Morning guys.
Just when it looks like we might see Gabriel Jesus in Arsenal colours again this season, Barcelona have swooped in for a late and very cheap deal. Good for him I say. The same as happened with Fabio Vieira as he’s off to Hamburg. Our departures this summer, including Gabriel Martinelli if he goes which looks likely, will have wiped nearly £50 million a year off the clubs wage bill. I just hope that money or at least a big chunk of it doesn’t end up in Alvarez’s pocket… just today and tomorrow left of this transfer window left thank goodness.
Arsenal take on Aston Villa tonight. It’s fair to say that Unai Emery has gone through a tough transfer window where he’s lost a number of his better players. Martinez has gone to Chelsea, as has Rogers, Watkins has gone off to Saudi Arabia, Tielemans has joined Man Utd, Digne has moved to PSG, Malen to Roma, Barrenechea has moved to Benfica and lastly, Ezri Konsa is now an Arsenal player. Others have moved on too but their names are not familiar to me and a number of them are loan deals. Still, they have brought in £250 million during this summer so far. Most of which has come from the deep pockets of Chelsea.
Whether they have bought well to replace their outgoing players is something only time will tell. Jackson, Suzuki, Garnacho, Wan-Bissika, Ruggeri, Gomes and Manzambi are the new guys to date.
Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke:
The big tactical takeaway from Villa’s game against Brighton was how they failed to cope with the press. Determined to play out from the back, even up against a hostile man-to-man set-up, Emery’s men were caught on the ball numerous times, especially when passes were fed into central midfield. Conceding a league-high 19 high turnovers on MW1, we will have plenty of encouragement to close down Villa’s players with aggression.
Incidentally, this tactic worked brilliantly for us in the second half of our stunning 4-1 home win over Villa last term, so I sense we will try to hassle the hosts in a man-to-man press again. This comes with risk, leaving ourselves 1v1 or 2v2 at the back, but while Villa always posed a huge threat on the break, without Rogers and Watkins, that danger feels slightly diminished.
Another way we may look to hurt the Villains is by launching accurate switches of play, especially to our left-hand side, where Christos Tzolis and Riccardo Calafiori enjoyed lots of success against Coventry. When the Italian pushes forward on the inside, he will look to create a 2v1 around the right-back. We scored our opener from that type of situation last time out, whereas Villa also conceded a very similar goal last weekend.
Experienced midfielder John McGinn is now arguably the most impactful Villa starter. The Scot occupies a narrow right-wing position that makes him difficult to pick up, and he usually shines in the biggest games. We must not allow him too much space in the pockets, because he is talented enough to hurt any team in the division.
Team News:
Aston Villa will be without Gomes after his red card against Brighton last weekend, Amado Onana is ruled out for most if not all of the season after suffering an ACL injury at the World Cup and Manzambi is out too. Tammy Abraham and Brian Mario are doubts but Jackson, Suzuki, Wan-Bissaka and Goretzka are in contention to make their debuts.
Arsenal are without Jurrien Timber and William Saliba but Ezri Konsa will be in the squad according to the manager and Bruno Guimaraes could also return. Other than that, the squad is likely be the same as last weekend. Whether the starting eleven is the same remains to be seen.
I know it’s only game two but already Ben White has played a lot of football, as has Kai Havertz, both after missing a lot of last season through injury. Will Ezri Konsa make his debut against his old club? Will Viktor Gyokeres get to feature for the first time this season I wonder. Will Ethan Nwaneri be in the squad or is he heading out on loan? Perhaps tonight’s match, or at least the squad details will go some way to answering a couple of questions.
Most importantly tonight though is putting in a good performance and getting three points.
Catch up in the comments.
Morning Limey, thank you.
Mudryk is available on loan. Lol
I too think it’ll be tough. The Villa new signings have a point to prove as does the whole team after their battering last weekend.
Morning Rico/everyone
Great preview and interesting to ponder if anyone else comes in. Not long to go,although we could bring in a free agent after the window closes.
I make the Villa game really tough,as the media love to remind us,we’ve lost this fixture the last 3 seasons. Expect a different Villa,not just in personnel,they always increase efforts when Arsenal in town. We dropped points in all of our next 3 fixtures too.
For us,if we play like we can we should win. A big question is does Bruno come into midfield,or do we stick with MLS. Also does Konsa come in,I’d prefer to stick with a winning team,plenty of time for rotation soon enough.
Did anyone see that handball by Harry Maguire,no way does that goal get allowed if it’s an Arsenal player,no matter what weasel words refs come out with.