Last season we got hammered by Palace at Selhurst Park by a CP team in trouble. Today we go there in questionable form and Palace are once again in trouble. Recipe for an embarrassing defeat? Let’s hope not.
Any club that employs Roy Hodgson has my respect, he seems like a top bloke and it takes courage to employ a manager committed to football to take a team out of the relegation zone. Most clubs go for the Hoofball merchants like Moyes, Allardyce etc. I hope they stay up and go on an extended run of good form in the New Year.
Palace spent big money and have some excellent players, players whom the press were linking Arsenal with – Zaha, Townshend, Benteke and Cabaye. Defence is their problem and one we must exploit.
It is time Sanchez returned to the form we know and love. I do not believe it is lack of desire which is his problem, probably the opposite.
Monreal may be crocked, so is Ramsey. and OG.
My Team:
Cech
Mustafi Koscielny Kolasinac
Bellerin Xhaka Wilshere Maitland- Niles
Ozil
Lacazette Sanchez
Perhaps Iwobi will get a start in place of M-N or Holding could replace Monreal. Who knows except Mr Wenger?
Our form has been strange, consistency conspicuously lacking. One week we are very good in defeat and the next poor in victory.
We need a win and an improvement upon our terrible away form….
Let it start this afternoon.
COYRRG
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Morning
To comment on Erik’s PM yet or not to comment
That is the question.
Easing myself in, I’ll begin with a humble motning all
Motning
One week we are very good in defeat and the next poor in victory.
now that is a great line
thank you BR
VP
What is the standard fish in the oz fish ‘n chips?
Here north atlantic cod
Barramundi or Gummy Shark (Flake)
or carp
Eddie 🙂 🙂
that’d be me 🙂 bouncing back
Morning All,
Mmm. Barrramundi. That is one delicious fish.
drama never ends in my life. Yesterday I was waiting for my plane from Warsaw and flight was delayed, I waited patiently. Eventually it was cancelled. As soon as I heard ‘cancelled’ I sprinted to the ticket office to buy a ticket for another available flight. I was first :):) Got on a plane 4 hours later. Proud as a punch, some people were told there were no tickets till 3rd Jan!!!
Back in time for the game, we’d better win tonight.
carp Raddy, carp is delicious
usually gummy shark – flake
finally the cool change has come through
we are off on another road-trip to Sydney
We’ve hired a beach-house and we are taking the family to see the harbour bridge fireworks for NYE
VP. Lovely plan.
It was at the Harbour Brisdge NYE fireworks that I smoked my last cigarette. !0 years on Sunday.
Eddie. Is that normal for Warsaw airport that you have to buy a ticket when your flight is cancelled?
And carp is certainly good eating, especially in a parsley and butter sauce
No-one mentioned the game yet 😀
Ok, ready
Erik, thank you. I agree with your team and the option of Iwobi should AW go with a back four.
My question of the day: what is the best M-N position?
Erik
Chas posted the thing before 7am, and even the brightest eyed amongst us had barely got the kettle on
We do need to warm up
Defence Minister?
ha ha ha
I did wonder whether anyone would have a ministerial appointment for our young tory 🙂
game? I am here to be surprised, no expectations whatsoever.
Crystal Palace are a funny fish, either complete carp or razor shark no idea what to expect.
raddy – nothing to do with Warsaw airport, I flew with wizzair, Hungarian airline. They will refund me eventually. I didn’t care to be honest, had to get back for my dogs. The dog sitter was fully booked after yesterday and they would be on a street. I just had to get back somehow
Wizzair !!! 🙂
Yip, always travel with an airline heeving in pedigree and history 🙂
Wizzair 😀 😀
trippingmynutsoffair
rippedtothetitsair
justsitdownandbeltupyoufuckingpleboiksair
I want to start an airline 🙂
10.20 Is definitely the airline for me
can someone explain how Lpool got VD before the transfer window opened?
I would think transfers are being negotiated all the time behind the scenes and are 99% complete ready for the TW to open.
Do we want Sanchez to stay until the end of the season or are people fed up with it now and just want us to move on? Do we need him to help us finish top 4 or win a trophy? I’m not 100% sure as he’s not exactly on fire at the moment. I hope Özil and Wilshere signs though and Özil continues this recent form.
Right now both Sanchez and Wilshere are looking around for the best deal they can get, if either of them actually find a club who want to sign them then they say to Arsenal that we have been offered X if you want us to stay we would expect you to improve upon the offer.
Until that happens Arsenal are being wise to do nothing. However at the point of an offer the club would be able to make a decision as to whether they wanted to pay more than X or say goodbye.
There is of course the real possibility that they run down their contracts and leave for free and if that happens then we go round in same little circle I have just described again.
What we have here are the modern day transfer mechanics of a second tier European club (Arsenal) and just to clarify that if Man city showed an interest in a player there would be no point in the selling club waiting as there will never be a higher offer because no one would be able to out bid that oil rich principality currently located in Manchester.
I wouldn’t shed a tear if either Sanchez or Wilshere left. Now Mesut, well that is a different situation; he is a very large part of the reason I renew my season ticket.
Sanchez and Wilshere?? Really, when did that happen?
Wizzair are actually ok. Cheap, from Luton and clean. Leather seats and polish speaking staff. Dealing with problems is what sets airlines apart. Quantas lost my luggage once and they were marvellous. I wish they lost my luggage on the way back too. Wizzair don’t have customer services and phone line to Hungary costs £1 a minute. I am not going to phone them
We were talking about Lewandowski in Poland on Christmas day 🙂 Most people cannot stand him and his wife. He advertises just about anything from toothpaste, dandruff shampoo to dinnerware and cars. My friend said she is scared of opening wardrobes in case Lewandowski’s face pops out 🙂 Greedy little bastard, he doesn’t have to do that
Excellent, BR.
Who knows what this evening might bring.
We need to close the gap.
Apols for putting the post up so early, but I kind of got used to nobody really commenting in the mornings, so thought I might as well.
Worked out ok because of Sydney fireworks, gummy fish, carp, Wizzair etc. 🙂
5am, getting ready to leave
I’ll have to watch the game on my phone whilst driving
no mention of –
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said it is “absolutely unbelievable” that he is poised to equal Sir Alex Ferguson’s record of managing 810 Premier League games.
Saddened that Van Dijk signed for a rival, he is a superb player.
Interesting selections from AW.
Chambers & Mustafi start. Kolasinac as LWB.
NO. NAME
33Petr Cech
20Shkodran Mustafi
6Laurent Koscielny
21Calum Chambers
10Jack Wilshere
29Granit Xhaka
31Sead Kolasinac
24Héctor Bellerín
9Alexandre Lacazette
7Alexis Sánchez
11Mesut Özil
SUBSTITUTES
14Theo Walcott
23Danny Welbeck
34Francis Coquelin
13David Ospina
17Alex Iwobi
30Ainsley Maitland-Niles
16Rob Holding
Olivier Giroud will miss Arsenal’s Premier League trip to Crystal Palace, with the France striker sidelined until January 15 with a hamstring problem.
Defender Nacho Monreal has been ruled out of the Selhurst Park clash due to an ankle injury that is expected to take 10 days to clear.
Midfielder Aaron Ramsey will also be unavailable for Arsene Wenger’s side, as he battles a hamstring problem of his own.
Just read the post. I forgot that we lost 3 nil to CP less than 9 months ago. Seems unbelievable, doesn’t it?
Good point about Roy Hodgson, interesting appointment, very ambitious really. I hope you are right raddy and he does a good job for them, both parties deserve it.
Hmmm, didn’t expect AW to return to a back 3 quite so quickly.
Should be interesting.
Thanks Raddy …. and hi playmates. I’m just going to watch the game with a glass of beer and not the foggiest as to what to even expect 😂
With you on that Rasp. Do we get the Arsenal that played the first 15 minutes against United? The last 75 minutes against United? The one that banged in 3 in 5 minutes against Liverpool? The one that played the other 85 minutes against Liverpool? Or something different altogether? We are very inconsistent right now and even during games we seem capable of switching from one level of performance to another in the blink of an eye. I’m not sure I’ve seen an Arsenal side like it in recent times. One thing is certain though, we need to find a way of getting 3 points tonight. I’m not confident but the beer is helping!
Are we watching a potential Sanchez replacement in Zaha? It’s been rumoured. Not convinced but he’s a useful player to have and is still young enough to become very good if he gets a chance at a bigger club and plays regularly.
COYRRG
Crap ref
Lovely work from Mustafi after a terrific shot by Laca.
More please
No complaints about the work rate … but we definitely need a second
Commentator said we’ve been better than 1-0 and that pretty much sums it up. Should be 2 or 3 up and we need another to give ourself some breathing room. Shame Özil didn’t score from Sanchez through ball as that would’ve been a special team goal.
Agree, a second would have been deserved.
We have played some lovely football especially the miss (?) from Ozil following a sensational pass from Sanchez
Chambers fault. …. should have been tight on Zaha
Rubbish defending. No-one following Townsend or closing him down
just arrived
0-1
good news
Awful from Chambers and our CM pairing. Chambers just backed off and let Zaha turn and run at him when he should’ve gone tight to Zaha and kept him facing the touch line. Then after that, our CM’s don’t bother getting onto the penalty spot for the cut back.
bollocks
sorry lads
Very very lazy start to this half. The different faces of Arsenal performances showing itself again. We just seem incapable of 90 minutes of solid effort and performance.
Come on Boys, get a grip
Same old shit in defence …. Bellerin and Chambers are not combining effectively
Loftus-Cheek just coming out the left and doubling up on Bellerin with Zaha and doing what they want. Needs sorting.
Easy to sort this mess out. We just need to get back on the ball and keep it like we did first half. Losing a lot of second balls and giving away possession too easily. Sloppy.
Players just had 15 minutes off. Why does this keep happening and where does it come from?
We are like a team of narcaleptics! We just doze off unexpectedly then suddenly we wake up and are back at it. Great strike.
Sanchez meant that!
What a pass and control! 😳
I was just about to ask how Jack and Sanchez were playing
🙂
When I said Sanchez wasn’t playing well I was obviously joking! 😂
I love reading comments about Wilshere because a lot of opposition fans think he’s bang average. When fit, he’s Englands best midfielder by a mile for me. Does things that a lot of the others can’t do.
Not keen on that substitution with 15 minutes left.
I feel sorry for Lacazette. I think in games sometimes a striker has to do a lot of tough work for an hour or so before getting the rewards towards the end when the other team are tired or chasing the game. He would have a far better scoring record if he was on the pitch for the last 20-30 minutes of games.
Micky,
Along with Mustafi, I would probably say best players on the pitch!
Groin or hamstring for Xhaka. Not good.
Bellerin just needs to concentrate on Zaha and nothing else. He loses concentration defensively and just switches off. Poor
If putting Coquelin on meant that we were more solid defensively then I would understand it, but instead all that happens is we can’t keep the ball and if anything we end up under far more pressure. Stupid substitution with 15 minutes left.
I only saw about 10 mins, so will read all comments am
Nice three points
ok, thanks FGG
Must dash
Another exciting game and another we should have won by half-time.
Tense last few minutes though, wasn’t it?
Happy with the O and not to much on the D, especially Bel and the stupid hair fixin’ Chambers. Putting on Coq to hold a lead is as good as useless!
Take the 3 and move on Palace fans were up for it and they have been on a good run.
Onward and upward…
FGG. I agree. CP have to attack in order to get back into the game which leaves space for Lacazette
I said before that we needed 3 points regardless of erratic performance and we managed it. We were great in moments and awful in moments but as a fan you get used to it with this team. A crazy bunch but IF we can find some consistency in our performance and form we could be very good. Still finishing top 4 I think.
Making a lot of the lack of celebration for the 2nd goal. The way I see it, the players who were close to Sanchez ran towards him to celebrate, the ones who were miles away didn’t bother and that’s because it was a goal to go ahead in a game they should’ve been dominating anyway and it was a little scrappy. It wasn’t because Sanchez scored but because they were just relieved to be back in front and didn’t feel the need for over the top celebrations. The 3rd goal however was a massive goal that pretty much guaranteed the points and that’s why they all celebrated. That’s my view anyway. Nothing to do with division but more about the game situation and how we were playing.
sublime cross it was indeed
fooking hell, Vincent Company has masters in economics!! oh wow bloody wow
Well, I cocked last nights viewing up. Glad we have have two more games pronto.
WBA away sunday and then Chavs home weds. Now there’s a proper game.
Morning All,
Fine game last night. Frustrating and exciting.
We may not win the title or even get top 4 but we sure are entertaining.
LB 😀
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