Arsenal V Manchester City Preview and Line-up | Let the Spirit of the Invincibles guide us to Victory

88 thoughts on “Arsenal V Manchester City Preview and Line-up | Let the Spirit of the Invincibles guide us to Victory”

• Great stuff, GN5. Funny and informative as only you can do.

  Thanks for all your posts.

  COYRRGs

  Catch up soon with you all.

• Ian Webb says that our penalty in 1971 was ‘controversial’, really, what a knob, I mean what’s controversial about a Stoke player punching the ball away as it was entering the net, typical delusional nonsense from a Stoke fan, but not surprising.

• Great post GN5, I hope all the medical stuff was sorted out positively.

  Yep, Arsenal don’t have a prayer do we, according to the media, and they’re never wrong, it’s going to be an all Manchester final, so Arteta might as well give our players the day off?

  Yeah Guardiola has beaten Arsenal in every game since we beat them at Wembley in 2017, included in that winning run was my last cup final, Mustafi was fouled for their first goal, I was right in line with it so don’t worry about what the TV said, it was a foul, but Aubameyang had his least effective game in an Arsenal shirt, Lacazette wasn’t available I can’t remember why? It was the heaviest defeat up till then that an Arsenal team had suffered in a major cup final and I had a thoroughly miserable day. Visiting Wembley again isn’t very on my to do list for the next few years when we’re clear of Wuhan.

  Arteta has a very difficult selection issue to deal with because we’re gonna be under the cosh for most of this game. I’m not at all comfortable about the referee Fatty Moss, he’s not one I’m ever sure about when it comes to being fair to both sides and especially Arsenal.

  It’s the FACup and you never know, but I’ll go into today’s game more in hope than anything, but as long as we’ve got hope then we’ve got a chance….

• Great post, GN5. Nice research, statistics and anecdotes – as always.

  TA, that’s a damn strong line-up. I would gladly go with that XI against City, but I’m afraid Arteta won’t, as the team has little experience with the 3-5-2 formation. (Or the 3-3-4, as both Saka and Nelson are natural born attackers.)

• Total, forgive me if I’ve got this wrong, but are you travelling to Holland today?

• Just gone past the PSV Eindhoven, Kev

• Will 17ht be doing the commentary blog?
  Take a well deserved family time, TA.

  GN5, that is a hilarious one. Will we see Ozil today?

• Total, please give all our regards to Total Senior, I hope you have a wonderful time with Papa TA.

• I guess all the usual BS about Aubameyang being a flat track bully will be trolled out today as it’s repeated that PEA has never scored against Man City, well let’s see eh?

  Having all these games to watch ‘free’ since the re start has given me the opportunity to watch a lot of Man City, mainly because I’m looking for similarities and clues about how Arsenal are changing and evolving and maybe thinking wistfully that Man City could be Arsenal in 2 or 3 years? Anyway they are one hell on a brilliant team, I always rated David Silva, I wanted Wenger to get him when he was at Valencia, he would have been brilliant for us, I also wanted Wenger to get David Villa as well but it is what it is, or was…

  Man City are relentless, Stirling is a pest, De Bruyne is a Rolls Royce footballer, one of the best of the last 10 years and shows how little Mourinho knows about developing footballers.
  There midfield is like a Rotary watch, everything moves in perfect symmetry with itself and their defence isn’t bad even if I think that referees go easy on them with their rotational fouling.

  The smart money will be on City of course it will, but this is the Cup….

• Thanks GN5. A rollicking preview.
  TA, the XI you’ve picked– I like it. The FA Cup is a route into Europe– and Arteta will hold nothing back today. The two snipers who find the net against Arsenal most are KDB and Sterling. Over the years we’ve dealt fairly well with David Silva– but if Phil Foden is Pep’s pick? Foden looks so focused for so young a player. He’s ready now to step in for Silva.

  Looking for composure today. Couple of goals would help too!

  jw1

  PS– Positive thoughts sent your Dad’s way from over here too TA.

• Morning Guy’s,

  Thank you for your comments, It’s my daughter’s 51st birthday so we will be spending the day with her and the rest of our family here in Canada. I’m recording the game to watch either later this evening (depending on how much wine I drink) or early Sunday morning.

  So I will be unable to make any more comments today other than “Wish and Hope” that we turn them over.

• I hope your father is turning the corner TA and that he is on the path to have a happy and healthy life.

• I will be putting a post up on Monday for the Aston Villa game. While TA is off visiting his father it cannot be put up as a new post – so I will put it up as a comment.

• Interesting interview with Arteta.

  https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53436245

• Stateside watchers (possibly elsewhere)–
  The match is available live for $4.99 on ESPN+

  It will be available as replay Sunday 4pm EDT for free at B/R Live (Bleacher Report) here:
  https://live.bleacherreport.com/soccer/arsenal-tv/events/replay-arsenal-vs-manchester-city-fa-cup-718/10139899

  jw1

• 18.50
  us :
  emi
  shkodran-luiz-kieran
  hector-dani-granit-ainsley
  pépé-PEA
  laca
  macey-rob-sok-kola-lucas-joe-reiss

  them :
  ????????

  but after all THEY’re only ordinary men
  
  COYG

• bukayo on the bench, too

• And after all we’re only ordinary men…

• 19.10
  the arsenal players step onto the wembley pitch, brimming with confidence:
  https://i0.wp.com/www.wagpets.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/even-though-i-walk-through-the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-i-will-fear-no-evil.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1

• Fine preview, as always, GN5. Glad to know your medicals went okay. TA, have good trip; best wishes for a quick recovery to your Dad.

  There’s no reason we shouldn’t be positive today. It’s the cup and anything is possible; plus, it’s Arteta in the dug-out. Surely, he must be itching to have one back on City. I feel it will be an even game where we will give (almost) as good as we get. I like the choice of AM-N who has been effective whenever he’s come on for us. Deserved a start in a cup game and between he and Tierney, Mahrez can be kept in check. It is the overloads that I worry about, which will stretch our defenders and midfielders.

  One thing we must not do is sit back and soak pressure. City are no Liverpool and always find a way to unlock block defending. What they aren’t good at is handling a good forward press, so expect us to do so and force some errors. Look forward to a good match and the win!

  COYG!!

• LE GALL, that was a hilarious link. There I was looking forward to see a video of the players strutting their stuff in the warm up. Hahahaha!

• JW really nice of you to put up the info on where to see the game. I’ll try to find a stream , but if not,I’ll go for t hat b/r option which I wasn’t aware of….. I will never pay a penny to ESPN, even though I’m going to have a dozen streaming services soon.

• Kev, I like your point about deBruyne. I always ask people who they would pick as the first player if It they were starting a club and want someone to build around.. in my mind, there’s nobody even close to him as the answer. So influential, week after week. Watching some older matches during the lockdown, I was reminded of the last player that amazed me so consistently with class, and that was our young Cesc.

• It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, see ya at half time 🤞

• Full Team news
  Arsenal: Martinez, Mustafi, Luiz, Tierney, Bellerin, Ceballos, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles, Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang

  Subs: Macey, Holding, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Torreira, Smith, Willock, Nelson, Saka

  Man City: Ederson, Walker, Garcia, Laporte, Mendy, Gundogan, D Silva (C), De Bruyne, Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling

  Subs: Carson, Stones, Zinchenko, Bernardo, Rodrigo, Fernandinho, Cancelo, Otamendi, Foden

• 19.50 gret clearance by kieran – corner kick
  pépé constantly lettting mendy sneak behind his back – i’m annoyed already

• 19.55 granit bails shkodran out
  corner kick 2
  19.56 goal line clearance – granit
  possession mc 99 arsenal 1
  but 0-0, so far so good

• 20.03 incredible opportunity for auba
  not composed enough though, and ederson did well
  f..k we won’t have 10 like this tonight

• AUBA!!!!!!
  great cross by pépé; great run by hector
  top of the world, guys!!!!!

• 20.10
  shkodran dodging a yellow for a tackle on silva’s achilles – must be moss’s clone refereeing
  don’t want to scare the living daylights out of you, lads, but this looks like the beginning of a very shkodranesque performance

• horror pass towards the edge of our box by hector
  de bruyne preys on it, but great block by … granit, i think? he’s been IMMENSE so far
  de bruyne plays like juve’s pirlo
  what a player – you were damn right, kev

• another great opportunity missed, provided by high-quality press
  ffs, we’ll rue this!!!!!

• we make them un-play
  we look like a great team, really
  emi has just dribbled his way past two citizens in his 6-yard-box
  not making this up, have not smoked anything; i swear

• HT
  1-0, and i’m almost disappointed we’re not 2 goals up
  impossible to single one lad out – they are the spartan 300
  wish there had not been a ht; now i’m thinking of our second half against leicester
  guess pep will bring bernardo in, and him i fear a lot
  having said that, mikel probably know exactly what the blues’ reorganization will be
  so … beer, now, back in a few minutes

• My boy Pepe with the fine assist. I cant believe Auba didn’t return the favour with a missed opportunity to tee up Pepe with an almost open net. That missed pass is as egregious as any missed scoring chance hope it doesn’t come back to bite us. AMN playing well but he also screwed up a real chance for an assist to top off a great counter attacking move. Ceballo and Xhaka have been immense defensively and Laka playing very well.

• To be fair almost the whole team playing excellent Tierney and Luiz with some great interceptions and defending. I worry about Bells and Mustafi being targeted more 2nd half here we go.

• dani! dani!
  gave the ball away, quick counterattack, debruyne’s cutback to sterling
  just wide

• now they’re upset
  debruyne on the other wing
  great block by david

• Another missed key pass/cross Ainsley wish his left foot was better.

• classical mhrez on the right wing
  to-class save by emi
  he’s red hot now

• we give the ball away too fast
  guess it was to be expected
  they’re piling corners up on top of one another
  gonna be one of the longest half-hour in an arsenal fan’s life
  this one’s cleared by laca; what a warrior this lad is

• We are weathering the storm just need to make better decisions with the ball

• 21.06
  FK
  de bruyne
  just wide – maybe even kissed the post
  21.07
  sterling in our bow, wonderful tackle by shkodran
  wait!!!!! VAR!!!!!
  nothing given
  definitely pgmol clones

• This break could not have come at a better time for us need something to change.

• 21.10
  rodri-foden in
  gündogan-mahrez out
  first ball for foden – ainsley, like a berlin wall
  water break – burgundy for me, thank you

• Aubbbbaaaaa!!!!11

• Pepe involved twice great pass Tierney

• Where is everybody lol

• Luiz is colossal again

• AUBA!!!!!!!!!!! 2-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  wonderful holdup play by pépé
  keran initiated the move; then provided a devilish through pass to assist our king of the day
  might we …?
  could we …?
  will we …?
  get me a time machine, quick

• And Bells and Skhod doing very well but still a ways to go

• I could see Laca was knackered great shift good sub lets see this out Gunners!!!

• by the way … auba nutmegged ederson!!!!!
  must be in the twilight zone
  gonna wake up soon; atkinson will have awarded a second penalty to pulis’s stoke after we hit the bars four times

• joe-lucas in
  laca-pépé out
  makes sense
  it was a few minutes ago, actually
  was just enjoying the show

• Mustafi down hopefully not too bad he almost got an assist would have been awesome if Auba got the hattrick against a big opponent after all the criticisms that he doesn’t score in the big games.

• shkodran pirloed a long ball over city’s defense
  auba, gentle soul as he is, didn’t deliver the fatal blow
  i just don’t care – wembley kings, that’s what we are

• shkodran-dani out
  rob-kola in
  makes sense too
  mikel knows, anuway

• 7-minute-extra time
  who do you think you’re tryin’ to impress, pgmol??
  give us 15

• Well, well then– redux.
  Well done Gunners.

  One more time!

  jw1

• Nice game.
  Much more convincing than the victory against Liverpool, albeit the scoreline was the same.
  Luiz was the Man of the Match; Xhaka is the Man of the Season.

• Im hoping for Chelsea in the final the boys and Mikel were absolutely brilliant. Hard to pick a M.O.M but im giving it to Luiz and AMN.

• Great job, LE GALL and Makayah for the live blogging. It wasn’t a day to take eyes off the screen, for me. I was virtual-defending with the lads, hurt my shin in the process of blocking that Sterling attempt with David Luiz. Lol. I slid and knocked a mahogany stool over but that hurt.

• I was happy to see AMN on for Saka today. He is more comfortable defending and stronger against quick footed wingers. David Luiz was MoTM, for me with Xhaka and Tierney closely following.

  I know he gave an assist and was involved in the 2nd goal too, but Pepe isn’t the player for a game where we don’t get to have too much of the ball. It must be said Arteta has drilled some defensive discipline into the boys, at the cost of our usual possession game. Plus, we are so much more confident playing out from the back, these days.

• Don’t care who we get in the final. We’ve got to win it to be in Europe so, win it we must. Even if we have to play the same way; if it’s working, it may become habit. Baby steps to the emergence of a team that will compete.

• !Management has taken a lot of stick and rightfully so but it was a masterstroke hiring Mikel. I had wanted him first time round but I reckon it did him good learning more from Pep and prepared him a little better. It is staggering how well he has done under the circumstances come in so late in the season after the shambles that Unai left us in. He has done so well rehabilitating Mustafi, Luiz and even Xhaka, who had looked to leave, while improving players like Danny and Pepe. Just hope Kroenke backs him up and that we make the right moves in the market. Come on you Gooners!!

• Brilliant tactic defensively– so it seemed.
  I mean– Mendy must have had about a hundred touches on the left. The one guy who can’t really hurt you from that space. Surprised after half that Pep didn’t make some type of adjustment. Even at the water break.
  OK had to look it up on WhoScored. Mendy had 96 touches. 70 passes (89%).
  One– countem’ 1– key pass.

  City had 43 crosses. 12 corners. 16 shots/1 on target. Those are amazing numbers. Wonder what odds you might have gotten on Arsenal holding Pool, then City to 1 goal total– over 200 or so minutes?

  While hard to disagree on Luiz or Xhaka or even Tierney or AMN or some combo as MOTM?
  Somewhere in that mix? Belongs Pierre Emerick Aubameyang. 3 shots/3 on target. 2 goals. To add– Arsenal took 5 shots/5 on target.

  Just a fantastic one to watch. 😁

  jw1

• ta, i think you have some good music in your spams …
  man, we’re over the moon about a football game; doesn’t mean we’re forgetting about your ‘pa
  send us good news, asap

• Well, after scoring two goals, Auba would probably be named MoTM but, for his performance, Luiz deserves a shout.

• Seems that everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and why not, performances of that magnitude don’t come our way very often anymore although I sense that that is going to change.

  Luiz summed it up for me when he said the teams performance was in his words ‘modern football’ and that they ‘understood’ what is required. I see it as pragmatic, common sense, a bit like George Graham in that it’s not only about aesthetics it’s about the result. Yes, it’s great to play free flowing football for 90 minutes and winning with a swagger but we can’t throw a billion dollars/euros/pounds at our team, so we have to play smart and that’s exactly what we did, we stopped them, let them have possession when it wasn’t dangerous but look at our first goal, 19 passes and then a prod with the outside of his foot to beat one of the best goalkeepers in the world, that was quality and we did that whilst under constant City pressure. It takes talent, technique, courage and confidence to out-pass one of the best teams in the world and score.

  Even De Bruyne looked confused, he didn’t know whether to stick or twist and not many teams will do that to him and control him like we did in this game. Isn’t that right Johnnie?

  Le Gall, kudos to you for the running commentary and Makayah, well done fellas.
  I found the game all consuming and needed to make a cup of tea at half time to have a rest, so no comments but for me it was great to read all yours.

  Immensely proud of my team…

  Hey Total, give us an update when you can as we all wanna know how it’s going.

• Hey guys, what a win last night. Listened to radio on Arsenal. com and that was a joy. So proud of the boys.

• Kev and others thanks for kind words re my dad. I saw him last night and it did him good. He is on the mend but has been weakened by those heart attacks and operations. He can see light at the end of the tunnel again now and we will be working on a recuperation plan with the doctors and superb nurses here.

  Long visits are still too much for him but we hope to watch a bit of the Chavs V Mancs game tonight.

  Take good care guys,

  TA (cannot log on under normal name)

• arsène about mikel, this morning:
  

• Wembley has always been our favourite ground and we found some extra oomph there everytime to win the FA cup. We had our backs to the wall moments, but we had more opportunities going forward compared to the Liv game.

  Good start to end the season on a high

• very glad to hear your dad is in such good hands, ta
  hospital staffs are heroes; everybody knows that now – that may be the one good thing about this COVID-b…h
  these nurses you mention may not have had one day off for four months; they are clare’s true “maidens in the sun”

• Nice to hear your Dad is on the mend, TA. Regards to the medical staff who take care of him. LE GALL has said it right; heroes, all.

  Enjoy the game tonight…..always nice when the tension isn’t necessarily with you watching such games. 🤨

• LG, ‘He is the one’ I did chuckle, but yeah, I think he could well be, what was it, Mr Anderson…

• Total, so pleased to hear that Total Senior is on the mend and as for you yourself you are obviously blessed and very lucky to have inherited such strong genes from your Papa.

  Yes, I had a lot of interactions with nurses and doctors back in 2007/8 and they really are a breed apart, wonderful people…

  Enjoy the game with him tonight.

• Best of news TA. Very glad to hear it.
  Again, I have to echo LG and Kev’s sentiments. Thinking about the hospital folks who helped my Dad (and counseled me) in 08-09. Difference makers, every day, in the most difficult of times for most.

  And you TA. Take good care of yourself as well.

  jw1

• ESPN 10.17 BST: Mikel Arteta believes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is “pretty convinced” he will stay at Arsenal but admitted winning the FA Cup would strengthen the club’s attempts to tie him to a new contract.

  “The way I look at him when I speak with him, he sounds pretty convinced,” he said. “But obviously if he can see that success and the direction we are taking is the right one, I think he will be more positive about it yes.”

  Mikel seems always to choose his words to the press wisely. Like the tone of this.
  In the current situation? A buyers market. Keeping Auba seems the best idea.

  jw1

• Hey Johnnie–
  Another place you can watch the match (in halves) is here:
  https://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/2020/07/18/arsenal-vs-man-city-highlights-full-match-video/

  A solid site. No worries about ‘bugs’ at this one.

  jw1

• From another site that’s been around awhile– and I have to agree:

  Manager
  Mikel Arteta – 10
  First ever ten I have given. He got everything right, the tactics, team selection and there is absolutely nothing I can fault him for in this game.

  Yeah. Gotta’ give that a thumbs-up. 👍

  jw1

• doesn’t look good at all for bailly
  hate seeing this
  this guy must be the unluckiest player on the planet
  thinking that one of these two sleeping-pill-sides – maybe both – will play in the champions’ league next year, really hurts

• While we’re on a Matrix theme is the FACup final this year actually 2017 Reloaded?

• Rob Holding doing a Costa on Olivier Giroud?

• sure hope it won’t be baku reloaded
  whatever may happen that day, come august 1st i think i’ll miss aaron though – he had definitely broken the wembley code

• I think Holding and Luiz could give Giroud a hard time.
  I like the guy, but we can’t let him becoming a 5-time FA Cup winner.

• New Post…

  With TA out of town, I took the liberty to write a post. As always, it’s too long, but I guess I’ve been holding my peace for a while now…

  TA (or MA08…) I hope that’s OK…And I want to wish you and your father the best. Listening to the game yesterday seems like it must’ve been a nice thing… Watching it was good too…

  Likewise J-Dub, I’m very sorry about your recent losses. We’re dealing with a (semi) recent one as well–and one which was very sudden and unexpected which is a(nother) reason (maybe) for not participating in recent weeks on the blog. In general, because of my bad attitude and long-winded-ness (see–and try to read–the next post, if you have the time/energy…) I kinda think the blog functions better without me…

  Anyhow, it seemed like a good enough time to write something, so there it is… Cheers…

• LG, yeah, we owe them big time for Baku…

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