ARTETA SPEAKS ON INJURIES AND IT FEELS LIKE GOOD NEWS
It’s just different. It’s a big city, but it is a big rivalry. It is a part of London that we want to conquer, and they want to do the same. There have been a lot of shifts over the years. We have been more dominant and it is beautiful, especially when we play at home in front of our people. We know what it means to them and the energy they are going to bring, the energy the team is going to bring in every single action. It is a privilege to play those kinds of games. We cannot wait to get to Sunday.
Is it safe to lock in on the Premier League season now? It is. Back with a NORTH LONDON DERBY BANG BABY. WOOO.
We lost our big dog at the back last week, which is a shame, but we were not the only team to lose players. Chelsea lost Cole Palmer to a freak toe break, Liverpool lost Connor Bradley and Florian Wirtz, Bournemouth lost Semenyo. Pep Guardiola says Rodri is still not ready to return.
Still, our focus today cannot be what has left us for December. It will be on what Arteta reveals with regards to who is returning to the fold.
My high hopes:
Calafiori
Odegaard
Jesus
Madueke
Martinelli
Getting anyone back beyond that collection would be a major bonus and highly doubtful. But you will see a spattering of the injured list integrated, and as I have said on here for a few weeks, we should have everyone back by Brentford (bar Big Gabi).
Arteta said this on Calafiori:
“He was not available for the international break, he has been carrying a few things and we had to bring him back. He has not trained yet. Tomorrow we have another training session and we will see how he is.”
Normally, I would say he was bluffing, but you do not bluff with a man like Ricky. He has not had his standard injury so far this season, so who knows on that front. I doubt the club will take any risks with him. He is far too important to our December run and will have to be managed closely.
Did anyone catch this little slip from the manager?
“And now, have everybody healthy, or the most of them healthy, which is a key thing obviously.”
On the striker front, I suspect it is a Merino world we are living in unless Arteta does something totally crazy… like Bukayo as the 9. Or Ethan, which feels unlikely in a game that will set the tone for a very hard month.
The dragon breathing down our neck is Manchester City. They are very reliant on Erling Haaland and for good reason. He is not of this world and he is putting up numbers that would make Cristiano look away. He is the perfect specimen for the Premier League. Tall, fast, ruthless, and almost impossible to nullify. He is the biggest athletic freak at the best freak show in the world when it comes to football.
My hope with City is that without Haaland, it becomes very hard to imagine how they would sustain a league challenge. Once you juice up as a one-man show, it is hard to pivot back if something goes wrong… but Arsenal cannot be hoping for an injury to imagine a glorious season. They have to be the team.
It is two clear visions of how to win the league.
One man battering machine that has shifted to being super direct.
A team that wants to spread the goals and be deeply unpredictable.
Arsenal are now in a phase of the season where big names need to take the season on their shoulders. I think that will have to be Saka and Eze for the next few weeks as others get back to full fitness. Arteta had this to say on Eze when asked if there is more to come.
“A lot, because those relations you have to build and a creative player needs to understand that. It is all about connections and timing and about being in flow. He is playing in a different position. The more he is settled in one of the positions and has had to interact with players a bit more freely, which he is doing at the moment, his natural talent will come out and he will have an even bigger impact on the team.”
We need goals. We need unlock magic. We need to see new partnerships guide a team that has done so well to the promised land.
There are 24 points to be had over the next six weeks. My view is that we will take 18 of them. The issue? City will probably gather more because they are in an easier phase of the season. The prediction from here is that the league is going to tighten up, and you are going to have to intervene in the group chats because your weak-kneed friends will be crying about the team choking… when in fact it is just them projecting their deepest fears onto a team that will not choke this season.
You have to hold their hands. Take their phones. Tell them not to go near the YouTube cameras after the game.
Decembers are about staying in the mixer. For Arsenal, the main goal is to exit this phase still in the lead. I prefer setting the pace than chasing. But there is no guarantee we will be top come January 1st, and if we are not, you do not have to worry. There is plenty of season left and City have a lot of hard games in the back half.
The one reality we have to live with now is this: There is no easy season coming for us.
I think a lot of us viewed our bad luck over the past five years as an opening from the footballing gods to give us a 15 point run by December. That is not going to happen. The league is too good, too much money has been spent. We have to live with the truth that if we are going to win the league, it will be the hard way.
So, buckle up, friends, it’s going to be a fun December.
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Podcast## 🧠 THERAPY SESSION | ARSENAL INEVITABLY, GOOD INJURY NEWS, STRATEGIZING BLOCK 5 (AD FREE)
Pedro
·
Nov 20
🧠 THERAPY SESSION | ARSENAL INEVITABLY, GOOD INJURY NEWS, STRATEGIZING BLOCK 5 (AD FREE)
On today’s episode, Pete and Jacob limp out of the international break with bruised mouths, bruised lineups, and bruised optimism ahead of a monster North London Derby.
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