With the sun shining warmly even here in Northerly Edinburgh, I felt it was time to put a new post up. The Cherries are coming to town and three valuable points can be earned tonight. With three points already gained at the weekend, a win would make it six in just a few days and that would be ideal preparation for the NLD, no doubt. But that is the last thing said about that game as it is, as always, OGAAT for us here at Bergkampesque.
Must-win, predicted-to-win home games, are never as easy as they sound. Yes, Bournemouth have a few key injuries and have been weak in recent away games, but E Howe will prepare well tactically for this one, and with our wobbly defence and a few bad bounces of the ball, we could be up against it tonight. So there is no place for complacency and we cannot afford to rest key players: all our focus needs to be on doing everything possible to win this game.
So who should start? Depends on who you ask. For me it is the same eleven as on Sunday against the Saints, but with Mesut in the hole and Koz instead of Licht. I really enjoyed our first half and felt that for the first time in a long Emery had the balance right. Xhaka and Torreira bossed the midfield and the Swiss’ genius controlled the flow of the game. But there was also plenty of movement up-front with Rambo, Mkhi, Iwobi and Laca making it easy for Xhaka and Torreira to pick the right pass time and again. We had plenty of the ball too and our passing was sharp, and had we been sharper up-front we would have scored up to half a dozen.
So my preferred eleven are:
I reckon this will give us both defensive solidity – for which the combos of KoSSoK and TorXhak are crucial – and plenty up-front to never let the Cherries’ defence settle. Will Emery go for the above eleven? Probably not. He may give Laca a rest and play Auba, but with the latter being our only experienced CF available for the UEFA games this may not be a wise thing. He probably will want to squeeze Guendo back in in the double DM-pivot, which is a bad idea imo. If he has to play him then do so instead of Ozil or Mkhi, but it would still make us less effective. However promising Guendouzi looks, we have stronger players in the squad for this crucial game.
Let’s hope for a committed and focussed performance and three points in the bag.
CoyRRGs!!
TotalArsenal.
Bergkampesque 
Welcome back, my friends
To the show that never ends
We’re so glad you could attend
Come inside! Come inside…
Hello from over here TA!
jw1
Hi JW1
How has life been treating you?
Good sir– and you?
For the first 40 minutes vs Soton– Arsenal looked better than they had for some time. Mkhi in particular (snapped his finishing jinx!) had a fine all-around match. Iwobi was dynamic with his movement. Reckon Laca could have had a hat trick by the break (that sitter far easier than the backheel).
And– dare I say it aloud?
Mustafi has performed in a decaffeinated, almost calm fashion– in b2b matches (a kindness of the the gods?).
In my travels elsewhere since we’ve all last convened– an uncharacteristic notion is becoming a norm as related to all-things-Arsenal. A distinct lack of drama. Boring, boring, Arsenal. 😉
jw1
Yes JW1, the first half was good. Mkhi scored a good goal and was mobile and he seems to feel at home on the right.
Agreed re Mustafi, he had a few good games.
Good to hear all is well with you. Same here. 🙂
Our good friend Seventeenho is browning himself in magic Mexico at the moment!! 🙂
We were both within a couple hours of one another 3rd week November on the Pacific coast of Mexico. I missed communications and missed HT too.
jw1
How I missed the blog TA.. Life’s been different without it.
We did well to smash the Cherries, and to be honest, they were so decided on attacking that they left so much space at the back for Ozil and Co. How Ozil loved the space.
Hopefully we can win the NLD this Saturday at lunchtime. Our lunchtime games are historically poor, but I got a feeling that we might just nick it.
Cheers,
JK
That is a shame, JW. Next time you both have to make the effort to catch up and let Seventeenho prepare you a coffee! 🙂
Hi and thanks, 84. Yes we played very well and Guendouzi and Torreira worked better than I expected. Ozil and Mkhi had a ball!
Hi
Yup, must wins are hard, worse are supposed to wins. So, we got the supposed to win. The NLD is the must win. I may read wrong but we have two must wins left (NLD and ManU) an de the rest are supposed to’s. Supposed to.
We seem in good for, so we are living in interesting times! 🙂
Cheers — jgc (the lurker)
Hi Geoff, I think it is a must-draw, great to win, but I get your point.
Hope you are well!!!
New Post 🙂