Morning all.
Only three fixtures remain in this first phase of the Champions League campaign. Arsenal’s next two fixtures take place at The Emirates against Monaco on the 11th December, GNK Dinamo on the 22nd January then on the 29th January, Mikel Arteta and his players will be in Spain to take on Girona.
Here’s how the table looks today.
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From the BBC
Our big win on Tuesday saw us climb the table but with nine points still to play for, not even Liverpool are guaranteed to avoid the playoffs although in all likelihood, they will. Arsenal need to as well as the last thing we as a club need is another two matches added to what is already a really brutal fixture schedule.
Still, European football can wait for now as Arsenal return to Premier League action tomorrow evening with a short trip across London to face a West Ham team who’ve had a very mixed start to the season.
They’ve been on the end of a few hammerings, pun intended, losing 5-1 at Anfield, 4-1 at Totts ground and 3-0 at The City Ground. At The London Stadium, Man City won 3-1 and Chelsea scored 3 against them too. But they have also registered a few decent victories at home, especially the 2-1 defeat of Man Utd and a 2-0 win against Newcastle earlier this week.
West Ham’s last home game, which was against Everton, was a drab affair according to reports, ended goalless. Lots of shots from both sides but no goals. Manager Julen Lopetegui has been under a lot scrutiny of late, with the newspapers suggesting he could face the sack but I’m sure the defeat of Newcastle on Monday had sports writers changing their headlines for the following morning. I wonder if their attentions will turn to Guardiola now, after all, if it were any other manager going through such a sticky period………
Anyway, I really don’t care about what’s going on in Manchester or any other club for that matter as it’s what Arsenal do which matters to me.
Last weekend saw Mikel Arteta rest four of the eleven, who I think we’d agree, Mikel Arteta’s considers to be part of his strongest team. Not including the injured Ben White of course. We have another big game at home on Wednesday night so perhaps we’ll see one or two changes again tomorrow especially as we go to Fulham next Saturday.
The next month of football is crazy with a game every 3/4 days and they are all tough. The fact they’re all in London will at least cut down on the travelling which should in theory help us. I remember Guardiola saying he hated the journey down to north London. I’m not sure he likes north London going to The Etihad these days either. Lol
Still, it’s not City we need to chase down right now because they’re just an obstacle on a journey to catchup with Liverpool and that’s not going to be easy. Slot’s team breezed past Real Madrid on Wednesday night but I’m hoping they slip up on Sunday when they take on Man City. For one day only I hope Guardiola’s team can find enough in the tank to secure a draw.
I don’t wish injuries on anyone but if Slot had to deal with the kind of injuries Mikel Arteta has had to, I very much doubt they’d be sitting top of the league table. City can’t even cope with the loss of Rodri which in theory, is little different to Thomas Partey being ruled out for us which he has been so often before this campaign. Yes, I know injuries part of the game but no club has at least eleven players in reserve who are equal to the eleven who usually start. (hope that makes sense) We didn’t even know how good Jurrien Timber would be for Arsenal when he was injured last season but now we do. Just as we can see what a fully fit Thomas Partey brings to the team. Had both been available last season, who knows how things might have turned out.
I know we, or I should I say I, can’t think like that because history cannot be changed but if Lady Bad Luck has had enough of flying over the red side of north London and our spate of injuries are done for the season, at least there is plenty of time and fixtures to get after Liverpool, especially if Lady Bad Luck decides to park herself in the red half of Merseyside for a few months instead.
Mikel Arteta holds his pre match press conference shortly so we should find out who is fit and who is not. Fingers crossed he brings positive news on Gabriel.
More on that tomorrow…