to be onside with his run for the disallowed goal for offside (which it clearly was), but I don’t remember us forcing Petrovic into a load of saves.

This was an Arsenal performance for the ages, in a very bad way. It was not a performance of a team that is as far ahead on points in the league as we are right now. It was the performance of a team of players scared of their own shadows. And simply not acceptable.

I’m not really sure what else there is to say. Simply not good enough, City will beat Chelsea today, then next weekend looks like one of those that feels like a foregone conclusion based on that performance and effort from those players yesterday. We need some good news regarding some returning players now, because we can’t have that team, with that lack of balance and creativity, to play again in that set-up. We’ll fall apart if we see that again.

Doing a pod this morning with James. It won’t be fun. Then the football and social media are off for the day.

Catch you all tomorrow.

The players know it, our supporters know it, it’s an early kick-off, so get up early, have an early breakfast, bring your lunch, bring your dinner, and let’s all go together for it because it has to be a big day.

I went out and had a skinful last night, before and after watching Sue Perkins at the Soho Theatre, deep in enemy territory in Walthamstow. I’m up early because I couldn’t sleep. I’ve got a banging headache, but do you know what? Come 12.30 pm, I am going to be fully ‘game face on’, because those Arsenal players need all of us today.

I’ve talked about Bournemouth and the threat they pose already. I’ve had a look at how their fans have been feeling. I’ve perused what the media and pundits think about this game. The talking is almost done. Now it is time to do the business on the pitch.

The team news from Arteta’s press conference yesterday was mixed, but there are some positives in there from some of the people ‘in the know’, including the fact that Pierro Hincapie has been included in the preliminary squad for today, according to the well-known source ‘HandOf Arsenal’. That’s a big boost, because one of the question marks is Calafiori, and whilst we have Myles Lewis-Skelly there who can play if needed, it does feel as though we need that steel available in such a tense game as this.

And it is tense. It is scary. It is a worry, and it is a match I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Bournemouth are no mugs. They are on a long unbeaten run (again, as I’ve already mentioned on the blog this past week), and they still have Europe in their sights. A win for them, or even a draw, keeps them in contention, so we aren’t at the point in the season yet where a team in 13th has nothing to play for. They absolutely do. So we need to be ready for them.

So, to a possible starting XI, which I feel is going to be tough to predict, given the number of question marks we have over some of our players. Thankfully, as we’ve all seen, Eze is back, but Arteta wouldn’t really be drawn on who is fit out of Saka, Odegaard, Timber, and Calafiori. If I were to stab at a guess based on players out and trying to feed certain players back in to the team, this is the line up I ‘think’ Arteta will go with today:

Raya

Timber   –   Saliba   –   Gabriel   –   Hincapie

Zubimendi

Eze   –   Rice

Saka   –   Havertz   –   Martinelli

I think the fact that Bournemouth is a more open team, a team that does give up chances, means that Martinelli is preferred on the left. I also think that Arteta will be managing Trossard’s minutes, and I think Leo starts in the Champions League in midweek. I think Havertz being used as a sub was telling, because I think he’s been earmarked to start centrally, and I think that is the right call. Martinelli and Gyokeres haven’t really seemed to connect, but Havertz can do with the Brazilian, who, if given more space through a transitional game as Bournemouth presses forward, will give him space to open up his stride a bit more. Havertz feels like a player who will also be a little more effective in a game like this, plus he’s more rested than Big Vik. I think Saka comes in because I am hoping he’s rested enough from his injury. Let’s not forget that he wanted to play for England just over a week ago. He reported to training and was sent back like Rice. I have no evidence, no insider knowledge, but I just have a ‘feeling’ that he has been given extra time to rest and recuperate after carrying something, and I think he’s been earmarked to come back in for this game. Because it’s massive. It’s an opportunity to go temporarily 12-points clear and that, as an incentive to deal a psychological blow to Man City, is huge for the players. They have to be ready to take it.

In defence, I’ve gone with Timber and Hincapie to return, but perhaps Timber is the one I’m not sure about. He’s been out for a while now, he could be quite rusty, but I don’t think that means White comes in, so maybe I’m wavering on that one and it’ll be Mosquera who is given the nod. And if that happens, I think most of us are ok. Hincapie on the other side might be one that is more likely to start, because he’s been out for a shorter duration of time, and therefore he might be somebody who can pick up match fitness quicker.

For Bournemouth, they don’t have such injury question marks, as Iraola has said they are in a ‘good place’ with players returning from injury. Tyler Adams, Ben Gannon-Doak and Julio Soler are all back, as well as Alex Jimenez and Junior Kroupi, who has bagged goals this season from the bench, including against us in January. They have had time off, so they are well-rested, which I think means they are going to be intense in the press and put us under a fair bit of pressure today. So these Arsenal players need to be up for it. They need to move the ball quickly, smartly, with purpose and precision. And if we do that, this Bournemouth team might be able to be moved about a bit.

I don’t think any of us are under the illusion that this will be a walk in the park today. It’s going to be gruelling, it’s going to be scary, but that’s what this time of the season is all about. Those Arsenal players need to heed the words of their manager and embrace this challenge. We’re at the proper ‘business end’ of this season. We can’t afford not to show up today.

Right, that’s it from me I think, as I need to drag my sorry arse out of these PJs and get my game face on for this kick off.

See you all tomorrow.

Firstly, the training pics and team news, and the real positive from yesterday was the sight of Eze in full training. He’s been out for three-and-a-bit weeks so far, so having him back is timely. Especially so, given that Odegaard wasn’t pictured in the open training session that the club held yesterday. Now, that doesn’t mean he isn’t good for Saturday, because there were other players not there, and I have a feeling we’ll see a few line up against the Cherries. For example, in the video session, there was no Timber, Hincapie, Calafiori, or Saka in shot. They might have been doing work inside, and, given that Calafiori has played a lot of football lately, plus Odegaard has been out, my gut feeling tells me that this weekend we might see Timber, Calafiori, and Odegaard. Whether we see Saka remains to be seen. The general vibes we got from Tuchel, and then Arteta was that he wasn’t far away, so I suspect they are just managing his load in training.

The good news is that Noni looked decent against Sporting, and if they want to be super cautious tomorrow, they can just have Saka on the bench and give Noni the start. In a way, you’d probably say he earned it and, were the referee to actually have done his job on Tuesday night and booked Araujo, I’m pretty sure we’d have seen even more from him as he’d have had more licence to try to beat a man who would already have been on a (deserved) yellow. With Eze back, that kind of covers any concern about Odegaard starting back-to-back games, which just really leaves question marks over the full-backs. Ben White has been playing more football, but Arsenal must surely be getting to the point of concern re: his ability to complete consecutive 90s. The upside is that Mosquera could come in and deputise if White needs his minutes managed, but on the other side, Myles looked off the pace against Southampton, so Calafiori starting tomorrow is one I have my eye on in particular. I do think Myles would be better with more of the first-XI regulars on the pitch, but there’s no doubt Calafiori adds a spot of dynamism to that position, which we might need against Bournemouth. So, of all the players I hope the club is wrapping up in cotton wool, the Italian is top of my list to be protected and told to get out there tomorrow lunchtime.

We’ll know more from the manager later at his press conference, but for now, let’s turn our attention outwards and see what some of the pundits think about tomorrow, eh? I had a little look at how Bournemouth may play against us based on the numbers and some of the comments from their fans in yesterday’s blog, but I’m interested in knowing what the supposed ‘neutrals’ think.

Well, let’s start with that grumpy bar steward, Chris Sutton, who thinks we’ll get a 2-0 victory, but does admit in his commentary that Bournemouth will give us a good game. I didn’t realise that they were undefeated in the League since we played them in January! That’s 11 games and, whilst a lot of those matches have been draws, it shows they are a tough side to beat. Conversely, I guess, and for balance, we are also unbeaten in the league for our last eight in the Premier League since that defeat to United at home, although some have admittedly been anything but comfortable (Chelsea, Brighton and Everton the last three that we played and hardly convincing).

Merson has gone ‘balls out’ with his prediction, saying we’ll beat Bournemouth 3-0 and City getting a draw at Chelsea, which means the title is ‘over’. I can’t see any of these things happening. Firstly, I do think we might concede, given that Bournemouth are a side that knows how to get goals. I don’t think it will be an easy 3-0 for us, but nor do I see Chelsea getting anything against City; they’ve already handicapped themselves by sidelining Enzo Fernandez, and I think City will smell blood.

Lewis Jones on Sky Sports is an interesting one, though. I quite respect his opinion because he’s a guy who knows about the betting markets, and they make it their job to know absolutely everything that the data tells them. He’s talking about how Bournemouth are on a good run of 12 in all competitions unbeaten, but that in their last six matches, there has been regression. This is good. This is the kind of intel I need to soothe my worried heart. Apparently, their xG against in those games is nearly two goals per game. They are giving teams chances. So he’s gone for a 2-0.

And finally, to Sports Mole, who have said it will be a ‘winning ugly’ kind of 2-1 game for The Arsenal. At this stage, I think as all of us have said in the pubs, WhatsApp chats and on social media, we accept that this might just ‘be us’ for the rest of the season. We have to make peace with that. I would bite yer hand off for a 2-1, and that’s my gut feel on scoreline, as I mentioned above with Bournemouth’s form and yesterday with their chance creation. They put the probability of an Arsenal win at 64.7%, with the most likely score being 1-0 with a 13% probability. I don’t buy that, for the aforementioned reasons, but I do hope that some karma comes our way from last season, because to me that Evanilson winner at The Emirates was handball. It clearly came off his elbow, and if that happened to us, you’d bet VAR would have pulled it back. Not that I’m still bitter or anything, mind…

So that’s the view from the pundits. We’ll hear the team news and vibes from the managers later today, so now all we have to do is wait until kick-off to see what sort of Arsenal we’re going to get, and what sort of Bournemouth will show up as well.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a match preview. See you then.

And were it not for David Raya, we may well have succumbed, but having him back in the side showed the difference you can make when you have a world-class keeper in between the sticks. I actually don’t think Kepa was that bad last weekend – he’s just not Raya, who exuded calmness and composure with the ball at his feet, but also followed it up with some fine saves too. His first, from a pretty splendid ‘Paul Merson Pass’ outside of the ball splitter by Diomande to put Araujo in, was finger-tippingly brilliant. It crashed the underside of the bar, but he had a vital touch, which enabled the ball to avoid rippling the net. And who knows what direction the match might have changed into, had that gone in?

As a quick aside, the shooter in that instance must have had something on the referee, because quite how Araujo managed to avoid a booking for accumulation despite making upwards of seven fouls last night is beyond me. He had obviously read the Jordan Ayew Book of Impunity with Refs, because even when players like Madueke exasperatedly asked “How many?”, he still got away with one or two more.

It felt like a game in which we really did have to ‘huff and puff’ last night. We were in control in terms of ball-dominance and xG chance creation, but Sporting did have their moments. When you look at the stats, it was pretty 50-50, and so as the clock ticked down to the end of the game, my nerves were more about avoiding a last-minute sucker-punch as we have on a number of occasions already this season, rather than winning it. So when Martinelli shimmied himself into enough space to dink it to Kai in the middle of the penalty box to slot home, I was over the moon. It was a rarely-seen Martinelli pass; we don’t usually expect to see him being the provider to that type of goal, but more the man running on to it. It was a really deft chip and quite impressive from the Brazilian. So too, was Havertz’s touch and finish, which was certainly very clinical, and you could see how pleased he was with his celebration. The run was the type of run that you expect from Havertz when Gyokeres is on the pitch; he is playing as a false nine as Gyokeres occupies another defender, he finds the space in between centre-halves, which enables him to be picked out with a run from the D to the penalty spot, completely unmarked. Kai will not give us the vision or passing range in midfield that Odegaard or Eze can, but as a second striker, he has a big impact.

Elsewhere in the team, we had some decent, if not spectacular, performances. I thought Rice was superb again in his midfield duel-winning role, winning his one tackle on the night, making four interceptions, and recovering the ball 13 times. Any nerves about his lingering fatigue were dispelled last night, and that was great. Big Gabi had his hands full with Luis Suarez, but he came through 90 minutes and, like Rice, I am just pleased we had no lingering effects from what was clearly a niggling knee injury on Saturday. I thought White looked shaky in some of the ‘big’ moments – like that chance from Diomande to Araujo – but if you look at his performance as a whole, he did alright I thought. Plus we got 70 minutes out of Odegaard, which is positive, although his performance felt like a pretty rusty guy. He wasn’t really able to impact the game at all, and of all of his 48 passes (out of 59) that came off, I’m struggling to remember how many really did any kind of significant damage. It’s tough when the guy you come on for does what Kai did, but this season has certainly been one in which substitutes have made the biggest impact. I can’t remember the exact number, but I think we’re close to 40-odd involvements from Arsenal players this season. I think that’s miles more than any other team, so it really does show the positive impact that Mikel Arteta’s changes have made this season.

Understandably, Mikel Arteta was delighted last night, but I do wonder if he will continue to analyse why we have found it so difficult to break teams down. It isn’t as if Sporting sat in a low block last night, I didn’t think. There was space there for us to exploit, but it felt like we chose safety first in ball retention, which, I guess, given this is the first of a two-legged affair, is understandable. But I did feel at times that we could have got more out of the likes of Trossard and Madueke, who blew hot and cold last night I thought. We all know that when Gyokeres doesn’t get service he is basically a passenger, which is why I wanted a little more from our wide forwards. And that left-hand wide-forward slot continues to be an enigma, because it feels like no player wants to step up and make it his own. Martinelli was pretty poor against Southampton, but then comes on and made a key impact last night. Trossard had an indifferent game, but if he doesn’t start at the weekend, I’d imagine that he’ll come on and play well from the bench against Bournemouth. It’s frustrating, but equally a bit of a relief that you know these guys can impact from the sidelines when coming on. Or maybe it is just that Martinelli loves the Champions League? That’s six goals and two assists in 512 minutes – he’s averaging a contribution every hour -Harry Kane averages one every 70 minutes, for context.

So it’s a victory, it’s a commanding position in the Champions League, but it’s back to domestic focus immediately now, because Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime is already filling my stomach with a bit of dread/fear/butterflies. Catch you all tomorrow for some more thoughts as we build up to that.

Let’s start with the good news, which I think top of my list this morning, the inclusion of Big Gabi in the training session. He went off with a knee complaint against Southampton and was pictured with an ice pack on his knee. When you see that sort of stuff, you naturally feel the worst, but he took part in training, and that means he should be good to go tonight. Phew. I think for me the worry was less about this evening – we have Mosquera, who has proved to be an able deputy all season – but more about what a knee injury could do for his participation for the rest of the season. I think the club will clearly have to monitor him very carefully, but this at least means we have our best centre half in contention for tonight, and hopefully he gets through ok and his knock he sustained can be managed.

It’s the same with Madueke, who this time last week we ended up talking about how his season might end, as he was pictured walking out of Wembley with a knee brace, but he played against Southampton as a sub coming on, and he was also pictured in training. That is really good news, because the bad stuff coming out from yesterday was that Bukayo Saka is out for tonight. And once again, I have to say, to all of those tosser rival fans and media pundits who complained about Arsenal pulling players from international duty – where are you now, eh? Because Saka hasn’t played since the cup final, and there’s no way Arteta would have him in the squad tonight unless he couldn’t train and wasn’t ready. He sounded a little more optimistic about both Saka and Timber for the weekend, but it seems we’ll have to do without them both this evening.

Which is a blow, but it is why we brought in those expensively-acquired squad players, and for Saka, we will see Madueke, but for Timber, who will play at right back? I have a feeling it might be Mosquera. Ben White has played a fair bit of football of late, but he did look a little underpowered with some of his running against Southampton, so I have a sneaky suspicion that Arteta will go with the Spaniard. Either way, we’ve got two solid pros to replace Timber, and even if White does start, I’ve got a feeling we’ll see a better performance from him, because he’ll be around more of the first team.

Which for me means Raya in, Saliba in, Big Gabi in, Calafiori in, Zubimendi in, Rice in (who was also pictured in training), Odegaard in (taken off against Southampton, clearly to protect him for tonight), Gyokeres in, Trossard in. And with Madueke on the right, it makes for a more familiar first XI line-up and one that I’ll expect a little more cohesion from as well.

As for Sporting, they’ll fancy themselves tonight, not least because they’ve won their last 17 home games in all competitions. That sort of run breeds a lot of confidence, and they’ll fancy taking a scalp against us, even though we’ve either beaten or drawn against them in our last five games. They knocked us out on pens a few years back, but last season’s 5-1 win in the group stages was probably one of the best performances we had in the season. We need to take the memory of that and use it as fuel. This Arsenal team have shown they are capable of much more dynamism in the Champions League this season, as teams come at us, and I think Sporting’s home form will mean they fancy having a go tonight.

Their main strength from an attacking point of view comes via Luis Suarez (not that one), who has already bagged over 30 goals in his season. It appears they aren’t missing Big Vik too much, so he’ll be keen to remind them of what he’s capable of, and his good form going in to this means his confidence will be a helpful factor, I hope. Sporting look like they play in a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, with Goncalves and Trincao as their main creative outlets to spring Luis Suarez. Trincao is a familiar name, as he played in November last season during the 5-1 victory, but there doesn’t look like there is a ton of players remaining from that side. By my count, if Sporting play their ‘first choice’ side, the familiar names who played in that game last season are:

• Trincao
• Hjulmand
• Inacio
• Morita
• Araujo
• Diomande

So actually, it is more than half the team, but there has also been a fair bit of churn, so we need to expect a very different game from last season, I think. That is also true because of the manager change, with Sporting having only just lost Amorim to United, before appointing Joao Pereira, who lasted just over a month before Borges came in. He’s therefore had over a year to mould the side in his image, so I suspect there will be a much tighter game this evening than there was 17 months ago.

Arsenal need to answer some questions that have popped up in our last two games. They have people who are already stoking the ‘bottle jobs’ fire, so a performance in a big European game tonight will go a long way to showing that they are ready for the remaining two competitions we are in. Ready to fight, ready to pick up results, ready to make this still a wonderful season, despite the last two disappointing results in the domestic cups.

We’re going to face a hostile atmosphere, a Lisbon side and home fans who are massively up for it after their impressive comeback against Bodo/Glimt, so those opening salvoes in which they will try to high press and probe us need to have Arsenal taking control of the game and quietening the home crowd. I am hopeful we can do it.

I’ll be travelling for the second half tonight, so I will have to play catch-up, but I will be back tomorrow with some post-match thoughts. See you then.

The Arsenal players have no such luxury, as they face Sporting Lisbon tomorrow and are likely to head to Portugal today ahead of that Champions League game. And suddenly, whereas a week ago we were looking at this tie, as well as Southampton, as one in which we’ll be potentially in two semi-finals if we beat opposition that we are favourites to overcome, we’re all getting a little nervous about this. After all, Sporting beat us over two legs last time we played them in the knockout stages. That goal they scored to lob Ramsdale at The Emirates, then going on to win on penalties, still haunts me. And when you learn that Sporting have replaced Gyokeres with a guy named Luis Suarez, one starts to wonder if the Footballing Gods’ sense of humour and desire to chuckle at Arsenal fans frequently is actually just cruel. We have a pretty bad record at Southampton, and the footballing gods decided that they like a bit of narrative being perpetuated. We have faced Sporting Lisbon for the last few season’s and they’ve made life dificult for us, so the footballing Gods have decided to drop some more narrative in there by pairing us up, with us having their former striker lining up, whilst they’ve got a guy whose name evokes a certain kind of narrative when you think about failed bids and goals scored against us.

But as I said on the Same Old Arsenal pod this morning with James, I’m kind of getting over the Southampton poor result, and I think the quick turnaround is good for all of us. It means that we can put all of our efforts into these final two competitions, which were the ‘main’ ones anyway. And, where we were talking about fixture congestion to us, the same will befall Man City, because our game against Newcastle at home won’t be moved, but their game away to Burnley will be. That means they’ll have to play it in midweek, possibly when we’re playing in the Champions League, so they have their own challenges with the schedule as much as we do.

For me, my dream has always been the Premier League. My ‘hope’ is the Champions League too, or at least progressing to the semi-final, but I want that Premier League title, and so if being out of the FA Cup means we approach games like that Newcastle one without it having been moved because of the FA Cup to a midweek game, then that’s fine. The absence of our involvement in that competition means there is a solid week between Man City away and Newcastle at home. That can’t be a bad thing.

What we do need from Mikel Arteta today is a confirmation that Gabriel Magalhaes is ok. That’s the one I am still worried about, but I am choosing to be positive with the mantra that No news is good news, as the saying goes. Again, I mentioned this on the pod, but by now, if there was a serious injury, somebody like The Athletic would have gotten wind of it and would have published a story on it. We haven’t had that yet, so I am hopeful that his exit on Saturday was purely as a risk-aversion opportunity.

He won’t give us updates, but there is an open training session literally going on as I’m typing this. We know that it means little in reality; Arteta loves to be able to pull everyone away from those sessions if there are any doubts over any of them, so we have to take it with a pinch of salt. But maybe we’ll see a Timber, or a Saka, which will at least give us some hope that their rest has been well-received by their bodies and they are ready for their trip to Portugal.

The next clue will come with the pictures of the players as they board the plane. The club’s social media team normally drop some snaps of the players, so that’ll give us an idea, but it will then be Arteta’s press conference that will be the interesting one to see who he says can play. He’ll give little away – he never does – but even just some crumbs of positive injury news would be welcome right now.

There’s not really a lot else to take from today, to be honest, so I think I’ll leave it for this one, be back tomorrow as we start to look ahead at Sporting Lisbon, then I’ll catch you all then.

Be good.

1. I predicted the line-up spot on
2. Max Dowman

Perhaps you could also point to the impact Viktor Gyokeres made from the bench, following up his goals for Sweden with a smartly taken finish to draw us level in that second half at St Mary’s Stadium, but the rest of the evening was pretty disastrous, if we’re all honest with ourselves.

There were some proper stinkers of performances. I mean, some really bad ones, that could effectively crystallise in Arteta’s mind who he will rely more and more on for the remainder of this season. For example, Gabriel Jesus, who was utterly anonymous on a day in which I had held some faint hope that he would seize this moment to have his manager ask questions. But the only questions anyone should be asking of Jesus right now are:

How on earth are you STILL earning that much money?

He and Martinelli stunk the place out from an attacking point of view. It was one of those Martinelli performances for which those who advocate that he’s a super sub and that’s about it, are people you can hardly argue with, because he made it quite obvious that he doesn’t deserve a start against Sporting on Tuesday.

But weirdly, unacceptably, whilst the misfiring attack (Dowman aside) is something we have seen a fair bit of, of late, what we haven’t seen is a shaky defence. Mistimed passes (Mosquera’s horizontal one in the second half that led to a chance springs to mind), unforced errors (Myles Lewis-Skelly massively overhitting another horizontal pass to the full back on the other side), and mistimed headers (Gabriel, then Ben White for their first goal) were rife in yesterday’s performance. That is very out of character.

I’ve taken a few pelters for a message I put on social media at the time of their first goal, but I will stick by it again this morning, because Alan Shearer had said Southampton deserved to be ahead. The numbers told a different story. It was their second shot, and first on target, when they scored. We’d had 11 shots and their keeper had made good saves. We were the better team up until that point. The only difference was that they took their opportunity, and you have to say that’s what it is all about, so fair play to them.

Arsenal’s response was not what we had wanted, and Southampton troubled us with long balls that we didn’t deal with. I thought that we were sloppy, half-hearted in the duels, and that is something that Arteta will be infuriated with this morning. You have to give Southampton credit, because their game plan was pretty spot on; get ahead, then tuck in and see if we could break them down. Even after we equalised, they were content to play on the break and that worked for them. They deserve to go to Wembley. We do not.

And we are left to lick our wounds again. For the second match in a row. I’m torn between being really worried about this performance, coupled with the one against City, and recognising the specifics behind it. No doubt we were poor against City in the League Cup, but some of our absences forced us to do something that City were able to counter. Last night, because of some of the absences, we were again forced to do something different, because I don’t think Arteta wanted to risk this competition, as he had his eyes on Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday.

One thing for certain, there are a few players out there who will only be used if there is injury or extreme fatigue now, I think. Kepa, White, MLS, Norgaard, Martinelli, Jesus – all of those players will, I think, be spending a fair bit of time on the bench now. We have two games left to play this season, and I think Arteta will obviously ring the changes for Tuesday and Bournemouth at home in the Premier League.

And that needs to bring about a change in performance, too. We can’t have that many errors from an Arsenal team going for big trophies. Yesterday showed us that when you do make that volume of mistakes, you get punished. It is even more acute in the Champions League and Premier League. Arsenal need to change a few things.

The Gabriel injury is a worry, too. I am crossing everything this morning that it is a “if you feel anything, just come off” situation, and he was rubbing that knee that has caused him some problems. Arteta invariably said afterwards, “I don’t know” when asked about the severity of it. If Gabriel is out for the season now, all our faith goes into Mosquera. He wasn’t amazing yesterday, but he’s shown how good he can be. The only worry is that with Hincapie also potentially injured for a while, we’re getting to a point where we’re going to have to rely on those understudies. Yesterday, they showed plenty of flaws for players who hadn’t played much.

Either side of the international break I had thoughts about how these few weeks could define our season. We’re 0/2 on season-defining results now. That has to change.

I feel sad that we are out of this competition. But I am going to feel a lot sadder if we put in another performance like that against Sporting, then follow that up again against Bournemouth next weekend. If I heard that some of the absent players yesterday were rested and will be back to 100% by Tuesday I’d probably start to feel a little easier about this result, because the Premier League is everything and the Champions League is the second jewel that we want to try to snaffle. But at this stage, there are still a lot of question marks over who will be available. Let’s hope that tomorrow, when Arteta talks to the press, he can provide some crumbs of comfort.

I’m going to try to end on a more positive note. Max Dowman. Wowsers. I know we need to temper our superlatives and let the boy grow in to this team, but he once again showed he’s ready to make an impact. He can play in that wide right position. He is ready. Southampton look like a Premier League team in waiting and he was great against them. Like he’s been great in all of the performances he’s had this season. He showed somebody like Martinelli what you should be doing as a wide forward. I think he needs to be considered as a ‘next one up’ if Arteta wants to change things in attack now. What a talent we have. Let’s hope we use him to more effect for the remainder of the season – it could be our ‘ace in the hole’, as they say in cards.

Catch you all tomorrow as we try to forget yesterday’s mess, and look towards Sporting Lisbon.

What it means for us, as we suspected, is that the team news is sketchy at best. We know that Noni and Ebs are out, but we all pretty much knew that already, so that’s no surprise. The fact that Mikel confirmed that Madueke was ‘days’ is a boost, though; he’ll surely be available for Bournemouth, and that means our attacking pains are short-term in terms of options. Eze was a little sketchy on, and I just hope it is because he didn’t want to give too much away, and the player is not fit for the next week or so. The rumours have been Man City at best, which I think is what we have to hope for, but if it is Sporting at home, I think that takes us to around a month, which was the original prognosis, so we have to say that timeline played out as expected.

The other news in which there was definitely more clarity was Timber and Odegaard, which Arteta confirmed are ‘in contention’ to be in the squad today. That is the closest you’ll ever get to an Arteta press conference answer of ‘they’re fine’, so I hope we can see at least one of them tonight.

And that one is Martin Odegaard. Timber is somebody we need for Sporting and Bournemouth, and so giving White the minutes this evening, having made two appearances for England last week, helps to continue his return to form, so I think (and hope) that makes sense for Arteta to do so.

With that in mind, and having already stated some initial thoughts on social media yesterday on what lineup I think he might do, I think I’m flip-flopping a little on what the starting XI might be. I do think he’ll stick with Kepa (there was a bit of fun on naming his ‘keeper yesterday that I enjoyed from the manager), plus I think one of Gabriel or Saliba might play. My thinking on those two is predicated on the fact that Calafiori got 120 minutes for Italy in midweek, and Hincapie’s update from the manager was not good. All he gave us on the Ecuadorian was that it was a ‘serious’ one, and suddenly you start to think his season might be over. Hopefully not, but you hear things like that from the manager, and you wonder if we’ll see him again this season. And if that’s the case, we’ve once again had ourselves an international break in which a player comes back broken. It feels like every break for the last two years has been like that, going back to last season with Odegaard for Norway in the autumn internationals. And I find myself saying, once again, that international football can go f*ck itself.

With that update from Arteta in mind, I think he’ll give MLS a run out, and suddenly, you’re looking at a player who had found game time limited, to be a guy who may well suddenly get a lot more minutes this season. Calafiori can’t play two 90-minute games in a row, I don’t think, so that means you need to start looking at Myles as the de facto understudy again. Imagine if he finds himself playing regularly, as a late shout for England? Highly unlikely, I suspect, but still, he might well think that a door has opened up for him, and a game like today could be a perfect opportunity.

I think Arteta will surely give Norgaard a chance in the starting XI. The Dane can replace Zubi to give him extra time to recover for Sporting, but because Norgaard has been decent enough for us when he’s given the opportunity, this needs to be one that we get him in to continue his stable place in the team.

He will have a look at Odegaard for at least half, maybe 60 minutes, I would have thought. I also think that Gabriel Jesus will get the nod, given Big Vik played twice for Sweden and Kai still hasn’t completed 90 minutes for us. But the rest of the team will be, I think, up for grabs. So here’s my stab at a starting XI for tonight:

Kepa

White   –   Mosquera   –   Gabriel   –   MLS

Norgaard

Odegaard   –   Havertz

Dowman   –   Jesus   –   Martinelli

There are a few in there I’m not sure on, if I’m honest with you, especially in those attacking positions. Havertz and Odegaard together as attacking ‘eights’ could be a little too much of a gamble for a manager who is inherently more conservative in certain instances. Whilst Dowman on from the start, I think it is a big question mark too, given his age. I’d like to see it, and I don’t think many Arsenal fans would disagree with me. He’s exciting, he’s expressive, and he will have a go at a Southampton defence that, as I mentioned yesterday, has had challenges defensively this season. There may be space for him to operate, and I think that he could be a real ‘x-factor’ player with his dribbling ability if he’s given the space to do so by the Saints’ back line. Martinelli, on the other side, is one I’m not sure on either; Trossard is very likely to also be selected, given that Gabby Martinelli did a fair bit of travelling in midweek, getting back from Orlando on Thursday at some stage I’d imagine.

As I mentioned yesterday in the blog, I have the feeling that Southampton will come out and have a go at us tonight, because a) they have nothing to lose as the underdog, b) they still have plenty to play for at this stage of the season, and c) it’s a night game and their fans will have had a few beers and will be well up for it. We need to be ready for that, and Arteta will have told his players accordingly to treat this one like a Premier League game, I think. Next season, it could very well be one.

Amanda and I will be podding tomorrow, I think, so I will be back tomorrow with the blog and maybe some pod thoughts on what might transpire ahead. See you then.

So, given that I’ve watched very few Championship games this season, what’s in store for The Arsenal tomorrow night then, eh?

Well, it’s a side that I think I’ve already mentioned in recent days, which comes into this game in pretty good form. Unbeaten since January, have taken a scalp in the FA Cup, will be buoyed by their form, and will feel like this one tomorrow is a proper ‘free hit’. Their manager will not play it as I suspect, but i’m sure they are all feeling it.

A quick Google AI-search tells me that they are a possession-based side who will build from the back, and who have suffered a bit this season through silly goals, as a result of their build-up. That’s somewhat evidenced by their goals against tally; they are ninth in the Championship for goals conceded. Their xG against also puts them 14th in the table, so this is a side that has its defensive challenges. Where they make up for it is in goals scored, with only Coventry and Ipswich having scored more. Their xG puts them second in the table too; this isn’t a side who are going to low block us tomorrow.

And that gives me some comfort. On the Same Old Arsenal pod this season, I’ve said a few times that the Premier League has felt like it is a real grind. Teams come up against us and they play the deepest of low blocks, which has been shown in numerous graphs and charts that you and search for on social media. Put simply, Arsenal face the lowest of blocks compared to any other side. But the numbers suggest Southampton won’t do that. Perhaps more importantly, the numbers suggest they can’t do that. So let’s have a proper slugfest between two teams, eh?

Adam Armstrong was their main guy in the attacking equation, but he left for Wolves in the January transfer window, so they’ve been relying on Larin up top, who hasn’t proved to be too prolific. Instead, a lot of their recent goals have been coming from the three men behind them in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Finn Azaz and Kuryu Matsuki getting on the scoresheet a few times in recent weeks. Again, a quick check on playing style for those guys tells me Azaz is their key playmaker, number ten who takes plenty of shots. He’s described as a ‘high-volume shooter’, so tomorrow evening I suspect he’ll be taking opportunities from outside of the box to make a name for himself. Matsuki is a high-energy box-to-boxer who is a relentless presser. I remember Wenger saying years ago that he was shocked at the relentless effort and running of the Japanese footballers, so it appears Matsuki is another one of those in that similar national mould.

So for Arteta today, as he preps his team, he will no doubt have a few dossiers on where they can do us damage, but from a very quick and dirty look from me today, it tells me that, providing we can control the space in front of our back four, we should/could be ok. Nothing is certain in football; that’s why we love the game so much, but even with what we expect to be a relatively heavily rotated squad, you have to be looking at our chances as being high.

That may well also depend on whether we can get our misfiring attack to work. Gabriel Jesus has failed to impress of late, and I think he must surely be in with a shout of starting, so if Southampton are a side that is going to press us and leave space, he will have room to work. He might need rapid wide-forwards around him, so it will be interesting to see what happens about who is available tomorrow. You’d have to think this could be a game for Gabriel Martinelli, but we’ll need to see if the manager thinks his fitness is ok. He scored against Croatia in stoppage time, but he only got on the pitch on 68 minutes, so hopefully that means he’s fine and is as refreshed and ready as possible.

I’ll leave the full review of who I think might play / who I want to play to tomorrow’s blog, because I think a lot will depend on how much information Arteta gives us. I’m not expecting him to give much, but even confirming players are definitely out would be even a little informative.

Have a great Friday boys and girls – catch you all tomorrow.

Phew.

With him returning, having played an hour in the first game and 45 in the second, one would hope that you could chalk this Interlull up as a very positive one that has put minutes in the legs without beasting our hybrid midfielder/forward. It means he can make the relatively short flight back home today, maybe have a rest tomorrow, then get back in training on Thursday and Friday and be ready for selection on Saturday against Southampton.

I’m not sure whether he’ll start, though. If we’re thinking about the matches that lie ahead for us, I think Havertz getting some minutes, but not starting against Southampton, makes sense. Perhaps he comes on as a second-half sub and does 20 minutes or so. This is a guy who returned from a year out earlier this calendar year, played a couple of matches, then broke down again, so I suspect Arteta and the medical team will be acutely aware of this and the need to build him up. He’s played 14 times this season and has just 524 minutes to his name for Arsenal, with his recent performances being:

• 66 minutes against Man City in the League Cup
• 21 minutes against Leverkusen in the Champions League at home
• 61 minutes against Everton in the Premier League
• 16 minutes against Leverkusen away in the Champions League
• 62 minutes against Mansfield in the FA Cup

From those numbers, you can clearly see that the club has been very carefully managing Havertz’s minutes. There’s been a clear pattern that has developed. It does make me wonder, though: When will they feel he’s ready for 90-minutes?

Arteta was very vocal in his praise for Havertz just over a year ago, describing him as a ‘powerhouse.’ The football gods saw fit to absolutely make him eat those words, because it was literally a day or two later that he picked up that injury which basically kept him out of the team for the rest of last season. Since then, his ‘robustness’, as Arteta put it, has been blown away by all of these injuries he’s picked up. It means that Arsenal inevitably have to be careful with him, but there must come a point soon at which he’s asked to play a full 90.

If I were to guess, I would posit the theory that they are building him up for that City game. He’s just played an hour for Germany and then 45 minutes. That’s two in a short time frame, and certainly, when you look at the numbers above, it is more than he’s been playing with Arsenal within a week since returning from injury. That’s why I think he will be used sparingly against Southampton, maybe as a sub, with the idea of him being built up to play in the Bournemouth and City game. It’s just a hunch, but I get the feeling that Gabby Jesus is told to start against Southampton and see if he’s still got something to give for us against a Championship opponent, then Big Vik is told to start the two legs against Sporting, in the hope that Arteta leans into the ‘vibes’ like he did with Eze and the Scum. Then, for Bournemouth at home and City away, either side of the Sporting home game, Havertz is the man. I’m projecting, of course, there’s no way it will pan out exactly like this, but I am imagining him playing around the 70-80-minute mark against Bournemouth, then also doing similar numbers against City a week later.

And I think that seems like a very sensible thing to do.

Elsewhere, Thomas Tuchel had his press conference yesterday ahead of England’s meaningless friendly against Japan, and he clarified the situation with Rice and Saka. Unsurprisingly, it is those two who are getting heat from certain members of the gutter press, and Tuchel was pressed on it yesterday, for which I was pleased that he spoke out about the fact that both had been sent home. Both wanted to play; both were disappointed not to be able to; but the interests of player welfare by an England manager have been taken into account, unlike the previous incumbents of that role. He also used his words very carefully, being very deliberate in describing the Saka and Rice situation as ‘narrative’. Because that’s what this has been since they were sent home; we’ve all known they’ve been in the fabled ‘red zone’ for a while, but there are corners of the British press who hunt for stories and mischief-making angles, regardless of the reality. The reality is that the England manager has realised there is no benefit in risking these players breaking down with a few months of the season to go, so playing them in a meaningless friendly and risking a fatigue injury that could keep them out for a few months benefits absolutely nobody.

I do think the Noni Madueke situation probably strengthened Arsenal’s hand a little in telling the England camp that it might be best to return. Thankfully, Tuchel confirmed yesterday that it doesn’t seem that bad, and we got a HandOfArsenal message on the socials last night that also confirmed it. Apparently, he’s aiming for Sporting/Bournemouth and given one’s first thought when they see a player in a knee brace after the game is that his season is ‘done’, this is a real bonus. Eze too, in that same message, was thought to be hopeful he could return earlier than is expected. I suspect they’ll be looking to see if they can have him ready to play a part in the City game, and if that is the case, then that too is a bit of a bonus. I don wonder if that means that Odegaard might get more minutes this weekend coming that I originally thought, but let’s save that prep for the Easter weekend countdown.

For now, I will bid you adieu for the day, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we start to look ahead at that Southampton match up and hopefully the healthy return of those players still with their respective international teams.

Laters peeps.

But Saka? And Rice?

Apparently, according to the official England Football website, it is for ‘medical assessment.’ Now, there are two ways in which this has gotten to this point:

1. The players picked up knocks in England training and therefore the club and Thomas Tuchel have to send them back
2. Mikel Arteta and Arsenal have sh*t a brick at the news of Noni and has told Tommy T to pull them from the game.

I pray, for the love of all that is good and holy in the world, that we are talking about scenario 2 here. Because if it is one, then the list I spelled out in yesterday’s blog, just got really scary indeed. In fact, if those two are added to those who have knocks right now, we’re almost at the point of being able to field a full XI of injured players, such are the question marks that will now surround the Arsenal squad going into that game at Southampton on Saturday night.

I really hope to god that Arteta was like “nope, not happening, get your arses to Colney, NOW”

I’m also now playing a bit of a game in my head, which includes trying to imagine what the starting XI would be at Southampton at this moment in time, if none of the current players who are fit could play. The back line is pretty do-able, but it’s when we get to the front line that I have to really think about how we plug the gaps:

Kepa

White   –   Mosquera   –   Hincapie   –   Lewis-Skelly

Norgaard

Dowman   –   Havertz

Harriman-Annous   –   Jesus   –   Martinelli

That’s not even an ideal team, to be honest with you, because we ideally want to be easing White, Hincapie, Havertz, and Martinelli back, given they have all been away with their respective international teams. White broke down the last time we overplayed him, but I think you’d have to earmark the Southampton game as one in which he should play, because surely Arteta will have Timber earmarked for Sporting away and Bournemouth at home. Those are the two bigger games out of the next three, with all due respect to Southampton and the FA Cup. You could argue that we have a second bite of the cherry in Sporting Lisbon, given it is a two-legged affair, but I think Arteta is going to want all players fit and available for that and Bournemouth. So I think this news about Saka and Rice is one that will mean we probably won’t see them on Saturday. I think I’m fine with that. It will have meant that by the time the Sporting game comes along, Rice and Saka will have had 16 days off from playing football. Hopefully that is enough time for them to have rested an recouperated, because as much as Saka has been in and out of form this season, he is still one of our best players. With Noni no doubt out for a while now (let’s be honest, we’re all waiting for the Athletic scoop telling us his season is over), keeping him fit is even more important.

When I look at the others in that team that I’ve picked as a possible lineup for Saturday:

• Mosquera hasn’t played a ton of football (he’s got 1,400+ minutes this season so far in all comps), so he’s fine to come in, and he’ll be buoyed by his international debut
• Hincapie too, was injured at the start of the season – he’s just over 2,000+ minutes this season
• Lewis-Skelly and Norgaard will be fine
• Dowman will be looking to impress
• Jesus has been a bit-part player for some time
• Harriman-Annous has just 86 minutes all season
• Martinelli has been second to Trossard of late, so he might be alright

So it really is just Havertz, Hincapie, and White that I’d be keeping an eye on, fitness-wise, and all three have games still to play. Let’s just cross everything that nothing happens to any of them.

Anyway, let’s not end on a negative, let’s end on a positive note today. And that positive was an Arsenal heritage scoreline, as the ladies beat The Scum ladies 5-2, with an Alessia Russo hat-trick to down the tiny Tottenham. This wasn’t the hairy-scary performance that the men delivered two years on the trot back in the day, though. The ladies were two goals up within 10 minutes, then given an absolute gift by the Spurs keeper to make it 3-1. It was the very definition of a ‘Spursy’ bit of goalkeeping, that. It’s good to see that the ladies know how to conduct themselves against the old enemy – that’s by battering them wherever they go. Good work ladies. That’s 13 goals scored in the men’s and women’s leagues this season. Love it.

Right, I’m going to leave it there, I think. Have yourselves a wonderful Sunday, and I’ll be back tomorrow with some more thoughts.

Instead, what I want to focus on today is the consequences of what happened last Sunday, specifically with regard to Mikel Arteta, who I think will be delighted that there is an international break. That’s because it affords him time to analyse what went wrong and how to fix it.

And Mikel Arteta is a fixer.

There are plenty of people outside of Arsenal circles who don’t like him. They don’t like his demeanour, they don’t like his arm-waving on the touchline, or the fact that he strays outside of his technical area (which is, frankly, bloody weird given that every Premier League manager does it). There are a minority INSIDE Arsenal circles who don’t like him. This isn’t a referendum blog on his character, though; this is a blog for me to state my point of view on how he is going to sort out what went wrong against Man City.

And I 100% back him to do that.

Arteta will be using this week, with his coaching team, to pore over every detail. Every Arsenal fan knows that. He will watch, re-watch, have the analysts watch, get one or two of the players till at home and not on international duty to watch (probably Clockwork Orange-style, too), all with the intention of learning how to answer the questions that Pep and his City side posed on the day. Forget what he says in the post-match, forget what he will say in his pre-match, because as Arsenal fans we all know that he doesn’t give even 10% of the detail that he goes through, out to the media or public for consumption. Practically every player, past and present, has said that the level of detail and analysis that he does on his own team, but the opposition too, is crazy. We hear that from them, so we all know that when he gets a period like we’re in now, there’s absolutely no way he’s sitting in garden (might be a bit too cold for that in London right now, to be fair) with bis feet up trying to mentally get away from it all. No way. He’s looking at our next opponents, he’s looking at our past opponents, he’s thinking about different ways in whcih we overcome Southampton, Sporting and Bournemouth, when the proper stuff kicks off again.

Arteta is a learner. He will 100% be learning from what happened last weekend.

And that fills me with positivity. It gives me confidence that he’ll have a plan when the players return from international duty and he’ll know how to approach the upcoming games. It doesn’t mean we’ll win them; football is a game of variables and it only takes one moment where a player slips, or a ref gives a dodgy pen against us, and suddenly his best laid plans go out the window. But as Arsenal fans we must take comfort in the fact that our manager has answers to the questions that have been most recently posed.

The response to defeats this season have shown this (in all competitions):

• Our record after the defeat to Liverpool at the start of the season = Win, win, draw, win, win, win, win, win, win, win, win, win, win.
• Our record after the defeat away to Villa = Win, win, win, win, win, win, win.
• Our record after the defeat at home to Man United = Win, win, win, win, draw, win, draw, win, win.

That’s a lot of ‘W’s there kids. So my hope for this defeat is that it is the galvaniser that Arsenal use to spearhead a multi-winning streak. If, for example, we win our next five games in a row, that last one will be away at City, and I think we’re all looking at the close to the season being a very exciting one.

Now, I know that what has been, doesn’t not reflect on what is to come, but we have enough data from this season to suggest that Arteta will learn, he will work his arse off to change a few things, and hopefully we will get back on track after what was an admittedly very tough afternoon at Wembley to take.

We are not perfect. We have flaws. We have injuries. Southampton are in a good run of form. We could very easily be looking at being dumped out of the cup in back-to-back matches and that could have an impact on subsequent games. But at this point in time, I am looking at where we are at, and I’m putting my faith in the hope that Arteta will be able to course-correct what went wrong with the City non-press. Heck, if anything, maybe we learned more about what City might do against us at The Etihad. What did they learn from us? I would wager ‘not a lot’. Because as many have pointed out on other tactical blogs and podcasts, this fabled ‘Man City four-man offensive non-press wall’ that was lauded, doesn’t work with Raya in goal. He clips over that wall and we have four of their players out of the game. I doubt Pep will do that again, but if he does, then it will be very interesting to see how much space we get.

So I find myself this morning in quite good spirits. I think Arsenal are in good hands with Mikel Arteta, tucked away at London Colney with time on his hands, working out our plan of attack for the remaining games of the season. The international break might not give time for some of the players to rest and reset, but for Arteta, he will use this time well. I am sure of it.

Back tomorrow with some more musings.

So I want to take this moment to offer a public apology to all of you guys who read my ramblings regularly: I have let you all down.

I went Uber-positive on Sunday’s blog. It was a break from the norm. I am an apprehensive Arsenal fan. I always have been since the 2006 Champions League final. I went into that so convinced we would win it. Then it broke me when we didn’t. So I turned to pessimism to protect myself and my emotions from that level of heartbreak. I figured if I think about the worst-case scenario in my head, then if/when it happens, I will be prepared for it anyway. If the best thing happens and Arsenal win, I am doubly happy about it because I didn’t expect it.

For the second time that happened to me, which is in my head, you have to fast-forward 13 years to the 2019 Europa League final. I was convinced that we were beating Chelsea. They had already qualified for the Champions League, they had that ridiculous EFL Cup final in which Kepa (I know, I know) had refused to come off, and then they lost on penalties. They, of course, wanted to win something, but our need was greater, so I was convinced our design would get us over the line. Oh, and we had MR Europa League in Unai Emery too.

We all know how that went.

On Sunday, I had that same conviction, but we all know how that went. And I don’t want to labour the point here too much, but as the dust was settling and we were starting to all think yesterday “it’s fine, we have three more competitions to go for”, the Football Gods decided to clearly read my blog and go “ooh man, we’re are screwing you royally for this”. By ‘the’, I of course mean my proclamation on yesterday’s blog:

My hope is that we don’t get any wind of news that any of the injuries that are sustained are long-term. If we’re talking players needing a solid 10 – 14 days rest to recover, then happy days – for once, an international break has come at the right time.

Famous last words, eh? Because yesterday Sami Mokbel dropped on us this afternoon, and I found myself thinking “for f*cks sake, why does this sort of sh*t always happen to us?”

I do feel like ever since we had the 2023/24 season of various media pundits saying things like “yeah, well, they haven’t had any injuries” in reference to our good form that season, we’ve had one after the other. It’s certainly coming on 18 months of injury after injury. And this one is a particularly bitter pill to swallow because:

1. Eze was starting to find some form
2. Odegaard was able to recover from injury without being rushed back
3. We have been told – and are seeing that with our own eyes – that Spring is when he comes alive.

If the timeframes are right, then we are looking at him being out until probably the Newcastle game at the earliest, and with two months of the season left, he’s missing half of it. It’s a massive blow for a player who has been so clutch for us in recent weeks and I feel has started to see his place in the team, delivering end-product with it as well.

The positive, as Sami says in the article, is that Odegaard appears to be back in training, and the club now has at least another 10 days with which to get minutes in his legs at London Colney. Whether or not he goes straight into the team for Southampton needs to be carefully looked at, though, because he’s hardly built up a cadence of games to suggest he’ll be fine to play on Saturday night and then Tuesday night against Sporting Lisbon. This season alone, according to TransferMarkt, he has missed:

• 37 days and seven matches due to a knee problem
• Eight days and two matches due to a knee problem
• 10 days and two matches due to a muscle injury
• 53 days and eight games due to a knee injury
• 13 days and six games due to a shoulder injury

Our captain has missed a total of 121 days, with five injuries and 22 games this season. Arsenal have played 50 matches so far. So Odegaard has missed 44% of ALL matches we’ve played this season. The worry now, with Eze’s injury, is that we are going to be reliant on a guy who has shown that he’s susceptible to injury all season for basically two seasons now. Last season, he missed 15 games in total. So whilst I love him, I think an Odegaard in top form is integral to the way we play, it does feel like we haven’t seen that very much at all this season and I also think it is going to take him time to get back any kind of form and rhythm.

If I’m trying to look at the positives here, I could say that we have other options. But they aren’t fully tested and, frankly, they haven’t exactly delivered amazing results. At the weekend, we had Kai in that midfield role, but after he signed and then switched to playing up front, we all spent the time saying that he wasn’t a midfielder and didn’t do that job as well. He wasn’t great on Sunday, although he’s still coming back from injury, so he’s building his fitness up after a year out. Saka centrally has the possibility of being exciting on paper, but his form is such that we haven’t seen too much of what his potential is for that role and on the weekend, he wasn’t great in it before Noni came on either. That could be the circumstance of that situation; we were just abject on Sunday in that second half anyway, so perhaps we just have to accept that and move on. Perhaps Saka could be something that works there, but with the season reaching a crescendo, it’s hardly optimal that we’re discussing untested options at such a crucial time.

As I said yesterday, and I’ve quoted above, perhaps the other good news is that Arteta and his coaching staff have the next 10 days to think of how they react to this Eze injury, and how they plan an approach that will get Martin Odegaard’s engine up and running again. We are going to need him, plus some of the other options I’ve mentioned, between now and the end of the season for sure.

Catch you all tomorrow.

Another League Cup Final, another defeat in it, and at this point, it feels like that competition is as cursed for us as the European ones are.

Simply put, Arsenal only showed up for one half, on a day in which there were hopes that we could get a trophy monkey off our back.

I have lots of emotions going on right now; lots of thoughts that might be worth picking up, given that we now go into an interlull, but for today, let’s just pick on one or two of the key talking points from yesterday.

Firstly, I don’t think any is getting away from the fact that the goalkeeper question was a primary reason why we lost yesterday. Kepa is a fine backup. We discussed it in the pub before the game, and I said I was ok with him starting, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and clearly it wasn’t the right move. The delta between Kepa and Raya is quite large, it seems, and I’m not only talking about the rick that our keeper made in the game to give City the lead. His passing range is not as wide as Raya’s, and his box presence isn’t the same, which I think also leads to a little bit less confidence in the back line. The first goal we conceded yesterday will be one that will give him nightmares. It was proper chocolate wrists stuff, and whereas at the other end, Trafford gave a decent account of himself in the first half with a couple of saves, when the pressure was on us in the second, our goalkeeper folded in that key moment. And that’s what we don’t get with Raya. Sure, he’s had his dodgy moments like the end of the Wolves away game, but in the main, he is solid, and even with little to do, he still has the concentration in key moments that Kepa just doesn’t have (think that great save against Leverkusen at the end of the game last week).

I don’t blame Arteta for starting Kepa, because as I said, I think this was one that he felt he could do. But I don’t think we’ll see the Spaniard in between the sticks if we get to the FA Cup final. And his error yesterday kind of gives Arteta the licence to sit him down if that happens and say “sorry mate, not after what happened last time.

This was one of those cliched ‘game of two halves’ kind of matches. I thought we bested Man City in the first; we limited their chance creation, whilst we got in behind at least once, and Kai probably should have scored. That’s what you occasionally get with Kai, though; he isn’t always the most clinical. Ironically, if Gyokeres had been in that position, it might have been different, but he was somewhere else on the pitch, not getting those chances. But it fell to Kai; Trafford did his job, which we didn’t see from Kepa in the second half, which was also the half in which we failed to respond to City’s approach. They pressed in the right spaces, they were able to control more of the ball, and whilst they hardly troubled Kepa until his mistake, they were definitely edging it. And I think Arteta will do a re-watch of this game and realise that he probably should have made the changes a little earlier than he did. Kai didn’t have a great game, Gyokeres was pretty anonymous, Saka’s poor form continues, and Trossard was left pretty much neutralised and quiet. In that second half in particular, the attack didn’t click, and we simply could not string together enough passes or get enough of a rhythm to cause City any problems.

That second half was woefully short of the ‘standards’ that Arteta and the team set, and unfortunately, in 2026, it’s not an isolated incident. There’s plenty made about the fact that not pressing Arsenal’s defenders is a good way of neutralising them. I think that’s only part of the story. History is always written by the victors, and City fans and the stats people have already been clipping up short videos of City sitting back whilst 1-0 up and us playing the ball across our back four. But game state is everything. I said yesterday morning that the first goal would be pivotal, and I think that’s exactly why yesterday felt so flat in the end, but that’s how it turned out to be. And I don’t want to make this all about Kepa, because so many other players didn’t play remotely to their potential, but in these tight games, there’s nothing more frustrating than a mistake leading to a goal. If a player puts the ball in the top bins from 30 yards, you just hold your hands up, but when the important goal you concede is entirely avoidable, it is doubly hard to take.

I do think the absence of Eze and Odegaard had somewhat of an impact, though. Eze has just found some form, and now he’s injured, which is really frustrating. Arteta said that we have to leave it seven days for a scan, but we have to pray that it is just a short-term thing, because whilst he can rest up for a week because of these internationals, ideally we want to see him on the road to recovery for Southampton in two weeks. In his place Havertz looked at first like he might link up well with Big Vik, and there were a couple of moments where, from my vantage point, I could see us almost playing with two up top, but he faded quickly after a good opening half an hour and the lack of that creative 8/10 hybrid felt like it began to take its toll.

So City draws first blood. Seeing the dejected Arsenal players wasn’t a fun sight afterwards, but the hope has to be that they use this as fuel, because after this international break, there is a great opportunity to get back on the wagon and on to winning ways with an away game against Southampton.

This was the least of our priorities, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t sting, for which I thought Declan Rice summed it up well when describing the mood after this match. Now there is an opportunity to just take a beat, for the players to go away with their respective international teams, which hopefully will provide enough of a reset, before we get back to the proper football over the Easter weekend.

As I said above, I might do a bit of a deeper dive into some of the problems we’ve had in attack over the coming days, given that I have no interest whatsoever in the international nonsense going on from now until the end of next week.

So I’ll catch up with you back on here tomorrow. Up the Arsenal.

This is our first one since Mikel Arteta took us to Wembley for the FA Cup, albeit behind closed doors, and it’s the first time we’ve been at Wembley since we played in the Community Shield back in 2023. That day, we saw Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber for the first time, as we beat City on penalties 4-1. Whilst I absolutely don’t want to see that type of fixture play out today, if you offered it to me right now, I would take it.

That’s because we all know rumours of Man City’s demise have been greatly overestimated. This is a Pep Guardiola side who, if they win their game in hand and beat us on their own patch (we haven’t won at the Etihad in over 11 years in the Premier League), will only be three behind us in the league, a side who still boasts elite talent like Haaland, Doku, Semenyo, Rodri et al, a side who might have stumbled lately, have still won 31 of the 48 matches they’ve played this season.

Arsenal must be ready for what is going to be an incredibly hard challenge.

But I believe in this Arsenal team. I am nervous – of course I am – but I want to transmit only positivity right up until kick off. Then, when I’m in the ground, I’ll be a bundle of nerves. But until that point, I have nothing but positive vibes of success that I want to transmit to Mikel Arteta and his team.

And it is a team with whom, if some of the pictures doing the rounds on social media yesterday and this morning showed Martin Odegaard in training, as well as Jurrien Timber. And if both are fit to make the match-day squad, I think one of them will definitely start.

That’s Timber for me. Because if Guardiola is going to opt for Doku on that left wing for City, it just feels like having Jurrien up against him is the best chance we’ve got of neutralising him. Odegaard may be back in training, but he hasn’t played since coming on against The Scum for 13 minutes on 22nd February. A month ago. In fact, you have to go back to the 3-2 defeat against United almost a month before that, to see his first game from the start, so I just can’t see it today. In fact, given the limitations of the squad you can name for this cup final, I’d be wondering if he’s even ready for the bench. If you can only get 10 – 15 minutes out of Odegaard, shouldn’t his space in the match-day squad be taken up by another?

That’s a decision Arteta is going to have to make today, but if his captain is fit and he can get something from him, my gut feeling says he will make the squad.

So, who else plays today, then, eh?

Firstly, the keeper situation, which basically every Arsenal fan I was listening to on podcasts this week has been debating. The media also asked him the question during his press conference on Friday. Of course, he wouldn’t be drawn on it, but I have a feeling he goes with Kepa today. I’m not sure it’s the right move, hopefully it doesn’t come back to bite us on the arse, but I go back to his arrival in the summer, and I can’t help but think it is a situation like today that is the reason Kepa signed for us in the first place. He was number one at Bournemouth; he could have signed for them or another club and been their number one, but he chose Arsenal, knowing that he 99% won’t displace Raya. But if Arteta had a conversation with him and told him he’s the cup keeper, all the way to domestic finals, then I think he will honour that, and we’ll see the other Spaniard in goal today.

And I think I’m fine with it. Providing, of course, we see know ricks in him…

I’ve named Timber in at right back, and I think the two centre halves speak for themselves, but who to put in at left back, I wonder…

**taps finger on chin in a pondering fashion**

I think it might be Calafiori, you know. I think Arteta will want to have a little bit more chaos in the final third with his inside channel runs, and I think that means it will be the Italian over the Ecuadorian. It doesn’t mean Hincapie won’t see minutes – I absolutely think he will – but I think for the first 60 – 70 of this game, he will be tasked with getting into those pockets of position similarly to last season’s 2-2 draw at the Etihad, where he scored. His task for the day will be keeping an eye on Semenyo, I suspect – no easy feet.

In front of them, I think it’s fairly obvious that Rice and Zubimendi start, and I think Eze is pretty much nailed on for his position too, after his fine display against Leverkusen. He was on the ball more, involved, plus we saw just how hard he can hit the ball if given the chance. But let’s also not forget that Eze has good recent memories of this stadium. This was the scene of his ascension to cult hero status for Palace fans in May and I watched that goal again this morning. It’s a great finish, running onto a cross as City were in transition, and his stroking the ball home was perfectly timed. Another one of those would be great. He was also there for Palace’s 2-2 penalty win in the Community Shield last August, so I’m sure he’s more than happy about his time at Wembley in the last year. Let’s hope he can transmit some of that this afternoon.

The attack has another couple of questions to ask about it, too. Not Saka, I don’t think, but I do think that there is a question over whether it’s Kai or Big Vik, and, despite his good showing in midweek against Leverkusen, if it was my choice, it would be Havertz all day long. He will bring other wide forwards into play, he will be a handful in the air for those City defenders, plus he put in a super display at Wembley in the Community Shield for his Arsenal debut too. So it has to be the German who leads the line. And so to that left-wing spot, in which nobody has really nailed it so far. But I’m thinking it will be Trossard. Again, he combined well at home against Leverkusen, plus I liked how he was drifting a little more, and I think rotation across our attacking players is key today. We need to get at the likes of Nunes and probably Khusanov, because both are players with obvious strengths, but also weaknesses too. Nunes is a physical presence and likes to be aggressive in the press, but he isn’t always the most consistent and I’ve seen people suggest he does have an error or two in him. Khusanov is rapid, but he too has mistakes in him.

Man City can be ‘got at’. We’ve seen it all this season, but we need to see it today, and I think the first goal is massive in this one. At the Emirates earlier in the season, City got their goal with pretty much their first attack and then just sat in the lowest block that has ever been recorded by a Pep Guardiola side. They were away from home and they could see how dominant we were and it was only a late bit of magic that salvaged a point for us. What that meant is that we couldn’t truly test what City are like running back towards their own goal, as many teams have already done this season since that day. If they score first, I think they will be a similar variant of that City team that day, although I expect them to create a few more chances. But if we score first…well…that will 100% bring them on to us and that’s where we need to take advantage of the inevitable space that crops up.

It’s so hard to call. I keep chopping and changing my mind on how this one will play out. But what we all have to remember is that this is just the start of the ‘business end’ run in for triphy attempts. This is the cherry on the cake, before we’ve even got the cake fully prepped yet. So I’m going to try my hardest not to be too down if we lose, but equally, not to be too high if we win.

But if we could just win, yeah Arsenal? That would be great.

Back tomorrow for a debrief. Let’s hope it is a happy one.

Arteta, as usual, gave basically nothing away, saying that Odegaard and Timber are a ‘we’ll see’, using the smokescreen of an additional training session to avoid giving the media – and City – anything conclusive. Weirdly with Odegaard, the best source of news seems to be his national team manager, Ståle Solbakken, who has been quoted as saying:

If he ends up making the League Cup final squad, we’ll reassess…I would prefer that he builds up his physical condition and gets a proper training period. He can have the opportunity to do that during this international break. So if he calls and says he’s fit, I’m not sure I would include him

I think that is a perfectly sensible approach from a coach who is clearly mindful that he needs his captain at his best for the upcoming World Cup. If only Thomas Tuchel took the same approach. He’s called Up Noni, Saka, Rice and Eze, and whilst Noni and Ebs haven’t had as many minutes this season, Saka has had injuries and plays all the time when fit, as does Rice, so I’m disappointed to see them travel. They should have been told to rest up. Somebody said to me they aren’t joining the eam for the first game, but will be there for the second. I can’t find anything online (haven’t looked too hard, to be fair) that gives any indication of that, but if it’s true, that’s a small blessing, I guess. Likewise, calls to have Dowman in the squad were rightly responded to by Tuchel as “no need to give him that pressure” – at least he’s got that bit right.

As for the other international bits of news, Mosqeura got his first call-up, which is nice, and given he hasn’t played much, I think that’s fine. I’m less happy about Zubi being called up and his situation should be treated the same as Rice’s – neither should be seeing minutes next week. That should also go for Gabriel (especially after what happened to him earlier in the season), Saliba, Trossard, Gyokeres and Havertz – who has only just started to come back. Use them sparingly…..please…

Back to Arteta, though, who cut an understanably confident tone as he looked ahead to this game. I didn’t realise this, but he has a 100% record at Wembley. That’s good, although I hate stats like that, because they are always there to be broken. I remember a stat coming up after we scored in the Man United home game earlier this year, that said something mental like “when Arsenal take the lead, they’ve won 26 out of 27 of their last games”. I don’t know if that was home only, but we promptly lost that game to the worldies that United scored, so what I’m worried about with stats like that is the football gods come a-knocking on our door. Let’s hope not.

The journalists also tried a little bit of tomfoolery by asking questions like “is it about beating Pep” but clearly Arteta was not going to bite there, batting it away as he should. Still, it’s not as bad as those Manchester-based journalists, one of whom asked Pep yesterday whether he was still ‘best frriends and go to dinner’ and if they are still talking after last season, when City players accused Arsenal players of ‘dark arts’. It was a pathetic attempt to get a soundbite ahead of this game and Pep clearly just thought the journalist was being a bit of a dick. He clearly was – this sort of stuff is designed to stir up some kind of Mourinho/Wenger-style rivalry that just isn’t there, and never will be there. They have both been in the game long enough, they’ve managed against each other long enough, they know each other so well, that they aren’t going to suddenly fall out. Or if they do on the side of the pitch, they’re both going to kiss and make up pretty quickly afterwards. That’s just life. People have disagreements, then they get over it, then the friendship endures longer than any short-term passionate situation in the heat of the moment.

The rest of the questions were a bit bland, if you ask me, because it was all about whether getting to cup finals is important, on viewing this game in isolation, or if he uses this situation to motivate his players. All pretty easy stuff to respond to; Pep got a few of the same too and naturally just batted them away. He was asked things like “why are Arsenal so good?” or “will this define your season?” and of course, he just gave out some flowers to our approach and strengths, then stated that it won’t define their season. And I think that’s right, in the same way that it won’t – and shouldn’t – define our season. We have ourselves a great opportunity to win a trophy, but it isn’t THE trophy. It’s a positive situation, but it can’t be something that impacts the players after Sunday. That’s where I don’t know if it is a good thing that there’s an international break or not. Perhaps, if we lose, it’ll act as a bit of a palate cleanser. We then have the FA Cup straight after that, then Sporting away, and given the most stressful games recently have been the Premier League ones, and that’s the main prize, perhaps it is good there is a bit of distance between this League Cup final and the Premier League. Maybe that even makes it a bit of a ‘win-win’; i.e. if we win it, we get the boost, but if we lose it, there is enough space between then and our next game in the league, that the players have time to respond positively.

Of course, I could, as always, be overthinking it WAAAAY too much, but that’s just me, right?

I think that’s probably about all there is worth talking about from the press conferences, so I’ll leave it there and catch you all tomorrow for the full match preview, including my probable/possible line-up, as well as how this game might play out. Catch you all then.

Speaking of predictions, shall we have a little look to see what the media are saying ahead of this game at Wembley, eh?

Joe Cole has said he thinks it’ll be an Arsenal win, but Wayne Bridge and Carlton Cole think it’ll be City. Merse has said he thinks we’ll do it with a 2-1 win. Timmy Sherwood thinks it’ll be City, whilst Lewis Jones on Sky Sports thinks it’ll be a draw with City winning on penalties. So there’s a fair bit of plumping for City going around and whilst yesterday I saw the chat rooms of City fans being less upbeat, I can see why. Where the FA Cup is a competition we often joke about being ‘ours’, this one has given plenty of pain over the years. My first cup final after I had my season ticket was the infamous one against Birmingham in 2011 and I can still vividly remember the Szsesny and Koscielny complete cock up at the back to see Obefemi Martins win it for them. I was there for the 3-0 defeat against City and seeing Mustafi just let the ball drop over his shoulder for Aguero to do us over in 2018 and so my feelings going into League Cup games at Wembley are very different to when we’re going there for FA Cup games.

It’s so weird the way this sort of stuff plays out over time, as if there is some kind of hex upon us in the League Cup. The players were different in 2007 when we lost to Chelsea as Drogba bullied us; they were different in 2011, they were different in 2018 and they will be different this weekend. But sometimes it feels as though the footballing gods just like to f*ck with you a bit with stuff. So I’m not overly convinced that we’ll beat City on Sunday, but I do know that hopefully we will give them a better game than that awful showing in 2018. I mean, for starters, I think we’ve got notable upgrades with Raya for Ospina, Saliba for Mustafi and Bellerin for Timber/White. And there’s no square peg in a round hole with Chambers at left back either!

This is a bit of a shorter one today, mainly on account of wanting to save some thoughts for the build up tomorrow and Sunday, but I’ll be back to have a bit of a review of the two press conferences tomorrow, so if you fancy joining me on here then I’d love to have you.

Let me know what you think re: Havertz v Gyokeres in the comments.

Catch you tomorrow.

His finish yesterday sailed past the Leverkusen keeper Blaswich who, up until that point, very much had the feel of Gandalf and was not letting anybody pass. He’d made six saves before Eze’s rocket to break the deadlock and some of them were worldies too. The one he saved with his foot to have the ball just skip wide of the post is the first one that comes to mind. But on a night in which big shocks had happened in the other part of this side of the draw with Lisbon beating Bodo/Glimt, this was not to be another upset, as Arsenal pretty much dominated from start to finish.

One of the criticisms I think a few of us Gooners have had is that we haven’t started games too quickly. It’s felt at times – certainly in 2026 – as though we take our time to ‘feel’ our way into a game and how the opponent sets itself up. This was not the case last night. Arteta made some tactical tweaks, including Ben White, which I think worked really well, and we were pretty much on the front foot within the first few minutes. You could see that White was looking to overlap and create more space for Saka and I think he must have appreciated that, because he got on the ball and was creating chances. There were still some instances in which I thought Saka could have got a shot off a little earlier, but today is not a day to be bagging on the starboy. Sometimes, to recapture your best form, you have to take incremental steps in the right direction. I thought last night was definitely one.

But there were strides forward from a number of attacking players yesterday. I thought Trossard looked lively, popping up in spaces across the front three, whilst Viktor Gyokeres must have had arguably his best game of the season yesterday. He didn’t score, which is obviously a marker a lot of people will put down as another failing, but not me. Not today. He used his power well; he looked to be half a yard sharper. He had a few runs at defenders and a couple of shots, one of which was deflected wide. He is the sort of guy who will probably have got into the dressing room at full time quite disappointed in himself for not scoring, but I bet the manager was exactly the opposite of that.

After the dominance of the first half, things felt like they got back on to a more even keel in the second, which you’d expect given Leverkusen couldn’t just sit back and hope to counter us in transition. We had our goal, we didn’t need to press forward, so gaps started opening up and even though the game ended with Leverkusen having more possession than us, I think we created the better chances in the second half overall. The one for them that stands out is the fantastic Raya save right at the end, but other than that I can’t rememberr him making a string of saves. That was Blaswich who was in that mood last night, making a couple in the second, but not Arsenal’s second, which was another superb Rice finish from outside the box. Have that, you open play Arsenal goal naysayers.

His first touch for that goal was sublime. It meant it sat up perfectly for a second touch, then the stroke of the ball past the Leverkusen goalie to just kiss the post – *chef’s kiss*. He picked up the man-of-the-match award on the night and, once again, the cries rang out about how we’d really made a steal with him on the price. He’s fantastic. He’s all action. He’s the best player in this Arsenal team by a country mile this season. There’s talk that Bruno Fernandes should get Player of the Year – pull the other one, it’s got bells on. Rice has been the most consistently impressive footballer in the Premier League; he’s been doing it in the Champions League, and his goal last night ensured that the last ten minutes or so were nowhere near as nervous as it could have been.

There were so many positives to take from individual and collective performances last night. I thought Zubimendi looked spritely; he’s been accused lately of taking the safe and backwards options on his passing recently, but I thought he was much more progressive and willing to take risks. With the League Cup final on the horizon, it is lovely to see that we have players hitting some stride, although Declan Rice’s post-match comments about being shattered are a concern. Arsenal and England should take note; there is a period coming up here where there is an opportunity to manage his and the likes of Zubimendi’s minutes differently. I said it on social media, but I’ll reiterate it now – neither of these players should be going away with their international teams, and neither should be starting against Southampton a week after that, too. If you can wrap them up, give them rest, a kind of Spring Break, if you will, then it could be beneficial to both The Arsenal and their respective international managers.

Defensively, we looked good too; our pressing was right, we got into our shape at the right time, Gabriel and Saliba looked good and Hincapie and White both performed well. There was also enough time for a Kai Havertz cameo and I thought he also looked lively when he came on.

And all of this means that Arteta has options for Sunday, too. In the pub before we were talking about where we were going to have a drink on Sunday and a few of us joked that we were overlooking Leverkusen. That wasn’t the case for those Arsenal players, who will also have the big confidence boost of knowing they are into the quarter finals with a great chance to progress there too. But before that, it’s all eyes on the League Cup now, and a showdown with 115 Charges FC. My hope is that they are licking their wounds and feeling a bit sorry for themselves this morning, having just been knocked out to Real Madrid last night.

More on that tomorrow as we begin the countdown to the first trophy attempt of the season. Catch you then.

This is a weird fixture for me. When the draw was announced, there was relief about a possibly easier passage through the competition. WhatsApp groups were awash with ‘take that’ and ‘lovely’ comments. Then you get to the first leg kick off, and you’re thinking, ‘hopefully we can make a statement tonight and put one foot in the final’. Then at the end of the game, after Arsenal haven’t been great, Leverkusen have shown a blueprint on how to counter and hit us on the break, the mind thinks ‘got away with that one, but we have the home leg to finish the job’, as well as ‘the game at home now becomes a one-off cup tie – lovely’.

And yet, here I find myself, Tuesday morning, apprehensive about the match. Yes, it IS a one-off cup game, for sure. And yes, we WILL be heavily favourites to go through, most definitely. But all it takes tonight is one good low block, one transitional counter, and we could find ourselves out of a competition that so many Arsenal fans have coveted for years. We’re all looking over at City’s daunting tie at home to Real Madrid, but if we aren’t careful, we could have our own psychological blow tonight against a Leverkusen side who drew with Bayern at the weekend. Of course, the caveat remains that they played over half the match against ten men, but they still got a draw, and that will still fill them with some confidence, I would have thought.

Arteta did his press conference, and the bad news is that Odegaard and Timber are out. The good news is that it sounds like Leo is back, and whilst Arteta confirmed White is back up and in full training, I’m not sure whether he’ll start in place of the absent Dutchman. Mosquera was preferred against Everton, and I suspect it might be the same tonight. Of course, it may be that Arteta selected Mosquera for that game because he knew he could only get White playing the majority of one match out of these two, so he’s prioritised the Englishman for his overlapping runs today. Maybe I’m talking myself into something that won’t happen, but that does make sense to me, especially after Saka’s performance in the first leg. He wasn’t great; he was hooked on 60 minutes in favour of Noni, but if Arteta wants to create more space for Saka up against Grimaldo tonight, then playing a guy with whom he has a clear connection would make sense to me.

The rest of the team picks itself largely, I think; Raya, Saliba, and Gabriel will all play. I suspect Hincapie comes in at left back. At the base of the midfield, it’ll be Zubi, with Rice on the left and Eze on the right. Up top, I doubt they’ll risk back-to-back starts for Havertz, so it’ll be Gyokeres, with possibly Trossard and Saka flanking him. I certainly think that dynamic works better than Martinelli wide left, plus I’m not sure that Noni on the left really worked against Everton. You could ask the question about whether he deserves a start on the right, but I think Arteta sticks with one of his most trusted players in Saka tonight, so for me, it should be Trossard.

The game plan has to be about control tonight, which I suspect makes for a tetchy start to the game, probably a little shadow-boxing from Arsenal as they look to maintain the control of the ball, with Leverkusen tucking in deep and maintaining a tight shape throughout. They want to hit us on the counter and get a goal up so they can sit deep and see us deliver the horseshoe of death aka The Arc of boredom, so if we can score in that first half, maybe it draws them out a bit, and a little more space opens up.

I suspect patience will be the name of the game today; it is not going to be a pretty one, unfortunately.

Leverkusen will look to Grimaldo to find space in that left-hand-side pocket, and particularly with Timber out, they’ll want to see if they can stress either White or Mosquera, so if we can keep them pinned back as much as possible, then I think we can nullify him somewhat. They have Schick back, which will be a different kind of physical threat, but I wonder if they look at the likes of Kofane as a viable option, because he really tested our two centre halves all game last week, so it will be interesting to see how the Leverkusen boss goes about his starting selection dilemma up top. Of course, if they are behind in the tie and he needs to throw a Hail Mary, then both Kofane and Schick up top could be an option. We need to be wary and ready for that possibility.

The good thing is that if Leverkusen go down that route, then it means they are behind, and in that situation, we would all back our defensive line to be able to hold out.

We’ve gotten used to this season – and particularly ‘The Business End’ of it being quite uncomfortable, nervy and at times downright stressful. But Arsenal keep finding ways – even when leaving it late – to win these football matches. Nothing is guaranteed; those ‘finding ways’ could very well end tonight, but we’re in a good spot as it stands and I am hopeful that we have the players to see us through this evening. Fingers crossed I’m right.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a debrief, as always. Catch you then.

We touched on this a bit yesterday in the Same Old Arsenal pod, but I wonder what the psychological impact of the recent results might be for those two respective teams in this title race? When Man City scored those two late goals at Anfield, the prevailing media narrative was that this was the momentum shift. ‘City were coming’, ‘City have done this before’, and ‘this is the moment they crank up the gears’ were what we heard. That match was on February 8th, and since then they’ve beaten Fulham at home, Newcastle at home, Leeds away, drawn with Forest, and drawn with West Ham in the Premier League. That’s not the same City as we’ve been told about, and certainly sides like the one that we faced in 2023/24 wouldn’t be at this stage in the season dropping points. I wonder if the psychology of dropping back-to-back points in the league, whilst we have picked up back-to-back wins, will impact them? Likewise, does a probable exit this week to Real Madrid (barring some almighty Madrid collapse with them 3-0 up) do more damage to them yet as they prep for us on Sunday next week?

Conversely, we have just gone and got a last-minute winner, before seeing City drop those points away. Does that point the dial in a positive direction for the psychological boost of this Arsenal team?

Maybe, maybe not. The fact that City have been patchy since that Liverpool win shows that things can swing very quickly in this league. Arsenal have done nothing yet, they’ve won nothing yet, but we are in a fabulously commanding position from where we sit. We can all continue to hope that this team drags itself over the line.

It’s weird, though, because we’re at the ‘business end’ of the season now, with seven games left to go, and yet we don’t actually play any Premier League football for just under a month. It’s the Champions League tomorrow, the League Cup on Sunday, then an international break, then the weekend after that is Easter, before we kick back up in the League against Bournemouth on 11th April. There’s a lot of football that will be played, but Premier League football takes a bit of a back seat. Which I kind of like, to be honest with you, because it feels like a little bit of a rest. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be nervous again tomorrow, but despite never having won the Champions League, and it being a massive trophy to win, it’s the Premier League that gets me the most. It’s the one I want to win the most, and if that meant sacrificing everything else, I would gladly do it. So whilst I would be sad to go out tomorrow against Leverkusen, whilst I want us to go deep and maybe even win it, I’m kind of looking at everything other than the Premier League as a bit of respite.

Mikel Arteta will have no time to dwell on such things, such is the hectic schedule. He’ll have given the lads yesterday off, then today it will be back in light training as they prep for Leverkusen. He’ll also have his press conference this evening, and I hope that we get some good news on the players who have question marks over them. I think, particularly, I’d like to see Trossard fit, not least because I had a weird dream about Martinelli last night. The Creative Services Manager who works at my company was playing on the opposition side, and Martinelli – clearly rattled by him – decided to come from behind, grab him in a wrestling sleeper hold move, then drag him down to the floor. He got himself sent off, and we were on the back foot from there. I hope that isn’t a weird sign or premonition for tomorrow. Mikel – play Trossard or Eze on the left – trust my spidey sense…

Other than that, I guess there’s not really much else to do today other than re-live that wonderful moment in which Max Dowman scored to secure the win. What a day for him, his family, the Arsenal players, and Arteta. I’ve watched clip after clip of that, with particular rewatching of Peter Drury’s beautifully hyperbolic commentary. When it is for your team, it really does feel like a work of art.

Right, I’m going to call it there, I think. Have yourselves a great day, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we do a match preview ahead of that Leverkusen match-up.

Well, from a form perspective, they’re in pretty good nick. A win at home against Burnley the week before last was preceded by a win away at Newcastle, although they did lose at home to United before that, as well as Bournemouth at home with a man sent off. The form table tells us that they are seventh in terms of their last four games, ninth in their last six games, and then sixth in their last eight games. So it’s a bit of mixed form for a Toffees side who currently sit eighth in the table and have really stabilised themselves under David Moyes. West Ham fans wouldn’t like to admit it, but I bet they’d give their right arm to go back in time and have the Scot stay on as manager a little longer than he did after helping them lift the Europa Conference League a few years back.

I watched their game against Newcastle, and although Newcastle were poor, it gave a clear indication of what we’re going to see from Everton tomorrow. This will be low block, deep defence, transitional counter-attacking attempts. Or at least holding us for a shutout. They may have changed the manager from when they last came to the Emirates last season, but the aim remains the same: Low block the shizzle out of this one. That’s what they did against Newcastle, that’s what they did against us with Dyche, that’s what they’ll do once again – and the numbers feel like the support this:

• Fifth lowest xG in the whole league – they don’t create a lot of good chances
• Ninth highest xG against – they’re a solid mid-table team when it comes to conceding high-quality chances
• Fifth lowest average possession in the league – they don’t want the ball, they don’t keep the ball
• Fifth lowest ‘dangerous possession lost’ in the league (we are the lowest) – they don’t tend to make too many mistakes in their defensive positions.

I get these stats from MARKSTATS, by the way, which helps me to get an understanding of what we’re up against. But by all accounts, it feels like a defensively disciplined side who will sit in their shape and ask the likes of Gueye and Garner to tuck in and protect the defence, whilst McNeill and Ndiaye will be their counter-attacking wingers who will look to set the big man Beto in. They’ll look for set pieces to unsettle us (they have the third most shots from set pieces in the whole Premier League – we are fourth), because despite me saying that they’ll look for Beto, they actually have the lowest number of fast breaks in the league. Going on this initial assessment of some top-line data, this already feels like it is going to be a very attritional game for The Arsenal. I’m sure Arteta is ready for that, but are the media, when they once again accuse us of being boring when the opposition side has sat in their own half for most of the game?

Their fans are understandably buoyant after back-to-back wins, with a quick check on one of their fan forums giving us things like:

The pressure on them could work in our favour and let’s be honest they haven’t looked great lately.
I’m hoping our confidence will beat their nerves

And

We got battered there last year but somehow managed to get a 0-0 draw. I would take that again

And

Beto passes a sublime, curled injury time winner to start the Annual arsenal campaign rot. Followed by 15min delay as VAR team take the unusual step of a passport check to confirm it’s actually Beto.

0-1.

Jack Grealish has caused us problems over the years, but he’s injured, which is a bonus. I do think Ndiaye is a decent player. I had him in my FPL team at the start of the season, and he racked up a fair few points for me with his penalty goals and set pieces. He’s one to keep an eye on, I think. I also find it ironic that their fans are talking about Arsenal scrums in the penalty box, after we saw the game against Man United be probably even worse between those two sides. I do wonder if we’re getting to a point in the season, however, where a referee will select a game to make an example of. This feels like the sort of game where that might happen, be it a penalty for either side. I hope I’m wrong.

The pundits are – as you’d expect – giving Arsenal the edge in this one. Merse has gone for a 2-1 in which we edge it, Lewis Jones says it’ll be a 2-0, citing Moyes’ away form in these big games as not being that great. Sutton also thinks it’ll be 2-0, saying that Everton will make it difficult, there might be a chance of fatigue, but our squad should see us through. Which I kind of get. What’s interesting is that a lot of these guys are also predicting City to drop points away to West Ham. I’m not sure I see that. I get it, they will be down after Real Madrid, and they’ve had to travel back from Spain on Wednesday, before coming down to the capital, with West Ham having their feet up, but I just don’t see City dropping points tomorrow – that’s why we have to take care of our business first. If we slip up with a defeat or a draw, it gives City a boost before they even kick off. If they know that they cannot do anything other than win tomorrow night, maybe it makes those muscles a little more tense and tight. That’s the opportunity we have, and that’s what Mikel Arteta must be instructing on his players.

I’ll leave it there for now. I’m back as usual tomorrow, and I’ll catch you all then when we all know what the team news is, and can start the guesswork on how Arteta will set the team up.

Tottingham Popspurs, my-oh-my, what on earth? Even during the most banterous of Banter Era moments, I don’t remember us doing what they did last night. Three Champions League goals conceded in the first 15 minutes for the first time ever, I believe. A goalkeeper subbed off after 15 minutes for the first time ever. A Spurs side who have now lost six on the bounce in all competitions. And a manager who was supposed to be the short term ‘fixer’, now being heckled by a fanbase who in the last month have talked about ending the season, but now all believe that there is a massive chance they go down.

I can’t remember if I’ve talked about it on here, but I would love it if they went down. Love it. There are Arsenal fans talking about how we’d lose a guaranteed six points, about the joys of the North London Derby being unmatched, and about how it is good to have them in the Premier League for us. Not for me. Whack them down to the Championship, please.

That’s 245 words of today’s match day musings that I’ve wasted on that club, so let’s get to The Arsenal now, shall we? Arteta and Havertz (understandably, given his history with Leverkusen) were the ones up in front of the media yesterday, and thankfully, it appears as though some of the knocks from the weekend and players missing from training were exactly as we’d all hoped – nothing serious and rest has been had. So we have Gabriel, Saliba, Raya, Zubimendi, Rice, Calafiori and Trossard all available for selection tonight. Charles Watts also reported that Ben White travelled with the squad, so that’s great news as well. Hopefully, he can get some minutes today, because I do think Arteta is going to have to keep Jurrien Timber from breaking down by limiting his minutes if he can. White is a good player, has been a great servant for us in his time so far, but he’s already shown his body can’t handle being the sole breadwinner on that right hand side, so Arteta needs to make sure he keeps both players as fresh as possible by giving them minutes.

I think the rest of the team is going to be largely easy to predict, with just a question on left wing and left back. I’m thinking Arteta will go for:

Raya

Timber   –   Saliba   –   Gabriel   –   Hincapie

Zubimendi

Eze   –   Rice

Saka   –   Gyokeres   –   Trossard

I think Hincapie’s form, plus Arteta not wanting to risk Calafiori, suggests the Ecuadorian might get the nod. He’s not cup-tied, given that technically Leverkusen are still his club, but that’s all the more reason to start him, I think. He’ll have some extra impetus and incentive to demonstrate how his career is kicking on, and his form is such that he deserves that start. On the left this is a tricky one. In the Champions League, Martinelli has been bagging goals, and with teams often pressing high (especially at home) it feels as though there’s more space for him to exploit. But I’ve gone with Trossard because:

1. I think he works better with Gyokeres
2. I think Leverkusen are going to go more compact tonight and look to contain Arsenal

They may be at home, but if they are solid defensively and can limit us in a lower block, then the pressure switches to us at The Emirates. Thankfully, the away goal rule is done, so it does mean that Leverkusen can’t do the ol’ “draw 0-0 at home and 1-1 away and go through” that felt like it was one of the more rubbish things about the 90s and 2000s Champions League. But the gameplan can still be similar; stay in the tie in the first leg, then see if the supposed ‘favourites’ crack under the pressure on their own turf. It’s how I would set up tonight.

I’ve watched a couple of good tactical videos, including this one here, so it appears as though we’re going to get a back three from Leverkusen with two floating 10s supporting their front man. They’ll rely on their wing-backs for width and in Grimaldo, they have a quality player who this season is their second top scorer in all competitions with 12 goals. Not bad for a left wing-back, eh? There’s a question mark over their main man, Patrik Schick, who has been out with a muscular injury for the last couple of games, but their coach confirmed he trained yesterday and so will be in the squad. I talked about the strengths of the guy who might replace him yesterday, but if Schick is available and starts, it will be a different prospect for Gabriel and Salba. He’s about six foot three and is good in the air; he’ll be a strong link-up man for them in bringing those two tens in place, and if they utilise their wing-backs as we think they might.

Apparently, one of the challenges Bayer has is that they haven’t really rotated their first XI much this season, so I have read, with one report saying that Grimaldo has openly talked about how fatigued he is. We have to hope that is the case tonight, especially given that Saka only came on as a sub at the weekend. I hope he’s fresher than the Spaniard and that his penchant for venturing forward leaves space in behind, becaus eit feels like that might be an area of the pitch we could take advantage of.

Nothing is decided tonight, but we know full well, having seen Bayern smash Atalanta and Atletico dispatch the Scum, that you can very well put yourself with one foot out of Europe if you don’t get the duels right and the tactics spot on. Leverkusen have already beaten Man City away (something we haven’t done in about 10 years!), as well as drawn at home to Newcastle and beaten Villareal on their own patch too. They are a decent side in their own ground, so Mikel Arteta needs tobe very wary of that.

Catch you all tomorrow for the usual debrief.

It won’t be easy, of course, but when you think about the balance of probabilities, it’s a more favourable tie. As I went for my run yesterday, I was thinking about this: there are seven sides we could have been drawn against. That means 14 permutations (seven home, seven away). If I think about what would be the topfour or five permutations, it would have been Port Vale at home, then Port Vale away, then Southampton at home, then Southampton away. We got the fourth-best option out of 14 options, so that’s pretty good.

Of course, as is the way this season, the narratives already started to drop, with an article on Sky that I read last night saying that we haven’t played a Premier League side so far in the FA Cup. Of course, nobody is mentioning that neither have Chelsea, and they got the best possible draw to get into the semi-finals with their home tie to Port Vale. But there you go. They aren’t the story so far this season, we are.

Still, it could have been worse. We could have got the draw that City got – Liverpool, albeit at home for them. But that represents a really tough match-up that Pep is not exactly going to be able to rest players for. Liverpool will be looking at this as a competition in which they can win a trophy, despite a difficult season, so they will go strong. City will need to match that, which means their April is suddenly looking like quite the douzy of a month. They play Liverpool in the FA Cup, the Champions League quarter final probably against Bayern, Chelsea away (who will no doubt have rotated for Port Vale at home) in the Premier League, then the second leg of their quarter final in the Champions League, before they play us. Their last game is away to Burnley, which is the banker for them.

Now, none of us should be counting our chickens, of course, but our games at least on paper don’t look as scary. We have Southampton away, then the quarter final if we can overcome Leverkusen to either Sporting or Bodo/Glimt, before playing Bournemouth at home in the Premier League, then it’s the second leg of that Sporting/Bodo quarter final at home (again, if we make it), before we play them. Our last game is a tricky one at home to a Newcastle side that I am really hoping will have nothing to play for, but equally will give us a tough match-up.

Once again, we have to put a big asterisk against all of these matches, but you’d rather have our run of games than theirs. It means April may well turn out to be a pivotal one in the season; I really hope we rise to the occasion in our games, with City hopefully dropping points and not being knocked out. For example, I kind of want to see City win their games against Real Madrid. We want them to be playing quarter finals just before they play us in the League. If they’ve been knocked out to Real Madrid, they have a week off before they play us, whilst we’ll have played a home match if we beat Leverkusen. That’s the kind of marginal gain that could have a big swing in a match like that at the Emptihad.

But we still have to respect and do our jobs against Leverkusen. Arteta will be up in front of the press today to talk about that game, but tomorrow evening’s early kick-off is one that we will have to see Arsenal step up against a patchy Leverkusen side this season. Their last five matches in all competitions have been:

1. 3-3 draw away to Freiburg
2. 1-0 win away to Hamburg
3. 1-1 draw at home to Mainz
4. 0-0 home draw against Olympiacos
5. 1-0 defeat to Union Berlin

Like I say – patchy.

They still have players who can hurt us in the shape of Schick and Grimaldo, but I think the Czech centre-forward is currently injured for this one, so that might be a big advantage for us. That means they’ll likely turn to the pacey Christian Kofane as their attacking outlet, who has seven goals to his name this season, and I suspect the Cameroonian will make life difficult for our centre halves tomorrow night. They’re also missing Loic Bade, Arthur, Flekken and Lucas Vasquez – the latter being at Real Madrid last season and sucking on some sour grapes after the game by saying we did “almost nothing” in the game at the Bernabeu. It would have been nice to see if Martinelli can skin him again tomorrow night, but I guess it just isn’t meant to be.

For us, all eyes will be on those players who were rested from the weekend, plus whether Trossard and Calafiori’s knocks are longer-term than just a precaution, although I suspect we won’t really know, given how much we know Arteta likes to tell us almost nothing in his press conferences. Despite that, though, I am still hoping that he at least confirms that the two that came off at the weekend are fine for Everton on Saturday. We may not need them for tonight, but we do need to start rotating this team and not over-relying on players, given how quickly the matches are coming right now.

We’ll find out more later, I’m gutted I couldn’t get a ticket as I’d have flown over tonight, but let’s hope that The Arsenal are in good shapes for this one, because keeping the impossible dream alive of a quadruple would be mighty nice with a win tomorrow. I’ll catch you then, when we have a look at how we might line up.

This morning I am thinking about Pierro Hincapie, who got on the pitch this weekend, after Trossard’s injury, to help us win at Mansfield and get our name in the hat for tonight’s draw. I’ll give some thoughts on the draw in a minute, but back to Hincapie for now, who yesterday we had a kind of ‘worst-kept-secret’ announcement from Fabrizio Romano, that Arsenal would trigger his £45 million loan clause to buy, meaning he’ll be an Arsenal player next season and sign a five-year deal.

We all knew that was the case; we knew that it was very much like the David Raya deal that took him from Brentford to us, but ol’ Fabrizio just wanted to rubber-stamp it by making his announcement yesterday. And I don’t think there’s an Arsenal fan around who wouldn’t say “good stuff” on that deal.

I don’t think that’s always been the case, though. I think a lot of us were wondering why we’d signed a deputy left-back/centre-half when we already had Myles Lewis-Skelly and Riccardo Calafiori, with a few fans I know jokingly suggesting that it was because Mikel collects left-backs. Forget collecting Gabby’s, it’s in that side of the pitch that he has a real penchant for…

But the Ecuadorian has grown in stature in 2026, to the point where I think a lot of us are wondering who, when fit, is Mikel’s first choice left back. Calafiori kicked off this season in fine form, even scoring on opening day, but as per last season (and pretty much his whole career), injury has hit him, and as a result, Hincapie has been able to get himself successive minutes for which he’s been able to establish himself as a regular.

I think it’s an interesting profile in the way in which he plays that position, too, because it isn’t the same as Myles and Riccy. He feels very much like a ‘defenders defender’; he doesn’t invert as much, he fits a more traditional position on the pitch for a left back, plus I can picture him in my mind’s eye as he overlaps his man, trying to get down the wing to put a ball in. Of course, that isn’t always the case, and his goal against Wolves shows that he can pop up in that insight channel at times, but to me, he offers a different way of playing that left-back role, and I wonder if Mikel is preferring that right now. I saw one of his press conferences recently in which he talked about how difficult the Premier League is, about how three to four years ago you could invert your left back and that would create space, but that space isn’t there any more, and it makes me think about the role that Hincapie is playing and how he has the starting jersey as it stands. Football is constantly evolving, tactics ebb and flow throughout the season as teams learn to adapt and shift their approach based on the opposition. Teams know about the inverted fullback approach Arteta brought with Zinchenko, so they have countered it, so perhaps we are shifting back to a more traditional look at left back?

Of course, this could all be nonsense on Wednesday or Saturday next week when Calafiori starts (hopefully his knock doesn’t keep him out), and he goes back to being that dynamic left-back who pops up in central midfield. But I just think it is an interesting talking point when thinking about Hincapie and how well he has done in this latter part of the season. Will he now go on to stake his claim like Timber has done on that right-hand side? I’m not sure about that, because I do think Arteta loves a bit of Calafiori, but Hincapie certainly seems like he’s in the driving seat right now.

Which is also interesting and timely, given who we play on Wednesday in the Champions League, as the Ecuadorian returns to his ‘old’ club Leverkusen. I would imagine that the reason he didn’t start on Saturday was that Arteta has him earmarked for that midweek fixture. I suspect it will be weird for him, though; just one year ago, he would have been pulling on that Leverkusen jersey and heading out in front of them to play Werder Bremen in a 2-0 defeat (technically, he was an unused sub, but you get my point). Now he could be up against them in a red and white shirt as Arsenal’s starting full back.

It’s not just him, though, as Kai also will be returning to a familiar haunt, as he had four years at Leverkusen before moving to Chelsea in 2020. So he will also be keen to get on that pitch I suspect. His 60-odd minutes on Saturday has hopefully given him a platform to get more minutes, but I suspect it will be Big Vik who starts in midweek, given that he didn’t get on the pitch on Saturday. There will no doubt be a role for Kai at some stage on his old stomping ground, but if I’m a betting man, I’m thinking that Arteta and his coaching staff are looking at that Everton game as one more likely to feature Havertz from the start.

We’ll know more tomorrow when Arteta does his press conference, but for today, all eyes are on that FA Cup draw tonight. The games are due to be played over the Easter weekend of 4th and 5th April, and given the upsets of Southampton and Port Vale yesterday, I’ve got a hankering for a return to Vale Park. That probably won’t happen, and it does feel as though we have a big tie coming up in the next round; Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City are all still in it, and it feels to me like we’re getting one of those away. I just have a feeling about it, you know?

If we’re mapping out a preferred/least preferred list, mine would be:

1. Port Vale
2. Southampton
3. Leeds
4. West Ham/Brentford
5. Chelsea
6. Liverpool
7. Man City

You just know we’re getting City away, don’t you? It feels almost destined, given we’re in a title race with them. We’ll know by 7.30pm this evening though, so I’ll come on here tomorrow and give some initial thoughts on that when we speak next.

And so for now, for today, I will wish you and yours a great day and I’ll catch you tomorrow. Ciao.

Indeed, if the training pictures and video are anything to go by, we’re definitely going to get that, because there was no sign of Gabriel, Saliba, White, Timber, Zubimendi, Rice or Odegaard. All of which I don’t think you’ll find a single Arsenal fan unhappy about their possible absence today. We simply have to give some of those players a rest. And I guess there are two types of ‘rest’, really:

1. Rest from the matchday squad and playing, and going through the usual warm-up
2. Complete rest from everything – including training

I hope those players have all been given the latter. It will have meant a tiny little ‘Spring break’ for them, and if it helps them for the Leverkusen game and the Everton game next week, then happy days. I want them rested, reset and ready to go. Of course, some of them are possibly injured, with White and Odegaard sure to tick that box, but there’s a question mark over Saliba (which Arteta confirmed in his press conference), and there’s no way you want to risk him with this kind of game.

Especially with the rumoured state of the Mansfield pitch, which some of the journalists commented on in the press conference as having “not a lot of grass”. Arteta isn’t outfoxed for a soundbite to clip upin these types of moments, however, so of course he played a perfectly straight bat with his response. As you’d expect. We’re going to get a ‘good ol’ fashioned cup tie’ this lunchtime, and I’m expecting the footballing cliches to be busted out left, right, and centre by TNT Sports today. So Arsenal’s modus operandi is to be professional, control possession, not allow the game to get bogged down (excuse the pun) in a slog fest, demonstrating their quality to the Mansfield team – even with such a rotated squad.

The good thing so far this season is that even when Arteta has rotated his team, we’ve still seen plenty of professionalism on display, so I am expecting nothing less this lunchtime. But who will take their place in the Arsenal starting XI and on the bench?

Here’s my stab at a starting XI for Mansfield away:

Kepa

Salmon   –   Mosquera   –   Calafiori   –   Hincapie

Norgaard

Dowman   –   Havertz

Madueke   –   Jesus   –   Martinelli

My thinking here is that Hincapie has played the least of all the ‘regulars’ this season, so he might be the freshest, and with Myles suspended, it makes sense. It’s a shame because if Myles were able to start, then you could rotate almost the entire team, ready for Leverkusen. But his suspension as a result of yellow card accumulation means that Arteta has a little bit of thinking to do. I think Havertz in from the start makes sense, as the club tries to build his fitness back up, but I’d be tempted to give it just the 45 minutes, and when he gets through that, have him off regardless of the score. I think Madueke and Jesus therefore pick themselves, although I see that Harriman-Annous was training with the first team, so perhaps he can do a bit of a job share with Gabby J? Alternatively, Arteta could look at this match as an opportunity for Big Vik to bag a goal or two, although I’d be surprised if he started. Then I think you have to give Martinelli a chance to overcome his poor performance away at Brighton by getting in and amongst the action today. That’s certainly what my hope is.

The bench will, I hope, be littered with youngsters. Let’s have Josh Nicholas, let’s give Evan Mooney a place, let him sit alongside Brando Bailey-Joseph – I want to be scratching my head when I see that Arsenal bench.

Of course, I suspect there will be a few more established players ready to come on if the situation dictates, but with all due respect to Mansfield, this should be a game in which Arsenal take the opportunity to catch a breath at a point in the season in which every moment feels ultra-intense. Even last night, I woke up at 3 am and was thinking about what the psychological impact would be of another horrible home game against Everton like last season, so it shows you just how much this end of the season is hitting the average Joe fan like me.

As for Mansfield, well, even Nigel Clough (that’s a blast from my Panini sticker album past!) knows it is an uphill battle, as well as admitting that their league form is more important than this right now. Of course, their players will be up for it, and the chance to test themselves against a Premier League team is massive, but the manager has hardly sounded a rally cry for his team. He’s said he’s not looking forward to playing against Arteta, that there’s not a lot they can do other than focus on themselves, as well as the fact our squad will “frighten the life out of our lads” – so he’s hardly sounding optimistic. We have to use that. We have to make sure there are no upsets. I was nine when we lost to Wrexham – that pain of going into school on the Monday has never left me – I don’t want that again on Monday for work as an adult!

I’m not going to pretend to know anything about them tactically, but if Adrian Clarke’s words of wisdom are anything to go by, it sounds to me like another low-block afternoon might be on the cards. Who knows – they might surprise us and come out a little, but I would be very surprised if that happens, because they don’t want to be on the end of an absolute slap down.

Right, I’ll leave it there for today. James and I will do a post-match review tomorrow on the Same Old Arsenal pod, so join us then if you want a little more Arsenal in your life.

Much obliged.

My brother is a West Ham fan. On my Dad’s side of the family, they are all Hammers. He’s been pretty down of late. But I messaged him when they beat The Scum and said:

The dream scenario. We win the league. Your mob stay up. The Scum go down.

He wasn’t very expectant of that:

I’ll take winning the FA Cup too while we’re at it. But it won’t happen.

I still think Tottenham will, unfortunately, avoid the drop. But it is fun to see them flailing. I also have a Spurs mate I went to school with who, upon them winning the Europa League last season by being the least-sh*t side in the competition, sent me a video of himself swaggering around the Tottenham stadium. That video is being brought out if they go down and we win the league.

But….there is STILL loads of football to play. We can’t count our chickens-on-basketballs just yet. We are in a fabulous position, and we have a little respite from the relentlessness of the Premier League this weekend, but that win at Brighton and the subsequent City draw will have been a huge shot of confidence and adrenaline into the arms of those Arsenal players. Whatever about us playing poorly for the performance, the win and the grind of three points was all that mattered. We leave the bitching and moaning to the pundits, media, and rival fans.

And there’s been a fair bit of it of late. I see Pardew has said this Premier League season will have an ‘asterisk’ next to it because of gamesmanship and time-wasting. But you don’t have to look far to see that it’s a self-fulfilling media narrative that is driving that kind of nonsense statement:

Hurzeler will never be a winner. He will always remain that manager who likes to be an underdog and crib about everything. Always salty and insecure who will never appreciate his colleagues. pic.twitter.com/mO116AC7vN

— Sir Jenkinson (@theEpicGooner) March 5, 2026

You can put asterisks against any title win if you like:

• Liverpool 2024/25* = Injuries to rivals and favourable refereeing helped them
• Man City 2023/24* = 115 Charges
• Man City 2022/23* = 115 Charges

I mean, I could go on and on with the City charges stuff…

Thankfully, despite some of the hollow and, frankly, factually incorrect nonsense that we have seen from some corners of the online world (here’s another one if you fancy it), we are starting to see some counter-punches being thrown in the media, including this one from Sam Dean in the Telegraph which I quite liked. It’s behind a paywall, but the jist is that we tried playing better football in 2022/23 and we got lambasted for not having the guile or experience of the City side. We are not here to make friends, we have to use this outside noise to create a siege mentality, and we must continue to grind out results between now and May if we want to win this thing. We don’t know whether Everton, in just over a week, will end up being the opposite of what we are feeling right now with our jubilation (remember the 0-0 with Dyche’s Everton last season at The Emirates, anyone?), but as it stands we can be pleased with where the team is at and letr’s keep our feet on the ground and our hopes in the sky.

Arteta will be up in front of the microphones today to talk Mansfield, which I suspect the team will then immediately hop on a coach up to Yorkshire for the game tomorrow lunchtime. It’s a press conference in which I sincerely hope he admits that there will be some players who will just not even be on the coach to head up. The likes of Zubi and Rice I want at home. Maybe Saka, Saliba and Gabriel too, although I suspect you can’t ground too many of your first teamers in case things go a little Pete Tong at Field Mill. It will be a hopefully very well-rotated side, because it’s up against a Mansfield team who currently sit 16th in League One and whose only win in their last 10 games came away at Burnley in the previous round.

I make no excuses for my little knowledge about them, but a quick look at WhoScored can give a wee overview of the type of game we might get. Their strengths are in defending set pieces, which will hopefully be tested tomorrow, whilst their weaknesses show a side that isn’t ball-dominant, isn’t great at aerial duels, and isn’t good at defending against through-balls. They are also described as a ‘non-aggressive’ side, which amuses me when you think about some of the aforementioned characteristics, because we are described as a side who are powerful, strong, a dominating presence, which isn’t too good to watch. Normally, when you think about these kinds of games, you think that a tight ground, lower-league opposition, will make it a tough and physical battle. But the way Mansfield are described by WhoScored, it feels like we’re the ones who might bring more of that to the table tomorrow!

We’ll have to see what Arteta says in his press conference today, but I’m looking forward to seeing what some of the rotated players can do in this one tomorrow, because there are a few players that do need minutes, but we might also get to see the likes of Dowman play too. I’ll do more of an in-depth look at us and what we might do tomorrow as the match preview.

But until then, I shall bid you adieu, and hope you have a fab Friday.

Laters kids.

A huge one.

On a night in which Nottingham Forest amazingly managed to pick up a point at The Etihad (bonus hilarity watching can be had with Bernardo Silva’s whinge at the end of the game yesterday – mate, you’ve had all the decisions go your way week-after-week since Rodri moaned at Spurs), Arsenal found a way to ‘win ugly’ at a very difficult Brighton side, to extend our lead at the top and build back a mini cushion with eight games for us to go.

We should focus on the key moments of the game, of course, but before we do that, let’s talk Fabian Huerzeler. What a dislikeable and odious character he is. Much like what we see these days, where a narrative is spun in the media and it is pulled into the common vernacular by those within the game, Huerzeler used his post-match press conference and interviews to cry ‘foul’ over Arsenal’s supposed delaying tactics. He whined about it being ‘not football’ and how nobody wants to see a game like yesterday. He moaned about David Raya going down three times and said you never see a ‘keeper do that.

Yes, we do. Emi Martinez. Regularly. Jordan Pickford is known to stay down a little longer to take pressure off his defenders. Goalkeepers have been going down and time-wasting at The Emirates for decades. Tim Krul was a master of it.

Huerzeler’s deflection tactics about the quality of the game are laughable. Brighton played well, right up until our box, in which Gabriel, Hincapie, Timber, and Mosquera (replaced by Calafiori) were imperious in ensuring this game ended as a shutout for Brighton. Arsenal didn’t play well, our attack was once again not really functioning, and Martinelli and Gyokeres were pretty anonymous (the whole ‘Martinelli/Gyokeres can’t play with each other’ discourse feels like it is really starting to become a ‘thing’ now, unfortunately) throughout the game. But to call us ‘boring’ and ‘not football’ – as will be the case by all of the ‘pundits’ this morning and for the next few days – is disingenuous. Brighton are the first team to actually outplay us for a very long time; most teams just sit in a low block and counter. So Why don’t we focus on that and how Arsenal had to dig deep to secure the points today?

The team was pretty much as I think most of us would have predicted; Martinelli in for Trossard, who was poor on Sunday against Chelsea. Saliba picked up a knock, and so Mosquera came in, whilst the rest of the team remained unchanged. And we got off to the perfect start. Saka’s goal in the 9th minute made me think that we were in for an impressive Arsenal away day, but after that initial deflected goal, we never really managed to assert control on this game. Brighton were good. They popped the ball around well, had more possession than us, kept us pegged back into our own half, and we struggled to find outlets for our attacking players. Gyokeres had another one of those games where the ball didn’t stick, and by the time his number came up for Havertz, he’d registered just 20 touches and had lost the ball 13 times. Not good enough. He needs to shape up, and if I’m Arteta, I’m thinking about doing 45 minutes for him against Mansfield, as well as 45 minutes for Havertz, because I think we need to start looking at Havertz slowly taking over more of the work up top as we reach the crunch point in this Premier League season.

Martinelli did his bit to demonstrate that maybe he is just a really good impact player, offering practically nothing on the left flank, whilst Eze had another game that sort of half-passed him by. What I mean by that is that at times he looked like he couldn’t get on the ball, but I saw other times in which he was popping it round quite well. There was one moment in thefirst half, for example, in which his quick touch set Saka in behind, only for him to flash the ball across goal to where neither Big Vik or Martinelli were ready to pounce.

I thought Saka was quiet, but on his 300th game for the club, with the winning goal scored, you have to give him a pass in terms of performance. The front end of our team just didn’t function.

That’s certainly not true of the defence or the midfield, though, and one Raya brain-fart moment aside right at the beginning of the game, I thought to a man our back line and two anchoring midfielders were excellent. Declan Rice and Gabriel, in particular, were rocks for us and this game felt like a throwback to the earlier part of the season, in which the Arsenal team defended like their lives were at stake. It was the type of performance that has felt like we’ve forgotten how to do in 2026, so whilst I am disappointed in us going forward this morning, I am pleased that the muscle memory at the back appears to have kicked back in for our defensive line.

I’m not sure what else there is to say, really, because there wasn’t a ton of other stuff going on in the game. Raya only made two saves all evening, whilst Chris Kavanagh seemed to offer Brighton players just about every free kick they wanted. The yellow Mosquera got was fine, if you’re applying the same rules to all players, but Brighton players seemed to get away with a fair few more challenges than Arsenal’s did. Which is why the bitching by Huerzeler was so ironic.

But hey, we got the win, we got the three points, this midweek has turned out to be a bit of a blinder and we now have everything in our hands once again.

Let’s hope it stays that way for a long time yet.

Back tomorrow as we start to preview Mansfield away in the cup. See you then.

Arsenal are as much in control of their own destiny as 115 Charges FC are. So today is a huge game and a massive win.

And this is going to be really hard. I think we’re going to have to suffer through it because Chelsea is a decent side. Whatever about their last game against Burnley and the draw, it was done against the backdrop of once again being a man down, and I think if they are 11v11, then they don’t drop those points as they did. They have lost just two games since Rosenior took over – against us in the cup, and in the Premier League, you have to go back to 27th December, when Villa beat them on their own patch, to see when they tasted defeat away fromhome in the Premier League. That last away defeat was even further back, when Leeds beat them 3-1 at Elland Road in December. There are a fair few draws in there, sure, but it underlines that this side is decent and they will cause us problems today.

They will probably score too. The last time they didn’t in the league was the 0-0 away at Bournemouth on 6th December, and so we’re looking at a side who do create chances, which I sort of touched on towards the end of Friday’s blog, but looking at the results only today, has pretty much confirmed. And when you think that we have only had two clean sheets in games in which the opposition just shut down – and shut us down (Liverpool and Forest) – then you realise that we are in for a difficult afternoon, I fear. Rosenior said as much in his press conference, too. We can laugh at some of his David Brentisms, we can call him ‘LinkedIn Liam’ all we want, but he does know how to set his team up, and they do spend a fair portion of each game dominating possession and looking decent.

Which is horrible to say, because as a club, they are reprehensible. Everything from a history of racism within the fanbase, some players like Enzo and their chequered past, the fact they go around kicking people (rock bottom of the fair play table and have had 10 sendings off this season), as well as their business model of turning football transfers into a Monopoly money trading approach. They are almost as bad as the Scum. In fact, they might be worse, to tell the truth. They have at least won trophies with their ill-got gains, which is also a travesty, because it kind of underlines the fact that if you bin off the manager every six weeks, if you financially dope or game the system, you can actually benefit. The bad guys do sometimes win, unfortunately.

So today Arsenal need to prove their title credentials, they need to prove they are up for this fight, they need to prove they can handle the pressure of a massive London derby.

As for the team, I think there will be no real changes from the North London Derby, so:

Raya

Timber   –   Saliba   –   Gabriel   –   Hincapié

Zubimendi

Eze   –   – Rice

Saka   –   Gyokeres   –   Trossard

I think Arteta will want to try to keep the winning vibes from the players who played in the North London Derby, although this will be a different game completely. I think Chelsea will certainly have more of the ball; they’ll attack in spaces that the Scum simply couldn’t, but I also think they will defend in tighter spaces than Tottenham did. For example, I don’t think Andrey Santos and Caicedo give Eze the space in front of the D that he had for Gyokeres’ first goal last weekend (even though he didn’t touch the ball), nor do I think Gyokeres gets the time to get that shot off today. Chelsea will sit in a compact and better-structured defensive unit and congest the space when out of possession, which is why I’d have Trossard instead of Martinelli today. He’s one for the second half, I think. Trossard wasn’t great against Tottenham, but he has more magic in his feet, and I also think he works better with Big Vik, so that’s what I’d be doing.

And on big Vik, I really hope we have seen something click, and I hope he gets more on the ball like he did last weekend. Arteta teased us with the Eze comments about knowing how to get the best out of him, but I hope the Arsenal team have learned how to get the best out of Gyokeres, and I hope that means getting at least one guy in and around him when the ball is played up to him.

We’ve had a week off now, so I also hope that has helped Timber, who has looked like he’s showing signs of mental fatigue. I also think we’ll see Hincapie because he’s been in good form, but it also feels like this is a game in which we might need a solid defensive base. Last weekend Chelsea went with Cole Palmer on their right-hand side/our left, but he likes to float, so ordinarily I’d say let’s use that to get Calafiori in. But I think Arteta will lean in to the meritocracy thing and keep the Ecuadorian in at left back.

I’m nervous now, having written just over 900 words, because I really want to beat this Chelsea team. We should have beaten them at their place in the league, but we put in a bit of a stodgy performance, despite being a man up. It’s time to put that right today.

Amanda and James will be doing a post-game live pod at 9pm is you want to join in for an instant(ish) reaction. You can do that here. Otherwise, I’ll catch you here tomorrow for a review of what went down.

See you then.

It’s a pathway that I don’t think you’ll have found a single Gooner not happy with when they did the draw yesterday. And for me, with Leverkusen literally next to Koln, I am hoping I can find a way to get a ticket for the away game. I suspect it will be a tough one to get, but I’ll be keeping everything crossed that I can secure one.

And to those fans of other clubs bemoaning our luck, I’m sorry, but I have no time for such nonsense. Do you know how we got this ‘luck’? By winning every single game of the group stages. If – and it is an ‘if’, because all teams at this stage of the competition are very good teams – we get through this phase of play, you can’t exactly say we haven’t played good teams on our way. Bayern, Atletico Madrid, and Inter Milan – all good teams and two of whom are already into this stage of the competition. And Leverkusen will be no slouches either. We have a mixed record of going to Germany, so I am not counting my chickens, but am I glad that we weren’t on the other side of the draw? If I speak, I am in trouble…

The reality of the situation is that we are fighting on multiple fronts and, if we can get a draw that – hopefully – affords more rotation for Arteta at any stage, then that would be amazing. Imagine if we can go to Leverkusen and get the win. It would be massive for the context of our season, because we play the return fixture just before the League Cup final. Man City play Real Madrid in their double-header, which I would hope and imagine is not going to afford them much room for rotation. We may end up not being able to rotate depending on that first result, but upon guesswork and estimation, you’d imagine that we stand a higher probability than City do. We could have done with them travelling away to Madrid before the League Cup final, but there you go, not a lot that can be done.

That’s a ‘future us’ problem, though. The immediate and most pressing problem we have is how to overcome a Chelsea side who will have seen Villa lose to Wolves last night, and will be seeing an opportunity to go for those Champions League spots with the Villains wobbling. Rosenior had his presser yesterday and confirmed that Reece James is back, Cucurella is out, as well as Estevao and Fofana through suspension. The rest of their players who are long-term absentees remain out, but Rosenior seemed pretty confident ahead of this one, saying that “what I would say is that they also know it is going to be a very difficult game for them,” which is fair. Chelsea are no mugs. They have players who tipover the edge, borne out by the number of red cards they have this season (including that disgraceful one on Merino by Caicedo against us earlier in the season), but they have some very good technical players too. Enzo, Caicedo, James, and Pedro Neto – all of those are players that I think are very good on the ball, and we will have to be at our best at both ends of the pitch if we want to get something from this game tomorrow. He did point out – which is a familiar failing of ours recently too – that Chelsea have “we have just given goals away”. IF Chelsea are looking at a weakness in us of our ability to have a brain-fart moment, we might look to them for the same issues.

I had another look at the Burnley game, but I also watched the Sun Sports tactics exposed column to see what Chelsea might try to do to us with a bit of a low block, and the goal they scored kind of resonated with how they might look to catch us out on Sunday. They like to control the central space in their own half around the centre circle, apparently, and the goal they scored against Burnley came through a bit of an interchange in that space, followed by a quick back-to-front movement with a defence-splitting pass from Caicedo to Neto, then Neto across goal to Joao Pedro. Decent goal to be fair. The goal they conceded from a corner was shocking marking, though.

As for Arteta, well, I guess I’ve focused more on Chelsea’s press conference because, as usual, we didn’t really get much from the manager. Half of me doesn’t mind that, because you are giving no quarter to the opposition, but it doesn’t make for easy reviewing for a simple blogger like me!

The training pictures/video don’t give away much either. No sign of Timber, although there was no real comment about his availability or lackthereof. But he did say that Kai would train today, so that’s a positive. I suspect if he’s only training today, it’d be a long shot for tomorrow, but they must have Brighton in mind – perhaps for the bench – as a game he’s been earmarked for a return on.

One thing I did think was interesting was his comments on the mood in the camp. His response of “not too high, not too low” kind of reassured me, in some way. It feels almost as if the stench of the Wolves game was completely neutralised from the high of the North London Derby, which is fine, and you don’t want those players to get carried away. They are professionals, they have a job to do, so getting the game face on and not thinking too much about past successes is exactly how you prepare for another intense football match against a local and hated rival. What was also good – although expected – was his rhetoric around Chelsea. He said that their preparation remains the same, that they aren’t sure whether they will approach this game in the same way as the League Cup second round, but I would be surprised if they haven’t modelled some in-game scenarios for tomorrow based on the first five or ten minutes and how the game plays out. There was an interview with the guy from The Sun who does the tactics column with Declan Rice, and he said something that I’ll paraphrase, but it was essentially “if fans could come and see how the manager prepares us, they’d realise just how detailed our tactics are”. I believe him. Arteta is meticulous; he tries to leave no stone unturned. I’d imagine he only sleeps a couple of hours a night because he is so switched on. That only gets you so far, though; you need the players on the pitch to do it consistently, and that has to go again tomorrow.

Right, that’ll do for now, so I’ll put a pin in today’s musings and be back tomorrow with some more thoughts on how we might be able to collect three points tomorrow. Catch you then.