Leading up to the game I really didn’t think we would actually win, but after reading yesterday’s pre match  I thought how could we not (right said Fred)?

Team lineup was as expected since it was correctly predicted by RockyLives in his pre match post.

This time,  I reached the game on time but even before I reached my seat I saw Martinelli driving into the box and getting a shot off which was saved by Ederson. My thoughts were, wow is this going to be a game and the day I see my first top 6 victory live from the Home of Football.  Two minutes later Chambers gave me an answer to that question, as a through ball was sent in and instead of Chambers dealing with it and cutting out the ball, he opted to let the attack run on to it and the delivered cross was 1 nil to Man Shitty. Why is Kolasinac ducking is he afraid of balls?

As the game continued we looked positive, but Arsenal kept playing a dangerous game by passing it around the back.

Another defensive lapse sees KBD able to roll the ball across for Sterling making it 2 nil, Kolasinac again this time ball watching.

In the 25th minute Guendouzi looked like he was fouled from the upper tier but of course not given, it seems we are the only team who don’t get home advantage.

At 2-0 down the Emirates crowd kept trying to motivate the team.

Kolasinac pick up an injury, let’s hope it isn’t serious and on came one of the players I really like in this current squad –  Saka. But before he was given a chance to bring us back from a 2 nil deficit Guendouzi let KBD in and boom is was 3 nil(cant believe I removed him from my fantasy side).

Clearly this is how the Arsenal team thinks it should defend, let the attackers run onto the ball and hope Leno could stop the shot.

Half came and I took a long walk to block 106 to meet peaches for the first time. Pleasure to meet you peaches.

Then on top of the that I was offered a set next to Ant and LBG. (Should have a picture for chas to show him how we look in the upper tier).

Hopefully some of that good fortune could be passed on to my name sake.

The second half opened with City still dominating and on one occasion KDB almost grabbed his hatrick but Leno made a great save sending it onto the post.

ESR came on for Ozil and LBG was a happy camper, he didn’t make an instant impact but he gradually grew into the game and on one occasion chipping a through ball for Aubameyang to run onto but he rushed it and dragged it wide. Arsenal’s second shot on goal.

City then began playing keep ball and weren’t really troubled.

My Current record of watching Arsenal play is 3 – 3 (rough)

Player ratings are ………. Everyone gets a 4 probably Leno could get a 6 since he keep us from being slaughtered second half.

The referee gets a 2(as Arsenal get no home advantage)

Fred

“Right,” said Fred, let’s be having you.

The faltering champions are coming to town and it’s time for Freddie Ljungberg’s Arsenal to stand up and be counted.

Who thinks we’re going to beat Man City today at the Emirates?

…and answer came there none.

You lily-livered bunch of chicken-poop surrender monkeys.

Of course we’re going to win. It’s way beyond time we all got out of this defeatist funk we’ve been in for months.

Here’s why I think we will prevail this afternoon:

• Slowly, slowly you can see our confidence returning. Players who had lost faith in Unai Emery are starting to believe again.
• I get the sense Freddie and Big Per are beginning to earn the respect and trust of the squad.
• Our young players are turning in quality performances on a regular basis and that is bound to have a motivating effect on the senior pros. It also makes them an excellent asset off the bench.
• We tend to perform better against top teams than against strugglers whom we are expected to dispatch easily.
• Man City are watching the title slip away from them and their own confidence is in question.
• Aguero will miss the game through injury and David Silva is a doubt.

I can hear the objections that have no doubt formed in the minds of many of you:

“But, but, performances…”

“But, but, injuries…”

“But, but, players are not good enough…”

“But, but, defending like the Royal Society for the Blind’s second team…”

I’m not going to argue with you, certainly on performances. We still look shaky and unconvincing, but something quite significant has happened since Emery left. We have started rescuing games from losing positions rather than throwing away games from winning positions.

The win against West Ham after being 0-1 down; the point salvaged against Standard Liege after falling 0-2 behind… these betoken a team that is starting to believe it can force results.

And how better to continue that progress than by beating the reigning champions? I reckon our lads are going to be well up for it.

Although City are without Aguero, we have our own injury problems. Tierney needs surgery on a dislocated shoulder (that young man has Debuchy levels of bad luck), Ceballos, Holding Bellerin and Xhaka are all ruled out.  The good news is that Pepe, who was a doubt, is expected to be available. I expect him to outshine Raheem Sterling today.

Here’s my predicted starting line-up.

Leno

Maitland-Niles – Chambers – Luiz – Kolasinac

Torreira – Guendouzi

Ozil

Pepe – Aubameyang – Martinelli

If we play without fear we have the ability to really trouble the City defence.  We know how good they are going forward so there’s no point trying to sit back and soak up pressure.

Let’s go at them.

Let’s be proud of wearing the shirt.

Let’s play sexy football.

Let’s leave the field with a 3-2 win for the Mighty Arse.

Ready, Freddie… GO!

RockyLives

Hell on Earth – Purgatory – First rung of stairway to Heaven

Just as I was beginning to believe, like some Emery contagious disease, that it wasn’t really Freddie and the BFG sitting on the bench but holograms, a young 18 year old turns up, unmarked in the box!!!

A first half that could be summed up by…….well, virtually 22 professional footballers, with no confidence, or belief, or ability to pass, or turn and lift the head or beat a man.

That said, West Ham at least seemed to want to win, were more often first to the ball, and were prepared to tackle forcefully. They got a deflected goal when a blanket would have covered our players in the box and half time came with the feeling all was lost.

Nothing much changed for the first 10 mins of the second half, then God, of whatever persuasion looked down and said ” Enough of this sh***, Satan, we all know you are a Totteringham fan, get your foot off Arsenal’s neck”.

And so Martinelli popped up, and we started to look a bit more confident. Pepe did what he was bought for and Aubameyang, despite being out of the game, did an Aubameyang.

Seeds of new growth. Send the youth, and Mustafi, out to Belgium and wrap up first place in our group. And add any player who shows heart to the squad for Sunday. We don’t expect miracles, but we do expect heart, Fred ( no, not you!).

LBG

And some player ratings from RC78

Leno – 6
AMN – 6
Chambers – 7
Sokratis – 6
Kolsinac – 6
Xhaka – 6
Torreira – 6
Ozil – 6
Pepe – 7
Auba – 6
Martinelli – 8

And so after 64 days Arsenal supporters could go to bed with a smile on their faces. Whoever flicked the switch, can they please flick it early on Sunday ……….. before we’ve conceded would be good 😉

Having not won in our last 7 PL games, we travel to the London Stadium to face a West Ham side, winless in their last 4 home games, sitting 16th in the table, only 3 points behind us!!

Our last away win was back in August, against Newcastle!! Sheesh!! So, needless to say I’m very nervous about this game (& not only because half of my family are Hammers!)

I’m hoping it’ll be 3rd time lucky for Freddie, who’s bound to get a warm reception from the home fans, having been a Hammer for the 2007-08 season.

I came across these interesting facts –

1) Aubameyang hasn’t scored against West Ham in 3 appearances.

2) We haven’t scored in our last 2 visits to the London Stadium.

3) West Ham have lost a PL high of 29 matches on a Monday. While only the Mancs (43) have won more than us (39)

I also saw that Felipe Anderson hasn’t scored/assisted in his last 8 appearances, oh great, we all know what will happen tonight!!

For them, our former keeper, Fabianski, is still out injured. Wilshere is a doubt. If selected, Mark Noble will make his 500th senior appearance 👏

For us, Ceballos is still out, Holding to be assessed.

This is the team I’d like to see –

Leno

Bellerin   Chambers   Luiz  Kolasinac

Guendouzi  Torreira   Martinelli

Pepe  Ozil  Aubemeyang

We really need to get back to winning ways, as we’re too close to the bottom 3 for my liking!!

Oh jeez, Mike Dean is refereeing, so more than likely we’ll be playing against 12 men!! 😬

My heart says we’ll win 2-1, but my head says 2-2….. COYG!!!

Sue

Well it wasn’t to be ………

Before I start with the doom and gloom just want to say it was really a pleasure to meet LBG and Ant. It must be said LBG is now my favorite Englishman, sorry Ant and chas you have just been demoted.

This is not so much a review but my thoughts from sitting in upper tier (yes upper tier) in the clock end. I was so far away I kinda miss judged the players, for instance I thought Aubameyang scored our goal.

When I got to the stadium the game had already started (would not like to say who kept me back lol) so I only saw from the 10th minute Arsenal were playing a lot of long ball …….. why? Only they know.

I still can’t understand why Mesut is being played out wide, even Arsene didn’t get the best out of him in that position so why in  hell do other coaches think they can get him to play good out wide.

After Arsenal went a goal down they did actually play with some vigor but still couldn’t get the break through. Arsenal 0 – 1 Brighton at half time and when the team went off there were some boos.

Taking a page from the Unai playbook, Freddie made a half time substitution bringing on Pepe for Willock and immediately there was a dominance about our performance. The Pepe introduction really raised the atmosphere the in the ground too.

After a few near chances the goal finally came from Lacazette. We kept pilling on the pressure and eventually we were 2-1 up but VAR took away our goal once again. To me after that the team seemed to have lost the vigor they had at the start of second.

Some one needs to tell the ground man to stop wetting the pitch at cause Sokratis keep slipping on the wet pitch. Who knew all this time it was the pitch and not his defending that’s the problem.

Because I’ve never seen Arsenal draw a game David Luiz wasn’t going to let this be the first and did his usual backing off until the attacker could put in a quality cross right on the  the head of Maupay …….. Leno didn’t have a chance. Arsenal 1- 2 Brighton.

For the remainder of the game Arsenal huffed and puffed and finally it was over.

Personally I  will give every player a 5 as no one really stood out to me while sitting in the upper tier (yes upper)

Fred 

And some Player ratings from Rocky ………….

Leno 7

Some terrific saves from our German custodian and no chance for the two goals. He’s turning into one of the best GKs in the Premiership. It’s just a shame that what’s in front of him doesn’t match up to his standards. MoTM.

Bellerin 5

Hector had some good moments and was looking to attack and taking on defenders several times during the game. I have seen other people criticise his performance but I saw signs of him beginning to return to the form that made us love him.

Sokratis 4

We were beaten in the air pretty much every time Brighton pinged a cross into the box. If Sokratis can’t win headers, the other parts of his game don’t merit a place in the team.

Luiz 5

It’s tempting to give really low marks to Luiz and Sokratis, but our defensive issues go beyond individual performances. Luiz had some good moments where he was aggressive and won tackles. He has been blamed by most people for Brighton’s second goal, but closer examination shows it’s more on Torreira. In the build-up Torreira is marking Maupay. You can see Luiz look across and clock that that’s the case. Then, just before the cross comes in, Torreira goes sprinting away from Maupay as if the little Frenchman had just delivered a spectacular vindaloo fart. By the time Luiz tries to react it’s too late.

Kolasinac 5

He looked good attacking at times, was defensively suspect at times. A pretty typical Kola outing.

Xhaka 6

Arguably our best player after Leno. He’s the only player we have who doesn’t give me palpitations when being pressured on the ball in our own half. He also tried to get us on the front foot with his long passes. Even so, he still has two or three horrendous mistakes per game in his repertoire where he just passes to the opposition for no obvious reason.

Willock 3

Picked up where he left off against Southampton. A largely anonymous first half before being substituted at the break. Presumably Freddie rates him from his time running the youth team, but our Joe looks like he needs a loan-out to toughen up and hone his skills.

Torrieria 4

Is he protecting our box? Is he an extra striker? Is he a winger? Answers on a postcard if you know the answer, because he managed to do all three at different times last night. Was most culpable for Brighton’s winner. I don’t see a future for him at Arsenal. He’s too lightweight to be a DM and seldom plays that role anyway.

Ozil 4

One of those games where he just never got into it, partly due to Brighton’s tenacity and work rate. Mesut never likes it when players are all over him and he never wins a 50-50. In fact he seldom wins a 60-40 even when it’s 60-40 in his favour.

Lacazette 6

Scored our goal. Never stops trying, but we didn’t manage to get him into enough dangerous positions.

Aubameyang 5

Relatively anonymous for large parts of the game and found it hard to impose himself. He feels wasted out wide against a hard working defence like Brighton’s.

Substitutes

Pepe 7

Came on at half time and immediately injected energy and attacking verve. His attempts to beat defenders don’t always come off, of course, but when they do they open up the defence in a way none of our other attackers managed to achieve. Very promising outing and needs to start in our next game.

Tierney 5

Replaced Kola on 72 minutes. Not much changed.

Martinelli 6

On for the last 15 minutes or so. Got flattened within seconds of coming on but did not let it intimidate him. The kid tries hard and was unlucky not to score with a glancing header into the bottom corner which the ‘keeper just got to.

RockyLives