Morning all.
West Ham dropping three points at home against Leeds and Aston Villa coming back from 2-0 down to draw against Man Utd this weekend did Arsenal a favour. We’ve gone from being the club others could catch because of games in hand, to the club which has two fixtures in hand over 4th place West Ham and 3rd place Chelsea.
The winter break begins this weekend, after all the Premier League fixtures have taken place. Two weeks of rest and recovery before the big push towards the end of the season.
Chelsea, Liverpool, West Ham and Man Utd have European football to think about, FA Cup fixtures too whilst we have a maximum of two additional Cup matches in addition to our League ones. Totts could be the fly in the ointment as they have two fixtures in hand over us and sit just two points behind. The only distraction they have, is the FA Cup and fitting in the rescheduled fixtures, one of which takes place on Wednesday night as they take on Leicester City at the King Power Stadium. Then, as we play Burnley at the Emirates on Sunday, Conte’s team take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Assuming the games go ahead of course.
Nick Ames, a football reporter for The Guardian has suggested that “at least” one more Arsenal player has returned a positive Covid-19 result after testing on Saturday. If the numbers are more than one, Thursday’s match probably hangs in the balance. Imagine the outcry if we as a club were to request another postponement. The reaction to the NLD being called out off has been embarrassing really. Not for Arsenal but the buffoons who are moaning about it as if we’re the only club to have requested a postponement this season. Oh how quickly they’ve forgotten our opening three fixtures.
Arsenal’s chase for Dusan Vlahovic stepped up a gear yesterday according to Sky Italy and The Mirror as both report that we as a club have tabled a £50m offer for the Fiorentina striker, and are willing to include Lucas Torreira in the deal. Torreira is of course, already with Fiorentina on loan so that should work in Arsenal’s favour but whether there’s any truth in the story is another matter altogether. It’s certainly a story which isn’t going away all the time the transfer window is open.
Neither are the links to Arthur Melo. Sky Italy suggest that Juventus would be happy to allow the move to go ahead but only if Thomas Partey is included in the deal. No chance I said to myself when I first read this.
Thomas Partey is 29 years old in June, he’s under contract until 2025 and earning a reported £200,000 a week. On his day he can be brilliant but let’s be honest, his performances and fitness have been very hit and miss since he arrived from Atlético Madrid.
Even so, the team needs him and a. n. other, not instead of. Not right now anyway, not in my opinion.
See you in the comments.
So Juventus see Partey as an upgrade on Melo and they wan’t cash too ? One has to ask ” What are they smoking over there “? .
Currently we are looking to supplement the midfield by finding a partner to go with Partey letting him go would leave us with Melo , Xhaka , and Lokonga and they want us to pay them for the pleasure.
Should we make it look like Xhaka is off to Roma and use Mourinho to make him look like he will be strengthening a rival . ( Curently Juve 5th and Roma 6th ) maybe they might switch their attention to the one we need to lose.
Or just offer Juve Xhaka? I’m sure he’d love it in Italy.
Rico, I really think Xhaka would be far more effective in Italy.
Juve are taking the piss, however.
Gee clubs see us as a pushover.
Probably because we have been a pushover Scott. Just look back at some of our transfer dealings in the past. We have no one to blame but ourselves imo but hopefully, with very different board members and manager, those days are behind us.
I think Xhaka would be better anywhere bar England where referees are so eager to send him off.
Hi Rico.. a welcome break from the decorating 😉 Fabrizio is reporting Mari to Udinese is done, unfortunately just a straight loan though. No news on Xhaka to Roma 🤣🤣 If only hey…
Didn’t Melo go off injured the other night? We have plenty of treatment tables waiting for him…
Can’t see us letting TP go. He hasn’t lived up to the hype; seen glimpses, he still has a lot to prove – I want to see that Atletico beast!! Maybe when he returns 🤞
Speaking of beasts; I see the Spuds are after Zaha on steroids – aka Adama Traore..
Pepe scored for the Ivory Coast last night – nice goal. Been a while hasn’t it?!
Morning Rico and all
I have all ways said Lokonga will not be ready until next season, so letting Partey go would make no sense with Xhaka keep getting red cards.
Xhaka on the other hand could be a win win for all and maybe even take a gamble and give Guendouzi a final chance to prove himself.
True, Rico, but I’m confident that’s behind us.
My son told me yesterday (I haven’t checked) that our biggest sale ever was Oxlaide-Chamberlain.
Seems incredible, but I can’t think of another to top it.
Scott I was reading something the other day and yes the ox was sold for around £35 mill then the next 3 players were around £31 to £33 mill
Thanks Geoff, I dare say the boy read the same article hahaha
Crazy that with the quality of players we’ve had and sold at their peak that 35 million is our biggest pay cheque!
Clearly we’ve allowed players and their agents to stand over us.
Hi Sue, that’s good for Mari and Pepe but we know he can score, it’s the rest of his game which frustrates.
Melo injured? Or on the move. 😆
Closely followed by Iwobi.. we certainly robbed the Merseyside clubs of their money – makes a change! Ox is injured again and I can’t remember the last time Iwobi scored!!
Morning Geoff, I doubt Arsenal will let TP leave right now.
Anything but a win for Ghana tomorrow, and Partey will be heading home.
Morning Rumourmongers morning Rico, Partey for Melo, boy oh boy the guys in Torino certainly have a wicked sense of humour, I struggled to stop laughing.
What next I thought, a straight swap maybe, we get Dybala and they take Nketiah? Oh how we laughed…
Hopefully Partey will be back in Blighty in time to face Brentford?
Come on Comoros!!
Morning Kev, I hope he’s back in time for Burnley. 😀
And Gabon Sue, if they win, it’s over for Ghana I think.
I meant Burnley 🙄
Gabon will be without Auba; he’s returning to Arsenal for further checks. I very much doubt he’ll make the bench against Burnley (or was it Brentford?! 😜)
If Auba is coming back from the ACON, he needs to be kept away from any contact with any member of staff and players until he has had at least two negative PCR tests.
He will then need to be checked for, and cleared of any symptoms relating to the heart lesions he was reported to have suffered as a result of his recent bout of Coviid.
The club can’t take any risk of further outbreaks of the virus spreading among the players and staff, or we will need to upset Neville, Carragher and all those people at the wrong end of Seven Sisters Road by requesting more games be postponed.
Burnley want their game against Watford tomorrow night postponed.. is it because they haven’t replaced Wood yet?! Jeez at this rate Cornet will return from AFCON having not missed a game 🤣
We may well be looking to claim insurance and terminate his contract.
Ha ha Kev, Sue.
That’s not good re Aubameyang, must be more serious than reported.
Miguel Azeez and Tyreece John-Jules both recalled today from their loans.
Going back in time, Melo was bought from Barcelona by Juventus in exchange for Piazic, who went to Barcelona (and has since been sold).
Burnley v Watford is off.. can’t hear Gary Neville screaming from the rooftops!
Saw a rumour earlier suggesting we may recall AMN.
Won’t Joe Day go off if it’s true hahahaha
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/17/giles-and-silverwood-must-go-but-joe-root-can-help-englands-post-ashes-rebuild
Let’s hope Aubameyang gets well soon
From my non medical but personal experience , heart lesions are basically a narrowing of the atreries leading to and from the heart caused by a build up of contaniments in the blood .
Usually they are treated by having stents inserted to stretch open the artery and increase the flow rate..
I had to have two inserted following Eboue’s penalty give away against Liverpool in the 98th minute. However although I can lead a fairly normal life , i am not an elite athlete and although I was a regular runner my medical advice was to cut back and let things settle whilst blood thinning drugs did their work for at least 6 months..
I doubt that Aubameyang will even if he plays again reach the heights that he once did and I doubt that his lesions were anything new which might explain his dip in form following his malaria rather than his recent bouts of covid .
Potter, how many people, including athletes, have had heart issues since the vaccine was forced down people’s throats?
It’s no coincidence, though our politicians would like us to believe that’s the case.
I guess there are 3 questions that could be asked.
1 how long has he had heart issues
2 how long has Auba known about it
3 how long has the club known
No matter what the answer are right now let’s hope he gets the best treatment he can and that he gets well soon.
That’s it Geoff.
Like everything atm,
Survive and be well.
Anything else is a bonus.
Morning Cardiologists, morning Rico (wherever you are?) it’s an icy day out there and I’m not looking forward to venturing out, but it must be done…
I listened to Talk Sport briefly and then that fat idiot Danny Kelly on BBC, albeit even briefer, but quickly turned over as the anti-Arsenal whinging was still going on – and I love it.
Stuff all of them and then stuff them again, I am so looking forward to Thursday, they’ll all be absolutely gutted if and when we knock out Liverpool.
I bet that Arteta and the gang are winding up our players, but the silence from our camp is deafening, not a peep, I so hope that all our sick and injured are fit for Thursday as all the anti-Arsenal crowd will be outraged.
That’s a very broad assumption on your part Scott, how do you know that the sports people concerned have been vaccinated?
First let me say that I am not a doctor or a virologist and have no medical background other than my own personal experience . Heart lesions (Arteriosclerosis ) was my diagnosis long before covid was thought of .
In answer to the question :-” Potter, how many people, including athletes, have had heart issues since the vaccine was forced down people’s throats?”
I don’t know .but a quick look at a study from Canada says that from 56 million doses administered 808 cases of Myocarditis, or pericarditis found . Not Arteriosclerosis .
Auba may be an unlucky one but the odds are slim if this report is correct. As we all do I hope he goes on to have a full and happy life but I just have my doubts that his happy life will include being able to perform at the same rate that he has before.
Going back to my case I regularly ran in 6 mile cross countries and played football and squash until my middle 50 ‘s . It wasn’t detected in any of my medical screenings but there it was and apparently had been building for many years probably since my 20’s .
Perhaps I should have taken more water with it.
Unless he has just got it,
Why hasn’t any of the medical and fitness test run by the club not picked something up before now
Afternoon Kev, I’m here. Just. Lol
New post up now
Cicero, they can’t play without the vaccine so yes, it’s fair to assume they’re jabbed
Who Scott, footballers?