Morning all.
Here’s the EFL Cup quarter-final draw in full:
Liverpool vs Leeds United
Manchester United vs West Ham
Hull vs Newcastle
Arsenal vs Southampton
All ties to be played on either Tuesday November 29 or Wednesday November 30.
We wanted a home fixture and that’s exactly what we got so that’s a good start and at this stage of the competition there’s no easy game, not really and Southampton will be a tough opposition, especially if Arsene Wenger continues to play the youngsters. Just a couple of years ago, the very same opposition dumped us out of this competition albeit at an earlier stage so if Arsene Wenger fancies winning this big trophy, perhaps he’ll need to add a bit more experience to his side.
But I doubt he will, not looking at the other fixtures both before and after this tie. Utd away on the 19th, PSG at home on the 23rd, Bournemouth at home on the 27th which is a Sunday and then after the EFL match, we are away to West Ham. So that’s a tough old schedule and I’m pretty confident that this competition will be low down on the list of priorities for Arsene Wenger.
Southampton too have tough fixtures of their own before and after this tie, Liverpool, Sparta Prague and Everton before and then another trip to London to face Palace on the 3rd December so I’d imagine their manager would use this tie to rest and rotate his squad. After all, he did last night against Sunderland where he made nine changes to the side which drew with Man City last weekend.
One player who enjoyed playing on Tuesday night was Carl Jenkinson and he’s been talking to the official website. Not about how good this team is or how they could win the league. Nor has he been posting selfies or biging up the morale within the dressing room etc etc. No, he’s just thrilled to be back wearing an Arsenal shirt:
Arsenal is my club. I went out on loan for a couple of years but I always thought I wanted to perform so I can come back here, I wanted to be good enough and I still want to be good enough to play here. I guess I was proving that I can play at this level, or trying to, while I was out on loan.
I loved my time at West Ham, I played a lot of football and it was fantastic for me. It’s a great club and I enjoyed every minute I had there, but it is great for me to be back here now.
Arsenal is my club and it is an honour every time I pull on the shirt.
How refreshing. All he wants to do is work hard, improve and play for the club he absolutely loves as we all do. If he does, I’m sure he’ll be at the club for a long time…
As will Alex Iwobi if he continues the kind of form he’s in right now, but he nearly didn’t become an Arsenal player according to an interview in The Express:
Arsenal and West Ham were interested in me and Chuba [Akpom], so we were training with both clubs for three years.
I decided to sign for Arsenal because I supported them back then and I always saw them as the bigger club – no disrespect to West Ham.
Clearly, Chuba did too…
Have a good day guys….
Don’t care what anyone says, I love Jenks 🙂
He said the type of person I want representing the clus as he will always give 100%, no matter what.
Morning all.
Ditto Scott…
Me too and most probably in a year or so we will cash in on Bellerin and up pops Jenks.That’s the Arsenal way I am afraid.
I don’t think Bellerin will leave any time soon kelsey…
When was the last player we sold that we’d have wanted to keep?
The situation has changed, and quite obviously things are different to 3-4 years ago.
The recent “ins” of Xhaka, Mustafi, Cech, Sanchez and Ozil would quite easily outweigh the “outs”, Kelsey.
Maybe we fans need to stop being so negative…..might rub off on the players 🙂
In the summer Scott, Gnabry….
Mmmmm.
Not so sure, Rico.
He was a fair way down the pecking order, for mine.
Still, looking at the players we’ve brought in recently, It hardly suggests we remain a selling club.
I really rated him though Scott…
But I get your point and so I guess RvP was the last one. As said though, I don’t think Bellerin will leave any time soon and the bigger concern would be Alexis and Mesut…
He’s a very, very good player, Rico, no doubt at all.
Bellerin will stay, IMO….I’m with you there.
I hope we do cough up and keep Alexis and Mesut.
We have a terrific squad now….keeping it, and building on it will be fantastic.
Thing is Scott, is it just about money with both those players? If it is then yes, I hope the club can sort both out but if they want to leave to play elsewhere, there’ll be little the club can do…
That’s true, but we are building so they can hardly complain about a lack of improvement as far as the squads concerned.
A league title is what we need.
Hello Rico and all. We’ll need to wait and see how Jenks develops but it’s nice to have some local players around the place. Gives the club some identity perhaps.
Don’t we just Scott..
Hi Adam. I liked the fact that his feet are on the ground. A few wins and too many players are talking up Arsenal. There’s a long way to go before they can start boasting…
Hi all,
The Camel is ok lol…
Akpom and Iwobi will go on to achieve great things. Good attitude from jenkinson and as Adam says, its refreshing to have a few local lads that play for the shirt as well as the cash.
Club identity is whats lacking from the Manchester Clubs at the moment.
Hi George, at least we have a few more ‘Jenks’ coming through the academy…
Oxlade-Chamberlain has the same agent as Raheem Stirling, I read somewhere, and is in the final 18 months of his contract…
So what kind of pay increase is he and his advisors going to be after..?
And is he worth the kind of pay increase he’s probably gonna be looking at..?
Watch this space…
Afternoon All
Afternoon Rico
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/he-texts-every-day-jamie-9131724
Good old Eboue…
Afternoon Kev. Maybe that’s why his game has upped a bit…. 😉
Kev, not sure its an ‘increase’ they should be looking for. I’d like him to stay and move his long-held potential into consistent performances, but what has he done to warrant a pay rise!
Exactly Andrew, but Ox and his advisors will know that a few other EPL clubs will be sniffing around as his contract runs down mate…
Another Walcott scenario could be on the cards if it can’t be sorted this summer 2017.
Like to get Sanchez sorted, Ozil nearly as much, then the other players like Chamberlain wouldn’t be the end of the world if they seek more riches.
I agree Andrew, we could bring Joel Campbell back to replace Ox if he decides to move on…
Kev, on performances last year, Joel should have been above Ox in the pecking order. He would play a good game then be left out, obviously not one of the ‘In Crowd’.
Campbell on loan is an odd one…
Perez out for six weeks according to reports.
So we won’t be seeing Perez until after Xmas then?
Afternoon each.
Lets hope we bring back Campbell. If reports that Perez is indeed out for 6 weeks, we are left with few options up front. Having to watch Sanogo would be painful..Yes Rico we have a few Jenks definately coming through.
Afternoon all.
Perez injured !………..yesterday on newsnow they were rumouring that Walcott was not fit either !
I see on the BBC gossip page that the rumour is ( and this will give Kev even more reason to hate Totnumb ) the Spuds are in talks with Uber for namings rights of the new shite hole for £20M per year !……………..wonder how the spud “normal” cabbies will feel about that ?………………enough to change support to the top North London team in absolute disgust !. 🙂
Hadn’t seen that about Walcott….
Here we go again with Nov injuries……
Night all.
Wenger said Walcott was sick,not injured.
Lay a new type of pitch but that doesn’t eliminate injuries so Perez joins the list.
Gutted, still coming to terms with the Perez news this evening, is he any good btw, plays up front for us allegedly, any info would be much appreciated.
From what I’ve heard, the Perez injury had nothing to do with the pitch and everything to do with the Reading thug who stood on his ankle…
Cocker, the Uber Stadium name really suits the Scum, it has that classic Sat Nav, uninsured, dodgy medical certificate, Syrian driver feel about it, and will suit the surrounding area that is wellnproliferated by American style chicken joints, with exotic names like the ‘Tennessee Fried Chicken’ joint or the ‘Florida Fried Chicken’ emporium, whilst not forgetting the memorable ‘Alabama Fried Chicken’ shack… Plenty of variety as you can see with several Domino Pizza parlours for those more discerning types and ubiquitous kebab chippy….
Nom nom….
Night All
Night Mick, take it easy now mate…
Kev, I saw the “tackle” on Perez…..straight red.
Seriously, nothing to do with the pitch at all, except it held the scumbag that launched at our bloke 🙂
Nasty tackle, and intentional.
Morning all.
Morning Scott, Kev and all..
I didn’t realise Perez was fouled badly…..
It was a shocker, Rico.
No attempt to get near the ball, IMO.
I only saw the highlights but they showed it and it’s a clear foul, without question.
http://youtu.be/njsVquwzgbs
About. 2.40 mark…
Actually, it’s 2.20 in….
I reckon the defender had one intention.
Perez did stay on for a minute in two I believe, but went back down and was replaced.
Thanks Scott, I’ll watch it now..
Looks nasty….
Yep.
Certainly nothing to do with the pitch 🙂
🙂 No…
New post up now.