I did NOT I think I was going to write another preview here this morning… but my word, the Premier League stirred up too much sexiness to keep quiet yesterday.
We had the ideal Saturday, one that contradicted my (poor) predictions, as both Liverpool and Manchester City lost their chance to make Arsenal very sweaty today.
Liverpool played against a Dyche-extinguished Nottingham Forest. They are back to their deeply blocked DNA; the master of shithousery has them roaring again, and they put in an insanely challenging performance at Anfield. They left with 3 points, a clean sheet and three goals.
Liverpool cannot complain, although Slot tried. They didn’t take their chances and sent fifteen shots, seven of which found the target. That’s terrible stuff in the so-called fortress called Anfield. They sucked. Forest were more aggressive in the duels, they went forward more courageously and they defended as if their lives depended on a clean slate.
Salah will simply never be the player he was last season, he’s done. Virgil has already given up on the season. Konate has been very poor all year and he didn’t bask in glory again yesterday. The 400 million they spent in the summer doesn’t look very good. Their back problems are still dire, Alexander Isak looks terrible in a team that plays three times a week and regularly faces deep blocks. Slot also looks lost, as if he knows he’s been arrested and he doesn’t have the answers. I honestly don’t know how you go from Premier League champions to a 400 million summer and still look like you have to spend 400 million to get back up to par.
They are now 11th in the league. They have lost 6 games. They are below United and Everton could go above if they beat United on Monday. I thought it was funny that Slot said that all luck is against them…
“And like I said, it’s been almost constant lately that we’re missing our chances and the chances that we’re conceding are going in, but that’s never going to last the whole season.”
This is a very generous assessment, especially after a start that consisted of a series of accidental/undeserved last-minute goals. I don’t look at Liverpool and think they’re being dealt a bad hand. They have been simply average all season. Long may it continue. It will be interesting to see who retires now that they are likely done for the season.
Then we have Manchester City. No coach is more loved in the Premier League than Eddie Howe. A proper English guy, managing a big club, playing the game the way the pundit class likes to see it played: rough and tumble (unless Arsenal do it – then it’s like holding your fork like a dagger at Claridges). Carragher wrote the strangest PR piece for him before the City game, suggesting Newcastle should look after their newly anointed emperor.
Newcastle ruined Manchester City. Sort of. They delivered the St. James Park playbook. They pressed hard. Interrupted game. Blocked shot angles. Rough housed. Tried to absorb City’s attacking talent and mostly did well, even if they conceded a lot of xG (2.49). Where City were weak was in defence. They’re just not as buttoned up as they used to be. Newcastle had an attack on them and two moments of magic from Harvey Barnes saw them get their 2.24 xG count. I thought Newcastle were well worth the win and I think City losing games like this shows that teams aren’t as scared of them as they used to be. Arsenal have not conceded more than 1.5 xG in a single match since Man United. Since then we haven’t conceded more than 1 xG in a single match. It’s very difficult to get into Arsenal… any other team in the league at the moment.
Either way, a great win for Eddie, King of the North.
So the challenge before us is clear. Get a win at home against Spurs to give December a big boost and make the game against Chelsea next week a huge 90 minutes.
To put the numbers in context:
That’s huge. Did I have to tell you that? I did? Fantastic.
Don’t let me be a Debbie Downer here (was she a real person? Did anyone check if she was okay?). But we have to talk about things that happened in the past because that’s what makes us who we are as fans: huge, pathetic crybabies.
These types of weekends often didn’t go the way we wanted. The story of yesteryear would be:
“Three favorites for the Premier League all lose.”
The emotion takes over the fans and the locker room. Someone is being sent away. We get two injuries in the first 45 minutes. We get a sloppy set piece because Gabriel isn’t there.
We’ve been here. But there comes a point in a project when things have to change. This is one of those moments. A test of who we are. As fans we are all scared, but this team? I don’t think they are like us. This Arsenal team feels inevitable this season. It’s our time to shine. To jump into the pressure cooker and smile. We have five years of scar tissue and emotional trauma. You either succumb to the things that hurt you, or you overcome them and enter the monster phase.
This week is going in a way we didn’t expect. This is not mission critical in any way. If we draw or the other thingwe still have more bites at the apple. But this is the week of declarations. This is “oh fuck, is Arsenal running away with it.”
The best thing about the phase we are entering is that if we escape the week in good form, all our players will return. The attack is about to gain firepower. The midfield gets extra creativity. These are huge impulses that will be more beneficial if we are in good shape.
Arteta will have a much better bench this afternoon. My suspicion is that the starting eleven will be very close to the one we rolled with against Sunderland. I’m not sure we will have better options who are fit enough, but we will have “last 20” guys who will be much more capable than what we had three weeks ago.
This North London Derby means the world to Arsenal fans, but I don’t want our players to care in that way. I want them to see this as just another team that needs to be buried. I want emotion, but cleverly channeled. We want moments of magic, but I also want some of that brooding control that shuts teams down.
This is a big moment for Arteta. A big moment for the boys. Win today and things start to look very serious for Arsenal.
How damn exciting is that? Terribly. Did I have to tell you that? You did that? Amazing. Thanks for reading.
Make sure you tune in to On The Whistle after the match. Also make sure you have a membership of Le Grove. It’s a good price and there’s a nice deal going on right now.
#RIVALS #STumble #MUD #ARSENAL #BURY