Another game in February and another loss…and still the bitter taste of the Wolves’ defeat after this villain defeat.

If you look at the stats, we dominated the game but when you look at the game, we could have lost 4-0 with the errors we made in our own are and the fact that we hardly hit the target. Martinez reminded us of how good he was, especially on that Pepe’s strike. I do not agree with Arteta’s assessment that we deserved the win. I think we played positive and energetic football but defensive lapses and lack of final product in the last third were just glaring today.

Ryan had a rough start with a goal conceded in the first 2 mins but then kept us in the game

Bellerin and Cedric were not great today – neither at the back, neither going forward

Holding-Gabriel – Holding was solid as per his recent outing but Gabriel is still struggling to find his original form

Xhaka-Partey – Xhaka was tidy and Partey had some really good spells and also some lapses. Sad to see Partey off injured, again..

Saka-Pepe – Both played with energy and tried to create and shoot and dribble…Saka the main threat but I am liking Pepe’s attitude these days on the pitch.

ESR – Energetic but lacking the spark/creativity.

Laca – An OK display. Missed a golden opportunity to delivery an assist to Saka in the first hald.

Auba – Nice to him again on the pitch but still not scoring goals. Worrying still.

Odegaard – A good entrance.

Willian – Needs to justify his salary…how can he struggle so much with us?

Ref – no comment. Arteta really upset with the Konsa foul.

Let us try to finish in the Top 10 at least…

There was a gut-punchingly high degree of ridiculousness about our defeat at Wolves on Tuesday night.

Another red card for David Luiz, albeit for the tiniest accidental contact with a Wolves player; the subsequent ‘double jeopardy’ of both a penalty and a red card; Bernd Leno’s brain fart; Moutinho scoring a once-a-season screamer… well, you know the story.

Today I expect us to get back to winning ways at Aston Villa.

And yes, I know they gave us a sound thrashing when they visited the Emirates earlier in the season, but we were a different team then and so were they.

Since that defeat we have found a new formation, new personnel and we have disinfected the training ground to remove the stale smell of mouldering, unwanted players.

The Villans, meanwhile, have struggled for wins since Christmas. They’ve won just two out of seven and have lost to West Ham, Burnley and the two Manc clubs.

There’s no doubt they are a good team and have some excellent players. At the start of the season I had them down as one of my ‘dark horse’ tips for a potential top four finish. Now they’re one point above us, although they have two games in hand following Covid-related disruption to their fixtures.

Ollie Watkins remains their top scorer (nine goals in the league), but they also pose a scoring threat from midfield with Grealish, Barkley and El Ghazi, who have 14 between them.

But enough about the opposition. What about the Mighty Arse? For almost all the first half at Wolves we played the best football we’ve seen all season. Our forward movement was outstanding, we were solid at the back and the Partey-Xhaka axis in midfield was in complete control. We should perhaps have been two or three up by the time the penalty and red card derailed us. Even with 10 men I think we might have won, but Leno’s mad moment put paid to any hope of that.

The question is, can the players put the freakishness of what happened next out of their minds, write it off as ‘one of those things’ and bounce back to winning ways? I don’t see why not. If I was in their boots I’d feel as if I had been cheated out of three points and would want to make amends as soon as possible.

As part of the fall-out of the Molineux clown show, Leno and Luiz are both unavailable today (serving one-game bans). I know many fans will be unperturbed by the absence of Luiz given his propensity for triggering cataclysmic events (even if he sometimes seems unlucky) but his defensive work has been generally good this season. However, we have good strength-in-depth at CB with Mari and Gabriel.

Missing Leno could be a bigger headache, with our new goalkeeping loanee Mat Ryan having also been out crocked. It could mean another start for Runnarson, who has had a variable beginning to his Arsenal career. He has made some terrible clangers but also seems to be a good shot stopper. It hardly fills this observer with confidence but if he’s going to be the man between the sticks he deserves our full support and best wishes. And the fact that I might previously have suggested we call him Runnarsaurus and make him our new mascot is neither here nor there.

Ryan has been back in training so it’s possible the Aussie will make his Arsenal debut instead if deemed fit enough. Let’s hope our FA Cup hero, Martinez, does not have a blinder for the Villa.

Elsewhere Mari is available again and Kieran Tierney is the only player still in the sick bay. I am glad the club is not rushing back our talismanic fullback – he’s so precious that he probably gets stalked by Gollum.

There are selection headaches for Mikel Arteta up front, with Saka, Aubameyang, Pepe, Martinelli and Lacazette all available, not to mention Nketiah. Pepe was continuing his good recent form in the Wolves game until the red card and scored a terrific goal. He seems to enjoy playing on the left better than the right.

Cedric, meanwhile, has quelled many supporters’ doubts about him and proven to be a solid back-up at either right or left fullback.

Here’s the starting eleven I’m expecting:

Ryan/Runnarson

Bellerin – Holding – Gabriel – Cedric

Xhaka – Partey

Saka – Smith Rowe – Pepe

Lacazette

Essentially I think (and hope) that El Patron will stick with what’s been working, keeping Pepe and Saka in the wide roles and letting Smith Rowe pull the strings. Partey and Xhaka should be capable of resisting Villa’s dangerous midfield.

We have a full week before our next game so there’s no need to worry about over-playing some of the squad.

This game won’t be easy – Villa are too talented to be a pushover. But if we can get our groove going I fancy that our forward line has more than enough talent and confidence to breach their defence at least twice.

Come on You Gunners.

RockyLives

Here is the picture so far:

1. We have lost our FA Cup, losing to Southampton in the 4th Round
2. We are out of the Carabao Cup, losing to Man City in the quarter-finals
3. We have played 22 games in the EPL, collected 31 points and sit 9 points behind 4th placed Liverpool (they have played one less game than us) and 5 points behind Everton (they have played 2 games less than us) and we are 17 points ahead of the best placed bottom 3 team.
4. We are still qualified in the Europa League, where we had a flawless group stage and are now facing Benfica in the Round of 32.

So two trophies are out of reach already, a top 4 finish is clearly going to be tough and a top 6 finish may even be difficult. The Europa League then becomes DE FACTO our best chance for trophy/success.

So what shall be our expectations for this season?

A. Finish in Top 8 and win the Europa League

B. Finish in Top 17 and win the Europa League

C. Aim to find our best XI this season, soak in the Arteta’s game plan and do our best in the EPL and EL.

D. Other?

What a weird game it was! A very frustrating loss to be honest.

Our first 45 minutes were nothing short of brilliant. We defended quite decently especially in the middle of the park and our attacking game was at times amazing! Saka was absolutely brilliant, Laca’s hold up and link up plays were great, Pepe had a positive attitude and scored a good goal and Partey was pulling the strings in midfield while Cedric was also having a good game going forward. ESR also had a few good moments. We were so unlucky to only have scored one goal but all was going well…until Luiz got a red card, which is hard to understand because it seems there was actually no contact. So we lose Luiz and we concede a PK, which was well taken to be honest.

4 minutes into the second half and Moutinho scores a screamer. Could Partey or Leno do better? Hard to say. And then we hang in the game and we have a few openings to maybe draw…but it was not meant to be for us as Leno also gets red-carded. This red-card is actually harder to contest – what was Leno thinking? Stay in your box and collect the ball, mate…After that, it was a matter of just the game ending.

Overall, I felt that our first 45 minutes were the best of the season. It was nice to see us play so well. But then, our dark side resurfaced with losing a ball in the middle of the park leading to a very harsh sending off and then Leno just lost his mind in the second half…So the second half was clearly to be forgotten.

The positives: Saka, Partey, Holding, Laca, Pepe, Xhaka, Cedric + the first 45 minutes! And seeing Auba play.

The negatives: Ref, Leno, Luiz (?)

Could do better: ESR, Bellerin

The transfer window ended last night with a lot of players moving away from AFC, most notably older players that played in the Bundesliga who saw their contract terminated (Ozil, Mustafi and Sok) as well as some of our younger players eager to get some playing time in the EPL (Willok, AMN) or a solid league abroad (Saliba). Overall, some people think that the window was successful as we also landed Ryan and Odegaard but we did not manage to get a left-footed left back but then again, we have Cedric to deputize for Tierney…

So our squad has now been trimmed down and for tomorrow, some players remain missing like Tierney and potentially Aubameyang. Saka is a doubt but he may play and Laca seem to be ok. Saiss, Nouri and Jimenez are notably missing for Wolves.

Wolves are not an easy team to manoeuvre but I expect Arteta to set the team up in the 4231 formation of late but I think he will give a start to Pepe, Willian as well as Nketiah. Mostly to manage Saka’s injury, Partey and Martinelli’s physical sharpness, Laca and Auba to be on the safe side.

Leno – Bellerin, Holding, Luiz, Cedric – El Neny, Xhaka – Pepe, ESR, Willian – Nketiah

Arteta would then have plenty of ammunitions on the bench in case the starting XI struggles to create or defend. This game will be tight and I expect teams to press but I don’t expect the teams to take any risks. This is a game to remain focused especially on set-pieces and a game where both teams will try to break counter-attacks with cynical fouls.

I would be happy if we snatched a 0-1 victory but I could also see the game end in low scoring draw.

Our key men for tomorrow are Leno, Luiz, Cedric, Xhaka, Pepe and Nketiah. If these guys are having a good game, we have a decent chance. If they lose their defensive focus and counter-attacking abilities, we can be in for a narrow but stinging defeat…

COYG! And best of luck to AMN and Willok with their new clubs!