Morning all.
How will Arsenal react after losing a second league match this season is probably the question of the day. That and will Man City be booted out of the Premier League if found guilty of breaching the financial fair play rules. Did you feel a tiny bit sorry for Pep during his press conference yesterday?
A bit of good news from Mikel Arteta is that Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson and Gabriel Jesus are closer to a return to the squad. They’ve started to do some activities and have been outside he said but they are not ready to be considered. Yet. Everyone else bar Mo Elneny is fit, healthy and raring to go.
Brentford are missing Pontus Jansson, Thomas Strakosha and Frank Onyeka. They are on a good run having not lost a match since before the World Cup and there is little doubt they’ll pushing hard for a place in Europe between now and the end of the season. Their only two victories away from home came against West Ham and Man City. Both though, were last year.
The long and heavily watered grass at Goodison Park didn’t help Arsenal find their passing rhythm last weekend but Mikel Arteta’s players need to get used to that if winning the League title is to become a reality because you can bet your bottom dollar, it won’t be the last time a groundsman and his staff are asked to do the same before Arsenal turn up to play. Even so, enough opportunities to score were created but Arsenal wasted them. As did Everton but they got the only one which mattered to them.
What the managers have said this week:
Frank on taking his team to Emirates Stadium:
I always believe that we can win, but – and it’s a big but – we’re facing Arsenal who are top of the league. They have been going from strength to strength and they are in a fantastic position. It’s well deserved that they are top of the league. They look in sync and they have all their key players fit and available. At home they play with an unbelievable intensity. To get anything out of this game we need to top perform. We’ll probably need the best performance we’ve ever put out in a Premier League game.
Arteta on the challenge Brentford will provide:
Many different ones – the ones they put in every week to every single opponent. The level or where they are sitting in the table doesn’t matter – they are extremely efficient at what they do, with a very clear way of playing and generating advantages, overloads and sequences of play. That they want to do. That will be the game tomorrow and we’ll need to be at our best in every single phase, because they can create issues from anywhere on the field.
Arsenal will have to be at their best today but that’s the requirement every week in this league because it’s tough.
Arsenal tactical expert Michael Cox, writing in the official matchday programme:
Frank switches between 4-3-3 and 3-5-2, but tends to use the latter formation in matches against strong opposition. The use a back three allows the wing-backs to push forward, sometimes combining well with long switches to the far post. Rico Henry has been superb down the left, while the hard-working Mads Roerslev is usually used as the wing-back on the opposite side, although Aaron Hickey’s return from injury provides another option.
In midfield, Christian Norgaard is an excellent holding midfielder capable of playing direct passes into attack. Ahead of him, Mathias Jensen drifts around and often finds himself in crossing positions, while Josh Dasilva, who spent 12 years with us, has an eye for a spectacular.
All three of Brentford’s attackers deserve to start on current form, but Frank will have to omit one of them if he opts for 3-5-2. Ivan Toney has scored 13 goals in 19 starts this season and is excellent at spinning in behind, although can also drop deep to prod balls over the defence. Bryan Mbuemo was outstanding last weekend with his passing as well as his running, meaning Yoane Wissa is more likely to be used from the bench.
But Brentford’s attack is about more than individuals. They press excellently as a unit, play clever balls around the corner for runners and they’re a major threat from corners and throw-ins. They won’t dominate possession, but they’ll offer a serious attacking threat.
I’ve not seen much of Brentford this season so I’ve no idea if their good run is down to excellent football, or a large chunk of good fortune. I know they went 2-0 against Totts before having to settle for a draw and that they’ve thrashed Liverpool and Man Utd but again, those results came at home. On the road, they’ve drawing a lot of matches.
Here’s a few facts for you.
We have won our last seven London derbies. Our last two league goals conceded have come from corners – just one of the first 15 this campaign came in that fashion. Meanwhile, no side has scored more goals from set-piece situations in the Premier League than Brentford (14), including a league-high five penalties. Since the start of last season, Eddie Nketiah has scored more goals at the Emirates Stadium in all competitions than any other player, with those 13 coming in his last 13 home starts.
Basically then, don’t give away any set-pieces in a dangerous area, don’t concede any corners and get the ball to Eddie Nketiah. I jest of course.
Seriously though, Arsenal playing at home, a stadium full of positive and energetic fans and the pitch looking like the grass of centre court on the opening day of Wimbledon, I can’t see Mikel Arteta’s team not putting in a top notch performance today. I’m sure the last week has been all about today, how to bounce back with energy and togetherness and most importantly, how to beat Brentford.
Catch up in the comments.
Morning Rico and all.
Let’s hope for a big response after last week’s disaster,
Rico if we struggled against Everton due to their long grass then maybe we should have one of our training pitches set up totally different to our normal ground so our players can get use to that style of pitch.
Morning Geoff, or just adjust when needed. It’s not like we don’t know the way other clubs prepare for the likes of ourselves, City etc..
Morning Rico. I’ve always liked Pep but after yesterday’s crazy, deluded press conference a lot of that vanished. He seems to be saying that their previous accused misdemeanours were proved to be false but I thought the statute of limitations saved them and they were still fined anyway. Yesterday he was like a cross between Trump and Putin. Full of arrogance, lies and threats and distinctly unpleasant.
We just have to win today and if we show enough power and desire, I think we will.
Morning Adam, I thought similar. City and innocent didn’t spring to my mind, time saved them unlike this time, it’s not an issue. Shame it’s going to take so long to investigate.
Let’s hope City don’t drag Arteta into it.
Same starting line up as last week,
Same team as last week and playing the same way as last week.
Half time, nil all, we are lucky they didn’t score
Sounds like we’re struggling a bit..
At last goal Trossard, now let’s look for the second, Brentford starting to look a bit tired
Brentford goal, crap defending 76 minutes in
Brentford waisting time, another shit performance, god help us against Man City
Disappointing result..
going through our rough patch with City on Wednesday missing Jesus now . We have held it together but now we need him back.
Very disappointing really. Soft goal to concede but Frank learned from the Newcastle deep block game I think. We were a bit unlucky too and too frantic. If Eddie ain’t poaching he isn’t doing much else.
Just hope it’s a a bit of a dip rather than the start of something worse.
It was disappointing but Brentford did a deep block Newcastle on us and we were poor for their goal. Oh for an elite striker.
Two more points dropped, I can’t comment any further as I haven’t seen the game or heard any commentary.
I can only hope the last two games represent nothing more than a slight blip.
Flo Balogun Adam?
Cicero. 😀 Good question. Not sure about that.
Toney Adam. Lol
Big match now Wednesday , Probably the season decider, I can’t help thinking that a defeat and the whole thing may unravel . This side is very young and once that their bubble is burst they may have trouble getting back to the swagger we had prior to the world cup break..
Certainly the loss of Jesus our talisman has affected things and we look stale and bereft of energy and ideas. We look like we are just going through the motions at times and although we are still good enough at one level down to be hard to beat ,we need that extra boost to start gathering the points that we will need to maintain our lead.
We look quite staid at the moment and need to shake a few things up. Maybe switch Saka to the left and play Trossard right and then bring on Martinelli for the last 20 minutes . Get the wingers to go outside instead of cutting in all the time and stretch the defence instead of letting it remain so compact that every effort gets blocked because of the overcrowding .
At the moment we wait for our full backs to centre and effectively without movement in the middle they are not very good at it and once they are caught upfield we are subject to the fast break. .
We need to do something to surprise Pep and try to take the game to them and put them on the back foot.
The last 2 weeks Saka has run down the line to stop then switch back and tried to cut into the box and just about every time he did it he got shut down, he needs to change his style of play as he becoming very predictable.
Potter we sure do need Jesus back.
I hope I am wrong but not picking up a striker in January is starting to hurt, we had 3 shots at goal that missed so badly I thought the goal post had been moved to the stadium roof.
It’s a long shot but maybe why the players are having trouble is due to Arteta looking much more relaxed and staying inside his coaching area.
By all accounts we got screwed again by VAR over the Brentford equaliser.
Bad weekend for VAR officials not only did they stuff up at Arsenal the also ignored a Westham player dive to the ground and deliberately put his hand out to stop the ball in the goal square.
Morning all.
New post up now