Morning all.
The players and staff left north London for Budapest yesterday with both Jurrien Timber and Ben White on the plane. Regardless of whether players are fit or not, or even if they expect to be in the match day squad, they are all there, together as one. Rumoured has it, Jurrien Timber is fit. Maybe he’s been fit for a while now but Mikel Arteta didn’t risk him. Arteta will hold his pre match press conference later today so we might find out more but I doubt it, he’s not likely to spill any beans which might change PSG’s plans.
Just over a year ago, the 24th of May to be precise,
Mikel Arteta and his players had seen high hopes of winning the champions league dashed by PSG and for the third season running, had ended the league campaign in second place. Meanwhile, in the José Alvalade Stadium,
This season, the women finished second in the league and were knocked out of the Champions League at the semifinal stage, yes, the same stage as the men last season. I’m not sure many people fancied Renee Slegers side last year, just as many people won’t fancy the men’s chances tomorrow night either. However….
I’m praying that tomorrow ends with roles reversed.
Ebe Eze has been talking to Sky Sports:
Talking about winning the Premier League and the critics, Eze said:
You go through ups and downs and loads of noise in the media. But, at the end, all that matters is who won. And it doesn’t matter how you won, it doesn’t matter what you did to win. To do it how we’ve done it, for me, is also quite special because we’ve blocked out so much noise, so much attention around us. Style of play is very subjective. There are so many different opinions about it but ultimately, when you are winning games, that’s all that matters.
On tomorrow’s game:
We are just another group of people that have the opportunity to win the Champions League and I pray that we take it. When we do, it will be a special moment for sure. Confident? Yeah for sure. I feel like we’ve achieved something that means so much to us and the joy, the confidence, the power that comes with that is special. So I’m sure we’ll be bringing that on the day as well.
The players have to be confident tomorrow night, not cocky or arrogant but confident. Play with confidence, belief and most importantly, freedom. We all know how good PSG are but Arsenal, fresh from winning the Premier League, have every reason to believe they can beat the French club.
A bit of transfer news which comes from David Ornstein and that’s a number of clubs have made enquiries to sign Gabriel Jesus and Arsenal are valuing him around £20m. Hopefully there’s a club out there who will stump us the money. He’s not going to get much playing time at Arsenal next season, not even on the wings in my opinion so for his sake, I hope he gets the move.
In other news which I’m sure everyone knows about by now but Anthony Gordon is on the brink of signing for Barcelona. Whilst I don’t give a toot about the player, I’m just relieved he’s not heading to Arsenal as was suggested just a few weeks ago.
Catch up later.
Morning all.
New post up.
I’ve a feeling Timber will start. And Kai up top. Will it be the mayhem of Cala or the solidity of Piero? Zubi or MLS? Eze or Leo?
Time for a bit of shut eye. See ya’all in a few hours…
Some good news this morning, Arteta has announced that Timber is fit to start in the final this evening.
I am totally relaxed for tomorrow. When I watched PSG and Bayern 5-4 game, thats when I realized we can beat either team in the final. They are not putting up that number of goals against us but we can put up 1 or 2 to win.
If my memory serves me correct there was a story about a month ago that Arteta was willing to except offer for Gabriel Martinelli, as for Nwaneri if Arteta think he needs a bit time, then a loan to Como makes sense as Arteta and Cesc are good friends,
Yes nerves kicking in ,we will all go through our personal traditions , this is the big one , I trust and hope the players bring it home.
Hi Limey, it is exciting but I’m already nervous.
I’d be disappointed to see Nwaneri leave..
Just look at MLS in his right position..
Thanks for the translation, LG. Like Potter, I hope Patrick is talking about Gabby J. I watched the video of that interview. PV4 picked Raya, Timber, Gabriel, Sol, Cole, Viera, Rice, Saka, Pires, Bergkamp, Henry as his combined X1. Wouldn’t argue with him.
The game kicks off at 4am Sunday morning here in NZ. Got a crowd of gooners round to my gaff for it. We’ll be waking the neighbours with “The Angel” before kick off and, hopefully singing the old Commodores hit “Eze like Sunday morning” at the conclusion of the match.
Come on you magnificent Gunners.
Whew! You had me worried, Duc. I hope you are out of the woods, mate. Lovely to read your words again.
It’s quite possible the Gabriel that he is referring to might be Gabriel Jesus.
Hi, guys, long time no see – a few personal issues to be dealt with.
I’ve just caught up with most of your posts-comments. Feeling a bit sorry not to have been there to share in the joy of the title, but mostly I’ve been happy to read how happy you all were (I was too of course, but couldn’t even watch the last 2 games, nor the Bournemouth-City one … which means everything was more subdued for me).
(Btw Stu, I’ve just seen your mails – will answer to them asap of course).
I’ll be able to watch the final tomorrow, and this’ll be very special, because I’ll have my son here with me. He’s 41 now, and has been a PSG fan ever since he was a kid living in Rocquencourt (Anelka’s birthplace) with his mother, before coming back to me when he turned teenager …
Today there was this interview of PV4 in “L’Équipe“ (by Hugo Delom), which I’ve translated for you; I hope it’ll help you deal with anxiety better, if only for a few minutes. Patrick does consider at some point that BigGab might leave us this summer – I made no mistake translating this so blame this insane thought on him, not on the translator please …
COYG!!
https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Mon-arsenal-a-moi-patrick-vieira-arsenal-est-la-seule-equipe-en-europe-a-pouvoir-battre-ce-psg/1679861
Patrick Vieira, Arsenal’s midfielder from 1996 to 2005, is convinced the Gunners have the toolbox to be a nuisance for Luis Enrique’s team. According to him, should this 2026 team win tomorrow, they might become more legendary than the 2004 Invincibles.
“Comparing periods has always been a difficult thing, but if Arsenal ended up winning the CL on top of the PL, it would be much greater an achievement than what we did in 2004. By the way, I’m not saying their team is better, see what I mean (laughs)? What we did with the invincibles was outstanding, but when you win both the Cl and the PL the same season, this is the sign of quite an exceptional generation.
I was asked lately to figure out which among today’s players could have made it into our “Invincible“ team. When you consider how good were the likes of Sol, Thierry, Dennis, it would be difficult not to keep them in. About today’s team, I often think to myself, for instance, that Saliba-Gabriel have been the best pair of CBs for three seasons and could have been starters for the Invincibles. I know that, in England, a lot of people draw comparisons between Declan Rice and me. From a football POV, he’s the one I feel the closest to. There are similarities about our commitment, leadership. On the right Bukayo is an exceptional player, even though Freddie was too. Taking Robert (Pirès) out wouldn’t be easy (laughs). To cut a long story short, those are tough ones (laughs).
This title, at the end of a 22-year drought, is a 3 or 4-year process coming to its conclusion. Finishing second several times helped build up confidence, experience. I went to the City-Arsenal game, and there was a lot of negativity back then, about the way the team played, a lot of second thoughts about its ability to win the title. But what they had been through for three years had given them confidence.
Mikel Arteta has been of the essence. The first two seasons were very complicated for him. But he never wavered about what he believed in. He did know what he had in mind. He made tough decisions to build the team, and showed important players out. Probably because these players didn’t fit in with what he intended to implement. I just mentioned similarities with our era; the main one is this ability, which Arsène had back then, to assemble a group driven by an idea shared by all, and oozing collective strength. Arsène had created the conditions for a family spirit to settle in, which was true to the Arsenal DNA, and this is the very same idea that Mikel has indeed succeeded in implementing – which had been lost following Arsène’s departure.
When I watch the celebrations, which join together the families, the staff, I can feel something’s strong is at work there. That’s the bond which held things together during games, this ability to win even though the kind of football they played wasn’t always sexy … This happened to us as well. There were times when we weren’t great but, thanks to this mental strength, we always found a way to make it to a 1-0, 2-1 win. This team is young, its foundations are solid, and I think something’s been built in order to dominate the PL over the 4 or 5 next seasons. I do believe they’ve just put a long cycle into motion.
Out of the fifteen who were regular starters, I can’t see any of them leaving any time soon. Gabriel maybe, but other than that, Saka, Saliba, Martinelli, Trossard, Rice still have a lot to give. Gyökeres hasn’t had it easy because he needs through balls, and didn’t get enough of them. Next season he’ll be a major Arsenal player.
I can’t wait for the final to be underway. This could be amazing. I’ve always thought Arsenal was the only team in Europe who have what it takes to beat PSG. Make no mistake, I love this version of PSG. They’ve been the best team in Europe for the last 2 or 3 seasons. They do have everything. Succeeding in making individuals shine within such a precisely determined frame is quite the achievement. But Arsenal have all the tools required to hurt them: athleticism, runs, speed, power, agression …
Arsenal can defend to perfection. They love and are willing to defend – as long as it takes, too. They have runners in midfield, who are technicians as well. The trident Kvara-Dembelé-Doué is otherwordly, as far as speed is concerned, but Arsenal are strong at managing the 1v1s. Their defenders are bundles of energy, agression. On top of which – it’s been very much the talk of the town, actually – their knowhow on set pieces can hurt PSG very deeply …
It seems that the world and his dog wants Nwaneri . Apparently 5 premier clubs and half a dozen European ones . The latest is Como and Cesc offering a direct purchase or a loan with the right to buy or just a loan.
With Merino , Zubimendi , Odegaard , Dowman , Madueke in front of him I guess he might be tempted.
Afternoon Rico/everyone,
Looking forward to next season I see 1 or 2 high quality signings as well as Hincape,maybe Morgan Rogers and another one.
The £20m quoted for Jesus would be great,someone on here said he might end up in Italy,AC Milan might suit him?
Yeah I’m glad we swerved Anthony Gordon,the price to Arsenal or any Premier league club would have been a lot higher no doubt.
I can’t get nervous about tomorrow,maybe nearer the time.
As said confidence and belief are needed.
It is exciting though,COYG
Hi Geoff, I just hope Jesus leaves regardless of for how much. His wages are high. But, I do appreciate all he did when he first signed it’s just now he’s not our future.
Morning Rico and all, looking forward to this weekend’s match, I can’t remember where I read but the story claim Arteta could except a low offer of $5 million pound for Jesus just to get him off the books, but me personally I think it will be more around the $20 mill mark as Rico stated earlier, The best think about this transfer is we only need 2 or 3 players at the most, maybe another striker to help Gyokeres out
Love Eze’s view on his/our best Nld. Not the first despite his hat trick but the second because of what it meant for the team.
Morning Kev.
Mosquera is young, I’m pretty sure he’s feeling pretty good after his first season. Can’t see him wanting to move away any time soon. Plus, imo, he’ll play more next season.
As much as I don’t like Sky Sports, their coverage of the build up to the CL final is very good.
As long as Hincapie can keep his shorts on he’ll remain a Gooner, he’ll have a big job next year helping our Ecuadorean twins settle in.
Morning Champions, morning Rico, love that picture of the squad.
When you have a trophy winning team you’ll often find other clubs interested in your players and in particular your good players who aren’t guaranteed starters. That’s fine, nobody is leaving unless Arteta decides, Mosquera might be a tricky one to retain if he doesn’t get many starts next season?
Morning Cicero, thanks.
I think Hincapie is under an an obligation to buy loan contract so Barca can take a long run off a short pier..
Good morning Rico, the calm before the storm. Well written thanks.
I read this morning that Barcelona are sniffing around Hincapie, signing him to a permanent contract is a priority.