Arsenal v Liverpool Preview & Line-Up: Can we Make it 16-in-23 wins?

77 thoughts on “Arsenal v Liverpool Preview & Line-Up: Can we Make it 16-in-23 wins?”

• Another fine and thorough match preview, GN5. Thank you SIR. I did not know we had such a high success rate in this competition, including in this century with five wins and just two losses. It just shows what a good cup/ one-off-game team Arsenal are. Cannot wait for the game even though it is not really important; it is still a semi-competitive game against the champions and it always feels nice to win these season openers.

• you’ve done it again, GN, but how come 1971 is nowhere to be seen up there??

• Mouthwatering preview, GN5.

  While Liverpool started pre-season against 2 formidable opponent (VFB Stuttgart and RB Salzburg) we played against League 1 side Milton Keynes Dons, but let’s hope the teams will start the season with a clean slate. And Arsenal with a morale-boosting trophy. 🙂

• I am proud of Ian to speak out like this. He could not have said it any better.

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-53937667

• Hi LE GALL

  The 1971 Charity Shield was won by Leicester City who beat Liverpool 1-0.

• I guess the boys really still have the games v Citeh and the Chavs in the legs and minds, PB. But Pool really lacked that competitive element in their final games. For us it should be a through-start.

• clinical wrighty; always was, always will be
  GN; i’m all the more puzzled: how could the arsenal NOT play that 71 game??

• Hi, LE GALL

  I never knew either so I looked it up and here is the answer.

  Arsenal won the double in 1970-71 but were unable to take part in the Charity Shield because they had contracted to go on a pre-season tour that clashed with the fixture. The 1971 FA Cup Final runners up Liverpool and second division winners Leicester City were invited to take part instead.

  Leicester won the game with a goal from Steve Whitworth, who appeared to be offside when he tapped the ball in at the near post after initially crossing the ball into the box.

• What a preview!!! Great stuff GN5

  I definitely think Eddie will start. Laca will probably get that cotton wool treatment if he’s out the door. I don’t see a point to playing Elneny. I’d prefer Willock or AMN given a go – players that will potentially be part of our future moving forward. I don’t rate Willock but he deserves a chance so a proper assessment can be made.

• Cheers Oz (on behalf of GN5). I am a huge fan of both AMN and JWill but v Pool it will have to be the experienced Elneny with whom Xhaka finds it easy to play with (and they go back a long time). Or of course El Torro who somehow does not seem to be in picture anymore.

• I’m less impressed of Wright’s stance, but I have a tendency to sometimes disagree with TA and LeGall. And let’s not open Pandora’s box… 🙂

• What could you possibly not be impressed with, PB. He points out the unfairness of blaming a number of black pundits for the sacking of three white men who Sky believed needed to go, and probably for good reasons in terms of keeping and increasing their audiences, especially with the younger generations.

  The blatant racism here has to be pointed out. And Pandora’s box is well and truly opened my friend. We need to break through the walls of racism in this country, your country and other countries in the world in this decade. Times are a changing. We as fellow white people have a key responsibility and need to help the likes of Wrighty to make the change towards a fair and equal society. So feel free to make your stance and we can debate it. 🙂

• Another nice warm-up-read towards the game tomorrow..
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53905499

• Yeah, i agree with Wrighty. Evolution of the game. Next gen coming through. Honestly I don’t see a point at calling out people with 40/50 likes though. They are just giving them a platform and the attention they want. It’s counterproductive. People can say “this needs to be called out etc.” – no it doesn’t. Ignore it. Because they are probably all troll/burner accounts anyway so it does nothing. Those 3 have been around for years and years so it’s also understandable they’d have a loyal following so emotions are probably high with some. When emotions are high people make stupid comments.

  It’d just be nice if everyone stopped looking for an issue in every single thing.

• Another triumph Gunner N5, yes I recall that 1971 fiasco, Arsenal should have been playing either Liverpool or Leeds but none of those involved and in particular the FA were switched on enough to arrange a date that suited everyone. It was a poor show imo.

  Alex Scott is easily one of the most impressive and incisive football pundits on TV, she puts many of her male counterparts to shame and she’s got where she is with a lot of hard work and maybe a little bit of luck and we all need that to crack it, despite being a woman of colour.

  Her sex and her skin tone don’t influence me and nor should it, it’s what she says and the depth of it that I enjoy and that’s how it should be with every ex-footballer who gets the pundit gig. I’ve listened to plenty of white and black footballers who’ve spoken absolute rot and that is part of the reason that I don’t watch the pre match build up or the analysis at half time or full time. It also why I tend to turn the volume down when I watch an Arsenal game on TV, once you’ve done it a few times it becomes normal viewing.

• thanks, GN/Kev … looks like back then, already, the FA couldn’t stand the idea of an arsenal TREBLE!!!
  disagreeing is great, pb – provided everyone keeps a cool head ans uses arguments, not insults, but I’ve read enough of your comments to know you know that. cheers, mate; i hope your tour turned out to be everything you expected it to be

• Good, sensible comments, guys. 🙂

  GN5, your post is the 12th most read one this year. So well done buddie, superb effort!

• Morning Guy’s (Canadian time

  Thank you all for the comments. It will be interesting to see how the team perform against Liverpool tomorrow. It’s the first game of a full season in charge for Arteta and my personal expectations are that we are in contention for all four competitions that we are in League, League Cup, FA Cup, and Europa League. Of course winning one or more would be great but I would be happy to watch a team that has a desire to win and the ability to contend.

• What a crazy article, very impressive GN5!

  Looking forward to tomorrow’s game and hoping we can repeat the results from the past three times in the Shield after we won the FA Cup 🙂

  Lots of news to share today:

  1) Athletic reporting that we will be looking to sell Emi, as Leno has been chosen as Arteta’s #1.
  2) Atletico are hoping to complete a deal for CDM Marc Roca, but need to make a major sale first.
  3) Arteta has added to his coaching staff by adding Carlos Cuesta from Juve, Andreas Georgson from Brentford (set piece coach) and Miguel Molina from Atletico (former head of performance at Atletico’s academy).
  4) Arsenal are considering Fiorentina’s offer for Torreira (8.5 mil loan fee, 18 mil purchase not sure if option or obligation), but need to find a replacement before selling.

• A Series from The Athletic
  The Premier League 60: No 15, Dennis Bergkamp
  Amy Lawrence Aug 27, 2020

  An excerpt:
  “David Winner, who assisted Bergkamp with the writing of his book ‘Stillness and Speed’, which is as much a study on his interpretation of football details as the story of his career in the game, notes how there was something Cruyff-esque about it all. “The first touch is almost a fetish,” Winner observes. “The degree to which he obsessed about it, the extreme degree to which he took it, it created a rare level of craftsmanship. When he first got to Arsenal routinely when he got the ball the players were astonished by his control. Sometimes it might not have been spectacular but it was always precise. It didn’t really matter to him if others did or didn’t see it. He knew it. In a Cruyffian way it was more about beauty than winning. Dennis was so influenced by Cruyff it totally made sense that he would take it to a spiritual realm. For Bergkamp, the first touch unlocks football. It is the key to it all.”

  Running each day (in The Athletic) until the new season begins, The Premier League 60 is designed to reflect and honour the greatest players to have graced and illuminated the English top flight in the modern era, as voted for by our writers.

  jw1

• Good man. Thank you for honouring those lost in the war.

• If I managed to navigate myself into this mess, I ought to make my stance. (Will be long as usual.)
  I agree with TA and Le Gall that this is a civilized space to argue, and do my best to keep my cool.

  First of all I don’t know much of the context. Probably all of you know more than me; I never watch game analysis or interview with pundits, and I hardly know the people of the story. (Well, I know of Charlie Nicholas as he – as a ‘club legend – is often quoted on matters related to Arsenal. But what he says is either common knowledge or downright stupid, so I will not miss him at all.)

  Before going into the current situation, here is my overall view on discrimination.
  There are 3 general approaches.
  A) Negatively discriminate black people (or any racial, sexual or other minority, but let’s use the example at hand) because they perform less, worth less, deserve less or other perceived reasons. While I’m a generally tolerant person, I find this mentality unacceptable, and would join anyone fighting it.
  B) Positively discriminate black (or BAME) people. The underlying notion is often to put/help them in a position where they can be seen as role models for young generations, but it could also be of guilt (for past injustice inflicted by the entire society), or compliance with stated or implied quota expectations.
  C) Don’t give a hoot about skin color, gender or other attribute, and base any and every decision (hiring, promotion, sack) entirely on merit and performance. This would be the right mentality in a future, ideal society, where everybody has equal chance to apply for the same position or promotion.

  I acknowledge the false assumption under the last approach, but still prefer it as I find it less unjust than mentality B. However I find both equally acceptable, and have no intention of convincing anybody to change his/her opinion. Nevertheless some (many?) of the people standing with meritocracy find every form of discrimination unappealing. Obviously negative discrimination is more repulsive than the positive one, but for them the latter is also undesirable thus disapproved.

  There is a possibility though, that I have a blind-spot or sensitivity challenge here, as in Central-Europe we don’t have such issues. Or rather we have a similar situation with the gypsy minority, but the history and severity might be slightly different than the situation of black people in Anglo-Saxon civilization.

  Coming back to Wrighty – who is a likeable guy for me as an Arsenal legend (whom I had the pleasure to watch playing), but for a pundit he is as inconceivable and meaningless to me as any of his ‘colleagues’. (Sorry, I still have difficulties to admit this being a value-added profession.) Anyway what he does in the BBC short video is just speculation and outcry.

  Do we know why Sky Sport sacked those 3 guys? – Probably no.
  Do we know who are going to replace them? – No; at least I don’t know.

  In my view he is not defending Sky Sport’s decision, he merely states that they have the right and vision to evolve their show. For me, this is stating the obvious. He is not defending the actual hiring of Richards and Scott either as they were not appointed (as far as I know). He is a self-appointed advocate of a possible/probable scenario when a bunch of white guys who “had an unbelievable run” and “done brilliantly” are replaced by younger and less experienced colleagues, and the decision are partially based on having a more balanced composition racially and gender-wise.

  I don’t fully disagree with him, only “less impressed”. I have 2 problems with his stance.
  Firstly, while there could have been be a lot of racial/misogynist abuse online on this topic (e.g. finding Scott incompetent, or directly blaming them for axing Le Tissier & co.) what was shown in the short video were not racist. Yes, those tweets weren’t radiating happiness, but not because black people could be invited to the show, but rather because Sky Sport – probably – played the race card. BEING UPSET ABOUT POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION IS NOT RACISM! (Sorry for shouting, but I assume that anybody in their right mind wouldn’t read my long nonsense; so I’m not emotional, just underlying my main point.) 🙂

  Secondly, as I don’t know Micah Richards’ pundit history, I Googled it. Accepting that Google has different profiles of us and might order the results differently my first hits were:
  – Micah Richards is one of the worst pundits I have ever seen

  Micah Richards is one of the worst pundits I have ever seen from PremierLeague

  – Micah Richards is a really terrible pundit.

  Micah Richards is a really terrible pundit.

  — Spion Kop (@TheKopHQ) March 8, 2020

  – Micah Richards is so biased and bitter an absolutely terrible pundit

  Micah Richards is so biased and bitter an absolutely terrible pundit from PremierLeague

  So when Wrighty introduces Micah as “the most exciting pundit to hit the scene in years”, he seems biased and full oh $h!t.

  Good night, and let’s focus on Arsenal tomorrow. 🙂

• Thank you Stuart – I lived through WW2 and lost 3 members of my family. My paternal grandfather and uncle in the same week, leaving my grandmother to raise 9 children on her own – such tough times.

• Cheers PB, well argued my friend.

  I will be brief. Pundits get sacked, loads of people pick up their keyboard and say 1) that this is because of BLM, positive discrimination etc and 2) a number of black known pundits are rubbish and not worthy of the job. Ian Wright rightly calls this out as racist, because the pundits selected are all black and then deemed rubbish, and will, by default, only get the job because of the colour of their skin. He also says that Sky did their thing and the rest is just speculation with the aim to publicly attack these black pundits. This is of course incorrect and in my view racist. Whether any of the pundits named is good or bad is predominantly a personal view, so can’t be really wrong or right. But to pick on a group of black reporters is a concerted effort to bully and insult them.

• Well done, your grandmother. Did she pass on the love of Arsenal? I was born 15 years after the war finished. My mothers father died in the Italian campaign. What struck a chord in your article is the great sacrifice of the Arsenal players and the club. We New Zealanders lost more men per capita than any other nation in both the great wars. The wars left us with a lot of widows and a lot of young woman who lived out their lives as spinsters because of the dearth of marriageable men.

• That’s some really fine stuff you’ve posted there, for a preview, GN5. You’ve set the tone really well for the game. If I was looking forward to it (and I was), now I am doing so with a sense of the historical at the back of my mind.

  Arsenal have been a relatively consistent side when it comes to winning cup finals/one off games, historically speaking. The concern is with the level of preparation Arteta’s team have been afforded owing to the short interval /“summer” between the previous and new seasons, occasioned by adjustments that have had to be made with the effect of the pandemic. Liverpool’s best players may just be sharper but, it may work in our favour that it’s not been that long ago we lifted the FA cup. We shall find out. Hope the lads play with freedom and enjoy the game; hopefully, we lift the trophy in the end.

• Here we go, the media darlings Liverpool are overwhelming favourites today at Wembley and Arsenal were super lucky to beat them 2-1 at the Emirates last season.

  That narrative didn’t take long to return did it, in fact I’m surprised that some Scouse or ersatz Scouse pundit hasn’t labelled Aubameyang a flat track bully yet?

  Ah well, I guess in that case we shouldn’t bother turning up at Wembley again as we’re not really worthy of sharing the pitch with greatest team in the world and should simply give them the shield.

  Enjoy the game…

• I believe we will put a 3-4-1-2, with Elneny becoming a fourth centre back when we are being attacked, and Willian playing in the dynamic front 3.

  It is at 11.30pm tonight Singapore time, so it will be good to watch the match.

  However, only Mikel knows, as 17HT puts it so nicely, “what the ……… do we know”

• Nice comments, Stuart, and welcome to the blog. How did you become a Gooner?

• kev’s metamorphosis, on hearing/reading the word “liverpool”:
  

• I’d like us to sacrifice one up front to strengthen the midfield this afternoon :
  Leno
  Holding – Luiz – Tierney
  Soares – AMN – XhakA – Saka
  —————Willian – – – – – – –
  —-Pepster————–Auba——-

• LG, I did chuckle, he certainly has some serious hampsteads (Hampstead Heath – teeth)…

  Klopp and Arteta may play down this game as did Arseblog this morning in his preview and many fans are doing likewise but there is a psychological element, Liverpool don’t do friendlies and nor did Man City when Arteta was there and when did Arsenal last beat Liverpool in two successive matches?

  It’s Liverpool, I want to win, simple as that… 😉

• Of course Kev, we want to win and become the angstgegner of Die Dippers ⚽⚽

• “It’s Liverpool, I want to win, simple as that… ”
  Amen to that
  I’d like to see Ainsley back in midfield, too, TA
  As for the samba chav, I thought his achilles was gnawing at him – might be sensible to give him a proper rest, don’t you think??

• Ah, so angst is a German word, nice one Total, I like antagonist a la Unai… 😀

• As far as I know Wise Willy is fit and roaring to go, leGallos.

  Yes, Kev angstgegner means fear-opponent, oh how we want to become the Dippers’ angstgegner. 😉

• No, it was protagonist a la Unai…

  That’s it Total, get into their head and burrow away at their confidence…

• Morning all,

  I’ve give my two pennyworth of the discrimination situation. Living in Canada I’ve visited the US more times than I can remember. I lived in Idaho on a work managerial transfer for two years and Idaho was a predominately white state – of which they were very proud.
  My sister (bless her) lived in New England in an area that was also predominately white. But when you got into cities ie: Detroit, Atlanta, Miami, LA it was a very different story and just driving around these cities it was very apparent just how underprivileged the non whites were – and frankly I found it sickening.

  Discrimination in the US is alive and disgusting and little to nothing is ever done about the indignities that are strewn on the non whites – little wonder they rebel – they are treated as second class citizens.

  Thank goodness we choose a civilized country like Canada to live in, it’s not perfect but there is a high level of concern to all Human rights.

  I could write a book on the subject but I’ll stop there.

• Well summarised, GN5. I would like to read that book!

• The great (“The Late Great”, to quote from one of his lps) Townes Van Zandt was born in a well-off Texan family
  He may have looked at times as though he were singin’ for the white underprivileged class only:
  
  But the tears rolling down the wrinkled cheeks of an old black man are proof – if ever that was needed – that, as all great song writers, he just knew how to bring a universal plight in plain sight:
  
  In a collection of poems and photographs, Michael O’brien and Tom Waits captured the shared humanity of American outcasts, whether they be white, black, latino, native-american … you name it
  https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/obrhar
  “Cards” is one one of Waits’s poems (should I say “haiku”?) in this collection, and it reads:
  “I guess some of us just
  Get the old maid.”
  In French society, at least, these “some of us” have a darker skin than mine, there’s no denying it.
  I think what triggered Wrighty’s emotional reaction was that just for once, there was an outside chance coloured talented people might get the “gorgeous maiden in the sun” instead – so much so that he just couldn’t figure out what was the problem with letting this happen. I don’t think he was being any more political than that, but after all, what do I know??
  well, COYG now, let’s trample the media darlings under foot

• All very poetical, LeG. 👍

• emi
  rob-david-kieran
  hector-mo-granit-ainsley
  bukayo-eddie-captain PEA
  (bernd-billy the kid-kola-cedric-joe-pete-reiss-danny-emil)

  exhilirating hale end flavour to that
  mo’s big day??
  olayinka surprise of the day, i’d very much like him to get playing time
  COYG

• Martinez, Tierney, Luiz, holding, AMN, XhakA, Elneny, Bels, Auba, Eddie and Bukayo

  Strong team us mean business!! 😁

• 1-0
  fabulous goal – bukayo starts looking comfy on his right wing, classy assist from him, and then, well … auba being auba
  feels so good

• eddie the warrior gets the ball back
  granit to robbenesque bukayo, cuts back to eddie who would have so much deserved this one
  alisson did very well, tbh

• eddie again … wide; would have been another assist for our 18-year-old versatile genius
  impressed by the lads’ focus; only luiz seems a bit under the weather – the man seems to have difficulty getting himsel together after a break (remember post-lockdown game at city??)

• great move on the left again, kieran didn’t rush his cross ((something tells me the lads have had cutback sessions), ainsley should have done much, much, better than that. we should be 2-0 up by now

• great blocks by hector, mo … we’re being pressed now, but mick’s spartan arsenal seems to be on the menu

• top-class patnership hector-bukayo
  hector looks like the player he was meant to be, at long last
  sell him – play cedric??
  you gotta be kidding me!!

• Liverpool have had a lot of the ball and it’s flashed across our box a few times but in general our defence has looked organised and not under any real stress.

  Alternatively every time we go forward I think we’re gonna score even when Liverpool has that sustained pressure at the end of thd half I expected us to breakaway and make it 2-0.

  Very impressed, now keep it up..,

• I’m listening to the game. Commentators describing great stuff from Nketiah working van Dyke hard. I love to hear that, because we know he’s got the talent, work like that will just bring him more goal opportunities and open more for teammates. They’re saying Holding looks good too. It’s really a pre season warm up, and I just want us to have a good start this year.

• Who are Pete and Danny, Le Gall?

• Good half. We need to stop Robertson crosses, and both Bellerin and Saka need to be more tight there. Very impressed with Elneny and XhakA partnership.

• firmino … that was close
  back in their half, eddie shoulders his way out the reds’ grip, what a lad
  too bad auba rushed his cross, very unlike him, so composed usually

• great save by emi, who denies mané in neuerseque fashion
  he’s my n°1

• hector out, cedric in – our portuguese lad has big shoes to fill, one of hector’s best games in a vcery long time

• peter olayinka, danny johnjules, pb; are you back in your homeland?
  bukayo’s set pieces are becoming impressive too, this lad’s a treasure, our own private eldorado – should we see in that as mick’s new assistant coach’s inluence already?

• 1-1
  i’ll stick to ta’s theorem: “in pre-season games, only first halves matter”

• Yes, I’m back home. Watching the second half.
  Bukayo is indeed convincing.
  I’d like to see Reiss and Smith-Rowe if possible.

• joe, joe, you always gotta to head the ball back to the direction it came from!!!
  the ghost of my dear ol’ youth coach is gonna come back haunting you

• final whistle
  very proud of mick and the lads
  emi’s gonna win this, now

• I love your comments, Le Gall. 🙂

• Boys sat a bit too deep in the second half, and we just about paid for it. Proud of the boys, though.

• 5-4
  top of the world, ma!!
  our days of being bullied are over
  how sweet revenge can be
  ainsley’s self-conrol is otherwordly, but all the lads took their penalties really well

• Good job, LeGall, running the live blog. No way we do not go on to have a much better season this time around. Elneny was rather influential today, for one who is on his way out. I guess Arteta May have decided to start the season with Martinez in goal, being the fitter of both keepers. Leno will get his chance to be No.1 again but for now, best to keep Emi in it till such a time we can switch that without upsetting either player.

  Winning trophies is starting to be a habit now and that bodes well for the future. Congratulations, the Gunners! Congrats, gooners.

• 18.51 live – breaking news – exclusive bergkampesque
  kev teasing a ravenous ‘pool fan:
  

• And, LeGall, I think John-Jules first name is Tyreece.

• John-Jules’**

• Nice to play well against the team that dominated the league last year. El Neny playing both games shows a big hole in this team, especially if we won’t have Ceballos. . I’d like to know why no Guendouzi in the team. He is an asset being wasted, and even with him, we need midfield help. Don’t tell me Willock. I’d prefer Ainsley getting time there.

• I can honestly say fellas that I am very very happy… 😃

• I’m also so happy, mates!
  I was surprised to see that many superbly taken penalties – maybe Arteta has practiced a lot with the lads – but Aubameyang managed to push the bar even further following his otherworldly penalty in the cup final.

• you’re right, eris!! danny’s the actor
  i’m very happy too, kev, under mikel, this team is becoming a joy to watch
  i agree with ta about the mo-granit partnership: after rejuvenating shkodran, mick seems to be doing a tremendous job with our pharaoh
  of course this season hasn’t even started, so we should hold our horses, but what our new headcoach has already brought to this club in a few months is really impressive

• Not to be nitpicking, but our Olayinka is James and plays in central midfield.
  Peter is a different Nigerian-born player (24), who is a left winger for Slavia Prague.
  Still, it is champagne-time. 🙂

• LeG, thank you for the in-match comments!

  New Post New Post 🙂

• Funny isn’t it, Holding, Maitland Niles, Elneny, Martinez even Bellerin, all or some rumoured to be leaving during this transfer window and all of them played major roles in beating the Champions. Now if they or some of them leave then the players the club wants to bring in in their place must be some seriously good players because I think that Arteta could do some real damage with the squad as it is now!

• Writing from hospital, broke my leg in Saturdays game. 55 seasons playing and first ever break. Played for Bay of Plenty reps when I was 10 (1970). The coach dressed us in Arsenal strip. Following year a lad (Spurs fan) joined our school having just come out from England. He gave me a couple of Shoot mags, one with a Centre fold of the Leeds side of Bremner, Giles etc, and in the sometimes strange but wonderful ways of God, the other with a centre fold of the, about to be, double winning Arsenal (still on my wall). I saw the strip, fell in love and have been dizzy with it ever since.
  Love your blog.

• Sorry to hear you have broken your leg, Stuart. At least you did it whilst playing the beautiful game! Great story about the way you became a Gooner.
  We have moved to the latest post by the way. 😃

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