Morning all.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think there was a boxing matching taking place tomorrow instead of a football match between Manchester City and Arsenal. Headlines have been written about how tomorrow is about Rodri v Declan Rice, or in my opinion, a player who tries every dirty trick in the book to gain an advantage v’s a classy, easy on the eye, midfielder.
Of course the midfield battle will be interesting to watch and I certainly hope Anthony Taylor watches it well but there will be other key battles going on throughout the game. Haaland against our two centre backs, Martinelli, if fit, against Walker, Bukayo Saka v Ake or Stones, depending on whether Guardiola sticks with a back 3. Kai Havertz against whoever tries to stop him which is likely to be Dias. KdB, one of the better players to grace the Premier League will be looking to better a player who is as good for Arsenal as de Bruyne has been for City over the years. Which goalkeeper will walk away after the game with the biggest smile on his face, David Raya or Ederson – assuming the latter will have recovered in time. Foden, Bukayo Saka and the silly debate about who is better, well, they are both top notch players in their own right. Silva, the ghastly little cheat who had to take a dive in the box a couple of seasons ago so his team could win a game they weren’t even in until then. Doku on his day can be a handful but Ben White has been in fantastic form.
Seriously though, the one thing we know we’ll get to see is two fantastic sets of players going all out for maximum points. One team has hogged the Premier League headlines for a long time, the other wanting, hoping and no doubt desperate to knock them off their perch.
It’s another battle between two Spaniards who know each other well, one being considered the best ever by many, the other no doubt striving to outthink and outdo him. I don’t doubt for one minute that Mikel Arteta’s one aim in his own footballing managerial career is to be better than Guardiola and for Arsenal FC to be better than Manchester City. Mikel Arteta was just a lodger at City but at Arsenal, he’s at home.
8th October 2023 at The Emirates was special. Gabriel Martinelli, returning from injury as a substitute came off the bench at halftime to score the only goal in the game. Arsenal weren’t playing particularly well back then. Raya hadn’t really settled and was quite poor that day, Kiwior was yet to be unleashed at left back and both Nketiah and Jesus started the game as Saka was ruled out through injury. Havertz was on the bench.
Haaland was for much of game, little more than observer to what was going on around him. Rodri was missing for City, Kovacic started but never should have left the pitch by choice as he pretty much kicked his way through us, especially Odegaard and Rice. Michael Oliver was weak so perhaps that’s why he’s not been given such a big match to officiate.
The game in October was pretty even as far as possession goes but Mikel Arteta’s team won the shots and shots on target stats, however, as was par for the course back then, finding the back of the net was a problem. Even Martinelli’s goal took a deflection off Ake. Not that I’m knocking it because that’s what can happen when a player shoots.
It’s always better to try than not.
More tomorrow….
Morning Rico and all.
Arsenal v Man c should be a good tuff match, that I reckon will come down to who uses the bench players at the right time.
According to the Metro Pep is claiming Walker and Stones will miss the match Arsenal due to injuries.
Morning Rico and Co
Happy Easter Saturday.
G’day all.
I’ll wait and see who comes out of the tunnel before believing anything anybody says about player availability for either side.
Afternoon Geoff, Kev, Cicero.
I don’t think it matters who is fit for City as they have a more good players in reserve…
Just hope our three doubtfuls recover..
Their best against our best will be interesting . Our best against their team with 2 or three injuries and I fancy our chances . Their best against us with a few players missing and I fancy them . It’s that close .
However if our players missing happen to be Saka , Martinelli and Gabriel then I am opening a bottle of red and heading for the back of the sofa
Ha ha Potter, very good. You might find a few ponds behind it…
If I bring a glass and some bread and olives can I join you Potter?
Great game at Newcastle,end to end.
Boat race today, it finishes just upstream from Chiswick Bridge with the Oxford crews using my old school boathouse. Back in the fifties I was in the school first eight which paced the Oxford crew from Hammersmith Bridge to Barnes Bridge on the Thursday before the race in training. We went off a bit too quick for them and where asked to slow down a bit. They had been rowing from Putney to Hammersmith being paced by another school crew and carried on after we dropped out a Barnes Bridge being paced by a third crew.
I have to say that at low tide the stench from an out-fall, just down river, where raw sewage wss pumped into the river, was awfully.
Talking about the Boat Race reminds me so much of my Grandad. A big occasion in the 70s,Nan and Grandad always used to come over to watch on our colour TV.
Disaster race for Oxford again. Hey ho..
Are Totts still losing? I was just talking to a couple of their fans who reckon Ange is heading for the sack…
Come on Luton. 1-1 now, an own goal.. pff!
Remember being away at Fulham once as the boat race went by . the whole end opposite the cottage ran over to watch them go by as the game continued. They also had a guy in a rowing boat to get the balls that went over the stand and into the river.
Brentford draw with Man U, at least the media will be able to talk about Man U problems as they not talk about us if we beat Man C, I tipping a draw tonight which will still be a good result for us.
New post up.