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Morning all.
Renee Slegers squad made the short trip across London last night to face West Ham. They off to a rotten start with a Daphne van Domselaar own goal but it wasn’t long before the scores were level thanks to a Frida Maanum goal. At half-time, Maanum was replaced by Stina Blackstenius who soon made it 2-1. By the end, Arsenal had had five goals on the board thanks to Caitlin Foord and Alessia Russo. An excellent result for Slegers and her team.
Premier League football returns today but don’t get too used to it as before we know it, internationals will be back again. Not one player has returned from international duty with a niggle, small or large. Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus remain out but everyone is in contention to make the squad. Yes, even William Saliba who has been involved in training this week. Whether he’ll start or not, Mikel Arteta wouldn’t confirm but the fact that’s he fit is great news.
So, we face Nottingham Forest in a couple of hours. In this fixture last season, Bukayo Saka gave us an early lead before Thomas Partey doubled our lead just after half-time and then Ethan Nwaneri made it 3-0 having come off the bench late in the game.
Forest made 14 signings in the summer which is incredible as far as numbers go. I thought our 8 was a lot. Mind you, maybe our needs weren’t as great as Forest moved 22 on including those on loan. Ex Arsenal player Omari Hutchinson is one of their new players. Forest paid a reported £38m for him as well as £30m for James McAteer. But they sold Anthony Elanga to Newcastle Utd.
Forest also have a new manager in Ange Postecoglou, a many born in Greece but moved to Australia when he was 5 years old. The first manager to win silverware at Totts in years but then got the boot for being successful. Crazy eh…
Mikel Arteta on Ange:
> With Ange, his biggest strength, in my opinion, is the way he’s been. He has put his fingerprints on that team, and he has a very clear way of playing, very clear DNA and are extremely good to watch. I’ve learned a lot from him, and it will be a very difficult game. The moment the game starts, after five minutes, we will see very clear behaviours, what they want to do, and that’s what we have prepared.
Postecoglou on his game plan:
> I do like my teams to play exciting football and score goals and get fans excited. I’ve got to convince every person in the building about what we’re trying to do on the back of them doing something a certain way and having success that way. It is fair to say it’s not going to happen overnight; it’s a process that will take a little bit of time, but never at the expense of competitiveness. None of my beliefs are going to get in the way of us making sure the team is prepared to win on a Saturday.
Many of us talk about wanting a bit more pace and flair to our football, well that’s the way Big Ange set his team up at Totts but defensively, they were shocking. Forest have been disciplined under Nuno and now that’s likely to change. If Forest go at us, it could spell disaster for them. Whether the big fella has had enough time with his players to change their approach I’ve no idea but to go from being a compact, counterattacking team to something very different overnight is a big ask. Hopefully one which leaves Forest confused and disjointed.
How Mikel Arteta’s team plays today is more important than Forest because if our players are on form and click, we should win. But, a new manager bounce can catch any team out, Mikel Arteta and his players need to make sure it doesn’t happen today.
Catch up in the comments.