Morning all.
Finally, we know our route to the Champions League Final, if we’re to make it of course. PSV Eindhoven is our next challenge and they’ll be difficult to overcome. Stupid thing to write though really as every opponent at this stage will be tough. A potential tie against one of the two Madrid teams is scary though, especially after the way Real tore Man City apart so easily…
The ties will take place on the 4th/5th and 11th/12th March.
Back in September 2022, Graham Potter made the decision to leave Brighton football club for a job at Chelsea. Whilst he might have bolstered his bank account, he did his managerial reputation little good. Needless to say, he couldn’t get a grip of the egos in west London which to be fair, not many managers have, and just seven months later he was sacked. After a two year break, he stepped back into management with West Ham just last month. His team have won just the once under his management, a home defeat of Fulham. Man City thumped them 4-1 at The Etihad just a few weeks ago, their only hefty defeat this year. I read they were a tad unlucky to lose 2-1 against Chelsea and were very good in their draw at Villa Park.
I’ve not seen West Ham play other than when we played them back in November, a game we won 5-2, but I’d imagine Potter has changed a few things since then.
On paper, this looks a good fixture for Mikel Arteta’s team but as we know, football isn’t played on paper and Potter has a good record against Arsenal, albeit from a few years ago when he was at Brighton. Today though, he’ll be without one of his star performers in Lucas Paqueta as he’s suffered an ankle injury in training. Vladimir Coufal, Niclas Fullkrug and Crysencio Summerville are reportedly ruled out too, all with hamstring injuries and Michail Antonio is likely to miss the rest of the season.
Arsenal’s injury list hasn’t grown since last weekend’s win at Leicester and after another week of training, Ben White could make an appearance, even if it’s from the bench. Just having him back fit at this stage of the season is a big deal in my opinion.
I see an opportunity for us to keep winning and keep on our journey to the goal that we want at the end of the season, which is to win [the title]. That’s the only thing we can focus on. We have to do our job and it’s going to be a tough one tomorrow (today) against West Ham. If we do that, we’ll be looking at that game on Sunday. With 13 games to go there’s still a lot to play for.
I don’t like “ifs” in football or sport. Let’s do what we have to do, and if the “if” comes right, great, but let’s make sure that what is in our hands, we do it.
He’s right, should the ‘if’ become a reality, we have to be there to take it but until then, it’s one about taking one game at a time.
Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme:
Potter likes to experiment with different formations, but he is showing some tactical restraint by using only 3-4-2-1 or 4-2-3-1. Following a disappointing showing using a back four against Brentford, I envisage a return to a three-man rearguard which will naturally slip into a back five out of possession.
There are signs of Potter’s passing style being implemented. West Ham have made over 500 passes in a Premier League match just three times in 2024/25, but two have come in their last four outings. While I would expect us to have the lion’s share of the ball, our London neighbours will be encouraged to keep it with confidence when possession changes hands.
Their gameplan is still likely to revolve around using the pace of Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus to maximum effect. Kudus completes more dribbles than anyone else in the top-flight individually, and West Ham are statistically the best dribblers in the division. Runs into the box from midfielder Tomas Soucek will also need to be monitored closely as the tall Czech has netted twice from 11 headed efforts.
Right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been largely outstanding, with just two players making more interceptions than him across the division. The ex-Manchester United man is also a great outlet for them inside the opposition half, but on the flip-side, no team has had to face more shots from fast breaks than the east Londoners (36), who have conceded five times from those situations. Navigating the early stages will also be a priority for the visitors, who have shipped 10 times inside the opening 10 minutes of games.
Just over a year ago, West Ham rocked up at The Emirates and put a massive dent in our challenge for the league title. Whilst Mikel Arteta’s players missed numerous opportunities to score, David Moyes side buried two of the three they had on target. Their first was a tad fortunate as the ball appeared to have gone out of play before Bowen set up Soucek but in any case, we really should have done better defensively. West Ham then doubled their lead from a corner which Mavropanos headed past Raya. It was one of a number of games, along with the home defeat to Aston Villa, which highlighted how much the squad was missing a ruthless goal scorer. I still believe we’d have won the title last season had we had one. I’ve a feeling I’ll be left thinking the same in May too.
Mikel Merino was the difference maker last weekend as we huffed and puffed our way through the Leicester City game. His two goals were great in different ways, the delivery for his goals from Ethan Nwaneri first and then Leandro Trossard, were perfect. Merino’s movement to get into the right place at the right time showed just how good he is at reading a game. I’d love to see him have a similar impact on today’s game too but others need to step up to the goal scoring plate too.
Catch up in the comments…
Good morning Rico.
Rock solid in defence and counter attack at pace! As Mr. Punch puts it “That’s the way to do it”.
Seriously though, stick with the tried and tested. Start with Timber at right back, if things are going well around sixty minutes replace him with Ben White. Those two can share the R B spot for the time being and that will ease the load on Timber.
Morning Cicero, just what I thought when reading Clarke’s piece, however, not something we do is is, break quickly… lol
Spring a surprise then. 😉
Why not eh….
Afternoon Rico and all.
We need to be switched on from the start, and don’t give them any chance to gain confidence or it could be a long day.
Morning Rico, Cicero.
It’ll be great to have two good RB’s fit again to share the load and despite the fact I love to see Ben bombing down the line on the overlap it would make more sense to start with Timber and ease Ben on later in the game I agree.
Rico, the only time I see us breaking quickly is Raya’s throw or occasional deft punt to Martinelli 😂.
Paqueta is a big miss for them, who’se going to win the free kicks or pens without the Tom Daly impersonator!
Morning Geoff.
Exactly!
Some interesting stats:
Arsenal are unbeaten in our last 15 Premier League matches (W10, D5), our longest such run since 2011 and also unbeaten in 15 home league games, and are the only Premier League team not to lose at home this season.
We’ve conceded just nine first-half goals in this season’s Premier League, fewer than any other side.
Afternoon Geoff, Berg.
I think we’ll be switched on but what I worry about is our attacking options. It’ll be interesting to see who starts up top.
We were unbeaten at home until West Ham turned up on the 28th December 2023… 😜
Very interesting indeed to see who starts up top. If I had to second guess I think Sterling will start on the left because Arteta was interviewed and said “Raheem now has to step up”, whether that interview which appeared after the Leicester game was current I don’t know, but I still think he’ll persist with Sterling left, Trossard central and Nwaneri on the right.
Rico,
that December loss….guess who the ref was? None other than Mr. Oliver himself. Says it all for me!!
A contentious VAR decision for their first goal against the run of play, Saks hits the post but a great Mavropanos goal to be fair and Jesus blazes a header over the bar, should’ve scored.
Morning all. Got a feeling Sterling will start, personally I’d like Merino to watch how good he is from the start. But the thought of Sterling coming on as the game changer at 70 mins if drawing or losing, is not a good one
This match could easly come down to which manager uses his bench players the best.
We have great defensive cover with Cali and Benno, but nothing the other end! If only we had got Bbeumo or Cunha.
I think Sterling will start again,Merino for the last half hour,if needed. The only change maybe Ben White comes in to give either Timber or Lewis-Skelly a rest.
That will still leave about 4 full backs on the bench.
We are away at Forest midweek so I hope we make use of the subs.
Berg, to be fair, VAR were culpable too, just as they often are.
Sterling to start in my opinion too. He is one who needs to step up big time.
Just in
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Nwaneri, Trossard, Merino.
Subs: Neto, White, Tierney, Lewis-Skelly, Zinchenko, Kiwior, Jorginho, Butler-Oyedeji, Sterling.
Team
Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabi, Calafiori; Partey, Odegaard, Rice, Nwaneri, Merino, Trossard
Enjoyed reading the article.
Good afternoon everyone
White not starting is a good thing imo. He should be eased back slowly.
So Merino to start. Five full backs on the bench.
As the post says just win…
Sounds like we struggling again…
Bloomin heck!!
🤦♂️
MLS red card.
I think any slim hope of winning the PL is over, that is unless Liverpool crash long and hard.
Not even if dippers crash long and hard will we win the league.
Yup Rico, it’s Liverpool’s to lose now. Haven’t seen the game so can’t comment .
Me neither Cicero and by sounds of it, I’m glad I did..
Forest next on Wednesday, can’t see us getting much joy there either..
It’s all up now , pressure is off the scousers they can relax and do their thing tomorrow.
It was an outside hope that Merino would strike gold again and as we all know we have nothing else to try . It’s not just this game but all season we have suffered against ten men defences and today was no different . Caught on the break and. too many touches on the ball coupled with little movement up front but I dont remember their keeper having saves to make . When the stats come out it will be interesting to see how many we actually had .
The problem is that we are losing/drawing games not because the opposition is better but simply because we play crap.
Can you single out any player today? No… collectively we were crap.
Sounds very familiar Potter…