Morning all.
If nothing else, Arsenal’s match against Newcastle will fill a couple of hours before the big one later. No, not Liverpool v Man Utd, Line of Duty. For anyone who’s been watching the series over the last few years, you’ll know what I’m on about and share my excitement ahead of tonight’s big reveal. Just who is ‘H’?
As far as this fixture goes, it certainly means more to Newcastle Utd than it does to Arsenal. The only thing on offer for Mikel Arteta’s team isa bit of pride. With Villarreal just a few days away, I’d like to think the Spaniard will give his key players a rest. There’s absolutely no reason for Saka, ESR, Partey, Holding, Xhaka – or anyone who’s in line to start on Thursday, to play this lunchtime. The clubs below Newcastle in the League might not like it should Arteta field a much changed team but that’s too bad. Arsenal’s eggs are in one Europa Cup basket now and even that one looks like it has a hole in it.
With just five League fixtures left to go, thank goodness, why not use them to give squad/academy players some minutes on the pitch. Players such as Nelson, Nketiah, Lopez, Azeez, Balogun, Ryan and Ceballos as he’s banned for Thursday anyway. I actually feel for Nelson because as far as his career goes, he’s wasted five months of his footballing life I think. In hindsight he should have gone out on loan in January, as should Nketiah really because all they’ve really done is train with the odd appearance for the under 23’s. Of course I don’t mean start all of them at once but have them on the bench as well as two or three in the starting eleven. If nothing else, they might attract attention from other clubs.
As far as injuries go, have been in contention to play on Thursday, Alex Lacazette is unavailable for today’s fixture, Kieran Tierney faces a late fitness test but David Luiz is ready to play and I think he will, alongside side Gabriel I reckon.
The Newcastle player to watch out for is Allan Saint-Maximin as he’s one quality player who I’d love to see in an Arsenal shirt. He’s powerful, strong, quick and dangerous when Newcastle break away on a counter attack. The statistics tell us that Newcastle are a team who like to allow the opposition much of the possession so it’s fair to say Arsenal will be against a defensive setup which Mikel Arteta’s team often struggles against. Sometimes it just takes a route one ball over the top of a defence to make the breakthrough and if Luiz starts, he’ll certainly not be afraid to try that. Hopefully it’ll be Balogun he’s looking for and/or Nelson, our very own speedster.
The last five League fixtures, although mean very little as far as the season goes, do mean something as far as finances go. The higher up the table Arsenal finish, the more money they earn. The difference between tenth and eighth last year was around £20 million although I’ve no idea if it’ll be similar this year after a Covid hit season. For money reasons alone, Arsenal need to push hard to win these final few fixtures but today, as far as team selection goes, I really hope Thursday is in Mikel Arteta’s mind.
See you in the comments.
Good Morning Rico and all
Why not put the youngsters all at once Rico?? Because we might lose the game?? We will lose anyway. So yes, Balogun. Nelson, Azeez can all play today together with Martinelli. Auba might come on in the 2nd half to get him up to match fitness.
But no. we will get Ceballos, Willian etc. Players who give us nothing.
Morning Devil, all.
I think the team needs a bit of experience in with the youngsters. A young team taking a beating would do them little good imo.
Devil, let’s have a friendly wager.
I’ll back us to win, no matter who plays 🙂
I wish you would win in that case mate.
but as I said…we will get Ceballos (I still can’t fathom out why we didnt keep Willock and send Ceballos back) we will get Willian etc. tbh I will only play Ceballos from now on if we are with our backs to the wall. And even then I would still try out Azeez.
I think today Leno will play as well. And I dont see any sense in that. And to rub it in I suspect that today we will get to see Soares at LB and then see Xhaka at LB next Thursday.
I simply hope we win, as you said, with whoever plays today.
To be fair Devil, Ceballos played well last season, I know I was pleased he’d stayed but this season has been quite different for him. Either he’s changed or what’s expected of him has.
Devil, let’s be confident.
It’s only Newcastle 🙂
yes Rico he played well last season. But only in 2/3 of the games he played did he have a god game. A good spell in the beginning and then in the last third of the season. In the middle he did not fare well. He is simply not suited to the EPL. He was good in Europe and in the domestic cups. But the EPL is a different kettle of fish.
And you know how much I hate getting players on loan from other clubs when we have our own. I think we would have gained much more if Willock stayed and got the chances Ceballos had. And even though Odegaard has been a good player for us so far, the chances are we will not have him next season. So even with regards Odegaard I still prefer to have kept Willock as he is one of ours.
Maybe we got Odegaard simply because Kroenke was in league with Perez with regards the European Super League?? Maybe even getting to keep him. But now, pulling out of the ESL has put paid to that. And I doubt if he will come for anything less than 50m+
The only way I would accept a loan deal would be getting a player from the lower divisions mid-season and we get the option to buy if we want. For example we get a player similar to Holding, then yes, I would accept we get to loan that player.
Devil, I hope we don’t keep Odegaard, not on loan anyway.
Agree with Ceballos last season.
Glad to see the Martinez saga has gone to bed . Let’s just go back in for Szczęsny and be done with it..
The league table is interesting if you look at the teams above us and their remaining games, and although I think there is little point of continuing to chase a higher position stranger things have happened.
Villas run in to say the least is daunting , they have Man u , Everton ,Palace , Spurs & Chelsea
Everton include Man City , Villa and West ham.
Whilst it’s still possible no matter how unlikely , I can’t see the club throwing it’s hand in and We will be lucky to see cameos from our wish list .
Martinez is in snooze mode Potter. 😆
I think we all agree that Arsenal need a better, or certainly more reliable keeper than Leno. What Arteta, if he’s still at the club next season, thinks is a different matter.
If key players aren’t rested today, I’ll be surprised. Disappointed too.
Morning Rico/all
Ha ha Line of duty for me too.
Today may be a day for Ryan, Bellerin, Elneny, Gabriel(the defender)Also if Martinelli doesn’t play he never will, I’d also like to see Reiss Nelson. Who knows it could be like cup games under Unai Emery where the second team was better than the first team.
COYG
Hi Rico and all I would rest, Leno, Saka and ESR and still play a strong side, we owe it to our sponsors who put a lot of money into our club.
I’m looking forward to Line of Duty more than the match. My money is on D I Steve Arnott as the villain H.
Morning Limey, Geoff.
My money is on Osbourne for LOD. Certainly looking forward to that more than the match at lunchtime.
The season can’t end quickly enough for me..
Xhaka at left back 😳
Eight changes.
Mat Ryan replaces Bernd Leno, while Hector Bellerin, David Luiz and Gabriel all join Granit Xhaka in our back line. Mohamed Elneny partners Dani Ceballos in midfield, with Willian and Gabriel Martinelli flanking Martin Odegaard. Captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returns to lead the line.
No Balogun, Tierney or Lacazette on the bench.
Oh s**t!! Mike Dean is the ref.😒
The perfect plan is set for Newcastle to be in the 1st League now.
Three defenders on the bench, why? Soares can do both left back and right back, Chambers can do full back and centre back, no need for Mari, why not choose Balogun and give him a run, a total lack of imagination.
Notice how our young players are increasingly sidelined since Freddie left and all we get is the same old wankers.
I’m getting seriously pissed off off with this shit…
You see Scott…..same old. That is why I feel disheartened when I see the line up.
I reckon that H is Dixon of Dock Green 😉
Hi DG, I bet Martinelli scores today, picking Willian, Ceballos and Odegaard even makes sense, but our subs are pants, a nothing game so Arteta makes safety first choices on the bench, yawn…
I hope he does Kev.
Its the midfield of Ceballos and Elneny which worries me. Why not Xhaka in midfield and Soares at LB?
Ditto thoughts re the bench Kev, boring boring and boring.
‘Evening all’….
I don’t think we’ll sign Odegaard, he’s been ok in patches but is he a £50/£60m player?
Not for me.
As for Ceballos, see ya amigo, enjoy your career at Betis.
Both Smith Rowe and Saka are more effective than that duo and if they were given a chance you might see that same quality that some of our other youngsters can deliver.
DG I’m not too bothered about this game, whether we win, draw or lose the only thing that counts is Thursday.
I’m quite ambivalent about this game, I’ll watch it as long as I find it worth watching but some of our football recently has been so lacking in so many areas that I might find something else to do.
I think if the crowd was still allowed in the Emirates that by now there would be a lot of empty seats!
That is why Its frustrating for me to see Ceballos playing while Willock is on loan and Azeez is not there. I just hope that Ceballos doesnt cock up today.
Agree again Kev, Azeez is full of talent so why look to a player we could do without when other areas of the squad need attention.
Xhaka at the back, willian starts and ceballos plays after that shambles. Is Arteta insane?Wouldn’t be too shocked to find he is still on city’s payroll.. if so he’s worth every farthing.
The arguements: he needs more money, more time, more support, more fans in the seats wouldn’t be suggested if he were another manager, rookie coach or not.
Is his being a former player and captain enough to garner such loyalty. It’s undeserved no matter who he is, his coaching years, etc..
Have you forgotten who we are so quickly? This is the Arsenal!
Elneny scores.
That settles the nerves then.
If Ceballos scores I have to get ready to eat my socks.
Crikey Roy Keane is annoying.
Disappointed that with so many changes we still manage to put out a team where we learn virtually nothing new about our players.
Elneny was a 21 to 1 to score the first goal.
Mortimer, do I take it you’ve lost faith in Mikel? Lol
I foresee a red card for Xhaka…
What are the odds on Xhaka getting a red now?
yep….he is getting fed up at LB
Get Xhaka off, Dean has booked him and will red card him at the first opportunity.
That’s two chances Aubameyang has wasted.
Rico.. sorry. Just doing what we all are really -struggling to make sense of it.
you see…..my argument with regards shooting in the first 10 mins. We had 4 shots in 10 mns…..1 on target and 3 off target. the one on target went in.
At least we tried to shoot. and as I say….one might go in. Just ask Fat Frank Lampard.
Xhaka should be taken off. Otherwise he will be singing to the tune of Abba….Skin me alive, skin me alive, ah ah ah ah ah
He is losing patience especially when ASM gets the ball. If I were NUFC manager I would tell my players to pass the ball all the time to ASM. He would have a field day.
Just keep in mind that I like Xhaka….but prefer him in midfield.
Definitely need our players to be smarter about game management but I don’t like the blatant cheating from Ceballos there..
There you are…see….Xhaka whacks the ball and Dubravka has to stretch to tip it over. We get a corner.
Make the keeper earn his pennies…..we need to shoot.
After half an hour we have 3 shots on target and 7 off target. A much needed change. It only happens when we shoot.
He’s rusty Cicero. 😜
No need to apologise Mortimer. I get it.
Please Xhaka just get to half time where Arteta can bring on Soares. Can’t use Nelson or Balogun, we need to take a look at Willian!
Great leap by Ryan, that mishit could easily have gone in. Love it that Elneny scores, he deserves it.
Me neither Hobart, don’t think there was much contact with Odegaard either.
Andrew, bet you 10p there’s no changes at H/T.
Just saw a close up of Dean’s red card sitting in his pocket!
Looking forward to tonight, seen all series in last 4 months, latecomer!
No comment rico😃
10p rico? No comment
😂
I like Mat Ryan and I think our defenders like Mat Ryan, very safe hands, good distribution, but Leno will play for political reasons…
Great goal by Elneny, just shows how hard extra work on the training ground has positive effects, but the rest of it, headers well off target, poor control in good areas, sloppy finishing, it’s just the same, these guys either don’t work hard enough in training or the coaching isn’t stretching them enough, too much theory perhaps.
Now let’s see if we’re going to get a 2nd half fight back by Newcastle and with it all the wasteful play by us in the 1st half then comes back to bite us?
At least Rico was being generous with 10p. I wouldnt have placed any bets. haha
Not a bad first half glad to see us taking some long shots might be time to take Xhaka off before he receives a red card, we have to lift for the second half.
Just seen the protest at Man United were fans run onto the pitch so the groundskeeper turned on the sprinkler system.
I’ll email you my PayPal address Andrew. Lol
Tsk Tsk Tsk…..Kev Elneny took a diving header which had to be cleared off the line. It doesnt matter we lost half a dozen headers off target. 😅😅😅😅
Newcastle have been dire. We should have had this game sewn up by now.
Luiz out again, looks like his hamstring has gone.
Rico would have won though😀. If it happens two matches running, I will lose confidence in our man.
Mind you, without 5 subs, need to hold a few back for injuries. As I type Luiz looks in trouble.
Got away with one. Get HIM OFF
One more Xhaka
I can retire now. Lol
Isn’t it worrying that Aubameyang isn’t able to rip this Newcastle Defence to shreds.
Xhaka definitely on a last warning after that.
Next foul and he’ll be off
In other non Xhaka related news….
Has Willian actually achieved anything positive in the game so far?
Nope, nothing other than over hit corners.
At least he’s consistent.
Dean is warming up his hands with the yellow cards he is dishing. NUFC have already got two.
Hobart…..according to OPTA stats WILLIAN is the ONLY outfield player not to have taken a shot at the NUFC goal in the first half. All the others had at least an attempt.
Yes!
So who’s going to make the inevitable cock up that’s going to cost us two points?
I’ll go for…….Gabriel.
Auba has scored 2-00000000000000000000000000000
Excellent from Martinelli and great finish Aubameyang.
Willian just put in a good cross!
The Manure-Dippers game might be called off
Will keep you updated
Shame Balogun isn’t on the bench to replace Aubameyang who’s probably knackered.
Pepe coming on, but why?
2-0 up and 15 mins left to play…..why doesnt he give Auba a breather and put on Nketiah in his place??
And I would put Soares instead of Xhaka.
what is he waiting for
The less than scintillating football induced me to doze off, I awoke to find we have a second goal. I might just try another nap and hope for a third goal. 😴
you have been to gaol Cicero?? What were you accused off in your previous two offences?? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Zzzzzzzz.
I’ve ruined that for you Devil. Oops. Lol
🤣🤣🤣🤣 was scratching my head as I was sure I saw gaol in Cicero’s comment. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
And now Partey? Weird.
Doesn’t make sense to put Partey on for the last few minutes. I would have put SOares in and maybe move Xhaka in midfield.
Bastard Schar!!
Matt Ryan does like teasing the forwards before picking the ball up!
Not Martinelli injured again?
MAtch at the theatre of creams has been delayed.
Reid has sent a man off…..from NUFC.
Atm the NUFC are surrounding the ref telling him that such a card was not on the script. It had to be an AFC player not one of theirs.
Just heard that one of the players called Mike and ‘Arsewhore’. Dean had no alternative. he cant have blasphemy and lies about his private life flying around. 😇😇😇😇
He’s clearly a wind up merchant. It’s funny though.
Well, we knew there was a red somewhere!
So…. the pundits all got it wrong😀
Was it Keane who said worst looking Arsenal line up he’s seen, one of them did?
That was a low level foul from Schar. Why did he have to do that?? Shades of Diaby tackle when it wasnt warranted.
Martinelli could have been seriously injured when Schar went through his back.
Very low imo
Very very very low.
Was it intended or malicious? Only Schaar hiself can say that. He’s definitely put the player in danger. He’s got his back to the goal and cannot protect himself.
Nice win but we should have put them away in the first half but enjoyed watching Ryan a totally different goal keeper to Leno.
Got to say something I’ve never said before, ‘Mike Dean actually had a good game’!
Only thing he could have done different was give Xhaka a second yellow but he gave him the benefit of the doubt😀
Yes Andrew….thank God about that.
Just remembered that Dean is a spud supporter. Maybe he has not forgiven NUFC for taking points against his team???
Joking.
Geoff…..I hope you recorded the game so you can enjoy Matty more because if Ryan is in goal next Thursday I will eat my shoes, hat, underwear, pyjamas and the car seat cover plus the socks
The goings on an OT is interesting. I don’t think the protests involving Liverpool, Chelsea, Utd and Arsenal fans are going away anytime soon.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2018-19/elneny-goal-0-1-2021-04-23.html
http://arsenalist.com/f/2018-19/auba-goal-0-2-2021-04-23.html
Don’t like Neville but his impassioned speech on the Six owners was pretty good.
I thought so too. He wasn’t all about Utd for once.
How many of you all want Matty Ryan to play next Thursday?
He seemed to communicate well with the defenders
It seemed to me the most calm and safe game that Arsenal played at the time.
And with a clean sheet.
I don’t understand why one of the players (or even the player) most saturated in games always plays, subject to being sent off, and today, and especially in the position where he is playing, more valid alternatives. I refer to Xhaka.
Villareal is winning 1-0. They changed almost the whole team.
Ryan did all that was asked of him and did it well, however that wasn’t very much. 50/50 between him and Leno for Thursday night.
Arsenal were in total control throughout the game, but it was against relegation fodder, so we shouldn’t get too excited about the result.
Still it was a win a clean sheet and three points and we must be happy with that.
So did Arteta pretty much Jm.
The Aubameyang goal was the one piece of quality in the entire game, great play by Odegaard, beautiful cross by Martinelli and calm finish by Auba…
The rest was all fairly tepid, shame about Luiz, I’ve a hunch he might have started on Thursday although Chambers looked ok at centre back when he came on.
Very impressed by Ryan and very mature by Xhaka after an early booking.
And now we move onto Thursday and our season in just 90 minutes…
This season we have lost 12 points due to carelessness. Points which we threw away due to our negligence and sloppiness and tactical suicide.
12 more points would have meant being level on points with Chelsea.
That is what is making this season all the more frustrating.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/teams/arsenal/top-scorers/assists
A good table with passing and assist stats.
Xhaka is the best passer with 90% success rate. He also is the man who has made most passes….3000
That’s probably why so many of us are frustrated with the decision not to play Martinelli and now it looks like he won’t start on Thursday.
TBF Devil, if we got in Champions League with the performances this season, something would be wrong!
Glad we go into Thursday with a win. No excuses over 190 minutes, it’s up to how we perform.
Evening Rico and the House
After reading this mornings comments I know what we
will all be doing tonight at 9pm.
I do not have a clue who H is could it be Boris?
He is getting blamed for everything LOL
Probably the evil Dom Cummings Rick!
Evening Rick, I think Andrew’s theory is nearer the truth… lol
It’s quite interesting reading all the guff surrounding the Chelsea Woman’s team reaching the Champions League Final – it’s almost being treated as if it’s a first for an English club, but didn’t Arsenal Ladies win the bloody thing a few years ago and without a shed load of dough being spent on the team?
Devil I can’t see Arteta picking Ryan for important matches as it would would make make his choice of Leno over Emi look bad so your clothes are safe.
Man u fans making news in Australia over there protest.
What a let down, I think it’s been left open for another series.
Sanction for Man Utd ?
Good Morning everyone
Limey….according to the rules yes there must be sanctions. However, if the EPL decide on that they will be shooting themselves in the foot. If they sanction them it will be telling the supporters that you dont count anything. Yes there are many ways one can protest and what happened yesterday went over the top. However I dont condemn it….because it tells the owners of the clubs that the club they own is a national institute, they cannot do with it whatever they want. Its not their plaything. And that supporters and the players themselves should be respected.
A football club is more than just money making machine.
At least the Man u fans done there protest before the players were on the field and lets face it it’s possible the only way the owners including ours will listen.
Morning all.
The FA are in a tricky situation I reckon because on one hand they probably feel Utd should be punished but on the other hand, they were very much against the Super League.
New post up now
https://highbury-house.com/2021/05/03/three-and-easy-for-arsenal/