Morning all.
The FA Cup third round draw took place last night with an away trip to Portsmouth coming out of the pot for Mikel Arteta’s team. The match is due to take place sometime over the weekend of the 10th January. Bearing in mind we play Liverpool on the 8th, I imagine the FA Cup tie will be played on the 11th or 12th.
The last time we faced Pompey in this competition was back in March 2020, the year of Arsenal’s last time of lifting a trophy. The Championship club are having a rotten season so far with relegation to League One looking possibly unless they turn things around in the second half of the season.
There are no replays this season so it’s extra-time and penalties should the game end up being a draw. Good, but I hope Arteta’s team can get the job done in 90 minutes.
Four all Premier League ties were drawn with Villa travelling to Totts, Everton facing Sunderland, Newcastle taking on Bournemouth and Brighton travelling to Manchester United.
Tomorrow night we face Club Brugge who are well away from securing a place in the Champions League playoffs let alone the top eight but in this league format, a couple of wins could soon see them catapult up the table. Arsenal on the other hand are flying high at the top of the table, just one point away from the 16 won last season which secured a knockout place. We’re close to progressing through to the next round but we’re not quite there yet. A win tomorrow night could change that though, especially if other results go in our favour.
Then it’s back home for an 8pm kickoff on Saturday night against Wolves. The West Midlands club were battered 4-1 by Manchester United last night, mind you, Wolves haven’t won a game this season.
Shock, horror, the players will have a whole week off after the Wolves game. A rare thing this season. We’ll hear from Mikel Arteta at some stage about who is and isn’t fit for tomorrow’s game but like many Arsenal fans I’m sure, I’m hoping to see Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, Gyokeres, Norgaard, Eze, Madueke, Salmon, Dowman, Annous and Kepa on the pitch. If not at the beginning, the end.
Whilst not suggesting tomorrow’s game is a forgone conclusion or that it’s going to be easy but it’s an opportunity to rotate and rest a few players who have been playing a lot of minutes over the last two weeks.
Whether Arteta feels the same I’ve no idea but logic suggests he should.
Catch up in the comments.
There’s logic and there is money , as much as players are needing a day off the club will still be aware of the rewards for a win approx £ 2 million a match .We should qualify especially with Kairat at home to come but we can’t afford to take things to lightly.
Arteta needs to find the balance and not weaken too far because after losing to Villa a loss in Brugges might make the game against Wolves a bit edgy.
As I said earlier on the previous thread , They have just sacked their manager and appointed a new man . It’s the bounce as they will all be looking to impress the new man .
Football and money eh…
I just think it’s a huge risk to expect Rice, Timber etc etc to play another 90 mins. But I get what saying about the mood should we lose tomorrow.
Good morning Rico, it’s anyone’s guess what team Arteta will put out tomorrow. So long as we have a modicum of togetherness at the back we should be able to rest some of the midfield and forwards.
New manager bounce? More a dead cat bounce hopefully.
Well after his outburst yesterday when he accused Slot of throwing him under the bus, Salah appears to have burnt his boats as far as continuing to be a Liverpool player is concerned. Not in the CL squad for tonight’s game against Inter Milan and extremely unlikely to figure in the weekend game and he departs for the African Cup of Nations on Monday. By the time that is over the transfer window will be open and the Saudi Pro League will be waiting with sackfulls of petrol dollars and long term contracts to entice him away from Merseyside.
Morning Cicero, I read a rumour somewhere this morning that Saliba might be back..
I think what makes things more difficult is that Arteta won’t have much of an idea what kind of team or tactics he’ll face with the new man in charge. I guess he can study some of his tactics and line-ups from his previous club to give him an idea but it’ll be very much of the hoof tomorrow.
With that in mind I reckon an unchanged defence if Calafiori is fit, I’d like to see Myles start and maybe he’ll have minutes but Wolves should be in his sights.
Martinelli, Madueke and Gyokeres needs minutes so I’d imagine that they’ll be up front. Try to bully a defence low in confidence.
Midfield, well Declan surely must put his feet up? That leaves Odegaard, Zubimendi and Merino I reckon… Spin a coin
Zubimendi needs a breather I reckon Kev.
I agree Rico, but does Arteta? 🤔