We are top of the league after 4 games and are unbeaten and we are now hosting a very good Aston Villa team on paper who fails to deliver good results since the beginning of the year despite a very promising transfer window!
Their whole team (starting XI + 4 players) is solid starting from Martinez in goal and ending with Watkins up front. They play a good press and direct football but they are letting a few goals in despite having very good defenders like Cash and also a good hard working midfield with Luiz, Camara, McGinn (he is underrated this McGinn). On top of that, they should be able to create chances with the players they have like Coutinho, Buendia, Bailey, Ramsey, Ings, Young and Watkins! In any case, at the moment, their team has not gelled and we should take advantage of it and we know they are going to play physical so we must be ready for a tough battle – it will be a bit like with Fulham except the overall players’ quality at Villa is higher…
We will be without Partey and most likely El Neny and Zinchenko too so here is the predicted line-up:
Ramsdale – White, Saliba, Gabs, Tierney – Xhaka, SAMBI – Saka, Ode, Martinelli – Jesus
Although I d like to see White in the DM role, I think that Arteta will play the same back 4 so I expect Sambi to start next to Xhaka. Now, my ideal line up would be:
Ramsdale – Tomy, Saliba, Gabs, Tierney – White, Xhaka – Saka, Ode, Martinelli – Jesus
Anyways, this will be again a tough game for us and quite physical too and we have been conceding goals so I will be expecting us to concede at least one goal…so I d say it will be 2-1 or 3-2 for us but we will only win by one goal margin. This time I could see Martinelli score at least one goal for us and I d expect a goal from Watkins or Coutinho for them.
COYG – do not think about Man Utd, focus on getting points at home and making the Emirates a fortress!
Arsenal News 24/7
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And some self-congratulations are in order as this was my 200th post here 🙂 A pleasure to be amongst you fellow Gooners
Well done RC
Great read RC and congrats on the 200 mile stone. I usually like disagreeing with you over the score line but today I don’t think I can.
In another twist maybe mikel can play ESR in xhaka position since qe have been seeing xhaka more attacking recently so maybe Emile can do a successful Job also
Let hope emi doesn’t have a blinder against us, I really do hate coming up against past GK
Fred – yes we could also see Ode drop next to Xhaka and ESR play in the hole…but Ode has been so good, we don’t want to disturb his form…and also agree with you that past GKs always want to do well vs their former team
Fofana to Chelsea for 75 Mln
Draxler off to Benfica from PSG
AFC still looking at Tielemans and Neto…
Tonight, we must win
We win by 1 goal with Martinelli on the scoresheet 🙂
We should have won by 5 goals though tonight – we were so dominant in the first half…Saka soon to find his shooting boots and then we may be able to put games to bed by half-time…like Man City does. This Haaland is something else, no?
Elsewhere Pepe and Balogun scored a PK in their team’s victories while Tavares got another MoTM award…The French air seems to sit well with our loanees so far
Lol u might have to bring some of the French hear for them next season
Five out of five, another solid win, very pleased, the fixtures have been kind but we get a real test, of course, in a few weeks time.
Hi Fred – I think that Balogun will be fine back in the EPL.
For Tavares, I think he can only compete to his best ability in a 343 or 352 system so for this reason, we should let him go and sell him to…PSG rather than Marseille at the end of the season.
For Pepe, it is too early to tell but I think he needs a less physical and demanding league like the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch or German league…
Back to the win – the last few games we created great chances in the first half and totally dominated our opponents but did not finish off our chances…against bigger teams, it will be more complex. I can’t wait for Saka to find his scoring boots and then it would not be a bad idea to get another FW though…I like Barnes but apparently we re looking at Neto and Mydruk…and then we definitely need a midfielder to cover for Mo and Partey…Artur is off to Juve and I suppose that we will keep on looking at Tielemans, Neves but maybe a player like Merino or Zubimendi could also do the trick…
Another point is that Tomy is coming back to the team and I think that overall he is a better right back than White so it ll be interesting to see how White reacts as he is our most expensive defender to date…