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First home game of the season. Did you see a post that indicated I thought Leeds was an away game? NO YOU DIDN’T. Tell your lying eyes to apologize.
Leeds at home. I don’t want to be one of those snobby top-tier Premier League writers, but this should be a good day for our players, who are superior and in need of a performance to remind fans they are title contenders.
My uncle is a HUGE Leeds fan and I love him dearly, but also, I love it when he calls me to tell me how great Arsenal are and that he thinks we’ll win the league. That’s real family right there.
I haven’t really enjoyed my life experiences with Leeds. David O’Leary really soiled what I thought about them. Arsenal legend, turned Darth Vader, allowing Leeds to kill our title bids. That said, they’re a storied club, and they belong in the Premier League. They have an incredible fan base, a huge stadium, they really should be a giant of the north. I like the Premier League more with them in the mixer.
I like what Leeds United are about, football-wise these days. Daniel Farke is a good manager, he racked up 100 points last season with a squad that had all manner of problems. But his ideals do not really translate into the Premier League because he simply doesn’t have the funding to get to the level. Generally, as a rule of thumb, I think you have to drop £150m+ to have even a small chance of surviving the League. Leeds have spent under £100m.
It’s going to be a tough season for them. They scored a late winner against a dreadful Everton side, but I can’t imagine they’re going to have too many games like that this season. They aren’t a big side, they play an aggressive style of football that requires really good players, and they have a manager everyone knows is an extremist on his ideals.
That will present Arsenal with space and opportunity at The Emirates, in front of a home crowd that are going to be BUZZING after the mesmeric signing of Eze for £60m. Can you imagine the roar he’ll get when he wanders on the pitch, welcomed like a damn rockstar?
So what clues are we looking for tomorrow…
It’s August 22nd, Arsenal probably need to sell at least one player (lol that Karl Hein wasn’t even a sale in the end, he went to Bremen on loan), there might be a clue with who starts. The one player I’m looking at is Gabriel Martinelli, he’s been linked heavily with Saudi this past week, and it feels like they have the hots for him…
Ideally we don’t sell him, but if it’s not Trossard, I don’t see anyone else who we’d move out the club for a sale at this point in the window. We have 6 wingers for 2 positions, I’m not sure it’s realistic to think we’ll roll like that for the year… unless Martinelli is converted into a striker, which we do actually quite like on occasion.
I’ve heard from a few places that Ethan’s people were frustrated about the signing of Eze. There were assurances that wouldn’t be the move for Arsenal and in fairness to Arsenal, they leaked as much, telling the big journos that Eze was a ‘break glass’ flirtation… THEY LIED. Why do I flag this? Well, I have been wondering to myself whether Ethan might be a prime candidate to go to Palace and fill the clear gap they have in their squad now Eze has moved to Arsenal. Get a bit of that Marseille loan treatment, build power, confidence, and get coached by one of the best in the League.
That would be cheeky, but remember, this isn’t the first time Arsenal have done something like this. We got Ramsdale to sign a deal, then benched him 7 weeks later after we bought a better keeper. Ethan is on a 5-year deal, he’s very young, and Eze looks like he’ll be taking minutes if Odegaard is benched. Could be wrong there… but in an essential season, do we really think Arteta will be giving an 18-year-old time to play there?
I don’t know… I’m just asking the question. Don’t get so emotional about it.
Things have been very quiet on the Kiwior, Sambi, Reiss, Zinchenko, and Vieira front. Offers are going to drop this week for all of them, I just think we all need to be prepared for some desperately banterful offers that are going to make you do a mini-puke in your mouth. But, at this point in the window, you don’t want expensive crash test dummies misery-ing out the dressing room… you want them out.
As for the starting 11, we won’t be seeing Kai, and we won’t be seeing Eze. Arteta said this of the German.
“Well, mentally, he’s in a good place because he’s a really strong boy, very committed. He had an incredible recovery from the hamstring surgery. I think he’d never had an injury before; it was the first experience.”
“Now, he’s got a setback, let’s see how bad it is, but I’m sure he’s going to deal with it in the best possible way and, as I said, he’s a joy of a kid and hopefully we’re going to have him soon.”
Kai has the same thing Ben White had last season, loose cartilage (according to the internet). It’s one of those injuries players can play through… or get a quick surgery to flush out the problem. If he’d picked up this issue in February, I’m sure he’d be playing through the pain, right now, with a fit squad, I’d imagine they’ll give him surgery, and that’ll bring him back worst case in November. We also have issues with Ben White, Jurrien Timber, and Christian Norgaard.
The front three feels like it’s going to be Trossard, Gyokeres, and Saka. The midfield will be Zubi, Rice, and Odegaard. The defence might see Mosquera get his first Prem start at right back, likely with Calafiori on the other side. Big Gabz and Saliba will start in the middle.
The only thing we really have to worry about tomorrow is the customary freak goal that can happen against relegation fodder. Leeds will be relentless in their press and they will be trying to get to our goal as fast as possible, and drop a shot. This is one of those games Raya finds himself lobbed from 45 yards. We don’t want to be giving their fans anything to attach themselves to and we don’t want their players putting in an extra 10% because they sense this could be their most glorious moment of the season.
The main structural objective of the game is to feed the Gyok. He was garbage in the last game, but he landed zero service. We need to work out his game, play to his strengths, and plate up well-serviced passes into his pathway so he can show us how he bullies lesser mortals in a quite grotesque manner.
If we get to the end of the season and the only thing Gyokeres has offered us is the bullying of teams outside the top 5, god damn it, that’ll mean we’ll be dining at the top table. I want Gyok to treat Leeds without mercy. We need him to get his confidence up in this game because he’s going to be treated appallingly by Liverpool when we head to Anfield next week.
He’s not very fit because his preseason was disrupted, so we have to hope he can get to 70 minutes this week. Then we can see how Arteta plans to rotate him out. Trossard as a false 9 wasn’t attractive last season, I don’t get why it would be this season. But… that’s how training was panning out. I’d prefer to see Martinelli there if I’m honest, but if he’s going, that idea goes right in the bin.
It would be nice to score a few goals early so we can rotate in players like Madueke, because he’s another who needs to feel connected to the first team to be interested. Doing well in front of the home fans is quite essential to his development, so a screamer from him wouldn’t be rejected.
Overall, there are no individuals, bar David Raya, who were getting Nando’s privileges after the last outing at Manchester United. Everyone needs to level up. Saka and Rice need to be dominant. We were so bad against United, I’m struggling to see a world where there isn’t a reaction. Especially because I’d imagine the energy is real strong after the boost Eze will have given everyone.
One side note of interest… Edu has rolled into Nottingham Forest and he looks naked without Jason Ayto by his side. He has his best buddy, a super agent, by his side, he’s bringing his players into the club, Forest fans are not happy, and apparently, Nuno’s relationship with Edu is so bad, he might be exiting… FOR ANGEBALL. Absolutely unreal. Always remember what I told you, Edu was the suit, the braintrust was everyone who sat behind him.
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