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Arsenal.com
Morning all.
It’s a big night at The Emirates as Arsenal face a free flowing and entertaining Monaco team.
Monaco currently occupy 3rd place in Ligue 1 and 11th place in the Champions League table with only goal difference separating them and us in 10th. After last night’s fixtures, we dropped out of the automatic qualification places but a win tonight would change that as we could go into 6th.
Monaco’s Manager Adolf “Adi” Hütter had a decent playing career, playing for a number of Austrian clubs as well as representing his country on 14 occasions. He was usually deployed as a midfielder. After his playing days were over, he stepped into coaching/management with RB Salzburg. From there he went to Young Boys, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach before ending up at Monaco in July last year. His first season in France ended with Monaco finishing runners up to PSG in the league, securing Champions League football for the first time since the 2018/19 season.
Hutter pre match said:
> It will be a very big game for us, but we are here in London to show our style of play, our brand of committed football. It is also difficult to face us, and we will be on the lookout for any opportunity they can give us. We do not only want to be a good opponent, but to try to bring something back from here..
Hutter’s football is described as being fun to watch. His teams play dynamic football which includes being quick in transition with an attack minded style. They press high and with intensity.
Yes, I read about them and it seems Monaco play the kind of football fans like me love to watch. A bit like the football Arsenal used to play under Arsene Wenger during his early years. Probably the kind of football Arsene Wenger had Monaco playing during his time there too.
Arsenal don’t play with power, pace and swift passing these days and haven’t done for a long time. Under Mikel Arteta our game is about a slow and patient build out from the back with lots of passes between players before reaching the opponents penalty area. Then it’s about the final pass, the movement in the box and the shot on goal. Occasionally players will take a shot from distance but usually another pass seems to be the preference. Personally, I think our style of football is easier for opponents to nullify because of the time they’re afforded to become organised defensively. Breaking down a disciplined defence is much harder to do as we’ve found out many times.
The positives ahead of tonight’s match is that if Monaco play the way they usually do, the game could be pretty open. However, it looks like we could be struggling with availability in defence.
Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are definitely out and there are doubts over the fitness of Gabriel, Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko again and to make matters worse, both Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey missed full training yesterday so they too are doubts.
Mikel Arteta in his press conference said:
> It is what it is. We need to accept the reality and move forward. We have to manage a lot of the players. Some of them probably aren’t going to be fit. Some are still a doubt. We have 24 hours to make a decision and hopefully it will be the right ones.
He was also asked about Kieran Tierney and whether or not he could come back into the team.
> Yeah, he is ready and he’s training really well and he’s going to have an opportunity for sure with the way the team is looking at the moment. It’s for that reason and because he’s earned it as well with the way he’s behaved and the way he’s been with us because he’s willing to do it and when that happens you have to give opportunities to those kind of players.
A fully fit and healthy Tierney isn’t a bad player to have waiting in the wings. He might be a bit rusty but if Arteta isn’t keen on bringing Myles Lewis-Skelly into the mix and all those who are doubts aren’t available, then Tierney could find himself in the starting eleven. Goodness knows who’ll play at right back though. Academy right-back Josh Nichols’ name was mentioned during the press conference but he’s not fit either.
Monaco are without Flo Balogun tonight as he has a shoulder injury. Other absentees are reported to be Wilfried Singo (suspended), Christian Mawissa (suspended), Edan Diop, Krepin Diatta and Denis Zakaria.
Avoiding the playoffs would be huge for us because the last thing we need is more fixtures added to an already hectic season.
Catch up in the comments.