We currently have a good, yet fragile, grip on 4th place…which would give us a chance to land CL footie after so many years and would also make our club more attractive to top players and financially stronger as well…We have quite a few games left to play and anything can happen like Spurs or Utd going on a superb run or us faltering or the opposite as well. Strange season it is, full of inconsistencies – look at Man City being caught up by Liverpool at the top, which seemed unthinkable in Mid-January…
We just got some bad news regarding Ramsdale (hip issue) and Martinelli (illness) so they are out of the squad 😦 This leads to a start for Leno (why oh why!) and a start as left attacking midfielder for ESR so here is our line-up:
Leno – Cedric, White, Gabs, Tierney – Partey, Xhaka – Saka, Ode, ESR – Laca
Our bench is looking thinner now with Pepe, Nketiah as attacking options and Holding, Sambi on the more defensive side…
Our opponents, Aston Villa, are doing OK under Gerrard since he took over. There is one player that has been on great form for them in Coutinho who always caused us trouble. Their line-up is the usual 4321 except for Ings starting on the bench:
Martinez – Cash, Konsa, Mings, Young – Ramsey, Luiz, McGinn- Buendia, Coutinho – Watkins.
They have Chambers, Sanson, Bailey, Chukwu and Ings on the bench to add defensive steel or attacking threats.
Martinez is doing well there and few players at A.V are having good season in Mings, Young, Ramsey and Luiz. Ramsey is particularly dangerous with his runs while McGinn is also feeling confident…
It is not going to be easy to manage this game but we have to do it if we want to keep our hopes of Top 4 finish alive. Win this game and you send a strong signal to the rivals, do not lose this game and you are still looking quite good but if you lose this game, you will give hope to our rivals that they can reach Top 4. In that sense, this may be our most important game of the season in the sense that it comes after a loss at home to LFC and that the outcome of this game can have a huge impact on positioning our team as a reliable contender not only because of points taken but also because of the signal it sends to the rest of the EPL!
COYG! Do us proud and grab at least a point and ideally 3 points BUT do not lose please…This is going to be a tough game for Cedric, Partey, Xhaka and Ode…If they do well, we should be ok. COYG!
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Anybody knows what’s up with Tomyasu…He has been missing lots of games now and we are missing him too…
ASTON VILLA vs ARSENAL 2-0
saka !!!!!!!!!!!
Xhaka is such an idiot
indeed…but the ref should give a yellow to Buendia too who shoved him first
Pretty good first half. I’m worried Ashley “Cheat” Young is going to crock Saka, who looks like he’s struggling physically a bit already. Shout out to Cedric so far, has been awesome. Tierney is lacking a bit on delivery going forward but in general, we’re very happy to be ahead. Keep it going boys !!!!!!!!!!!
A decent half…Leno not giving me too much confidence. Partey up to the task so far…I think someone like Nketiah could score a goal for us today so maybe he could come in to replace ESR in the last 20 minutes…Let us see…Keep the shape, continue to create chances and snatch a win, hopefully…COYG!
Ramsdale will be out for a few weeks 😦
Kill the game when you can or live with regrets…I am afraid we may not see this game out where clearly we have been the better team until the 50th minute. We have to score another goal, to be safe otherwise, I can see Villa come back and then even go for the win…
I d bring in Nketiah now on board…We need more pace up front…He can come in for Laca or ESR…With Ings on and Ramsey/McGinn gaining confidence, we need to add a bit of threat on the counter
Am I supposed to be enjoying this !!!!!!!!!!!
Saka causing Havoc but now we have Soares, Partey and Xhaka booked up…We need to be smarter. Seems we re panicking a bit.
Not sure about brining in Pepe for Saka…but maybe Saka was struggling from the foul earlier…Bailey and Traore on for Villa…
Watkins hit the post…
My goodness…don’t think we can keep them at bay much longer unless we shore things up. Maybe Sambi to come on for ESR?
Laca looks tired – worked hard.
Yeah bring in Sambi and Nketiah:
Leno – Soares, White, Gabs, Tierney – Sambi, Partey, Xhaka – Pepe, Odegaard, Nketiah
ok We’ve set our stall out. Hold on to what we’ve got. Let’s see. C’mon Boys !!
Pepe literally did nothing when he came on
Nice save Leno
Awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you’d told me we’d get 3 points from liverpool at home and villa away I’d jumped at it. !!!!!!!!!!!! Great result !!!
The boys dug deep today, great result.
Øoh to
Øoh to be
Øoh to be a gooner!!
Not trying to influence ratings but it seems apparent that Eddie and Pepe struggled to get up to the speed of the game. As a result we struggled to maintain possession which always means we’ll have a hard time to seeing the game out. Laca worked his arse off and looked tired but Eddie did not hustle enough up front. Maybe incl. Tomy and probably Holding we only have 13 players that can maintain a press?? Possibly Sambi and Elneney but they may not be good enough at it. Leno did well but isn’t Ramsdale when it comes to commanding his area. Going to be a nail biting finish to the season !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Due to who they’re usually replacing positionally-wise it’s the obvious move to bring on Nketiah and Pepe, whose fresh legs should carry us over the line in these games but my God they’re near to useless even if our options are so limited.
I wonder if there is any truth in the rumour of Newcastle being interested in signing Neymar from PSG…?
Given the politics behind both the clubs owners I’d say it’s unlikely but money talks, not least to agents?
Mike
I want to influence RCs ratings!
The central cog, proving why he WAS, almost on his own, one of the most essential pieces of the Arteta puzzle was Thomas Partey.
Faced with the apparently daunting prospect of a creative midfield of Coutinho, Buendia and Ramsey, he crushed the threat. Won back possession NINE times and gave us the platform. No doubt we need to add a reliable 20+ goals a season man, preferably two, but together with the solidity of the Ramsdale, White, Gabriel triangle, the explosive, no fear, youthfulness of Saka, Martinelli and Smith-Rowe, we now have, dare it be said, our patrick vieira ( only THE Patrick Vieira deserves capitals), and the future is bright.
Top comment LBG, rousing stuff, couldn’t agree more.
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