Morning all.
Last night another PL result kind of did us a favour, as Liverpool thumped the Toots 3-1 in north London. Kane picked up an injury too which Mourinho suggested would see him ruled out for a few weeks. Such a shame. The Mail report that the Toots players had a massive heated/angry exchange at half time and Aurier stormed off out of the club. Nice. Good old Mourinho.
Any loss teams around us suffer, and there’s been a few this week, will only be of benefit to us if we keep on winning. Our next three fixtures are in some ways crucial to our top 4 challenge. A ‘six pointer’ against Utd and Villa. A tricky trip to Wolves too. Nine points out of nine would be fantastic, seven not a disaster.
All that matters in the here and now though is a win against Utd tomorrow evening.
Mikel Arteta on the latest team news:
I don’t know, we had a day off yesterday. We will be training today and will see how everybody is. I think Dani Ceballos will be training with the squad in the next few days, Pablo Mari probably as well. Obviously Martin Odegaard will be joining us as well and for the rest we have to see how Kieran is. I think that’s it.
My fingers and toes are crossed in hope that later today when the training photos are on the official website, Tierney, ESR and Partey are out there smiling because we need them fit and ready to play. Not only now but for the rest of the season. A fully fit squad for the next four months and I fancy our chances of securing at least a top six place.
Goodness only knows what’s going to happen with the Europa League fixture against Benfica but if as rumoured, the likes on Nelson, AMN and Willock head out on loan for the remainder of this season, Mikel Arteta’s approach to the knockout stages will be quite different to the group fixtures. The above three played a big part in Arsenal breezing through the group but it would seem their job is done. What concerns me though is if Edu and co don’t sign cover for Tierney. An injury to him and/or Bellerin and we’re in the mire.
Newsnow had headlines which alluded to Liverpool trying to sign Sokratis on a short term deal but of course, he’s signed up elsewhere. Well now it seems they might make a move for Mustafi which would be ideal for the player. Liverpool have so many defensive injuries, Mustafi would get to play football which is probably all he wants to do. With Luiz, Gabriel, Holding and Mari ahead of him, he’s not going to get back into the first team anytime soon in my opinion. Same goes for Chambers, another player who could really do with playing football. Do both stick around, hoping that the Europa League will give them minutes on the pitch or do they go knocking on Edu’s door asking for a loan?
Would a Mustafi loan to Liverpool be that bad for Arsenal? He wouldn’t be able to play against us in any case plus he’d free up another place in the squad which could be given to a new left back.
See you in the comments.
Hi Rico and all If Liverpool were to loan Mustafi that can only be good for both us and Mustafi, A win against Man U would be great but at the moment I would be happy with a draw
Morning Geoff, all.
A win tomorrow is much needed, we’re at home and Utd are beatable.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9198927/Arsenal-boss-Mikel-Arteta-chance-best-Martin-Odegaard.html
Morning Rico, thanks for the post.
Jeorge Bird
@jeorgebird
·
30m
Arsenal U23 v Tottenham: Hein; Alebiosu, Olowu, Dinzeyi, Lopez; Akinola, Patino; Cirjan, Cottrell, Balogun; Moller.
Subs: Hillson, Oyegoke, Ogungbo, Lewis, Taylor-Hart.
Mustafi is 28, he’s a World Cup winner with Germany, if Liverpool want him then let them pay a fee, why should help them? What are those guys smoking?
Cottrell puts Arsenal in the lead.
1 – 1 half time
Afternoon all.
a) The Sanchez-Dzeko exchange leads me to conclude that Alexis has a complicated ego and is never doing well anywhere.
b) Thierny: I seem to be an injury-prone player. We need a real left defender.
c) The loans of the 3 players could be positive for them. However, with the exits of Ozil, Macey, Sokratis, Mustafi?, +3, will we not go from a squad with too many players to a deficient squad, even with Odegaard?
d) Arteta is from S.Sebastian where Odegaard played the previous year and well, for Real Sociedad. I hope he can physically withstand English football because he has talent and quality. And may their opponents spare him …
Latest on our Benfica tie.
Arsenal and Benfica are talking to Uefa about moving their Europa League last-32 games to a neutral venue to try and combat coronavirus restrictions.
Portugal is on the United Kingdom’s ‘red list’ for travel, meaning players and staff would need to self-isolate for 10 days on their return.
Attempts are being made to find a venue which is both available and fits Uefa’s criteria for hosting games.
The first leg of the tie is set to be played in Portugal on 18 February.
The return leg is due to be played a week later at Emirates Stadium
Arsenal officials are speaking to Benfica, Uefa and the UK government to try and find a resolution.
On Friday, stricter government travel guidelines come into force in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which include isolation periods for those travelling into the UK from United Arab Emirates.
On its website, the government says that travel exemptions would be reviewed “so that only the most important and exceptional reasons are included”.
5) – what is the score now? We are not very well at the table in u-23 and u-18 …
6) Yesterday’s result is an alert for tomorrow. Liverpool, a week earlier, lost 0-1 with Burnley. MU lost 1-2 with SU in the last game. It is convenient not to get into euphoria …
Hi Kev, selling him would be even better..
He’s still a valuable asset Rico, whatever we might think.
We’ve given too many players away for nothing already and we just have to stop this haemorrhaging of finance, so yeah, Liverpool can pay a fee, after all they don’t give anything away for free…
Tottnum U23’s 1-1 Arsenal U23’s.
Arsenal’s winning run of 5 successive victories comes to an end but we’re now unbeaten in 6, so credit to Steve Bould for ending the rot.
AMN exit rumours gathering pace it seems. I hope it’s just a loan…
1 Spurs U23s. 14 7 2 5 27 24 3 23
2 Man City U23s. 12 6 4 2 34 20 14 22
3 Chelsea U23s. 11 7 1 3 25 16 9 22
4 Blackburn U23s. 12 6 4 2 22 19 3 22
5 Arsenal U23s. 13 6 2 5 25 18 7 20
6 Everton U23s. 13 5 4 4 21 14 7 19
7 Liverpool U23s. 12 5 2 5 22 23 -1 17
8 Derby U23s. 12 5 2 5 23 29 -6 17
9 Brighton. 14 4 4 6 18 31 -13 16
10 Man Utd U23s. 12 4 3 5 27 32 -5 15
11 Leicester U23s. 13 5 0 8 24 30 -6 15
12 Saints U23s. 11 3 2 6 18 21 -3 11
13 West Ham U23s. 11 1 2 8 13 22 -9 5
I hope this comes out ok…
That is P W D L F A GD PTS…
Chelsea U23’s look favourites with 3 games in hand of Tottenham and 1 or 2 in hand of all the others in the top six but Arsenal are in with a chance…
But he’s not really Kev, not with his contract expiring. What’s best, loan him and get his wages off the books or pay him for five months for doing nothing?
Nice one, Rico. Bummer we didn’t beat the little spuds, but they blazed a penalty, so not all that bad 😂
Yes the scousers can have Mustafi, as long as he promises to have a major brain fart every hour or so…😂
The Saints want AMN as well as the Baggies. But I read he’d prefer big Sam as he’d get more minutes there – so who knows!! Interesting… can’t see him being the only one going out on loan – Willock, maybe Nelson??
Oh my heart bleeds for poor Maureen and co.. haha!!
Thanks Sue, I hope he goes to Southampton if he goes anyway, I’d hate for AMN to experience relegation. 😆
😄 Yes, this is it… a first for Big Sam!!
https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1355085779471503360?s=20
No Auba tomorrow… ☹
More from the BBC…
The Premier League will trial the use of concussion substitutes from Saturday, 6 February.
The new rule means up to two permanent substitutions can be made in the event of head injuries, even if all replacements have already been used.
Opposition teams will also be able to make an additional “normal” substitution at a time of their choice.
The first match of the trial is scheduled to be the 12:30 GMT kick-off between Aston Villa and Arsenal.
It will run until the end of the 2020-21 season but can be extended into the 2021-22 campaign.
A necessary move in the light of the dementia suffered by former players due to head injuries. My concern is that it will open the door to more skulduggery (no pun intended) with players feigning injury to cover for tactical substitutions and yet more timewasting. Almost all matches now have a minimum of three extra minutes both at half-time and full-time. How long will it be before the hundred minute game becomes the norm?
That’s ok, we’ve got Martinelli, Auba doesn’t turn up in the big games anyway. 😜
Skullduggery may well come into play but, there would be repercussions ( no pun intended, really). If a player is suffering from concussion he has to miss at least seven days for recovery, so it would only encourage some fairly creative team planning! Swings and roundabouts plus cheats never prosper!
Just saying.
Re; Mustafi, it depends if we’ve got a space for him in the squad I guess Rico, I really would hate to see him join Liverpool for nothing, if he went abroad then that fine.
Mourinho will already be working on ways he can manipulate the concussion subs
I would agree, sell Mustafi to Liverpool is number 1, loan abroad to free up the space in our squad number 2 and if we have a left back ready, then loan to Liverpool 3rd option
If we’re to get a left back, I think we need to lose an overseas player but that could very well be Runasson I guess. I get that Kev re Liverpool and surely Mustafi knows that once dvd is back, he’ll be in the same situation as he is now. He’d be better off going abroad in any case I reckon, to a team who’ll play him each week.
New post up now