We were ponderous with the ball, slow in our build up play and the passing of the players selected in red and white yesterday was abysmal for large parts of the game against Stoke. A trait of a successful Arsène Wenger team in the first few years of his reign was the ability to pop the ball around quickly, accurately, with very little errors and that allowed us to move the ball from back to front so quickly.

Yesterday was an example of why this team is where it is in the league. Özil, Wilshere, Chambers, Aubameyang, Mustafi, Monreal; all made some pretty questionable decisions in their passing range and it was frustrating as hell to watch.

What I also noticed yesterday was what I’d describe as cowardly football from some players. Sometimes on a football pitch it’s easy to get lost positionally on purpose; Theo used to do it all the time. You know – when you take up positions on the pitch so your teammates can’t give you the ball. I saw that yesterday from one or two players in the first half but also, I noticed that there was a lot of return passes, which is also slightly cowardly in my opinion. The type of pass where somebody gives you the ball and you give it straight back to them. There was plenty of that.

But here I am four paragraphs in and I’ve not really had much positive to say, which does feel weird, especially given what we got in the end was a 3-0 victory. It didn’t feel like the archetypal home win by that number though. The second half started much in the same way that the first did and for at least 25 minutes into that second half it felt like this game was going to either peter out to nothing or end up with an Orcish counter attack and defeat.

We started to create a few more chances with about 20 to go though and the introduction of Lacazette and Xhaka made us look a little more forward-thinking I thought. Suddenly we had a guy who would hang off the shoulder of the last man like Auba would and with Xhaka coming on there was a better passing range than what Elneny and Wilshere gave us.

Özil suddenly seemed a little more lively and it was his weave into the box that we got the first penalty for. Yes it looked a little fortunate after about three replays but in real time it looked like a clumsy challenge from Martins Indi.

As soon as the ball hit the net the Arsenal fans who had bothered to show up yesterday had a wave of relief and when Auba drills his second goal in there was yet another sigh of relief because at that point we all knew the game was done.

There was just enough time for a silly Stoke challenge and what I thought was a significant returning goal for Lacazette from the penalty spot. Let’s not forget how forlorn he was looking before his injury because he hadn’t scored in a while and so the fact that he came on and broke his duck yesterday will have quite some significance for him and us I think. If we want to have any chance of going further in the Europa League then it is essential that Lacazette has his scoring boots on and that goal yesterday effectively means he can reset his confidence levels ahead of Thursday night’s game against CSKA.

It was quite some grind in the end but ultimately the three points are the best thing and if it helps to send a horrific football club down in Stoke City then there is all the more reason to be happy that we could play our part in that.

We still have so much to do if we want to build up the momentum to win the Europa League I think, but tomorrow would have been important for the players, so let’s just focus on the fact that another morale-boosting victory has been chalked up.

Catch you all tomorrow.

Our game at 1.30pm holds little significance in reality, other than to hopefully edge Stoke further towards the drop, so that’s what I’m hoping we are treated to and it’s why I hope that Arsène picks a relatively strong team. If you’re a betting man/woman you can have a look at 1xbetreview. I don’t know why he wouldn’t. We have four days after today before the players play again and with it also being a home game one suspects that we should have enough and any kind of murmurings of ‘fatigue’ are quickly dismissed.

In the reversal of this fixture last season we saw an Arsenal team that went quite some way to out-crap a very average Stoke City side away from home in what is a traditionally horrid place for us to go. We were turgid but the difference between them and today is the location and whilst we’ve become accustomed to defeat away to the Potters, we’ve also become expectant of victory at home.

It’s pretty much a clean bill of health for our team – Santi aside (small weep as I still say that every week) – and so Arsène will have some decisions to make as to who lined up from the start. Personally I’d be looking at Cech in goal, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Ramsey, Özil Mkhitaryan, Lacazette and Aubameyang, but that’s because I want to see those front two together to see what they offer. However, that’s me with my 90s Champ Man hat on and given Lacazette needs to work his way back to fitness it’s probably better to have him on for the last 20 to 30 minutes this afternoon.

If that is the case, then the question is whether Arsène goes for solidity with Elneny, drive with Wilshere, Bambi-on-ice with Welbeck or blinkered faith with Iwobi. I just pray it isn’t the last of the options. I know Iwobi isn’t first choice when all are fit but he still shouldn’t be anywhere near the first team. Next weekend, after we’ve played CSKA on the Thursday and then play Southampton on the Sunday, I’d say it’s worth rotating the team and then maybe Iwobi gets some minutes. But this game today feels like one in which we don’t really need to rotate too much. So let’s not see the blind-alley-bandit take to the field this lunchtime, eh Arsène?

So given I’m probably not going to get my first choice I’d probably look towards Welbeck ahead of the others. If he’s given the option of playing in the three behind Auba then we will see a willing runner who will press the Stoke defence higher up the pitch and hopefully force errors. I think Stoke will try to sit, be compact, frustrate Arsenal. So the more we put them under pressure by their own goal the more we can potentially force mistakes to capitalise.

Perhaps I should be choosing Jack ahead of Welbeck but sadly I think we need to start phasing Wilshere out. He’s clearly not signing a new deal, which means he isn’t the future of the club, so Arsenal should be more concerned with the options we already have in the squad for next season. These games are practically dead rubbers and so we need to start putting faith in other players. It would be a sad way for Wilshere’s Arsenal career to peter out but we need more ruthlessness from the club.

That’s also why I hope that Arsène names a young bench. Let’s see if Arsenal can get a few goals up and then give players like Nelson a start today. He’s the sort that should be being told that Wilshere’s potential absence is to find a place in the team for him. He has question marks over his contract and we need to convince him he’s got a bright future. I hope between now and the end of the season he gets enough minutes to convince him to sign up.

As for Stoke today, well, they are missing that horrendous sh*tbrick Charlie Adam trough suspension, so there’s less worry about ankles as there would have been if that clobbermesiter had been available. They still have Shawcross though so Arsenal players aren’t completely safe. Crouch also seems to have won a bit more favour under Lambert and despite the fact he’s about 48 now, he has still been a thorn in our side up until recently. It was last season that he handled the ball into the net at The Britannia, so we need to be wary of his cheaty aerial and elbowy threat.

We should have too much for a team that has just one win for Paul Lambert since he took over. We have a good record, better players, we’re at home, plus the team should be rested.

Then again this is The Arsenal so who knows what we might be treated/subjected to today.

Here’s to a happy Easter Sunday.

Catch you all tomorrow.

Last time the two teams met they got away with a few dodgy calls, caught Arsenal on a good day – or what it felt like at the time, although it has now transpired that a ‘good’ day for opponents is just an away game for The Arsenal this season – and scuffed through a 1-0 win. It feels like there is a need for some revenge tomorrow and so I am hoping that is fed through the team.

It’d be good if it’s a well-rested team but half of the players will have been away on international duty so it won’t exactly be like Arsenal have had a couple of week’s off. Some of those players have been playing for their national sides and all we need hope now is that there hasn’t been any last minute issues since Stevie Bould came to the microphones and proved that he has a voice, albeit that h clearly uses sparingly. I mean if we’re all thinking hard about the time when Wenger goes, how much must the journals that cover Arsenal be sh*tting themselves? If that’s the kind of meagre scrapping of soundbites that they will be feeding on after the Wenger era is done, then they’ll be finding life a lot less colourful. Wenger – for all of his faults (and as we know there are many) – has provided decades of juicy soundbites for them to feed off. Bouldy would probably have given one syllable answers to every question if he had a choice I reckon. It wasn’t exactly the most of entertaining conferences in the end, was it?

It’s like asking Hollywood actor Ben Stein to read to you whilst you’re trying to lift weights. It doesn’t make life any easier.

Bouldy said that everyone looks ok and that Lacazette is even back in training. He didn’t really give any indication as to whether he’d be back in the team for Sunday’s game but I’d be shocked if he wasn’t in the squad. He needs minutes. I don’t think he’ll start as we have Auba and the indication from our assistant manager was that Arsenal will go with the strongest team and not rotate with CSKA to come on Thursday, but unless Lacazette gets himself between 15 to 30 minutes tomorrow, i doubt he’ll play anything other than a classic Wenger 75th minute sub in the game in midweek. Danny Welbeck might have got himself two goals against Milan, but we’ve seen over a few year’s that he’s not prolific enough in front of goals and needs double, perhaps even treble, the amount of goals that someone like Lacazette ends in order to convert.

And CSKA are no mugs. They have got this far and have knocked out Lyon already. We’ll not be getting the same amount of chances as we did against Milan and so we need to convert those that we do. Which is why games like tomorrow take on all more the more significance because a) they give an opportunity to bed in players in prep for the real prize we’re chasing, and b) it adds to confidence that we’ll have players like Lacazette back and ready to do their part on Thursday.

We do have to find a balance though. Going hell for leather in a game like tomorrow’s isn’t exactly what we want to see and every time Ramsey, Ozil, Mkhitaryan or Koscielny wince, we’ll all be collectively holding our breathes. But we still need to see them and we still need to see them building momentum for Thursday.

It’s where a strong and decent referee (ha!) is important in games like tomorrow because the last thing we want to see is the Orcs ploughing through our players. They’re fighting for their Premier League future and son will be bang up for it, so we need a decent ref to see the extra foot left in, etc. More of a match preview and some thoughts on how the team’s will line up tomorrow.

For now though, I am happy and contented in the knowledge that the real football is back and having stared into the abyss that was the interlull, we have at least something football-wise to look forward to.

Catch you folks tomorrow.

Sloppy by Xhaka in another poor pass, sloppy by both midfielders to give so much space once they’d lost the ball, sloppy by Monreal to allow Jesé to get beyond him and slot in. But also sloppy in some of the chances we missed. Like a bit of diaorreah that just won’t flush because you’ve filled the toilet. Marvellous.

But it’s ok because Arsène says ‘it’s just one game here’ and people should not go overboard. Perhaps he’s right though. Perhaps it is ‘just one game’. Perhaps we shouldn’t put this down to anything. After all, Stoke will pick up loads of point this season, won’t they?

No, not in my opinion, because they weren’t very good at all. 

About 15 years ago a mate of mine asked if I wanted to go and play some snooker at the local Rileys with him. Don’t mind a bit of snooker so I said no problem. But I’m pretty crap at snooker, although I didn’t let that affect me and I went along and started a game. I tried for pot after pot after pot and just couldn’t get any points on the board. My mate however wasn’t trying for pots, he was just trying to snooker me the whole game. He amassed so many points in the end that it was impossible for me to beat him. 

He knew that he didn’t have to be better than me, he just needed me to eff things up enough for him to pounce on my mistakes. When I left a ball hanging in the jaws of a pocket, he’d come in and clean up. 

That’s how I feel about Arsenal last weekend. Stoke’s only game plan was to hope we eff things up and they get a break. And that’s what happened. 

Maybe you could think that it was ‘lucky’ that they didn’t get beaten. Perhaps it was. But from my perspective I’ve seen too many ‘unlucky’ Arsenal games not to believe that we are masters of our own downfall. 

So for Arsène to tell us to watch our chill because it’s just one game, is to ignore all of the background that sits behind this, all of the problems we’ve had and all of the issues of last season and this squad. 

It isn’t one game. Next weekend won’t be ‘just another game’ if we lose that and given that we hardly ever beat Chelski at Stamford Bridge, if we lose that as well, it isn’t ‘just one game’. 

It’s confirmation that we aren’t getting anywhere near challenging for anything meaningful – the league is meaningful, a Champions League place is not – because we’ll be five games in to the season and will be three defeats in. So whilst it’s still early in the season, I’m not looking at this game in isolation, I’m looking at what will probably unfold in the coming weeks.

And let’s face it, it’s not like we haven’t had Groundhog Day again and again with modern day Arsenal, so a tonking by Liverpool and Chelski isn’t exactly something we’d all be surprised with, is it?

Arsène has also said he brought Theo on at the weekend to cross for Giroud. Because of course we all know how great Theo is at beating a man and putting the ball in like Beckham. He does actually put half decent balls in when he gets in to positions, but Theo Walcott got in to precisely zero positions on Saturday and I cannot even remember a meaningful touch.

So forgive me if today is a bit ranty but we’ve just gone through a summer of being told things are changing,not really seen that over the summer, then two games in to the season we’re seeing the same performances against the same sort of teams.

It would be heartbreaking, if it wasn’t so boringly predictable.

Until tomorrow.

Mertesacker was back fit. Holding is fit. Chambers is fit (but clearly on his way out). Yet we once again persisted with playing a right wing back at left wing back, a left back in central defence, a left wing back on the left side of central defence. And whilst Stoke barely created any chances in the game, they still got that one moment where Monreal was turned too easily as Jesé slotted home. Xhaka was once again at fault for a poor pass when we had the ball, but Monreal allowed Jese to turn him too easily and its Groundhog Day once again.

Arsenal lose to Stoke away. It’s what we do under modern day Wenger. We also get nowhere near a title challenge and that is exactly what is going to happen this season with this team and this manager. Especially if he keeps playing players out of position.

Yesterday’s defeat was entirely avoidable if the right players were in the right positions. But actually it could have been a lot better, had every ball in behind not seemed to have fallen to Danny Welbeck. We all love Welbz for his pace, power, movement and drive, but by golly when he gets to the ‘keeper he can’t finish his dinner. A header off his shoulder, two or three one-on-ones hit pretty much at Butland and an evening kick off where you’re looking at the reason why Wenger is prepared to run down Alexis’ contract, because he knows the Chilean has a hat trick today if he was playing in Welbeck’s position.

Danny just simply isn’t that great as a finisher, which is why he isn’t leading the line, it’s a shame to say. 

We had the possession. We had the control. We created so many chances to get in behind. Yet the familiar failings existed. Sure, we can be aggrieved that Andre Marriner missed a penalty on Hector and Lacazette’s goal was onside, but we had enough to beat this Stoke team which, if I’m honest, was the least impressive or imposing Stoke team I think I’ve seen at the Brittannia. They essentially sat back and waited for Arsenal to shoot themselves in the foot. They were lucky it was Arsenal because I think seven or eight other teams in the league – at least – would have turned them over. 

But Arsenal are a team that has problems and unfortunately whilst I don’t want to seem like I’m beating the Wenger Out drum so early in the season, it’s a problem that lies squarely at the manager’s feet. He picked a team of players not suited to their natural positions. He did it last week and we got away with it. I have no idea why he thought it would be a good idea to do it again. 

Perhaps it’s because he’s trying to accommodate the Ox by playing him in the team to try to get him to sign a new deal? That’s what it feels like to me. A bit like how Theo suddenly got a load of games as a striker before he signed on. That’s not the Wenger I fell in love with as our manager. That guy would just bin off people like Wiltord and Kanu as ‘injured’ when they weren’t signing a new contract. This current Wenger placates his players running down. Özil has barely featured in this blog because I’m trying to mirror his performance from yesterday. 

We were promised change. We’re getting more of the same. Next weekend it’s Liverpool away and a chance for redemption for the team, but hands up here, who’s looking forward to that? Anyone?

I think it’s because there’s always a bit of a media narrative around this game and it obviously has been ingrained in to the national football psyche for some time. We all know what it is: Arsenal don’t ‘like it up em’, ‘they’re all pretty football and no grit about them’, ‘the English game is about strength and Arsenal don’t like it’, as well as that old cliche of ‘can they do it on a wet night in Stoke.

Well as far as I’m aware it’ll be a balmy and slightly cloudy evening tonight, so hopefully that’s one element that can be shuffled in to the corner and told to face the wall. The rest is all about the teams and as Mark Hughes has alluded to already once or twice since he’s become manager, Stoke aren’t a team that play the ‘gritty up and at em’ style of play and haven’t done so for a while. They play football these days and the time of people being Shawcrossed down by the corner flag is long gone, even if the man himself still makes the Stoke line up these days.

But that doesn’t mean that Stoke aren’t always weirdly up for it. They will be today. They love scoring points off Wenger and Arsenal and today will be no different, especially as everyone seems to be writing them off this season as possible relegation candidates, which I don’t really get. They’ve got an established Premier League team, they’ve signed a decent looking player in the shape of Jese, they have creative flair in the shape of Shaquiri and Bojan, who will sit just behind Berahino and the striker will surely want to open his account and show the side of him that used to be present in his early West Brom days. Stoke have started the season playing the familiar and now in fashion 3-4-3 with wing backs and it’ll be Zouma, Shawcross and Cameron who will most likely start. That is a powerful front line and so I suspect we’ll see Lacazette again just because of the added movement he provides. Gird scored last season at Stoke and by all accounts had a good game, but I’d be surprised if Arsene chooses a less mobile forward against that back three. What it does mean though is that the support behind our new signing needs to be fluid and move the ball quickly. I expect that when we have the ball the Stoke back there will compact itself on to the edge of the box and look to make the game about small, confined spaces, with Diouf and Pieters tucking in, but their aim will be to use the pace of Diouf to test our left hand side of defence.

The threat from Stoke I think will come from letting us having the ball and then looking to spread wide in between our lines to break up our blocks of defenders and midfielders. That’s why the fullbacks having a good game is so important to us tonight. For that I’d be playing Bellerin and Kolasinac. I would normally choose the Ox given his better form, but Bellerin is quicker and you can imagine Stoe breaking quickly and that defensive cover being needed, whilst on the other flank Kolasinac will prove to be our strength that will be in place to effectively ‘Stoke up’ their pace and tricky right wing back. I’d love to see a bit of treatment on their players for a change. That would be sweet. Providing we’re winning, of course.

In these sort of games though, when you’re playing with these formations against each other, wing backs are key, but there will be a midfield battle to be won too and I really hope we have Ramsey available today, because seeing him marauding might be a delightful tonic today. Stoke’s midfielders are likely to be Fletcher and Joe Allen and Fletcher will be the graft with Allen the passing craft. Chaka will be our craft so Ramsey will need to be the graft, but his ability getting forward can hopefully also cause the Stoke midfield to sit deeper. If that’s the case – and i really hope it is – their counter-attack will be limited to a couple of pacey bodies and with Big Per and Mustafi back, you’d hope that we have enough in the back three to cover.

I’ve seen plenty of people talking up Arsenal and downplaying Stoke today, not really factoring in our record at that ground, so I’m not expecting anything like as easy as we had it last season. Stoke will want to respond, their fans will add a partisan nature to proceedings and their players will be a lot more blood and guts than last season when we played them and they were just counting down the days until the end of the season, whilst sitting comfortably in mid table. This is a fresh new season and so they have more of an incentive to go at us, so if by chance we do win this game, I have a feeling it will only be by one goal.

Hopefully I’m wrong though. I’d like a nice easy 4-0 win with two early goals and one just after halftime, before an icing on the cake style goal in the last five minutes, but I can’t see it. For one thing I’m not sure we remember what a clean sheet looks like and after last weekend teams will know that we do concede silly goal sometimes. Let’s just hope we outscore our opponents in today’s encounter.

Up the Arsenal.

It means that whilst the game tomorrow evening against Boro isn’t a complete dead rubber, it probably will all be in vein in the end, as we’ll finish just short and finally lose that top four trophy Arsène has treasured so much.

Last night I had a look at the historical top four points finish totals. I was intrigued as to whether every season was like this and whilst we’re all unhappy with the way the team has capitulated and will finish outside of the top four, if we win our final two games it will be the highest points tally for a team finishing fifth in the Premier League era I believe. If we beat Sunderland and Everton at home we’ll have finished on 75 points. No team has finished on that and not reached the Champions League qualification spots. I’m highlighting this not as a positive, but merely an explanation to show just how competitive this season has been at the top. The top six teams have pretty much dominated this league in terms of picking up points and it shows you exactly what people suggested at the beginning of the season: this is the most competitive league in the world. There have been some seasons historically in which 65 points will have secured top four. The new management blood and injection of money have meant that the top teams are just getting better and better, more and more consistent. From a points perspective Arsenal have stayed where there are, everyone else around us have ‘kicked on’, which in a way is a real worry.

It’s a worry because those teams above us will buy better in the summer. They’ll all get better. But we have been the one side – if United win the Europa League they’ll be exempt from criticism by many of their fans and the press – that have rightly been lambasted for stagnating. So whilst the points tally points towards a little more parity with performance last season, the fact that every other team as progressed just leaves us looking ever more like a club in stasis.

Still, I’m not completely devoid of happiness this morning, because I’m pleased that the team is building momentum for the cup final. Our performance on Saturday – albeit against a beach bound Stoke side – showed that there’s confidence returning to the players and we need them to chalk up two more wins to get our run going in the lead up to the cup final. Screw worrying about the Champions League qualification and money. Let’s focus on the FA Cup and hope the team go in to that game with confidence, hunger and fire in their bellies.

As for next season and probable Europa League football, screw that too, because whoever is manager (probably still Arsène the dictator) should be already planning which development squad players can be assembled for it. It’ll be games we should rest and play younger players and it should be an opportunity for us to focus our efforts in games in the Premier League. It’s worked for Chelski and so that should be our blueprint. First team players playing once a week for most of the season. Let’s do that and see how far we can get.

I know I might be sounding defeatist already, but I prefer to call it realism, because come this time next week when the truth has set in and the season ticket letters start being posted. Some people have suggested that there should be some discount on season tickets, or an option to not pay for the extra cup credits. Personally I think the latter would be a good idea, but I can’t see the club reducing ticket prices in a million years. Why would they? They already have a captive audience. They don’t need to. There’s also the fact that the Champions League isn’t a condition of purchase for tickets. There isn’t something in the Ts and ace that says ‘In the event of us turning a bit sh*t, we’ll reduce your annual season ticket price accordingly’ or anything like that. Just because we’ve been used to dining out on caviar it doesn’t mean when we stop that we’re entitled to receive it from the local food bank.

But the club will know that fan sentiment isn’t great at the moment and they’ll be mindful of that, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see an announcement that they’ll freeze prices for another couple of years or something like that. I wait with eager anticipation for my letter from the club.

Right, enough of this mumbo-jumbo. I’m offski. There’ll no doubt be a presser and team news today, so let’s see who’s available for tomorrow evenings festivities.

Laters people.

I thought that I’d just have to get used to it, but it turns out that it was an imposter and as a result, I’m one happy Gooner this morning. I feel like I’ve been Gift Aided my football team back.

Stoke are a thorn in an Arsenal side. Every season they show intensity, drive and purpose against us, regardless of where they are in the league and if I’m honest I couldn’t see such an emphatic result as I witnessed yesterday. I just didn’t see how it would happen. But after five minutes of the game yesterday, I could feel like there was something like that on the cards, because every single Arsenal player looked switched on and up for it.

Arsène rotated. The team looked strong and well balanced, but if I’m honest I didn’t think that playing Ollie G against a physical pairing of Martins Indy and Shawcross would work. And for the first 15minutes I’m not sure that it did. Stoke sat off and let us have the ball, content to see Arsenal suffocate possession from them and when they got their first scary chance via a free kick after a rash Mustafi challenge, I have to admit that I feared the worst. But as it sailed over the bar, I should have realised at the time that this wasnan Arsenal team that knew exactly what it needed to do, and would execute its plan to the letter.

So from the moment the first goal I should have realised we weren’t going to let this game get away from us. Coquelin – in for a probably fatigued Ramsey – turned pre-assist extraordinaire to put Bellerin in behind and Ollie G was there the tap home. And from that moment on we were probably destined for victory. I liked that goal and not for the fact it was the first, but because of the fact it came from us penetrating in behind a back line, which I’d wondered whether we’d forgotten to do. 

We haven’t. Monreal had laid the groundwork by hitting the post, which was unfortunate for him because he had a blinder yesterday. At the time I wondered if this was going to be ‘one of those games’ but hindsight is a wonderful thing and with that in mind I can say I needn’t have worried. We dominated from start to finish and goals from Özil, Alexis and then Ollie G made the result sound as dominant  as it was. No Stoke mocking, no chants of ‘do the Wenger’, no singing up about a Rugby team, just an Arsenal side that had a job to do and did it. Well.

The second goal was a thing of beauty, wasn’t it? A perfectly weighted Alexis ball, the majesty of Özil’s first touch, then a flick over Butland that shows just how special the German can be. I thought he was superb yesterday. He looked like his old self. Pinging balls around, finding space and owning the whole pitch, whilst also cropping up with his 12th goal of the season. It was the Özil of the beginning of this season and I for one am glad to see him back. And guess what? It was another ball in behind that did it. I love those. It’s what Arsenal do and when we’re finding that space we look like a different team.

Even the cheating of Peter Crouch couldn’t bring them back into the game. I guess something like that was always going to happen, after all we were being reffed by Mike Dean, which means something bad always has to happen to us, but we just need to make sure the badness is mitigated by being better.

And we were. Alexis saw to that with the third goal and from the moment it went in we looked like we could run riot. Ollie G stepped up to add the fourth with help from a resurgent Rambo, but we could and should have had more, because suddenly we were creating chances at will. 

This morning I am well happy. But not because I think we’ll make the top four. I suspect that hope will disapate in East London after lunch. No, I am happy because it seems like this formation is clicking and that’s just what we need ahead of the cup final, because that’s what this season is no riding on. If we can beat Sunderland and Everton we’ll go in to the cup final on a winning streak and that’s all that I’ve wanted for the last few weeks so it’s fair to say I’m a happy bunny this Sunday. Perhaps a little bit overly happy given we’re still in fifth but as I get older I’m realising just how important memories like cup finals are so if we can make another one in a couple of weekends time, then I’ll say ‘screw it’ to this season and be thankful that I get to see The Arsenal in the cup final.

The formation appears to be working. That back five looked really good and if they can get another couple of games in the bag like that one yesterday, then this temporary formation might be something to consider for next season. We can’t forget the horror-show that has been this season at times, but seeing Arsenal win and win comfortably is why we’re football fans and when it happens we can all be happy. Even those with the banner. In the summer we need a change, but right now we need results, so at least we’re getting them.

Up the Arsenal.

What we’ll most likely get instead will be an update from Arsène over who is available for the trip to Mordor to face the unsavouries. The hope has to be that some of the walking wounded from midweek have recovered sufficiently enough. Stoke may not be the overly physical side of the Pulis era but they still have evil amongst their ranks and if Charlie Adam makes his way on to the field then expect a few ankles, shins or necks to come under a bit of pressure from him.

The question marks will probably be over a few players. The Ox will most certainly be out I’d imagine and it’ll be a chance for Bellerin to show his stuff before the cup final. The injury to Koscielny will also need to be considered and whether he’s fully fit or not for tomorrow, I do wonder if Arsène will risk it, especially after the decent performance of the back three against the Saints. Overall fitness concerns will probably be over Xhaka and Welbeck, both of whom I suspect the manager has been managing carefully, because Xhaka has been playing with some knocks and this is certainly the most football we’ve seen from Welbeck for a couple of seasons. Whether his body can sustain another start in a week remains to be seen and whilst he would be the best option right now, it wouldn’t surprise me for Arsène to talk up the qualities of Olivier Giroud on the official site as any kind of team news gets updated today.

As for the impending game itself, what’s really surprised me is how many people seem to be chalking this up as an Arsenal victory. I’ve seen plenty of pundits talking about how Stoke have nothing to play for and as a result this should be an easier task for Arsenal. It’s almost as if they don’t know how much that Stoke team lifts itself for us, because of their faux outrage of one of their thugs having the misfortune of being punished for smashing Ramsey’s leg in to bits, or something. Nope, on Saturday evening Stoke will go hell for leather as if this was a cup final game. They’ll be all out to maintain their fantastic record against us and there’s no way we’ll be given the freedom of the Brittania that teams like the Totts seem to get when they show up. I’m expecting this to be a bloody difficult game and I’d expect most of you Gooners out there are expecting the same too.

The hope is that the team is starting to build momentum. I still maintain that the hopes of top four will be done and dusted come Sunday afternoon when Liverpool beat West Ham, so for me tomorrow is about getting another win in prep for the cup final.

That’s where everyone’s eyes should be focused now. It should be about the players continuing to try to find a solution in this formation and then coming up against a Chelski side ready to cause us plenty of headaches. Everything else will take a back seat and that top four spot will be irrelevant soon. We need to find a way to be better going forward and that only comes with more games in this formation.

Anyway, that’s yer lot from me today, because I ain’t got owt else to talk about.

Laters.

I had Nepalese last night. It’s essentially curry. But with goat. And every dish on the menu says it’s ‘thoroughly enjoyed by the ghurkas’. Those ghurkas love everything, it seems.

Except Stoke City. I bet if you placed a Ghurka in the middle of the township of Stoke, they’d probably turn a trademark smile in to a wince, as the local residents knuckle-drag their way over to see what this Johnny Foreigner is doing in their town. 

 But if you’re a ghurka looking forward to going to today’s Arsenal game, you won’t be spared of at least some of their presence I’m afraid, because that’s our opponents at the Emirates. And weirdly, I’m very worried about this fixture. I’m worried because we’ve won every Premier League home game we’ve ever played against them. And that won’t go on forever. At some stage the run will end and I fear the footballing fates doing that to us today. I mean, it never happens in reverse, like how Arsenal never beat a Mourinho team in the league, but it does happen to us. And that’s my irrational fear of the day. 

It’s irrational because in my mind we’re losing or drawing this game because of history, where as right now in the present, we’re in good shape. We’ve scored nine goals in the last week, we’ve rotated the squad and still looked impressive, plus we’ve got such a good record against them that I should be talking about another comfortable victory. But I just can’t see anything comfortable about today’s game. Stoke are no mugs. Their fans might be orcs, but the team Mark Hughes has assembled is a good one and they will cause us problems today. 

They’ll set up with a similar formation to us – 4-2-3-1 – and they’ll look to expose us with their wingers getting in between our full-back and centre halves. That’s why I hope we have Bellerin back today, because if not, it’s Gabriel and Arnautovic and he’s their best player I think. That’s where they might get the most joy, so if Bellerin doesn’t make it, then we need Mustafi and Gabriel to work very well and closely together. 

On the other side it’ll be Diouf who is another tricky character, which is why I’d be playing Gibbs instead of Monreal, because I think Gibbs is in better form. I don’t think that will happen; I’m convinced we’ll see Nacho start today, but it’s what I’d personally go for.

I’d also be giving Xhaka another run out, because he’s looked good in playing back-to-back games and when you have a player like him who can spot a pass, then he’s an essential starter up against a compact unit set up to be solid defensively. Who plays alongside him should be the only conundrum in our midfield today, and I’d go for Ramsey instead of Coquelin and Elneny. At home, against a team who won’t have us on the back foot as much as we’ll have them, somebody who is going to contribute to the play in the final third is more important than a screening player. So Rambo would start for me, with Özil in front of him and Alexis in front of him, with the only real question mark being who plays wide forward. 

My preference would be Iwobi and the Ox. The reason I say this is that I think we’ll need a bit more craft against the Stoke back four today. Theo doesn’t offer craft. He gives us goals and pace, but against a team that sits everyone in front of you, that is negated somewhat. I don’t think my choices will happen though. Theo and the Ox were rested against Basel so I think Arsène plays both today, with a view to giving Lucas Perez of Iwobi some minutes if we need to mix it up a bit in the second half.

The team need to work out how to break down stubborn sides at home. That’s what today will be about. Think Middlesbrough and Bournemouth, but with a bit more individual quality. That’s what I think we’ll see from Stoke, with the likes of Shaquiri, Diouf and Arnautovic. So we need to be switched on to the counter and be prepared to snuff out any quick breaks.

I’m not confident, but I am hopeful, because the next couple of weeks could very well define our season. So we don’t want the Christmas period derailed by an early stutter.

Up the Arsenal.

It’s been a horrific place for us to go and with only one win in the league (I think we have won in the cup there once though) to show since Stoke were promoted all those years ago, one does wonder whether there is a psychological barrier that has to be overcome by going there. To put our form in perspective, we’ve had more success away to the oil whores of Man City than the Orcs of Staffordshire. 

We’re slap-bang in the middle of a crucial period of tough games in this second half of the season. Speaking to fellow Gooners before the Newcastle game, the general consensus was that seven points would be an amazing return and represent a good opportunity for us to start really believing in our title prospects. Had we beaten Liverpool on Wednesday it would have perhaps taken the pressure off this fixture, but we didn’t, so we really need to be looking at a win and nothing more from today. Sure, a draw will see us go back top on goal difference, but with City just one point behind, it’s hardly the big buffer that we’re supposed to be building, is it?

I suspect Stoke will attempt to play a replica of the game they played against City and, having seen how we reacted to the first 20 minutes of an attempted Liverpool Blitzkrieg, I can see Stoke emulating that today. So for us the opening of the game will be about composure and not finding ourselves dead and buried before halftime. That’s what happened last season at The Britannia, in what was one of the worst performances of the season, masked only by late goals to reflect a closer encounter than it actually was.

Apparently Stoke will be missing Shaquiri, so it will be Walters who will come in, which isn’t much of a boost for us because Walters likes a goal against Arsenal. He’ll be similar to Shane Long in that he’ll run and run all day and so probably be a key component of any attempted Stoke dismantling of us in the first half.

However, whilst there are plenty of reasons to feel nervous ahead of this game, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Our form over the last few months has been good. We have one blog on the copy paper at Southampton, but aside from that we’ve been picking up points despite injuries to key players, with some unexpected stars emerging as much as the players you expect to see perform well. We’ve also got a back five that is much more experienced than last year. Cech and Koscienly will be there when neither was last season, whilst Bellerin is a year old and a year better. He will also have the defensive help of Campbell, so any expectation that Bellerin will be isolated and overrun, can be tempered by the fact he knows he’ll get support from the Costa Rican. 

On the other side of the flank the decision will need to be made as to whether Alexis starts or Theo. If the Chilean is 100% fit then he plays, but any lingering doubts must give Arsène thoughts on having him as an option from the bench. Regardless of whether he’s ready, we’ll have a good option for the second half, either it being Theo or Alexis. So that’s good.

In midfield the talk appears to be of whether Elneny will make his debut. Id be surprised that Arsène would be willing to throw him in so soon after just a couple of training sessions with his new teammates, but you never know how long it takes for a player to adapt to a new environment. There’s little doubt that flaws exist between Ramsey and Flamini as a partnership, but at least Arsène knows exactly what he’ll get, so it probably represents less risk. That’s why I’d expect those two to start above the new signing today.

The environment will be hostile, morons will boo Aaron Ramsey for having the temerity to get his leg nearly sliced off those years ago and Arsène will be abused, but we have to rise above the morons and the hostilities and hurt them the best way possible: by winning the game.

Come on Arsenal, let’s break the psychological barrier and lay down a marker for our title credentials.

Yesterday I witnessed an Arsenal team absolutely dismantle Stoke City, yet when the Match of the Day team had their attempt at ‘analysis’, it seemed like they were giving a little more of a dig than praise for the performance. The fact that we’d had 29 attempts at goal by the time the final whistle had gone was seen as more of an example as to why Arsenal are going to struggle up front this season.

Eh? My rose-tinted specs must clearly be on their highest hue, because what I saw yesterday, was great stuff. But for a goalkeeping wonder-show by Jack Butland, we’d have got in to double figures. When you see a performance like his yesterday, sometimes you just have to accept that there is a player that is ‘in the zone’. Thankfully though, we still won the game 2-0.

Perhaps it was the fact that we had to wait until the 85th minute for Giroud to nod home the second goal that secured the points, but much like the Newcastle game, when you re-watch the whole match you can see that we were in control from the first to the last minute and Stoke never looked like scoring. 

The pre-match chitter-chatter was all around another Arsène Wenger shuffle of his team, as he made a few selection decisions that surprised many of us in the pub, me especially. I’d wrongly assumed that Gabriel would make way for Big Per and that Giroud would take his place in the first XI to spearhead the attack. After all, Stoke would sit deep and we would probably need somebody who could hold up the ball better in tight spaces and set other players up for more chances around him. 

Boy, did I get that wrong, because it was Theo who was preferred against a makeshift Stoke team. The first 15 minutes so often sets the tone for the game and as I took my seat in block five I said to Tom, my companion for the day, that a quick start will have the crowd behind them and we can put this current barren and unwanted goalscoring record to bed. Whilst we didn’t get the early goal we wanted, there was enough in those opening exchanges to certainly put my mind at ease that it would come, as we twice struck the post, witnesses the first of a string of good saves from Butland and saw a Theo header just fly over the top of the bar.

The goal was coming and we only had to wait half an hour before a superb Coquelin tackle broke down a bout of Stoke possession, followed by a pinpoint Özil ball to a grateful Theo, whose first touch was superb and second was a great finish. It was masterful from two of our best players on the day – Coquelin and Özil – and shows exactly what at do is all about; runs in behind defenders and finishing. 

I have to say I was surprised that Walcott was able to make any of those runs, but he did a few throughout the day and whilst he should have perhaps scored more, at least he was on hand to take at least one of his chances. Perhaps too, we should give a little bit of credit where it is due to Wenger, because I didn’t see that attack working yesterday. But with a makeshift defence Stoke were clearly vulnerable and ultimately we took advantage.

It was also good to see the players playing to Walcott’s strength by attempting to play balls in behind the Stoke defence rather than up to him with his back to goal. The team adapted well to the different style like when we play Giroud up top and we got the desired effect.

Yes, it wasn’t the perfect display, because that would have seen us score eight goals. But it was a good and fluid performance from back to front. The two centre halves looked solid and Gabriel even had time for a cheeky elbow on Arnautavic, the full backs were once again excellent and both got beyond the halfway line well enough. Bellerin particularly was effective, which is useful when Ramsey comes in field, because it allows us to still spread the play when we need to. Coquelin and Cazorla had good games and Özil had another good performance with a decent assist. Ramsey did ok but was quiet, much like Theo (goal aside), who missed a couple of chances in both halves. Alexis hit the post and I’m sure the goals will start to come for him.

I’m also pleased for Giroud. After the week he’s had, plus the fact he missed another really good chance before he scored, the goal he got will have been so important. He’s a massive confidence player and not starting today, I did wonder what it would do for his confidence, but he responded in the right way. He even looked a little subdued in his celebration. Relief rather than jubilation, perhaps?

All in all we’re in decent shape for Olympiakos on Wednesday, who Le Boss will probably do a little bit of shuffling for, as well as Chelski next Saturday lunchtime. If we can finally break our league hoodoo against the Oil Whores, that will be massive, but for now I’m just basking in the post match glow of a good performance and three points. Catch y’all tomorrow.

By all accounts, Mesut Ozil sounds like he had an effective game for Germany in Scotland, with the general consensus that he retained the ball, looked decent in the centre of the park but was often surrounded by a couple of players. As one of Germany’s main forward creative forces, you’d expect nothing less, but I do find it interesting that this is the same set of journalists who would describe Ozil as being ineffective. Or perhaps, when you’ve got three players buzzing around you at all times and you still manage to retain possession and bring other players in to play, you’re actually providing more space for your teammates to be effective. The key there is to have your teammates being more effective, so it’s no surprise that since we’ve dried up a little bit on the goals front, we’ve seen quite a few stats about the number of chances he’s created.

He’s an important part in our cog, but if other parts of he team aren’t 100% accurate, then unfortunately it doesn’t help his own stats in terms of end product. He’s spoken about how he’d like to be on the score sheet a little more and whilst I applaud his desire, for me as long as he keeps creating those chances for our forward three, then I’ll certainly be happy. He’s a fantastically gifted footballer, he glides across the football pitch and now all he needs is for Giroud and Alexis in particular to do the business for us at the sharp end of the pitch.

As for Giroud, Debuchy and Koscienly, the latter didn’t start, but Debuchy came on at halftime and looks like he had a decent game. After his comments in the French press, I was interested as to how he’d perform, but it looks as though he’s making the right moves on the pitch to win both his international and his domestic place back. He apparently nearly scored late on too, so if that’s a sign that he’s looking to get forward more, then I’m all for it. One of the reasons that Bellerin has retained his place, I think, is that he is the better of the two at getting forward. He has the pace – we all know that – but if Debuchy is to show he’s an attacking threat too, then Arsene will have been looking at the game closely. I suspect we will see a bit more of Debuchy eventually, but for now he needs to accept that his competition is ahead in the pecking order.

Giroud however, doesn’t appear to have had a good time of it, being jeered by the French fans s he was subbed off in the second half. With Benzema still recovering from injury and his Arsenal form having had a couple of difficult games, this would have been ideal for him to win his confidence back, something that we all know he needs to be at his best. Arsene has spoken on a number of times about how he’s a guy that needs to be feeling good in himself in order to be successful and games like he’s had for Arsenal and also for France will not help him to recapture his form. At least he’s said the right things in his post match comments, taking a very Gallic approach by effectively shrugging off the criticism, which is the right thing to do as long as he doesn’t let the ‘boo boys’ get to him. When he’s not scoring though, there are other parts of his game that he can continue on to ensure that – as he said in the aftermath of the French game – the victory of the team is assured. If he has players around him, happy to feed off of him and make runs in beyond him, he’ll be just as effective in contributing to the team’s success. We don’t need a 30-goal a season striker if the rest of the attacking players and midfielders are all getting in to double figures on goals.

Hopefully the game at Stoke this weekend will provide a chance for redemption. He needs to have a game in which he’s presented with enough chances and in a game like Stoke, when they will sit deeper, it probably plays to his strengths more than Theo’s. But anyway, thoughts on Saturday’s game can be saved until later on in the week.

The most important thing is that the players all come back fit and able to play against the Orcs. It doesn’t look like Ozil, Debuchy, Koscienly or Giroud have picked up any knocks and Rambo played the full 90 against Israel, so he should be OK. We just have to play the waiting game on tonight’s fixtures, so that’ll be the English and Spanish boys, then Osp[ina from Colombia on Wednesday. If we can everyone back all in one piece, we should be in good enough nick to start putting this run together as I feel like I’m constantly talking about.

So that’s that for today. Cross everything because after the Welbeck news at the weekend, we could really do without a number of other injuries cropping up before this Saturday.

Still, rather than be accused of being ungrateful for what I’ve got, I should be thankful that I get to go in the first place. Which I am. Many cannot, I am privileged to be able to, even though I certainly pay my pretty pennies for it.

Listen to me, moaning away like some sort of grizzled old prospector who hasn’t found a single ounce of the yellow stuff in months. Today is a happy day! Or at least, it is for now as we all prepare for the game this afternoon against the Orcs of Stoke. Should we be victorious in battle (and I’m sure it will be a battle), we will leapfrog the Spuds and be right on the coat tails of Southampton, so perhaps there is cause for optimism rather than grumbliness.

There’s optimism too on the injury front. We’ve got a trio of midfielders returning in the shape of Ramsey, Özil and Flamini and I suspect we’ll see at least one of those players start. I couldn’t be 100% sure who that would be, but if I was forced under duress to pick one, I’d go with Ramsey. He’s the only player who’s position hasn’t seen a colleague step up and perform well in, so with Santi’s and Le Coq’s form being as it is, I expect those two to accompany Rambo in the heart of our team.

The defence should pick itself and, you’d have to think that Szczesny will start. I know there’s been a lot of talk about Ospina, as well as Wojciech’s attitude, but his attitude hasn’t suddenly changed overnight from the Southampton game. He’s always been viewed as a little bit arrogant and so I’d be surprised if Arsene bought Ospina in for today’s match up. If he does play, as The Arseblogger said on his Friday Arsecast, I think there’s more to this smoking story than meets the eye. Players had smoked before, but to be booted out of the team like that would point to something else in my opinion. There will be those of you probably saying now “yes, but he was terrible against Southampton so that might be why he could be dropped” and I understand that line of thinking, but the game before against West Ham he was excellent, so I don’t think Arsène would drop players on the basis of one game. He’ll look at it over a series of games and so far you can hardly say Szczesny has gone all ‘Almunia’ on us, can you?

The front three will be an interesting one to pick. Alexis and Giroud come straight in I think, but who occupies that third space? For me, as much as I’m loving the longer term prospect of Walcott and Alexis’ pace in our front three, I would give The Ox the nod this lunchtime. My thinking here is that the Ox is better with the ball at his feet. He’s a better dribbler and will be able to beat a man. Let’s not pretend that Stoke will come here today and be anything other than very compact and sit deep. They will hope to give us possession in front of them and not allow any space in behind their defence by sitting deep. Theo is a player that is unplayable when there is plenty of grass to run in to, but if teams sit deep, I’ve seen him struggle at times.

Last week against Hull was the perfect game for him because it was a knockout competition. Hull got nothing from sitting back and keeping it to 1-0 and so there was naturally more space for Theo. He got more chances as a result and if he had been back a few weeks earlier and already had a few games under his belt, I think he would have cleaned up. But I can’t see him getting that much joy today.

The Ox can be a little bit wasteful at times, but he is better operating in smaller amounts of space and so that’s who I would pick. The good news is that with so many players returning, we have plenty of options from the bench should the afternoon not go the way we are hoping it will.

This will be a tough game. It always is against that lot. They will rely on Arnautovic and Bojan to hit us on the counter and Mark Hughes will want to see Crouch holding the ball up as much as possible to bring those runners in to play.

If you look at both teams you say this is a home banker. But we are the patchiest form team in the league. Every game this season that I’ve rocked up at home has been a case of shrugged shoulders when somebody asks me over a pre-match pint ‘what’s the score going to be?’. I have no idea. We could win this by three goals (unlikely), or we could labour to a draw, or just as easily get done over by the one shot Stoke have in the entire game. Your guess is as good as mine.

What we do need to start seeing though – like, now – is a string of victories being put together. It’s unlikely to happen in the immediate future, as we have an away trip to Momeychester City next weekend, but that makes the importance of three points, all the more obvious today. Last season we were flat track bullies with every team below see the or eighth in the league. I’ve accepted that we’re never going to win away games against the bigger teams, but if we can get back to home and away wins against the mid and lower league teams like Stoke today, then we should have enough for fourth. But we haven’t done that all season, so our form needs to change, and change soon, if that standard season trophy is achieved once again for the bagillionth time under Arsène Wenger.

That’s yer lot from me today. Come on you reds!

Woah….hold on there AW, are you sure you want to do that? After all, when I had to play with kids younger than me, I used to love it. My brother is four years younger than me and so when I was in the Under-13s and he was in the Under-9s (the team my uncle managed), I used to have a great time running around the smaller kids with the ball and leathering it into the top corner of the goal (which, incidentally, none of them could reach because they were too small enough).

Seriously though, does anybody really care about this other than the “we’re-holier-than-thou-and-we’ll-be-outraged-about-the-fact-that-somebody-with-influence-can-have-such-bad-behaviour. Oh, by the way, what’s your answerphone pin? I wouldn’t mind having a listen in later” media? People smoke in all walks of life and although I hate the stuff (it’s the smell you see. Makes me gag), it doesn’t really bother me that other people do it. I think the reason that this is a ‘thing’ is because of the personality involved, the position Arsenal are currently in and the fact that the media loves a pantomime villain. In this instance, Wojciech has to step forward because his form has been patchy at times this season (I’m not saying ‘bad’ because I think this storm-in-a-teacup has been created off the back of one game. He was very good against West Ham) and so it’s an opportunity for said media to get itself in on the ‘rile up already riled Arsenal fans’ bandwagon. They love that wagon. It’s their favourite mode of transportation don’t you know?

I would suggest that if we were four points clear at the top of the league and looking like we might finally recapture that Premier League crown after all these years, the noise would be less so from the media, or some selections of the Arsenal fanbase too actually.

Linked to item of silliness number 1 is item number 2, which is poor old Wojciech’s Papi, who, probably against his sons wishes, has decided to offload a couple of rounds in the direction of Big Per. The bit about him being like a rhinoceros is particularly humorous, but doesn’t really help anyone except Papi and his media career. Szczesny will probably be going into the training ground today mouthing “sorry” to the vice captain and when you’re trying to get yourself together as a defensive unit, it’s hardly great to know that one of your teammates’ dad is giving you a bit of a pasting. What if that’s how Per is talked about by Szczesny junior all of the time? I’m sure he probably doesn’t, especially given the propensity for his father to run to the nearest Polish media source, but it still might play on the big German’s mind. It’s hardly what we need before an important game at the club, but I guess it fits the old ‘broken cannons’ icon that the red tops love to trot out every once in a while.

Anyway, moving swiftly on to item 3 on our agenda, which is Lukas Podolski “SLAMMING” Arsene Wenger. Again, I’m not going to presume for a second that a red-top tabloid is indulging in a smidge of hyperbole, but it strikes me as odd that a player who has clearly shown that he’s pretty good with his PR and will probably set himself up with a nice little agency when he does retire, would try and burn bridges with the manager so easily. The red top in question will no doubt point to the fact that they have quoted directly from the German saying about respect from Arsene, etc, etc, but I do wonder if it has been a little bit massaged to fit a narrative. For all we know Lukas spent 20 minutes telling the journo in question that he loved the club, the fans (which to be fair they referenced) and that he had experienced a mostly good relationship with Arsene Wenger. But if they have received a minute or two of what they perceive as a ‘gem’ of a quote, they’ll be latching on to it, you just know.

Or perhaps I, for some reason to which I can’t really put my finger on – am I being a bit defensive of the German because he has ridden the tube and London buses, so is therefore more ‘in touch’ with the fans (a ridiculous notion I know)? Or am I just so disillusioned with the media and their click whoring that I am automatically very cynical about anything they say? Probably a little of both I suppose. But I just find it a little odd when you see the old ‘parting shot’. Football is so incestuous and quick to change that it wouldn’t surprise me to see Poldi back in training at Arsenal after his Inter Milan loan deal fell through and we get a bit of a Bendtner situation because we can’t offload him. Why burn your bridges when there’s still a chance you might need to cross back over the river?

Heck, this is all way too much thinking for me for one day. I think I’ll leave that to Arsene to do, so will wait patiently for his pre-match presser at some stage today.

Catch you tomorrow peeps.