Well the season is nearly over and we are still with a fighting chance to land the elusive EPL title…It will be hard and we have to hope that West Hams: Areola, Mavro, Naguerd, Coufal, Paqueta, Ward-Prowse, Soucek, Kudus, Bowen and Antonio have an epic game to beat City or draw with them…However, chances are low and hope is slim…

So as the season is winding down, let us acknowledge that we had an overall good season, which saw us progress as a defensive and attacking unit OVERALL and that we competed very strongly with arguably the best team in EPL history, and at least of the last 5 years….Yet, we came up short in the Cups and the Champions’ League and we had a bit of a dip in form as well when we needed to be strong…BUT, overall a very good season, building on last year’s already visible progress.

So here are my awards:

Signing of the season: Declan RICE, our engine and key player in midfield. What a signing

Most improved player since last year: Ben WHITE, solid display throughout the season. Amongst the very vest RB in the EPL now.

Most improved player during this season: Kai HAVERTZ, a very difficult start with us and then 2024 started and he has been instrumental in our solidity and in our ability to score as well. What a turn around!

Unsung heroes of our team: Gabriel and Trossard. While Saliba is having another good season, Gabriel has been a rock at the back and Saliba could not have done as well without Gabriel next to him. Trossard has been a very good signing for us – he is cool, he is calm, he is lethal and he is very intelligence in his runs as well and a hard worker, his contributions have been massive this year.

Player of the year: Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice. Our captain has been playing consistantly at a high standard this year, creating chances and working hard for the team. Declan Rice has given the team a stability and a drive/edge that were not hear before…hard to choose, so I will give them both the POTY award.

Disappointments of the year:

• Zinchenko and G. Jesus. While they really elevated our game and level last year, they have had a slump in form. They are not starters anymore and worse, the club may even be considering selling them…
• Martinelli. After two very good seasons, we were all looking forward to a third accomplished season but he has lost his way a bit this year – he is playing with less confidence and is always looking rushed. He lost his starting spot to Trossard but I am sure he can get it back!
• ESR, Nelson, Nketiah – our academy graduates have not played a key part in our season, due to injuries and others. They may get playing time elsewhere but it will be hard to see them leave. I hope we keep ESR, at least.
• Vieira – no improvement whatsoever and hardly any contributions.
• Partey – back to the injury room and looking sluggish at time, in possession but also out of possession….shame because last year, he was great!

Reliable player of the year: Saliba and Saka. These two young players have played like senior players throughout the season. Saliba has improved as well but is still far from being a complete defender whereas Saka is just the full package now – great skills, decision-making and good physicality. He just needs to improve his game with his right foot, and also maybe work on his aerial game but overall, a what a player…

Coach of the year: Arteta and his whole staff, including set-piece and GK coach.

So that leaves us with the following team for next year:

Raya – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber? – Partey?, Rice – Saka, Ode, Trossard – Havertz

? – Tomyasu, ?, Kiwior, Zinchenko – Jorginho, Partey? – ?, ESR, Martinelli – ?

So we definitely another back-up GK (Sels?), a CB that can challenge Gabriel (Branthwaithe?), a DM that can challenge Partey (Douglas Luiz, Fofana?), a back-up to Saka (Olise?) and a back-up to Havertz in case Jesus leaves (Sorloth? Wind? Sesko?)…

Raya – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber – Douglas Luiz, Rice – Saka, Ode, Trossard – Havertz

Sels – Tomy, BRANTHWAITHE, Kiwior (:-(), Zinchenko – Jorginho, Partey – OLISE, ESR, Martinelli – SESKO

Sad but we will part ways with Ramsdale and maybe other fan favourites like Eddie and ESR…

David Moyes and Unai Emery have dented our hopes and dreams…Guardiola and his troops will win an unprecedented 4th consecutive title…well done to them, and let us learn from this season again…

We are not far away from winning the league but City is just a formidable machine…We need a fully fit Timber next year, a better DM (shielding/holding), a solid back-up to Saka and also a better FW/CF. I am also in favour of challenging Gabriel and having a back-up to Saliba too. We will also need to replace Ramsdale.

Raya – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber – ?, Rice – Saka, Ode, Trossard – Havertz

Recruit – Tomyasu, Recruit?, Kiwior, Zinchenko – Jorgi, Partey – Recruit, ESR, Martinelli – Recruit

Some names are emerging like

• GK: Sels, Snescesny, Bulka, Guaita
• CB: Branthwaithe, Van den Bergh, Buongiorcano
• DM: Douglas Luiz/Fofana
• FWR: Olise, N. Williams
• CF: Zirkzee, I. Williams

Raya – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber – FOFANA, Rice – Saka, Ode, Trossard – Havertz

PiG – Tomy, Branthwaithe, Kiwior, Zinchenko – Jorgi, Partey – N.Williams, ESR, Martinelli – ZIRKZEE

And even then, we are still not as strong as Man City

Wins against Wolves and Chelsea and with the NLD looming on this week-end, it seems that we are in a good place to finish the season. Top 4 is more less secure and we may be able to aspire for more if we win our remaining games but let us not get too far ahead of ourselves…

Against Chelsea, we played a strong line up and watching this game, I was trying to think which players are just too good to omit from the first squad…I thought I d make a post out of it and ask you to create a top 8 based on the instructions above…so create your Top 8 away. Here is mine:

Raya (no choice) – White, Saliba – Rice, Odegaard – Saka, Havertz + Trossard (almost picked our CB Gabriel but in the end, I went with the Belgian ace).

Raya, there is no choice here because Arteta loves him…I am still upset for Ramsdale

White is a strong contender for Player of the Season for me and he is definitely top 3 performers

Saliba, a solid player but he did struggle lately and also and especially against Bayern but still, he is too good to omit

Rice, if not Player of the Season for us, he is definitely Recruit of the Season for us and maybe for the whole EPL. What a player! Outstanding defensively and getting better going forward and great leadership skills! He should definitely be part of the Captains’ team.

Odegaard, our playmaker and the one who pulls the strings but also a hard workder. A good captain too! Another creative season this year and with maybe a better player upfront, he may have more assists.

Saka, our gem 🙂 Solid season again. We can’t play without him.

Havertz – after a lousy start of life at AFC, he has demonstrated resilience, hard work and effectiveness – doing much better in front of goal and still industrious defensively. What a turn around!

Trossard – for the last spot for me, although Gabriel (CB) was hard to omit…Trossard, our impact player from the bench is now being an impact player from the starting XI. Important goals, brave player, happy to work defensively and creating chaos in defenses. What else do the people want?

So let us give ourself the chance to also pick Gabriel (although I am not against bringing a better CB to the club), we are two players shy from a starting XI:

• Timber at LB and;
• then another CM to replace Partey/Jorginho in the middle of the park. I am thinking Douglas Luiz, Fofana, Guimares but I am sure Edu/Arteta have a player in mind to make a magic trio in midfield with Ode-Rice…

Looking forward to your Top 8 teams…

COYG!

W\e are out of the FA Cup, out of the Champions League and Man City is likely to win the EPL. I think it is quite clear that our season now is more or less over, we just need to keep up our efforts to stay in the Top 3 of the league. Is our season disappointing? From a trophy perspective, yet. From our ability to compete and also from our overall team growth and improvements, this seasons is rather successful.

We now need

• Another CB to add more steel to the defense, someone who would genuinely challenge Gabriel for his starting spot (Branthwaithe?…)
• Timber back at LB
• probably another CM/DM to complement Rice and Odegaard (Fofana from Monaco? Koopmeiners from Atalanta? Douglas Luiz from Villa?…),
• probably a winger to supplement Saka (sorry RN…- Williams, Olise, Bowen, Gordon, Mbeumo, Malen, Eze); and
• a CF to add more aerial threat and poaching instinct in front (sorry Eddie – Zirkzee, Wind, Sorloth, Toney…).

We also need to probably work on more game plans to become less predictable so maybe new formations like a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 or 4-3-1-2-

Raya – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber – Rice, FOFANA – Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli – Havertz

RECRUIT? – Tomyasu, RECRUIT, Kiwior, Zinchenko – Partey, Jorginho – WILLIAMS, Emile, Trossard – WIND

Alternative set-up:

Raya – White, Sailba, Gabs, Timber – Partey, Fofana, Rice – Ode – Saka, Kai…

Raya – White, Saliba, Gabs, Timber – Odegaard, Fofana, Rice, Trossard – Saka, Havertz in a diamond shape

…

Anyways, let us try until the very end to win this league but chances are slim. I am hoping next year we do give ourselves a good chance in the FA Cup too. Trophies are important.

Drew against City – not bad

Beat Luton without being trouble – expected

Now, we are in the last leg of the season and key games are coming up in the EPL with 24 points to grab…I think we can maybe aim for 21 points and we must actually not lose more than 3 points because LFC and Man City won’t lose more than 3 points until the end of the season:

• Brighton away
• Villa at home
• Wolves away
• Chelsea at home
• Tottenham away
• Bournemouth at home
• Utd away
• Everton at home

Add the double confrontation with Bayern Munich in April and you could potentially say that the month of April is now the key month for us…

Man City game learning points: we can defend well and we grew since last year

Luton game learning points: Arteta is giving playing times to players like ESR, Partey, Nelsson, Nketiah, Zinchenko because he knows he may need them to tilt some games in our favour. My main concern is that Ben White is looking a bit tired and we can’t afford an injury or lapse in perform from Ben White. He is a key player for us. It was nice to see ESR and Partey back in the fold.

Next game is Brighton and it won’t be easy but I d play:

Raya – Tomy, Saliba, Gabs, Kiwior – Rice, Jorgi – Trossard, Ode, Martinelli – Jesus

We also need to rest Havertz a bit

Maignan – Walker, Stones, Konate, T. Hernandez – Bellingham, Rice, Griezmann – Saka, Kane, Mbappe

Pickford – Trippier, Saliba, Upamecano, Trent – Foden, Tchouameni, Camavinga – Dembele, Giroud, Palmer (or Bowen)

I think these A and B teams would have a good chance at the Euro…

According to the bookies, England is the favourite to win the Euros closely followed by France and then there is Spain, Portugal followed by Croatia, Italy, Germany and Netherlands

Perfect quarter finals would be:

• Spain – Portugal
• England – Croatia
• France – Italy
• Germany – Netherlands

and then: Spain – England ; France – Germany -> England vs France

Not sure if it is possible with the draw but these would be fun quarter-finals, semi-finals and then final.

England and France’s back-line are still a bit of an issue and France’s midfield is heavily dependent on Griezmann so France may be a little bit weaker overall than England…

Let us see

What a wonderful past 6 weeks:

• Wins in the league against Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, West Ham, Burnley, Newcastle, Sheffield and Brentford. Some of these wins saw us record more than 3 goals – who said we needed a striker at Christmas?…

• A hard fought qualification against Porto in the Champions League with Raya the hero, vindicating Arteta’s choice to put him as Nr. 1 GK at our club…

• On top of that, our latest recruits Rice, Havertz and Raya have proven to be decisive in this period while last January recruit Trossard continues to impress.
• Other players worth a mention are White who has been good at both end of the pitch, Gabriel, Kiwior who is doing much better than expected at LB, Jorginho who is giving Rice more freedom to move forward, Odegaard who is creating chances for fun and of course our star boy Saka.

• What does it mean for us?
  • Our next game is against Man City at the Etihad and this is going to be a major one. If we don’t lose it, we are still in the race for the title BUT we have tough games to play besides that one: Chelsea at home (they can play extremely well but also poorly so hard to say if it s hard or tough game), Brighton away, Aston Villa at home, Tottenham and Man Utd away…So not the easiest games to win until the end of the season, and I am not mentioning the other ones BUT at least, we are still in the EPL Glory hunt, which is a nice feeling for now
  • A mouth watering Champions League clash with Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich on 9th and 16th of April. Munich is not at its best this season and their whole focus is now on the Champions League and with Tuchel at the help, Kane, Sane, Muller, Musiala, Davies, Kimmich, Neuer and co will be ready for our matches…Win against Munich, and we will face either Real Madrid or Man City.

So the end of the season is set, it is looking exciting for now but it can turn sour quickly…Let us hope for the best and see us lift at least one trophy, I will take any of them. Yet, winning the EPL 20 years after the Invincibles would be quite something

Well well well..Havertz is proving to be more decisive for us in 2024 and a key element of our squad on both defensive and attacking phases…Who would have thought I would write these words back in September 2023…? Trust Arteta and the process? Maybe it is a good idea…who knows?

Anyways, Havertz’ form, inputs and outputs have been good lately and now with Partey being close to return and ESR finally fit again, it begs the question…Do we bring back Partey as a starter? When will we give a chance to ESR to shine again? Keeping ESR out of the team is not going to help our cause in keeping him in our ranks this summer…

Of course, I don’t think we should rock the boat, especially in the EPL but Arteta now has some headaches with his team selection, not only for keeping the team at its best but also in keeping players happy…

What we know for now:

• Arteta prefers Raya to Ramsdale, which beats me but oh well…
• Ben White is our starter at RB with Tomy being a more than able back-up
• Saliba-Gabriel is our starting CB pair…I think we should get an upgrade on Gabs this summer…
• Zinchenko, Timber fight for the LB spot and Kiwior is a back-up (but he is getting too many minutes for my liking…I think he is at best a back-up CB…but I would not mind shipping him out)
• Rice and Odegaard are clear starters in midfield and the last spot is battled out between Havertz, Partey and Jorginho. We can even add Smith-Rowe here and let us not forget El Neny is still with us. It seems we are OK in midfield, although I wouldn’t mind a player like Musiala in there…
• Saka and Martinelli are the first two names usually for our front three
• But there is now a conundrum for the third name…shall we play G. Jesus or L. Trossard
  • G. Jesus has great movement, spirit, passing and works hard for the team but he is not always the most lethal in front of all
  • L. Trossard has been in great shape for us in 2024, he also has great movement, spirit, works hard for the team and has a very good shot on him and a decent ability to make assists.

So who is the third name as part of our front 3? Nketiah and R. Nelson are back-ups…

Do you play the Brazilian maestro or the Belgian wizard? Is Trossard better suited to unlock games as a sub given his pace and trickery? Is G. Jesus better at tiring the defenses and stretching the lines?

What do the stats say?

• G. Jesus: 4 goals, 3 assists, 1.4 key pass per game, 0.1 cross per game, 1.1 tackle per game, 0.4 interception per game…
• L. Trossard: 6 goals, 1 assist, 0.7 key pass per game, 0.4 cross per game, 0.7 tackle per game, 0.3 interception per game…

So based on stats only, I would still play G. Jesus up front as a starter and have L. Trossard be my supersub but based on form only, I would play Trossard up front at the moment.

What about you?

So we just beat Liverpool in a game that showcased our brilliant team defending (except for that silly own-goal). We kept Liverpool at bay and we managed to score on our chances, although we should have been up by at least 2 goals at half-time…

Our set-up was very solid with Havertz and Odegaard playign a crucial role in defensive phases and Martinelli and Saka playing a crucial role on offensive transitions. Ben White also had at an excellent game but the MOTM was clearly Jorginho who was able to dictate pace alongside signing-of-the-season D. Rice…

3-1 at home against Liverpool and now we are back in the title race while also giving an edge to Man City in the title race…

Now the most important thing is not to celebrate being back in the title race but to CAPITALIZE on this wonderful win by winning the next games and being consistent…We can only keep fighting for the title if we win games…and now losing or dropping points until the 31st of March is not an option at all…We gotta win against all teams until then…We could then face Man City with a chance to tilt the race in our favour…

West Ham (A), Burnley (H), Newcastle (H), Sheffield (A), Brentford (H), Chelsea (H) = 18 points…

Tomy is going to be back soon and hoping that we will be able to count on G. Jesus and Partey as well.

Keep calm, keep winning and carry on…If we have 67 points by March 30th, we will still in the race…Anything lower and we may be out of it by April 1st, no joke 😦

COYG!

Raya – 6

White – 8

Saliba – 6

Gabs – 6

Zinchenko – 6

Jorginho – 9

Rice – 8

Saka – 8

Ode – 8

Martinelli – 8

Havertz – 8

Trossard: 8