Seven – Make every one count!

Morning all.

Every player needs to be at their best for the next two months. They have to give everything for the badge, the club, the staff and especially the fans. The fans who have been through the ups, the downs and now hopefully, the ups again.

I don’t think we’ll get a better opportunity to win the Premier League and we cannot afford to blow it.

Mikel Arteta:

The closer we get, the relevance and importance of the match increases obviously, and tomorrow is a big day for us. The players know it, our supporters know it, it’s an early kick-off, so get up early, have an early breakfast, bring your lunch, bring your dinner, and let’s all go together for it because it has to be a big day.

Our pride is reinforced because that talks about your culture and the identity of this club and the team, and to define that, you have to go through different scenarios, different moments, individually and collectively. I always said that that’s one of the proudest things that I have, not only with the people but our supporters as well, they’ve always been with the team regardless of the situation and that’s great to see in football.

Ebe Eze is back available which is not only a surprise but great news and Arteta hinted at one/some of Jurrien Timber, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori could return and Piero Hincapie is back in training too.

So, we face an in-form Bournemouth, at lunchtime and with Michael Oliver appointed as the referee. Darren England is on VAR. Stitch up in the making? We’ll see but I hope not. Honesty and consistency is all I ask for.

The south coast club have enjoyed a three week break, time for Kroupi, Jimenez, Gannon-Doak and Adams to recover from injury and Soler could return too although Kluivert and Cook remain out.

Just over three months ago, Bournemouth and Arsenal went head to head at The Vitality Stadium. A misplaced pass from Gabriel gifted Evanilson a goal but just a few minutes later, our Brazilian made amends by scoring an equaliser. The second half brought two goals for Declan Rice and despite Kroupi scoring with fifteen minutes to go, we held on.

Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme:

Iraola always lines up in a 4-2-3-1, and the astute Spaniard’s teams are renowned for producing fast, high-intensity football, with and without the ball. He wants his players to work exceptionally hard (no team in the division makes more sprints), and as a collective they press with great enthusiasm all over the pitch. The Cherries have a vertical style of play which sees them transition quickly from defence to attack. This could be a move started by the progressive passing of central defender Marcos Senesi, a swiftly constructed passing sequence through the thirds, a long pass into the channels, or a rapid counter-attack. They get the ball forward quicker than almost any other team in the Premier League.

Iraola’s men are brilliant ball winners and regain possession with greater frequency than all the other 19 top-flight sides. Character and a never-say-die spirit are also qualities you associate with the Cherries, who have fallen behind on 13 occasions, but lost just five times when that happened. Bournemouth can be guilty of giving up a lot of chances. Only the three teams currently occupying the bottom three places have faced a higher number of shots on target than the Cherries, so keeper Djordje Petrovic has been busier than his head coach would have liked.

Our last two domestic cup matches were disappointing but they are done. Finished with for another season. Today it’s about the Premier League and adding three points to our tally.

Today presents a chance to put a bit of pressure on Man City who face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.

We’re at home, playing front of our own fans who deserve to see a fully committed performance, a performance which reflects the team/squads desire and determination to keep fighting to win the title. With just seven league fixtures left to play, the players need to give their all because nothing less will do. As Tony Adams once said, “play for the name on the front of the shirt, and they will remember the name on the back”.

For every game, we have to be there. We know the meaning of every match here and the opportunity that we have, especially when we play at home. We need to maximise every result. It’s about each individual and how they turn up there. It’s actually impacting the game, the atmosphere and energy in the stadium. Whoever comes tomorrow, I ask them to [come] with that mindset, energy and commitment, because the team is going to respond beautifully to that. Mikel Arteta.

Catch up in the comments.