Morning all.
Mikel Arteta held his post Aston Villa press conference yesterday during which he spoke about Jurrien Timber and when he might return:
He’s still got a few steps to make. He needs to play a game, at least with the under-21s and he’s going to have an in-house game soon as well. He’s done everything in training, now it’s getting that match fitness and having people around him to start competing in a full match which is different to training.
No surprise there really as no player can go from 9 months out of the game to playing a Premier League fixture. Just being back in training with his teammates must feel so special for him, especially as his injury came whilst making his debut for Arsenal. The under 21’s play on Monday night against Aston Villa so perhaps he’ll be involved in that one and the match against Blackburn a week later too. Much depends on how he feels after his first game, after the first strong challenge on him and the first strong challenge he makes.
What I think we can be quietly confident about is him being fully fit for next season. Of course we all want to see our injured players return as quickly as possible but recovery is something which cannot be rushed. There’s no point in a player returning early for twenty minutes if he ends up suffering a setback and missing the next 5/6 games.
Mikel Arteta was asked how big the next few games will be:
Every game is going to define what our future looks like. It is the only thing possible to look at one day and one game. It is the only thing that is possible because it’s the only thing that maintains your focus and determines the tasks that you have to do on the day, which is the only thing that you can control. It’s the job that we live. 15 minutes [after] we finished against Luton, I was watching Brighton in my office in the stadium. It’s like this because you don’t have time. You have to prepare and you’re onto the next one.
I don’t think Mikel Arteta would have been thinking about the Bayern Munich fixture one bit when he selected his squad for today’s match against Aston Villa. Villa are a very good team and regardless of Unai Emery’s much criticised time at Arsenal, he’s an excellent coach with a CV better than most. He’ll have done his homework ahead of the game. He’ll know Arsenal’s strengths as well as any weaknesses and he’ll set up his team to try and nullify one and exploit the other. Whether his players can succeed or not is another matter.
Villa’s last away game was against Man City at the beginning of the month. They lost 4-1 but were without Watkins, Martinez and McGinn. Today they’ll be without Luiz as he’s suspended, Mings, Ramsey, Kamara and Buendia. Cash and Lenglet could return.
Timber remains out for us and there’s a doubt over Gabriel and Jakub Kiwior as neither were involved in training yesterday. That is if the club photographs are anything to go by.
Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme:
Emery likes his side to be set up in a 4-2-3-1, 4-4-1-1 or a 4-4-2, and no matter which shape he deploys they are usually tough to beat. Tactically, the Spaniard wants to congest the middle third, crowding space for opponents who want time on the ball. His back four will squeeze towards the halfway line, compacting space between the lines. This helps them win turnovers and from there they have the power and pace to hurt you. By using twin strikers who are both quick and willing to run the channels, Villa are excellent at launching fast breaks. No Premier League side has produced more direct attacks than the Villans – look out for wingers Leon Bailey and Moussa Diaby whenever they launch those counters.
Emery’s brand of high-octane, pressure football also limits the number of quality chances opponents can create. Facing an average of just 11.19 shots per match, only the current top three protect their own goal better than the Villans. However defending set pieces has been a weakness. They have leaked 14 goals from corners and free kicks this term, and only two clubs have let in more. With Arsenal so strong from set plays and outstanding in central midfield, these will be areas of concern for Emery.
Villa might have a few heavy legs in the camp after playing on Thursday night. They’ve had a mixed bag of results through March and April but are still hanging on to 4th spot after Totts were beaten by Newcastle Utd yesterday.
Luiz being suspended for this match is a bit of a boost for us I think as he’s one of their key players but they have a number of very good players who if given the time and space can cause problems. As Adrian Clarke said, Villa can break quickly when they get the chance so our defence has to be mindful of that. David Raya too.
Mikel Arteta’s teams have been good this year, very good and now we’re into the final few weeks of the season, keeping that run going is crucial. We’re at home with 50 odd thousand fans roaring the players on so I hope the team can start fast, get an early goal and then give Villa a spanking.
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico,
I somehow doubt that both Gabriel and Kiwior are injured, mind games probably.
If we are looking for a striker, Newcastle’s Isak would fit the bill for me. There’s something of the Thierry Henry about him.
Raya needs to be on the ball today as well as on his line. Concentration, concentration, concentration.
Morning Rico and Co
Referring back to the Academy debate, Arsenal are not unique, if everyone at Man City is fit only Foden gets into the starting XI if everyone is fit at Liverpool only TAA is getting in.
The Academy has provided us with some very good squad players and we’ve been able to sell Iwobi and Willock in recent years for sizeable amounts. Both Man City and Chelsea have sold academy players to other Premier Lge clubs for good fees and every club in the Premier League has to have home made players and we can’t buy all of them.
I get the question over the viability of the Academy but everyone has one (not sure about Brentford?) so there has to be a value in it.
What kind of fee do you all think that Newcastle would demand for Isak?
They don’t need the money that’s for sure, so selling him would only be for accounting reasons. Surely he is more valuable to them that a points deduction, depending on the amount of points? If I was Newcastle I’d take the points deduction, then use it as a sense of injustice to motivate the club and region.
I’ve got no love of Newcastle or their management team, but if they could keep their staff fit and together then they would be a big threat next season. No europe will help them enormously, but they aren’t my club so feck ‘em…
Morning Cicero, Kev, all.
Nice to see the sun shining again.
Is Isak good against a low block though?
Agree Kev, hence my question about it happening at the big clubs.
Honestly, I’ve long come to terms with no sentiment in football. Also, Arteta has forgotten more about his players than I ever knew so I/we have to trust his view on players.
Afternoon Rico and all.
It’s not only who starts today, but also who can come on and prvent them from scoreing if we only leading by 1 goal in the dying minutes.
Afternoon rico, all, from Santa Ponsa, 4 day break from local airport and 26 degrees! Off soon to scout out a bar showing match.
Afternoon Geoff, Andrew.
Lucky you Andrew, enjoy.
Absolutely Geoff, 16 players matter each match day.
Palace one nil up at Anfield half-time
Enjoying watching Liverpool struggle,Palace were outstanding for the first half hour,one goal is the least they deserve. Liverpool coming back into it and look the most likely to score.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Palace get another though.
22 David Raya
4 White
35 Zinchenko
2 Saliba
6 Gabriel
41 Rice
8 Odegaard (c)
29 Havertz
9 Jesus
7 Saka
19 Trossard
Arteta change the midfield … not a good idea.
come on Arsenal!
Palace beat Liverpool,
Unbelievable result at Anfield.
Merson talks rubbish. Liverpool aren’t out the race at all…
Although I agree with him about our midfield, looks a bit light…
It’s entirely in our hands if we win today.
C’mon The Glorious. Gunners!
COYG’s
A stupid yellow card for White to give away
Gabriel becoming a little bit of a problem for us,
Well that was slightly disappointing, or as the commentator said, titillatingly tense 😜
We needed half time to regroup, hopefully a better second half
I think we’re missing Jorginho to free up Rice. Hopefully Martinelli will soon be on for Jesus too although I think Trossard will go off.
I wonder how much City are paying Jesus to cock everything up.
We need to change something,
Havertz on 10 bookings now, a two match suspension follows.
We’re lucky not to be behind..
You’d think it was Arsenal who played Thursday, not Villa.
We are choking, we deserve to loose
Oh dear oh dear..
Can’t say it wasn’t coming…
Villa 2 us f – ck all, out played, out coached
That was a waste staying up for
I was apprehensive about the change in midfield. In fact, since playing with 2 players in midfield we have been growing and winning; before, Arsenal played but the victories didn’t appear. Just like at Villa in the first leg.
Arsenal were superior in the first half; in the second, the Villa coach changed the tactical positioning and it was a disaster. With defenses comfortable playing deep, Arsenal players were easily beaten or caught offside; Furthermore, with the midfield tired and with this formation, the advantage in the second half went to those who had more strength, better positioned and more physical freshness. Personally, two lessons to be drawn a) The League is lost b) Emery is a better coach than Arteta.
Let´s wait for Wednesday.
Well I think that game showed, to me anyway, that we need to invest in another fcuk-off midfielder because we looked worryingly vulnerable with Rice and Zinchenko in situ…
A priority in my book.
And JM called it.
What’s Portuguese for ‘smarty pants’..?
During my weekly tours of Arsenal blogs I’m constantly amazed at how many Arsenal fans heavily criticise both Gabriel Jesus and Zinchenko, not least when one considers the major role they have both played in transforming our team into the contenders they currently are today – or were before today. 🙄
But watching the game this afternoon, I’m afraid for the first time, I began to worry about the pair of them and how quickly this team has probably progressed beyond them.
Jesus looked like a guy who hasn’t scored a Premier League goal in over 10 weeks. January 30th.
Zinchenko looks like his head is, understandably, somewhere else. The Donbas.
We owe both of them a lot because their winning character has gone a long way to reshape this Arsenal team, a team still suffering from the effects of Mustafi, Ozil and Kolasinac when they arrived.
But now I just worry if they’re actually holding us back?
Certainly we need to look beyond Jesus and Zinchenko for next season .Zinchenko disrupted the defence and Jesus replacing Havertz upset the balance in attack .
Jesus is greedy, he is not a team player ,he is one minded in front of goal and not particularly good at it .
At times today we played like we had never met each other , passes went astray and we were open to the old counter attack trick . Emery put up the trap and we walked straight into it.
Statistically it’s not all finished but a loss on Wednesday and it’s deja vu all over again.
Said before ko we looked light in midfield. I think it was arrogant or ignorant to not play Jorginho or Partey as well as Rice.
Regarding Jesus, I just think that his calmness in front of goal is non-existent, he was responsible though for setting up Trossard against Bayern so I wouldn’t say he’s greedy just very very clumsy.
Guardiola played him as a wide attacker for a reason and it’s high time that Arteta cottoned on as well and stopped massaging the ego of GJ and told him he’s now permanently a wide attacker and if you don’t like it you can leave…
Rico, what does it say about the lack of confidence Arteta must have in Partey now – he must be finished at the club?
Or being kept for Bayern Kev. Either way, he’s history imo. Zinchenko and Jesus should be too.
Gabriel had a problem today and that problem was Zinchenko. The guy is never where he is needed. He wanders up-field,, loses possession and does not have the pace to get back so Gabriel is forced wide to cover for him.
Jesus lacks pace, lacks physical strength and lacks composure in front of goal.
If Arteta wants a midfielder he should play a midfielder. Surely by now he must have noticed the problems caused by Zinchenko’s wanderlust.
However much good the ex-city pair have done in the past , they are now passed their best before date.
As I said earlier, we were simply out played and out coached, how times were court holding onto their jumpers,
Yes Rico, I suspect if we finish this season empty handed there could be an even more major overhaul of the squad than we imagine, Arteta looked absolutely empty during his interviews and presser, his eyes looked haunted.
But if anybody starts giving it large about Arsenal bottling it maybe we need to remind them that Liverpool also euphemistically bottled it as well and that almost every English club bottled it in the CL group stage etc.
Here’s a bit of good news, to relieve the gloom, Arsenal Women beat Bristol City 5 – 0. Beth Mead and Alessia Russo with two goals each plus an own goal neatly wrapped up the three points. 🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔
The players new this time last season we started to lose, mainly due to injuries, but also but knowing a win would put us back on top and 3 points clear of Liverpool and one point clear of City the players choked, while Arteta looked lost.
On the upside, the season is not over just yet but another performance like this and the season will be over.
Kev, I’ve always thought this season will be about who finishes behind City. They’ve been there and done it too many times.
I blame our defeat on the team selection. Not just because of who came in but the impact it had on others. Rice, Havertz and Gabriel struggled because there was no Jorginho/Partey or Kiwior imo.
New post up.