Arsenal are back in business at Carrow Road today, where they face the league’s bottom club. The Canaries are a philosophical lot as they have become used to going down and up between the two top leagues almost constantly, and that’s what I like about their supporters.
On paper this is a great opportunity to bag three big points and make it 35 points for the first half of the season, and our only real risk here is bad refereeing and, especially, complacency. But hopefully the boys have learnt from our recent away trips in the North West and play with real determination for ninety minutes.
It looks like the Shinkansen is back and so I expect an unchanged back five. I always like watching Soares, though, and would be happy to see him having another start.
In mmidfield it is likely to be the Beasts Xhaka and Partey again, and upfront we should see another start for the BAMM boys – Bukayo, Alex, Martinelli and Martin. Or maybe it will the BEAM boys with Emile starting instead of Martin?
My expected lineup is an unchanged one as it is working fine and the boys had a good rest. Changes are more likely to take place on Tuesday, but that’s for another day.
Expected Eleven:
Ramsdale
Bullet, Big Ben, Big Gab, Tigerney
Partey and XhakA- the Beasts
Bukayo, Martin, Martinelli
Alex the Warrior
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
TotalArsenal
Bergkampesque 
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/25/mikel-arteta-optimistic-arsenal-will-boost-top-four-hopes-in-transfer-window
32Ramsdale
4White
16Holding
6Gabriel
3Tierney
5Partey
34Xhaka
7Saka
8Ødegaard
35Martinelli
9Lacazette
Substitutes
1Leno
10Smith Rowe
19Pépé
20Tavares
22Marí
23Sambi Lokonga
25Elneny
30Nketiah
87Patino
10/11 no Tomiyasu and Soares. Holding in White’s position and the latter for Tomiyasu.
CoyrrGs ⚽ ⚽ ⚽
Mari and Sambi on the bench! So is young talent and recent goal scorer, Patino.
Oh yeah I almost missed Patino in there. Cool.
One Nil to the Arsenal… Saka after good work from the Ode and Tigerney! 🙂
Is Soares out injured too, along with Tomiyasu? White is making a fist of it, though. Tomiyasu’s first game for us was against today’s opponents and it was a good start to his Arsenal career. Hoped to see him again.
Odegaard is running the game so far. Hopefully, he recovers from that knock and keep creating for us. We could use more goals here.
not sure, Eris. Shame for Soares.
Tiierney makes it two nil to the Arsenal. ooh to, ooh to be…
Like it when we give as good as we get. The hosts thought they could affect our rhythm by making the game a feisty affair. We showed we understood that and rather stepped it up to get our second goal of a fine Odegaard lay-off to a marauding Tierney.
It is City up 4-0 to Leicester. That’s the kind of ruthlessness we must develop at this club. Norwich are there for the taking and we should not hold back.
MC are playing at home, Eris. So I am happy with it being just two lol 😀
Two assists by the Ode. Gotto love him.
Good first half although I only caught it after twenty minutes but loving what I have seen so far!! Partey looks to be getting back to his best and Martinelli’s energy and doggedness reminds me of Alexis Sanchez. Ode just oozes class in midfield and what a steal he looks like at around 30 million pounds, he would not be out of place in a Man City midfield that is how good he is. Nice to see Bukayo get a goal finally he was in desperate need of one and offcourse a brilliiant strike by Tierney from an Ode assist.
M, Bukayo scored v Leeds. Agreed re Odegaard. Class player and he finally seems to be settled.
Wow, Leicester score three times in the second half and MC are just holding on. Yet our boys are three nil up with a beautiful clean sheet to take home hopefully.
Yes you are right TA but I do feel Bukayo has missed a few opportunities and could have had more goals for sure to be right there with ESR and Martinelli so happy to see him bag two today and what a nice strike for that second one. Would love to see us give more minutes to the players on the bench now.
Ok Laca may have needed that more than Bukayo today lol nice pass from ESR what a super sub.
Agreed, Makayah, but if there is one player we cannot replace at the moment it is Bukayo.
Absolutely Bukayo is the man but Pepe is better than he has shown recently does anyone recall how well he ended last season scoring a lot of goals. I am not under any illusion that he will make it at Arsenal so I would like him to move on but I am a fan of his and would like to see him do well elsewhere. If only we could swap him for Raphina at Leeds one of my dream signings not likely to happen though.
That’s what I am talking about. 5 goals is a drubbing but, to be fair, the hosts made a fight of it and even put in a scare every now and then. ESR can’t stop scoring off the bench, it would seem. Long may it continue.
Man City got a scare too, as Leicester City cane back to 4-3 before the game finished 6-3. That’s a lesson in how not to take your foot off the gas when you have momentum.
We would stay 4th at the turn of the year.
Yes Pepe is doing his best. Just a different style of player and Bukayo is such a talent.
Eris, it is amazing how Emile does it. His minutes between goals ratio must be awesome.
It is why the term “Super sub” was coined. Once you score a few times from the bench, you start to get a taste for it and becomes something you look forward to doing; at the same time, the fans will you on, team mates try to help you and the rest is down to positional sense which ESR has plenty of, it would appear.
The down side is it will make starting him in the league a hard decision, if the current starters are all fit.
Agreed Eris, but I think he will start on Tuesday.
Great game to watch. Wonderful effort and everyone did thier job. Goal difference looking good down. Looks like it’s going to be between us, Man U and Spurs for the fourth spot. Tough game against wolves on Tuesday.
Cedric, Tomi and AMN caught the minor head cold that’s going around. Imagine if there were no massive testing, and media hyping frightening headlines.
So much positive to say about the game, it’s too much to list. Just give lots of credit to the manager.
We said that once Saka scores a couple goals, the confidence would change him, and now the goals will continue, same as the Smith. Good job by Arteta to challenge the young guns, and not to rely too much on a cf.
I don’t know how some Arsenal fans doubted Ødegaard. The immense class is so obvious to me. Now they are seeing him in a functioning team with players around him. Every time he has the ball around the box, you just know there will be an opportunity for a goal, assist, or key pass to happen. He put in so many good balls that haven’t been finished earlier in the season.
Madrid braintrust are fools. Our gain. What a steal at his price too.
Oooooooooooooooo oo Oo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe. We are certainly rocking over this side of the world.
No complacency there, Total. And, yes J, Madrid couldn’t see the Norwegian Wood for the trees.
Well I’ve had a really great Boxing Day, went with my youngest son to visit my eldest son to have a lovely Boxing Day lunch with the Outlaws, nice people. Saw my grandchildren open even more presents, had some good conversation, some nice food n drink and then saw a rampant Arsenal dismantle Norwich 0-5. What’s not to like about that!
Had a few beers whilst the lads worked their magic.
Patino, Mari and Albert on the bench, so the holiday reinforcements are in situ for Wolves with a Smith goal, a Saka double, a Tierney strike and we even scored a penalty, hard to believe I know but Laca put it away with the minimum of fuss. Job done!
Now I’m watching a documentary about the American Civil War at home with a big mug of tea and some chocolate cake – man it’s been a great Christmas and makes up for the nightmare of 12 months ago.
Yep, you guys have a good one and stay safe…
Great comments this evening.
Yes Madhu, those teams are our likely closest competitors. A long way to go but we are on a roll.
Yes the Ode is the man right now, J and Stuart.
Kev, it sounds like you had a great day. Hope you got some very fine chocolates and biscuits from father Christmas 🤶
Wolves game on Tuesday is postponed. A break may do us good, so I am not too unhappy.
No biscuits Total but the cake was a triumph…
Yes this Christmas has been very enjoyable and I hope that yours TA has been as good despite some of the restrictions imposed on you by the nationalists.
Man City have to play at Brentford on the day we should be playing Wolves so that could turn out handy, I hope Brentford really get stuck in…
Here are the results of last weekend’s competition:-
1st GN5, Eris, Madhu & OX10 with 2/4 plus share of most correct predictions = 3 points
5th Total & Kev with 1/4 = 1 points
2 games were postponed.
“”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Season to date results:-
1st Eris 92.79
1nd OX10 88.46
3rd Madhu 80.66
4th Total 77.46
5th GN5 74.13
6th Kev 64.33
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Thanks for the update, GN5. 🙂
Here are next weekends games:-
Arsenal v Manchester City *
Brentford v Aston Villa *
Everton v Brighton
Leeds v Burnley
Chelsea v Liverpool *
Aletico Madrid v Rayo Vallercano
“”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
This week week we will add a special bonus for postponed games.. Simply put a P alongside any two games you think might be cancelled. There will be a 2 point bonus for each correct prediction.
Obviously you have to get your predictions for postponed games in prior to the game being postponed. I will check the postponement predictions before I accept them.
Arsenal v Manchester City * 5-0
Brentford v Aston Villa * 2-1
Everton v Brighton H
Leeds v Burnley H P
Chelsea v Liverpool * 2-1 P
Aletico Madrid v Rayo Vallercano H
Arsenal v Manchester City * H (2-1)
Brentford v Aston Villa * A (1.3) (P)
Everton v Brighton D
Leeds v Burnley H (P)
Chelsea v Liverpool * A (1-2)
Aletico Madrid v Rayo Vallercano * A
Only 5, Total?
Our game vs Wolves being postponed isn’t such a bad thing as I imagine Arteta would be happy to have a full week to both think about the game against City and prepare the team for it. A shame about the turn of events in the EPL, but it is what it is.
Manure barley escaped with a point at Newcastle’s home tonight. The home side will be disappointed with the draw, which gives you an idea how out of sorts Manure were during the game.
Too many attackers in that team who want to be fed chances, Eris. You are right Manure got away with it.
Hah Stuart, Mikel woul not want to embarrass his former master even more! 😊
Great result and at half way point we are on 35 points. We are on course for a minimum of 70 even if we can repeat the same form of first half. That is a huge improvement on 60 points of last season. If we hit 70 points we are guaranteed an European spot and definitely not the Conference once.
We will loose AMN, Partey and Elneny in the midfield in Jan. We have a add a Center mid and should go for a jugular to get a Striker. Add more strength and go for a Champions league place. I am still staying that Chelsea is not a great side, we should look to overtake them.
Arsenal v Manchester City * 2-2
Brentford v Aston Villa * 1-2
Everton v Brighton A
Leeds v Burnley A
Chelsea v Liverpool * 1-2
Aletico Madrid v Rayo Vallercano H
Hello, people! 🙂
Nice period for Arsenal. Let’s see if we can break the bad streak v City. Boys play scintillating football at the moment and that’s what Arsenal should be.
One thing that don’t get mentioned enough is how Saka invented that second goal v Norwich. That’s exactly type of a goal Salah has been scoring whenever Liverpool can’t break the opponents and need to invent a goal out of nothing.
Smith Rowe’s pass for Lacazette before Laca was fouled for a penalty is also something we have seen before. Smith Rowe did it last season v West Brom as well, picked Saka before one of our goals in a performance that strikingly resembled the one at Carrow Road (Tierney scoring, Laca enjoying playing with young lions, Auba not playing).
I reckon Arteta wants to do final piece of magic and ignite some fire in Pepe. Having Pepe as additional fire-power will come handy in the next period. With West Ham stuttering, it seems that Big Six will leave the rest of the league behind and restore the order. Now, we haven’t been able to beat big teams so far but we have been ruthless to the bottom half and those games weigh 60 points.
Madhu you must have missed this – please select two teams.
This week week we will add a special bonus for postponed games.. Simply put a P alongside any two games you think might be cancelled. There will be a 2 point bonus for each correct prediction.
GN5
I will pick the following games to be postponed
Leeds v Burnley
Chelsea v Liverpool
Here are my predictions from the picks, complete with my selection of games that may be potentially postponed:
Arsenal v Manchester City * A 2-3
Brentford v Aston Villa *. A 1-2 (P)
Everton v Brighton A D
Leeds v Burnley A A (P)
Chelsea v Liverpool * A 1-3
Aletico Madrid v Rayo Vallecano H
A great tribute to my first Arsenal captain… https://www.onlinegooner.com/articles/view/5890
Fine read, Stuart and a befitting birthday tribute to the great man, I imagine. Arsenal paid £80,000 for him in 1964; that feels like ages ago considering today’s fees and wages.
Arsenal v Man City…….. H (2-1)
Brentford v Aston Villa…H (3-1) (P)
Everton v Brighton…….. H
Leeds Utd v Burnley……H (P)
Chelsea v Liverpool……D (2-2)
Aletico v Vallecano…..H
Mike Arteta will miss our new year’s day clash against Pep Guardiola’s Man City, after testing positive (again) for the Covid-19 virus.
What a shame. Would have liked him directing affairs on the touchline; if he is to be in isolation, how will the training session be conducted and tactics passed on?
At least, TA has a ready excuse if they concede less than 5 goals against the mighty Arsenal.
New Post 🙂
Lol Eris. 🙂😁