Battle 13/17: Can Arsenal give the Hammer(s) Blow to another competitor? Predicted Lineup

80 thoughts on “Battle 13/17: Can Arsenal give the Hammer(s) Blow to another competitor? Predicted Lineup”

• Fine post Total, I agree that the team should not be tweaked. Adding both Martinelli’s speed/energy and power and Laca;s stability are a great asset later in the game. 11:30 am kick off here.

• Good read, TA if a tad Conservative about our chances. But, we understand the concern; I had us dropping points at West ham and Newcastle on GN5’s 10 (?) – game points prediction teaser, a few weeks back. I also posted we would win all of those 3 games we lost too, so you see how that looks.

  My point is I now expect we should beat the Hammers as we try to make up for those unexpectedly lost points.

  Tavares is a good man marker and if Bowen is the target, I’d trust the young Portuguese to do that job. It is hard to drop Nketiah now so, he should be allowed to continue. I like the idea of bringing on Martinelli, Laca and Pepe late on, of all works according to plan.

• Nice time for a kick off, GN5. Hope you have some nice croissants and coffee for breakfast. 🙂

• Hey Eris, all five remaining games can be won or lost and I take none for granted. We remain a team in transition and we can have a bad day anytime. Still, I feel good about today, which may be our easiest game of the remaining five.

  CoyrrGs ⚽

• Well, the Spuds are leading at home to Leicester City, which result has them back in 4 th place. The visitors look out of sorts and may not be far fetched to put it down to their minds being on the Europa league 2nd leg semi-final they play on Thursday.

  Coincidentally, our opponents today are semi-finalists too, in the same competition. We can take advantage.

• So much for all the stories about the visotors’ shortage of CBs. Kurt Zouma and Coufal (not a regular, admittedly) with Cresswell at full back, look like they would be competent enough, for me.

  Still, no Complacency. Just do the business, boys!

• Confirmed line-ups

  Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, Nuno Tavares, Gabriel Magalhães, Holding, Tomiyasu, Ødegaard(c), Mohamed Elneny, Xhaka, Martinelli Silva, Saka, Nketiah

  West Ham XI: Fabianski, Zouma, Coufal, Cresswell, Fredericks, Lanzini, Noble(c), Fornals, Rice, Bowen, Benrahma

• I think the fact that spurs won, Chelsea lost and West ham putting out a proper team could help us. No complacency now as those 3 all should sharpen the minds and help the team talk.

• Leno, Cedric, Lokonga, Smith Rowe, Lacazette, Zak Swanson, Alex Kirk, Salah Eddie and Pepe.

  I think that’s just the rest of the available squad. Ben White isn’t even mentioned which suggests a knock?

• Yes guys, all to play for. A win will get us v close to the Chavs. It could be Spuds and Arsenal making CL football next season…

• Cresswell is CB, alongside Zouma, I see.

• I think if we didn’t have to play each other you could be right total

• Ah good point, Wedge

• How can you not love big Rob Holding

• Lift offff via Holdino against somewhat against the run of play the Hammers are really up for this

• 0-1 to the good guys, but it’s been a slow burner sort of game.

  We just need to look after the ball a bit better than we are doing, with Tavares and Martinelli the guilty parties.

  It is 1-1, as I type. We just give them too much space. A deflection off Gabriel from a Bowen Shot and Ramsdale stood no chance.

• Poor game management but to be honest they have played better and deserve it. The hope is they tire in the second half and our subs win us the game.

• Arsenal looking like the ones who played on Thursday very impressed with West Ham but we are below par in this one they are overrunning us in midfield

• We have started well, playing it safe to ensure if anyone was going to score, it would be us. As soon as we went 1 up, we started to look anxious to get to half time; we would need to get over that state of mind.

  Martinelli just hasn’t pushed forward and it may be on instruction, I wouldn’t know, but he looks to be too keen at his defensive job than putting pressure on error-prone Coufal.

  There are so many things we can do to keep them at bay, but I guess the players have been coached to prevent rather than to provoke goals. Again, the movement hasn’t been there to give Xhaka and Elneny something to aim at. That, plus the intensity is what needs to change in the second half

• Poor to concede just before half time. Some bad first touches and I am missing Laca big style inythid respect. But really happy for RobHo and they should tire in the second half. I would bring on Laca and ESR after sixty minutes.

• In a game where they are playing with a makeshift defence, it was annoying for me to see Zouma venture forward and almost getting a header to boot.

  He has had little to do and that’s reflection of how poorly we have put them under pressure.

• I wonder if it is a mental thing with us we must lead the charts amongst top sides for conceding right after scoring especially in first halfs

• oh dear that was dangerous from Ramsdale

• Gab to Gab works for me lol central defenders coming up big

• Martinelli has been poor but that was a great ball. Need to hold on to this lead now.

• Smith Rowe and laca are great players to bring on for holding the ball and preserving the win.

• Eddie is working hard though and his speed may make the difference he is benefitting from more people pushing forward

• Missed Tomi he is reassuring today he is playing against a very tricky who has beaten him a couple of times but it would have been a nightmare if Soares was defending him

• Wow thought Eddie had gotten us that decider great work from Elneny

• Oh boy here we go Tomi looks to have done his calf again going to be nail biting the the rest of the way

• Bravo Eddie he has left everything on the field He did not take his chances but on another day could have had two.

• Great win. Hard work and not easy on the eye, but deserved. Many poor first touches today but Robbo and Gabbo were superb. Thank you boys!!

• Makayah, Eddie is a few centimeters (and a few months) away from becoming a deadly goal machine.
  He is a quite different striker from Lacazette, but he showed how that style can come in handy.
  If he wouldn’t have played only a measly 400 minutes before April he surely would have been in even better form…

• To me this game showed why Eddie is not top PL material as yet. I love him to stay and grow with us but he is too impatient it seems.

  At the moment, his first touch and passing are below par, he does not press constant enough…

• I think we should give him a contract. He has proved to me that he can be a good back up striker. Him and elneny deserve new deals (as long as they don’t want too much money). They have both come in and been excellent the last 3 games.

• To be fair Eddie has been inconsistent there have been times he has come in and not had the effort he is giving now. When he came back from his loan spell at Leeds Mikel gave him plenty of minutes and Laca was coming off the bench; much like the Marti and ESR situation where they are competing for the same spot, but Auba was getting the bulk of minutes coming in from the left. He might just be coming into his own now but I cannot fault the manager for going with other options.

  Laca was doing well when we made our charge up the table. What he lacked in goal scoring he was making up with his hold up play and meshing well with the young players. We cannot discount the leadership he brought to the team, often putting in a good shift keeping defenders busy and one of the only players who has savvy when working officials. As I understand it he is also instrumental in the dressing room mentoring the younger players including Eddie.

• Eddie was impatient today but against Chelsea he was brilliant. Many of our players were below par such as Ode and this had a detrimental effect on Eddie as well. Sure his passing was not great but its a game of inches and he had three decent attempts which if they had gone in we would be all singing his praises. When Auba was banging in goals he was still pretty average in some of his build up play and an at times an atrocious first touch. After Auba’s goals dried up one could argue this version of Eddie would be more useful to the team.

• We lacked energy in the first half. Lazy Hollywood balls over the top we kept attempting,, instead of putting in the hard work to move the ball up the pitch.I don’t like how we played.. without 2 goals from our CB’s.. we don’t even get a draw. I can forgive Eddie for his misses, because of reasons stated earlier, but at least creates opportunities.

  Far too many misplaced passes, can’t all be blamed on Nuno. Please can we stop giving away possessions on our throw-ins? It’s going to cost us.

  We have to… meaning Arteta.. has to.. find ways to get Martinelli involved, because we have a weapon running around out there and he’s not being used enough. Not all on Mikel, but room for improvement.

• But Eddie offers running behind and past defenders and that’s good to have.

• Good comments Makayah. Eddie brings something different and Laca does too.

• Good points, J. We were missing Tierney, White, Partey and Laca (by choice), and although the stand ins did a great job, that is a lot of quality missing for passing and pressing game. Really happy with the win though, massively important!!!

• Agreed re contracts, Wedge.

• Good point about the throw in Jync. I have been saying for years that we are just bad at them. We never seem to keep control of it once we get a throw in. I watch other teams and they just have options and keep possession.

• Wedge, we are bad with throw-ins and defensive headers. When the opponents goalkeeper makes a long goal kick and we head the ball back from our half or around the middle of the pitch these balls find opponent players far more often than the other way around.

• Arteta’s Arsenal have not been big on being high on the possession stats and it can be argued, they are sometimes happy to let the opposition have more of the ball. It was that kind of game today, against a good side who are in the semi-final of a major European cup.

  I feel the focus on the top 4, after spurs won their game earlier, can cause nerves to tingle and have the players think about just getting the win, no matter how. I will give the lads a bye for this game (and all the rest of the fixtures to come for the 2022 season) if they keep getting 3 points like this; after all, isn’t this what is referred to as “winning ugly”?

• 3 losses in a row are forgotten.

  Chelsea, man u, and west ham…amazing.

  Arsenal just delivered a two piece with a soda.

  Holding is a gem. I want to know what xhaka and gabriel were bickering about after the final whistle.

  Chris Sutton can jog on with his “they’re celebrating like they won the league”…it’s the same bullshit every time we win now. Pundits are just low quality trolls at the moment. Top 4 is big because it = more money and bigger signing potential = potential to finish higher next season and beyond. Not hard to comprehend.

• Wow that was a great win. Sloppy play but as someone mentioned it looked.like we played in the midweek than hammers. But hammers didn’t pose much of a threat in the second half. This game continues to amaze us and keep us on tenterhooks. Credit to Arteta we have better chance to finish 4th with a points tally of closer to 70. We would have gained 10 more points than lats season which in my opinion qualifies as a perceptible progress. The table will.surely reflect the same if we get to 70. Arteta should be given a new contract with a clear mandate to improve his man mangement and to utilise the SQUAD better. Holding, Elneny, Eddie were super. Martenelli is a worry and I suspect why but other may not agree. He is being coached to be positionally aware and help the left back which is causing his near no end product. Offcourse this is something to discuss for other day.
  Great win and up the table. COYG

• Thanks for the post, Total.
  Three outstanding wins on the trot, after three poor losses. A rollercoaster ride, as someone has already noted. Am I deceived or are we getting a bit of luck lately? We certainly rode good fortune against Man U, and on another day Ramsdale may have been carded for his late challenge on Bowen, and Gabriel’s goal ruled out for the ball striking Big Rob’s forearm in the build up. I guess the old adage that things even themselves out over the course of a season is starting to apply.
  Big Rob is such a lovely fella. He scores and immediately runs to celebrate with Bukayu who provided the cross. A true team man.
  So pleased to see Granit acting maturely during the late melee. Your tenner is looking more and more assured, Total.

• Stuart, we were definitely lucky, indeed. The penalty claims, opponents hitting the post & bar, and we scored more goals in the last 3 games than expected (see in xG statistics). But I don’t think any of that is undeserved as we were often extremely unlucky in the past, so fate is just balancing things out. 🙂

• Haha Stuart, first Granit has to survive the NLD, and the Leeds game will be feisty too?! But he was a leader again yesterday.

• Last weekends results:-
  For the week :-
  1st Madhu with 4/6 plus one correct score and the most correct predictions = 10 points
  2nd Total & GN5 with 3/6 + one correct score = 5 points
  4th OX10 with 3/6 = 3 points
  5th Eris with 2/6 = 2 points
  “””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
  Season to date :_

  1st Eris with 179.19
  2nd OX10 with 157.86
  3rd Madhu with 148.46
  4th Total with 143.36
  5th GN5 with 134.83
  6th Kev with 123.73
  “””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

• Next weekends selections – all EPL

  Brentford v Southampton
  Burnley v Aston Villa
  Chelsea v Wolves *
  Brighton V Manchester United
  Liverpool v Tottenham *
  Arsenal v Leeds *

• Well we squeaked that game but it was very stressful to watch.

• After three seasons DAZN have lost the rights to the EPL. Starting in the 2022/23 season FUBOTV have won the rights – does anybody have any experience using them ?

• Stuart, Ramsdale sure was lucky getting away with that challenge. A school of thought stated that he didn’t touch the player but it was reckless and dangerous play. A yellow, perhaps?

  As for the Gabriel goal being ruled out for the Big Rob handball, that’s the correct decision and is in line with the rule amendment which states, inter Alia, that….
  … If an attacking player’s accidental handball immediately precedes another player scoring, the goal will now be awarded, when last season it was likely to have been ruled out.

  However, a player will still be penalised if he commits an accidental handball immediately before scoring himself. Gabriel scored but Holding handled, so no infringement. Goal stands.

• I agree, Eris, that it was accidental and the ruling was correct. However his arm was up (tho’ no where near our dear Nuno’s daft effort against Man U), and could have been another in the long list of VAR episodes that have gone against us. I turn 62 this year and will be hanging up my boots after 56 seasons of competitive football (my knees, my knees). I plan to pick up the whistle and look forward to grappling with the intricacies of the laws of the game, and, I imagine, the various challenges the men/women in black/pink/yellow endure.
  Can’t help you with your question, GN5. We face a similar issue here in NZ. After three happy and relatively inexpensive years with Spark Sport, Sky has won the EPL rights for the foreseeable future.

• Good for you, Stuart. “56 seasons” is quite the “career”. Agree with your comments too.

• GN5, thanks for the update and quiz. Frankly, I didn’t even think I was going to get any prediction correct,(save the Hammers game 😁) after the Saturday results started coming in.

  Still top though, owing to some early season momentum.

• Brentford v Southampton H
  Burnley v Aston Villa H
  Chelsea v Wolves * 2-1
  Brighton V Manchester United D
  Liverpool v Tottenham * 3-1
  Arsenal v Leeds * 3-1

• Stuart wow that’s an impressive number of years you have played. I hope I can extend my playing time till your age mate. I played competitive cricket for 18 years as a wicket keeper. Now iam 47 and playing Badminton. Hope to keep it going till 60. For me it’s the lower back from all the wicket keeping thats causing me trouble.
  Impressive years Stuart and all the best for your next phase.

• Here are my predictions for the week’s picks:

  Brentford v Southampton H
  Burnley v Aston Villa D
  Chelsea v Wolves * H 2-1
  Brighton V Manchester United D
  Liverpool v Tottenham * H 3-2
  Arsenal v Leeds * H 2-0

• You will make a great referee, Stuart. Do you need to go on a course for this first?

• Thanks for the update, GN5, and well done to Madhu for an impressive score this week.

• Brentford v Southampton D
  Burnley v Aston Villa H
  Chelsea v Wolves * 0-2
  Brighton V Manchester United D
  Liverpool v Tottenham * 2-2
  Arsenal v Leeds * 8-1

• Thanks TA, need some more pace for the homestretch

• Haha Madhu, my aim is to finish third, so above you!! 😁

• Thanks fella’s. Yes, Total, three levels of qualification before I can be considered for the World Cup Finals… 😁. Man, Liverpool are against the ropes this morning. Our old boy, Francis C has scored a cracking header.

• Oh, well. Liverpool came out guns blazing in the second half to score 3 goals, keeping the aggregate score at 5-2. Brilliant and determined fight back.

• Hello, people. 🙂

  Hard-fought victory v Hammers.

  Now, next weekend can give us a major leverage ahead of NLD. If we beat Leeds and Liverpool don’t screw up against Spuds, we will enter NLD with +5 meaning even a draw would get us close to the dreamland.

  While Spurs use Son and Kane as their main attacking assets, I’d like to point out our nine goals in the last three games were fairly distributed between seven different players (Nketiah 2, Saka 2, Smith Rowe, Tavares, Xhaka, Holding, Gabriel). If we add that Odegaard’s consolation goal v Brighton, it’s 10 goals between eight different scorers. That’s encouraging in a way we have various attacking options and there is not just one source of goals for us. It’s similar to that 2012-13 finish of the season when Spurs were over-reliant on Gareth Bale’s screamers while we had Cazorla, Podolski, Giroud and Walcott giving more balance to our score-sheet with CBs providing winning goals as well (Mertesacker v Fulham, Koscielny v Newcastle). Our key away game in that Top 4 toss was our last one at St James Park and it’s going to be the same.

  Also, Chelsea finished 3rd that season, just three points above us. They entered that season as the reigning European champions.

• Great comment, Admir. I am going OGAAT but I agree with your analysis.

• Poor Pep. He just cannot get City to win the UCL. His team just literarily snatched defeat from the jaws of a certain victory tonight, at the Bernabeu. Out of nothing, Madrid came back into it and forced City into hasty decisions, instead of their unruffled style.

  Tough on the players……

• Yes those sort of losses are v hard to swallow, Eris. They needed a Rob Holding during those last ten minutes or so.

• Lol. Does this give Liverpool edge to go on and win the league, seeing as the City players may be in a poor state of mind and drop points? Or, can Pep lift them (and himself) up from the low to win every game and pip Liverpool to the title, ending all the talk of a Quadruple?

  I’d rather the latter, if I am being honest.

• I think Pool will drop points vSpuds, Eris. I hate to say it but it’s what I feel will happen. So Citeh to win the league. Chavs to win the FA cup.

• Got to say I agree with you, re Spurs, TA. It ended 2-2 in the reverse so, who is to say the Spuds can’t pull it off again. Spurs seem to do well against the top 2, this season (took 6 points off City) but seem to wilt when up against Chelsea, united and the mighty Arsenal.

  We just need to do our jobs, whatever the case. All about coping well with the pressure now.

• It’s Frankfurt vs Rangers in the Europa league final. For the conference league, it is Roma v Feynoord.

• Arteta signs a new deal.

• https://www.arsenal.com/news/congratulations-mikel-and-jonas

• A great move by the club.

• New Post 🙂

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