Southampton, St Mary’s Stadium, Ralph Hasenhuttl, The Saints, 136 years old…. today Arsenal play a proper club with proper names and a manager, Hasenhuttl, who has been given the club’s confidence: he is one of the longest serving managers in the PL (since 2018).
They have had some great managers and players and have been in the PL for ten years now.
St Mary’s is a modern yet cosy ground with a capacity of 32k and the boys will look forward to playing there with the wonderful set of songs the away supporters hold in their longs and hearts.
Arsenal are flying right now and go with confidence to the south coast, but the Saints will be a tough nut to crack and fatigue could play a role. Luckily, the home team also played mid week, so fatigue levels should be similar.
They beat Chelsea already at home this season, so let’s not underestimate them. James Ward-Prowse is one of my favourite non-Arsenal players. He has been with the Saints since his eighth year and has played well over 300 games for them already. His set-pieces are Beckham-esque and his attitude reminds me of that of Flamini. His total persona actually makes me think of Scot Parker; he is the sort of player every club needs and loves.
Lineup
Ramsbo
BigB, BigW, BigG, BigTi
Wall of Partey
Buka, Ode, Xha, Marti
Tornado from Sao Paulo
Plenty of fresh or hardly used legs and heads in that team and they all will want to play and keep the winning streak going. Mayby Big Tomiyasu gets the nod over Tierney, but I reckon the above will be close to Mikel’s starting eleven.
Come On You Rip Roaring Gunners!!!!
By TotalArsenal
Bergkampesque 
Kieran… or Tomi again? looks like the only uncertainty
The continuing trust in the Big German Guy, classy Ward-Prowse (I guess set-piece drills were on the menu at Colney this week), you said it all, TA.
There are six lads who were non-starters thursday in this lineup. The “Saints” can’t afford to change that many players from the team that won in Bournemouth, so heavy legs should be neither a problem, nor an excuse …
The only change might be … Ainsley, who was a starter at the “Vitality” but isn’t allowed to play against us, or so I think anyway
A bumpy ride indeed it’ll be; 0-1 I’d sign up for with both hands right away
COYG
Good to mention, Ainsley. I hope he will have a great season. The guy needs it!
My perfect day would be Arsenal leading 3-0 by the 70th minute and Matt Smith getting his debut and Arteta discovering that he has another player he can use and trust, but I guess the pressure to bring on Vieira and/or Lokonga would trump that happening, which is understandable because you have to be careful with the egos and confidence of your main players but a shame for Matt.
1 Ramsdale
4 White
12 Saliba
6 Gabriel
18 Tomiyasu
34 Xhaka
5 Thomas
7 Saka
8 Odegaard (c)
11 Martinelli
9 Jesus
Substitutes
30 Turner
17 Cedric
16 Holding
3 Tierney
23 Lokonga
21 Vieira
24 Nelson
27 Marquinhos
14 Nketiah
100% on your team selections Total – that is if I’ve interpreted your nick names correctly.
Hehehe! GN5, apt proviso; BigTi could be either of Tomi or Tierney.
Our starting 11 is almost always predictable now and Arteta seems to make no apologies for his decisions. To be fair, it is looking like our strongest, most reliable 11, back to front.
Let’s make it a W and go again. COYG!!
In other news, 70 mins in and our Ladies lead Liverpool 0-2; I was a bit concerned about how they fair against the Liverpool ladies, who have already taken some major scalps this season.
Hopefully, they hold on for the points.
Marquinhos on the bench, good to see him back in the frame.
Shame about Smith though.
COYG
I no longer have any hope whatsoever for Matt, Kev
Shame indeed
COYG
Xhaka just scored a volley with his weaker foot that most players would only dream of with their stronger foot.
It is a great start – not only the early goal, the full display.
But I share your seconder shame for Matt, guys.
dominance … submission
haaland beware, granit’s comin’ for you!
what a goal – BW so impressive in cafu mode
they’d obviously decided to target thomas but the Big Man’s been cool, calm, collected under pressure and their plan looks like no plan at all now
well done gunners, the jugular now!!
they’re catchin’ their breath – they shouldn’t be
GJ9 thinkin’ too hard – take a load off, sugarloaf mountain boy, the goals’ll follow
That was a Patrick Vieira like finish by Granit. Wonderful technique, indeed with his weaker foot.
Now taking the foot off the gas a bit. Like the top teams do during these busy schedules. Saka to score next.
Oh Jesus is so desperate to impress the Brasil manager it seems to me. He could have had a couple already. Just take a breath Gabbo.
Brilliant, Bergkampesque lay off by Ode to GJ9.
It may only be 1-0 To Arsenal but I am loving our team performance.
Folarin on target agin, this boy’s amazing
About that last opportunity, the keeper’s save (point blank half-volley, with a rebound) was top-class. I don’t have the stats, but I have the distinct feeling defenders are allowed to foul GJ9 more than any other CF in the League
We play really well, purrin’ but roarin’ too like a F1 engine, but if we don’t score that 2nd we may feel very sorry in the end – Ward-Prowse is on a very good day, we may not survive another bombing of CKs/FKs
Tomi’s known better days but his keownesque, rugby-centre-three-quarter tackle in the end was hilarious; what a warrior this boy is
COYG
Fab Folarin!
Punished on the break, while we’re one goal up in an away game
Torn apart by one dummy, then unable to regroup properly
Well, that’s very disappointing
Come on lads, pull yourselves together
Yeah we have got work to do now.
Nothing dramatic about getting a draw at the Dell
Not takin’ out GJ9 was the right call imo, the boy needs to be shown love at the moment
Takin’ Martin out to try out something different in attack I can see why, but I just can’t figure out one single thing Fabio is supposed to be better at than Reiss …
11 games, 28 points, not very far from a wonderful world anyway
On to support the “Magpies” now!!
2 points dropped unfortunately I am not second guessing but I had hoped Mikel would be a little more proactive before that equalizer but credit to Southampton what a turnaround they were more dangerous than us in the second half. It is a long season and some legs looking tired already but no easy games in the Premier league.
People talk about Liverpool struggling but they have about six players injured we are generally healthy (outside of Smith-Rowe and Mo) so we cannot absorb many injuries. I guess I am saying we still need some quality depth to really challenge but I am not overreacting we are still top of the league.
I would say Fabio has scored a couple of goals and some nice assists. Sure his last game was not great but today he came on in a tough situation where the team was struggling already. The earlier chance Ode got I would fancy Fabio to be more dangerous but of course Martin gives us more quality in other areas. As for Nelson I am not sure he is yet to impress after a lot of opportunities previously but he is just getting back from injury and for Mikel he would rather bring Eddie on to play on the wing. I must say I thought Thomas was not at his best in the engine room, he was not alone but he lost possession far too easily.
Based on their second half performance Southampton deserved to get a point. However when did literally manhandling players become acceptable? They are a big strong team and crawled all over us.
Mr Jones, the referee from Liverpool is a monumental cheat
Well, you walk into the room
Like a camel and then you frown
You put your eyes in your pocket
And your nose on the ground
There ought to be a law
Against you comin’ around
You should be made
To wear earphones
Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Lloris not exactly covering himself in glory today
They’re a very good team, Newcastle, their boys seem to gave a strong belief in what they’re asked to do, Almiron has been messi-esque for some time now, and they’re that good without Isak and Saint-Maximin
We’d better be at the top of our form come January 2nd
Of course I like Spuds to lose but I also really like the North East Oil Club to fail and fail, so still a bit sad with the score.
We lacked a bit of luck to get the second and then we conceded out of nothing. First half was really good, but second half was below par. All subs made sense to me, and we just have to move on.
A nice piece of goalkeeping by Jacques Tati in the Spurs goal.
I love you, LG. The Bob has words for every situation.
We are still top of the table after a hard game at the Dell. Southampton are getting stronger as the season goes on; we did look a bit disjointed and distracted in that second half, to be fair, but what a good first half.
I was concerned that we were starting to get into this One goal habit and it was a matter of time before some team equalised and/or got the winner. Thank goodness we held on for a good draw. This is a wake up call to take those early chances when they show up.
The number of times GJ9 gets fouled from behind or pulled to the ground, without referee retribution, is starting to irk.
Are they on some instruction to ignore these fouls? Had Xhaka done same, would it not be a foul and a card? These are fouls that will be called anywhere else on the pitch but ignored because a penalty could result. It is a shame.
One thing I love is how our boys just get up and keep going.
Even though we dropped points, our top 4 rivals made it much less painful this week. Good timing for the inevitable slip up.
Another positive for me was how well we dealt with that passage of play where they got a sequence of 5 or 6 corner kicks.
That was team spirit and commitment. We have to get over this drop of points and move on to the next game/ win.
Jesus’s end product is getting into red zone. I said it last time and iam saying it again. If he had his shooting boots we should have wrapped up the game in the first half. Ramsdale didnt have a single save to make and only job was to pick up the ball from the back of the net. Even in the string of corners we defended Ramsdale punched only one.
Some of the other players were atrocious. Viera increasingly looks to be misfit in this league. He may still do good in Europa League but in this league with the referees he won’t get any sympathies and opposition will just shove him away. Apart for Granit everyone else sucked and looked tired. Spurs losing made it a bit easy but otherwise a disappointing result.
““Granit Xhaka, once the most unpopular player ever in an Arsenal shirt, is scoring goals, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka are playing out of their skins, the Gunners are still top of the table and I can’t see anyone stopping them at the moment.
It’s like a nightmare unfolding in front of your very eyes. Thank goodness Arsenal are having to play three games a week including European football matches. Fortunately, the Saints played the Gunners at the right time. A fresh Arsenal would have destroyed Southampton.”
I’m perfectly aware of Garth Crooks being an a$$hole, but if his assessment is even partially true then the avoidable loss of 2 point could be attributed to more than bad luck or statistical necessity
Garth Crooks, is he still a pundit and has he ever opined anything of substance.
The man is a joke…
keep reading opinion regarding our Europa place as if itsdone and dusted and it really isn’t, we need one more point and I’d like that in Eindhoven so that Arteta can rest up his key players for the last game prior to Chelsea.
It’ll be a raucous atmosphere in Holland andwe’ll need to be calm and composed but do the job on Thursday and get the deckchairs out Thursday week.
Morning all, here are the results from last weekend:-
For the week:-
1st Kev with 4/6 plus one correct score and share of most correct games predicted = 8 points
2nd GN5 with 4/6 plus share of most correct games predicted = 6 points
3rd OX10 with 2/4 plus one correct score = 4 points
4th Total & Eris 3/4 = 3 points
6 Madhu, Stuart & Le Gall 2/6 = 2 points
“””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Season to date:-
1st Kev = 53.80
2nd OX10 = 50.80
3rd Total = 40.33
4th Eris = 39.13
5th Stuart = 37.00
6th Madhu = 34.8
7th GN5 = 33.33
8th Le Gall = 27.8
“”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Here are the selected games for next weekend:-
AFC Bournemouth v Tottenham Hotspur *
Brentford v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Brighton & Hove Albion v Chelsea
Crystal Palace v Southampton *
Fulham v Everton
Real Sociedad v Real Betis *
Congratulations to Kev the cab man. Thanks for the update, GN5 ⚽ ⚽ ⚽
I feel very humble… 😄
AFC Bournemouth v Tottenham Hotspur * 1
0-3
Brentford v Wolverhampton Wanderers H
Brighton & Hove Albion v Chelsea A
Crystal Palace v Southampton * 2-1
Fulham v Everton D
Real Sociedad v Real Betis * 2-1
Madhu , can you kindly clarify your score on the first game?
bergkampesque’s exclusive picture of kev’s cab!
let’s call him “doc” from now on …
New Post 🙂
Nice one Le Gall