It’s just different. It is a big city, but there is great rivalry. It’s a part of London we want to conquer, and they want to do the same. There have been many shifts over the years. We have been more dominant and that is good, especially when we play in front of our people at home. We know what it means to them and the energy they bring, the energy the team will bring to every action. It’s a privilege to play these kinds of games. We can’t wait for Sunday.
Is it now safe to fix the Premier League season? It is. Back with a NORTH LONDON DERBY BANG BABY. WOOOO.
We lost our big dog at the back last week, which is a shame, but we weren’t the only team to lose players. Chelsea lost Cole Palmer to a freak toe fracture, Liverpool lost Connor Bradley and Florian Wirtz, Bournemouth lost Semenyo. Pep Guardiola says Rodri is still not ready to return.
Yet our focus today cannot be on what remains for December. It will be about what Arteta reveals regarding who returns to the fold.
My high expectations:
Calafiori
Odegaard
Jesus
Madueke
Martinelli
Getting anyone back outside of that collection would be a major bonus and highly questionable. But you will see some of the injured list integrated, and as I’ve been saying here for a few weeks, we should have everyone back at Brentford (except Big Gabi).
Arteta said this about Calafiori:
“He wasn’t available for the international break. He has some stuff with him and we had to bring him back. He hasn’t trained yet. Tomorrow we have another training and we’ll see how he goes.”
Normally I would say he was bluffing, but you don’t bluff with a guy like Ricky. He hasn’t 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 for our race in December and will need to be closely managed.
Did anyone notice this little mistake by the manager?
“And now make sure everyone is healthy, or most of them, which is obviously critical.”
In terms of striker, I suspect it’s a Merino world we live in, unless Arteta does something completely crazy… like Bukayo as the 9. Or Ethan, which seems unlikely in a game that will set the tone for a very difficult month.
The dragon breathing down our necks is Manchester City. They are very dependent on Erling Haaland, and for good reason. He is out of this world and he puts up numbers that make Cristiano look away. He is the perfect specimen for the Premier League. Long, fast, brutal and almost impossible to undo. He is the biggest athletics freak at the best freak show in the world when it comes to football.
My hope for City is that without Haaland it will be very difficult to imagine how they would sustain a competitive challenge. Once you become a one-man show, it’s hard to turn back if something goes wrong… but Arsenal can’t rely on injury to imagine a glorious season. They have to be the team.
They are two clear visions of how to win the competition.
Arsenal are now in a phase of the season where big names have to take the season on their shoulders. I think that will have to be Saka and Eze in the coming weeks, while others are fully fit again. Arteta said this about Eze when asked if there was more to come.
“A lot, because you have to build those relationships and a creative player has to understand that. It’s all about connections and timing and being in flow. He plays in a different position. The more he has settled into one of the positions and has had to interact a little more freely with players, 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 magic. We need to see new partnerships guiding a team that has done so well in the promised land.
There are 24 points to be achieved over the next six weeks. I think we’ll take eighteen. The problem? City are likely to collect more as they are at an easier stage of the season. The prediction from here is that the competition will tighten and you’ll have to intervene in the group chats because your weak-kneed friends will cry because the team is choking… when in fact they’re just projecting their deepest fears onto a team that won’t choke this season.
You have to hold their hands. Take their phones. Tell them not to go near the YouTube cameras after the game.
December is about staying in the mixer. For Arsenal, the main goal is to still leave this phase with the lead. I prefer to set the pace rather than chase. But there’s no guarantee we’ll be at the top of our game come January 1, and if we’re not, don’t worry. There is still plenty of season left and City have many difficult games in the second half.
The only reality we have to live with now is this: there will be no easy season for us.
I think many of us have seen our bad luck over the past five years as an opening from the football gods to give us a 15-point run in December. That’s not going to happen. The competition is too good, too much money has been spent. We have to live with the truth that if we want to win the league, it will be the hard way.
So buckle up, friends, it’s going to be a fun December.
We’ll be recording the Members Before the Whistle a little later… and this weekend there’s On The Whistle, which is an early bird for members, and Johnny’s Ratings, which is for members only. So why not sign up for a membership right now? There’s a LOT of content flying this month. You get:
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#DERBY #WEEKEND #NORTH #LONDON