Morning all.
Pre-season isn’t far away with our friendly fixtures kicking off on the 8th July when we play FC Nurnberg in Germany. Reports in the Daily Mail this morning suggest that Mikel Arteta is expecting the the squad to be back on the training field before the end of June, barring those who’ve been playing international football over the last few weeks, which is pretty much all of the first team squad. My guess is that everyone will be back for our trip to America where we play Everton, Orlando City and Chelsea before returning home for The Emirates Cup match against Sevilla on the 30th July.
One week later, the 2022/2023 season will be up and running. Hopefully, a few new faces will be through the door by then.
The fixture list has been released this morning so here are Arsenal’s, courtesy of The Daily Mail.
Catch up in the comments.
October and April. 😳
Europa League group stage dates are; 8 September, 15 September, 6 October, 13 October, 27 October, 3 November.
So our Premier League fixtures after these six dates will be moved to Sunday.
Just when the more difficult fixture take place Kev.
And for those interested in the League Cup (that’ll be just me then):
8th/9th …November…….. 3rd Rd
21st/22nd… December… 4th Rd
10th/11th… January…….. 5thRd
25th… January………..,,… S/F 1st Leg
1st… February……………. S/F 2nd Leg
26th….February………….. LCFinal
They’re all difficult Rico, mainly because we’re so lacking in certain areas of the squad/team, but I think in general the fixture computer hasn’t stitched us up this season…
Mind you, we’ll all be playing in Europe in October…
I did say the more difficult Kev. 😆
The fixture list is irrelevant imo, at least to a degree because every club has to play each other twice…
When is the Europa League knockout stage?
Knockout round play-offs: 16 & 23 February
Round of 16: 9 & 16 March 2023
Quarter-finals: 13 & 20 April 2023
Semi-finals: 11 & 18 May 2023
Final: 31 May 2023
You know me Rico, I never listen. 😆
Morning rico, all. Nothing worse than after waiting during summer for season to start, then losing first fixture at home, Still remember the Villa defeat, so happy we away first game.
Seems a nice run of fixtures to start…
Gonna miss a couple of those in August. But holidays win every time, particularly after the past few years of martial law.
Ha ha Kev.
Morning Andrew. Friday night, Palace away, I fear the worst already.
Fixtures out, I wish I could say “The fix is in”. but it ain’t.
All I hope is that we don’t start off as badly as last season.
Spent the whole morning in the garden, breakfast, the newspaper, clearing up early manifestations of the June Drop.
It’s the middle of June and I haven’t seen a single House Martin, Swallow or Swift, I blame it on the transport unions.
Afternoon Rico and All
I am quite happy with this fixture , at least we don’t play the top teams back to back as it’s hard enough to win at the best of times.
Devil thanks for the answer to yesterday question, lets hope some one comes in with a good offer for him
Good afternoon
My life is very complicated and that’s why I’ve posted little.
Maybe in a few weeks it will be more on the “rails”.
@Cicero all the swifts are round this way. Loads of them screeching about.
Fabio Vieira of Porto to Arsenal. Agreement reached and travelling for medical according to some sources. JM might have better knowledge of this
He comes from Portugal.
He plays for Arsenal
Another midget for our midfield, excellent. 😂
Kev, I reckon that might catch on. 🤣
Arsenal have signed, in my opinion, an excellent player, considered the best player in the Under-21 Euro. He is a highly technical player. My question is whether, due to his thin physique, he adapts to English football.
If he’s half as good as Santi Cazorla then it’s a brilliant deal for us.
Only 22, perfect age, I’m sure they’ll work on his physique at the London Colney, he’s got the technique, the language and he can score a goal, the weight training should iron out the other stuff.
Do we really need another attacking midfielder? We already have three, Odegaard, ESR and Xhaka. The first two are already tripping over each other in the race for a starting position. Even if Xhaka goes the likes of Patino and others will be pushed further down the pecking order.
Of course, we are still “chasing” Jesus another attacking midfielder. Apparently Jesus has been offered to both Real Madrid and Chelsea for £50 million, they both turned him down. Now it’s between us and the Spuds, City having refused an Arsenal offer of £30 million. Jesus is said to be leaving City because he wants more playing time, does that mean we will have to offer him a guaranteed starting place? Another Big Time Charlie? No thanks.
Morning moaners. 😂
New post up.
The good about Vieira:
– great skill profile with many strengths and no weaknesses (according to https://www.whoscored.com/Players/394924/Show/F%C3%A1bio-Vieira)
– plenty of goals and assists
– affordable price
– leadership skills (captain of the Portugal U21 selection)
– a catchy name in the Emirates
The bad:
– he didn’t play much, especially among adults (Nketiah and Sambi played cca 50% more, ESR 75% more, all about the same age, Saka played 120% more and he is 2 year younger)
– we need another attacking midfielder like Tasmanian devil needs the bushfire; as we have Ode and ESR with Flores and Hutchinson in the making
– currently injured (return unknown)
Fábio could be the challenger or maybe even the successor of Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva at the AM of the Portuguese national team, unless he makes a wrong decision and ends up with a team that throttles his development – kind of what is happenning to Lokonga.