Morning all.
I’m very happy at Arsenal. I said it many times. This is my club. I love to be here, I love the city, the club, everything about Arsenal. I want to stay. I’m very happy. ‘They just need a pen.’ When I knew that Arsenal wanted to buy me… it was one of the happiest days of my life.
The above is from Gabriel Martinelli and it’s in every sports outlet this morning. There’s even a video of his interview on Sky Sports. It’s fantastic news for Arsenal FC and us, the fans. I know he’s only one player but what a player he is. He would walk straight into many of the top club’s first team in my opinion but it looks like he’s staying for a while yet. Arsenal keeping hold of players of his quality sends out a message I think. A big message. Come Edu, give the guy a pen. William Saliba and Bukayo Saka next I hope.
Why wouldn’t the players want to stay at the club and be a part of what appears to be unfolding? Even Reiss Nelson, who has struggled to get a break at Arsenal has said he’s never been tempted to leave and all he wants is to stay at the club beyond next summer when his contract expires.
Are the injury tables turning slightly I wonder. Son suffered a nasty injury during Totts win in France and according to reports he needs surgery. If true, he’ll miss the next few fixtures and possibly the World Cup. Last night, Ben Chilwell limped out of Chelsea’s game and he’s also reported to be a doubt for England’s World Cup challenge. Graham Potter played a pretty strong team last night which surprised me considering Chelsea had already won their group. Good.
Barcelona dropped into the Europa League even before they kicked their final fixture off last night but Atletico Madrid were dumped out of Europe altogether. Mikel Arteta has been linked with a move to Barcelona to replace under fire Xavi but as he said in his interview yesterday, he’s happy and proud to be where he is.
During his pre match press conference, Mikel Arteta was asked whether Saka is getting enough protection from referees:
I’m sure that the referees have looked at all the incidents and the amount of fouls that our front players are getting and it’s their job to manage that situation in the best possible way.
Nothing will change though because if Bukayo Saka, a player expected to be crucial for England at the World Cup later this month, isn’t getting the free kicks he should be getting, then what hope is there for the rest of the Arsenal players?
Tonight, it’s simple. We need a win. As do PSV Eindhoven in Norway but Arsenal’s destiny is in their own hands. Win and it’s job done regardless of the other result.
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Mo Elneny are back in full training and surprise surprise, Bukayo Saka is fit to play tonight. Granit Xhaka misses out though as he’s suspended. Barring ESR, the rest are good to go.
Mikel Arteta said he’ll rotate his players tonight but the team will be competitive. No surprise there as that’s what he’s done in the Europa League fixtures so far. We need to see a much better performance than the team produced in Holland though, otherwise we’ll have two more fixtures added to what’s already a hectic season. One of Barcelona, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus Sporting Lisbon, Sevilla and Red Bull Salzburg await whichever club comes second in the group.
Come on Arsenal, just get the job done…
See you in the comments.
Good morning Rico, all these new contracts mean our wage bill is starting to climb again after ditching so many highly (over) paid members of the old guard.
Arteta has his head screwed on, I feel sure he will resist the lure of Barcelona for the foreseeable future so long as the ownership keep their feet firmly on the ground.
We will remain top of the group so long as we match or better PSV’s result against Bodo.
C’mon The Glorious Gunners!!!
Morning Rico and Cicero,
Good news that Gabi wants to sign. I think he’s going to get better and better. Now for Saka and Saliba. Yes, the wage bill is creeping up but, hopefully, so will the returns.
Arteta is very diplomatic when asked about the referees. He just puts the onus back on Riley to do something. The sooner Riley leaves, the better as far as I’m concerned.
Morning Rico, Cicero and Adam, the Barcelona rumours aren’t necessarily a bad thing because it gives Arteta some leverage with KSE when he’s after some investment in the team.
Losing Pepe will take a big chunk off of our wage bill, he’s the last of the under-performers on inflated salaries.
Why are all Arsenal fans accountants ?Strange.In other news,a possible opportunity to go in & nick Frank Kessie( 24) from the Barca bandits,this Jan window.Would be a dream .Not pleased with zlzck of game time & Barca need the dosh & trying to cut wage bill.Who knows? Worth a punt.
Morning Rico and all
As I said on match day I recon Saka will only miss 1 match, I don’t think Saka will play today, it’s not worth taking the chance and I would start him on the bench on the weekend. even if fit just to get a rest.
The bench players want to stay, maybe Arteta has promised them more game time during the FA cup rounds and other small trophy matches
The bench players want to stay because we are a team on the up and they want to be associated with it. They know that they will get to play a bit and they are very well paid in a happy camp .
Tonight we have to win , as simple as that , what happens on Bodo’s plastic pitch is immaterial, they kick off at the same time so we can’t have any knowledge of what happens there . Just go out win and get ready for Chelsea.
As for wages and their increase , if you are successful the wages will grow but so will the income , that’s why Champions League is so important to the club and why the super league will not go away.
Who isn’t linked with Barcelona?
They will keep shaking the magic money tree until they go bust. Won’t be long now…
They have been bust for years but are artificially supported by the Catalan government . it’s a political statement after all it’s Mes Que Un Club
Positive Pete, sorry, your comment went into moderation but don’t ask why as I have no idea.
Morning to you all.
In my opinion, if we want to keep the best and sign the best, we have to be competitive in the wage department as well as on the pitch. I think things are very different to offering higher wages to the players we have now and those in the past as this squad is young, on the up and all wanting to work for Arteta.
Speculate to accumulate I say and if the money is there, go big in January or go small/unknown – if a player is right in the clubs mind, just do it…
I thought the same Adam. A very subtle dig at Riley etc without sounding like he’s moaning. Smart.
I’d forgotten about Pepe Kev, I don’t even know which club he’s at. Lol
He’s at Nice and in 10 games has scored 3 goals , In two years before we bought him he had played 74 games and scored 35 goals . With us he played 80 and scored 16 times . Kind of gives a guide to the strength of that league.
Well, I can’t see him ever playing for us again..
Ramsdale, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Elneny, Sambi, Nelson, Vieria, Nketiah, Jesus.
Utd finished second in their group. Nice…
I’m surprised to see Jesus and Nketiah again.
Anybody spot my deliberate mistake? I left Holding out of the line-up. 😉 j
Hope that’s not an omen. Lol
Coygs
Was is Holding or Lokonga you forgot to list Cicero? Lol
Classic Arsenal Europa first half.
A better second half hopefully. Sound familiar?
Didn’t matter who you left out Cicero , you could have left out half of them that didn’t turn up .
Busy busy here tomorrow.
Very poor display.
Phew! That was close!
Rico, I had Sambi in.
I know Cicero, I was being ironic. Lol
Pretty drab performance, terrible refereeing and who let the drums and flares in?
Still, job done, just hope Tomiyasu is ok.
Night guys.
Very average performance but won the group, Ramsdale made some important saves late in the game, the referee was appalling, worst I’ve seen this season and that’s saying something.
I’m glad, we won. Now to concentrate on the premier league
‘morning all, we had a stinker in the second leg against PSV and then wiped the floor with Brentford. Last night’s game was a shambles so, hopefully, we’ll have a stunner against Chelsea on Sunday.
The lack of goals from Jesus is worrying, what is it seven games now since he last scored? He is always praised for his influence on the younger players and his tricky little touches but he was bought to score goals and he’s just not doing that.
The commentator last night said Jesus had never been a “prolific” goal scorer at City and I can’t argue with that, but they had players to share the load. Arteta said he was not worried as creating chances for others was just as important but in my opinion we cannot afford to start a non-scoring striker.
Just a footnote, the player most missed last night was Xhaka.
Morning all.
New post up now.
Agree Cicero, Sambi just can’t do what Granit can. I guess that’s experience for you. I think Jesus just needs a goal, a scruffy goal will do. He’s in the right place most of the time and everything else about his game is brilliant.