Arsenal 2 – 0 West Ham: Four Observations – Four Questions

TotalArsenal

The hardest games for Arsenal have often been the ones that beforehand were believed to be easy. West Ham, although victors at Ashburton Grove in recent years, are feeling low and our boys are on a high, so there was a risk of this game being seen as ‘easy’. Luckily Arteta and the boys never treated the game as such, and a professional AND passionate performance led to a clean sheet and two goals to the good guys.

I am a huge fan of Nuno, one of the most gentle and capable managers in the PL who is often treated badly by club owners and chairmen for some reason (I can give you one but that would not be suitable on this blog). Let”s hope he is allowed to settle in in East London as the fans will no doubt come to love him just as much as they did in Nottingham.

Unable to watch the 3pm kick-off game on Saturday, I opted to listen to Arsenal.com’s radio commentary. The commentators did a fab job as always albeit it bit more negative than usual, I thought. As a result, when I finally got to see the whole game on Monday, I wasn’t expecting too much. But I was actually pleasantly surprised about the quality, intensity and passion of our football.

Four Observations:

  1. Full Backs with wings and freedom to roam: Timber and Calafiori had total freedom to go were they liked, it seemed. Very late on in the first half, there was an attack were Timber was in the box to aim at goal and Calafiori was right behind him to have a crack at goal himself; and he was unlucky not to score! The Italian and Dutchman were totally involved in our midfield and attacking play and I don’t think the Hammers knew how to deal with them. The link up play with their ‘wingers’ was impressive throughout the game and I look forward to seeing more of this in coming games.
  2. Something up with the Norwegian Viking. It was another sad sight when Martin had to leave the field because of injury. I do worry about the lad; he has not been looking well for quite a while, so gaunt and white looking and playing without his usual smile (except for the game v Olympiacos). Something is not quite right and I wonder whether the various injuries he has suffered in recent months are the cause of it. Let’s hope for a swift return to both fitness and happiness.
  3. Your castle will shake to the core on all corners and at its heart! I loved the way we used both wings v the Hammers and how hard Gyokeres worked to keep both CBs busy and create space for his friends in red and white. Our right wing is certainly our strongest when Saka plays, but I thought Leandro had a fabulous game on the left. The Belgian is slowly starting to develop a relationship with Gyo and together, with the help of the likes of Calafiori, Eze and Rice, they can make our left wing as strong as our right one. I noticed how we did not move the ball from right to left and left to right all the time but opted sometimes to play with sustained pressure on one wing for a longer time than usual. Our first goal came exactly from this approach: it looked like we had given up on the right and were about to move to our left, but then we went right again and there was space and enough players to then hurt the Hammers. It was a fabulous finish by Declan who is getting better in every game.
  4. Odegaard out, Zubi out – no problem. It is said that Arsenal have no weaknesses anymore, and I think this is almost true. What Gyokeres is doing for us is amazing and I don’t think anybody else can do this except for the still injured Havertz. He cajoles, sprints, harasses and creates chaos and space for 90 minutes and it is making a real, huge, massive difference (and don’t worry about his goal count). What was amazing is that when Odegaard had to go off we did not suffer much at all. Zubi came on and calmly took control together with Rice and Eze. The Spaniard had both pre-assists for the goals we scored (one leading to the penalty), and I still cannot believe he picked us over Alonso’s Real Madrid. In previous seasons, when it came to creativity/making things happen from midfield, our opponents would focus on just Odegaard and maybe Rice when he was played in a more advanced position. But now we also have Eze and Zubimendi in the mix, and then the crazy, free as the wind full backs will also join in…. It’s just magic.

Four Questions (assuming 4-3-3 lineup):

  1. Who are your ideal three players in midfield (1-2 or 2-1) when we play the top teams, and when we play weaker teams who will opt for a low block, and why?
  2. Who are your ideal three players up-front when all are fit and available and we will play a crucial game against a top PL or CL team, and why?
  3. Which three Arsenal players have impressed you the most until now, and why?
  4. What is your ideal-11 combining the current squad with those of the Invincibles?

By TotalArsenal.

61 thoughts on “Arsenal 2 – 0 West Ham: Four Observations – Four Questions”

  • HT AFC 1 Lyon 2
    A barely believable string of beginners’ errors led to both Lyon’s goals …
    Time to pull yourselves together, ladies
    COYG

  • Thanks Total.
    1&2. I’d love to see more of Eze and MO8 paired as two eights in front of either Zubi or Declan. This would work well with Gyo up top. However, if we had Kai up top, he operates a little deeper which would crowd the two eights space. Kai is a better touch player and would be a better choice v low blocks.
    Zubi
    MO8 Eze
    Bukuyu Gyo Noni

    Zubi Declan
    MO8
    Bukuyu Kai Martinelli

    3. Jurrien, Noni & Zubi. Mostly because they are new to the eye (Timber being our for all of last season). Cala catches the eye too, and Raya fully deserves his pay rise.

    4. Combined team:
    Raya
    Timber Saliba Gabriel Cole
    Rice Viera
    Saka Bergkamp Pires
    Henry

    Bench: Jens, Sol, Gilberto, MO8, Freddie, Kanu.

  • (2) Sad indeed. You’re right about the “gaunt” face and the smile wiped off it. Last season made me doubt him, and I wish I hadn’t. When fit and happy, he’s a unique passer of the ball through spaces he only could spot. “Unique” … well, actually he makes me think a lot of one of the very best French players ever, Jean-Marc Guillou, who was outstanding in the same role as Martin, but unfortunately for him it was at the end of France’s “lean” years (1958-1976), just before Saint-Étienne and Herbin at club level, Platini and Hidalgo at selection level, put French football on the right track. Jean-Marc’s conception of attacking football had a huge influence on … Arsène btw!
    1. a. Martin Z. – Declan/Martin Ø
    b. I loved the midfield MA had picked last saturday, with Martin deeper playmaker, alongside one only of Declan-Martin Z.-Mikel M., while Eberechi is the one closer to our front-3.
    2. Saka-Havertz-Eze
    Bukayo … first name on the teamsheet
    Kai … he’s just superior to Gyö imo, in evey aspect of the game. Just as the next fan, I love our Swede’s commitment, bravery, relentlessness, but for a title-in-sight-showdown against ‘Pool or Cheaty, or from the CL’s round of 8 onward, picking Kai would be a no-brainer to me. Now, should Viktor prove me wrong, I’d be very happy …
    Eberechi … he looks like a genius to me, born to score winners in the final rounds of the CL, or the one that’ll bring the title home. For such games he’d be the second name on my teamsheet after Bukayo
    3. Jurriën … more than just a defender: prototype of the perfect 2020s football player; what a lad.
    Zubi … MA’s dream come true: a “DM” with the vision and quality of passing of a top-level “10” … and he can score, too.
    Raya … I know he’s well protected, but our clean sheet record owes him an awful lot.
    4.
    Lehmann
    Timber-Saliba-Gabriel-Cole
    Rice-Vieira
    Saka-Bergkamp-Pires
    Henry
    .

  • Stu, congratulations for the Kerikeri Women! You really needed to win the game, otherwise the McKenzies would have caught you by goal difference.

    It doesn’t really answer/address any of TA’s midfield questions, but I would really like to see (and I know I won’t) the ultimate creative & attack-minded line-up of our current squad:
    ————————Raya————————
    Timber-Saliba-Gabriel-Calafiori
    —Odegaard—Havertz——Eze——
    ——Saka——Gyökeres——Jesus—
    I know it wouldn’t work against a strong midfield, but they could score 10+ goals against a slightly inferior opponent, who we usually beat by 2:0 (Olympiakos, Port Vale, etc.)

    I share the enthusiasm about Jurriën Timber. The only question is whether he already is the best RB in the world, or is he second behind Hakimi. (Is the Moroccans higher market value properly justified by his performance, or is it mainly because he was signed for 68M – 62% more than Timber’s fee – and he is rarely stretched due to the less competitive nature of the French league? no offense intended).

    However, I don’t share the holiday wish for his twin, Quinten. And not because he is a weak player, hell he is fine by any standards. But we are already crowded. You might think we have a strong squad – and we actually do – but imagine how strong it could be WITHOUT Hincapie, Norgaard, Trossard (and maybe Jesus – but that’s a different story).

    When MLS will lose his starting place in the England squad for Lewis Hall (or maybe drops out entirely behind Mitchell and Spence), when you will read that Nwaneri is unhappy and might join a rival club – but not Palace or Fulham, a proper top6 CL-team – when Dowman will consider to refuse signing a professional contract for he didn’t break the CL age record (and if he couldn’t play much for the first team when Saka or Madueke were injured, then how much chane would he got when they both are fit and hungy to play?), then you’ll have to acknowledge that sometimes mid- or long-term priorities can contradict short-term preferences.

    Without those 3-4 players the squad would surely be slightly thinner, the youngsters would play more, leading to not only their satisfaction but more importantly their development, and a few less international call-ups would be in danger – mostly MLS, Havertz, Madueke, Hincapie* and Martinelli, maybe even Trossard.
    We’ll see next spring and summer if I were crying wolf, or were onto something.

  • Why Jens over David, LG? Taller? Better at saving penalties? Somewhat ‘madder’? But not better with his feet or distribution I hazard to postulate.

    You are one for stats, PB. Yes, had we lost v Tiki, Onerahi would have pipped us, as this season if two teams finished equal on points, goal difference was the deciding factor. If the same had happened last season, Kerikeri would have been champions as it was on head to head record, we having won 2-0 at their ground, they beating is 0-1 on our ground.

  • Oh, I almost forgot. Here are 2 mixes of the best Arsenal players:

    4-2-1-3
    ————————Lehmann——————
    —Timber—Saliba—Gabriel—Cole—
    —————Vieira————Rice—————
    ———————Odegaard———————
    ——Saka——Bergkamp——Henry—

    3-4-2-1
    —————————Raya—————————
    ——Timber——Saliba——Calafiori——
    Ljungberg—Fabregas—Rice—Pires
    ————Bergkamp—Sanchez————
    —————————Henry————————

    Only Sanchez’ inclusion is blatant cheating. While Fabregas did not play in the 2003-04 season, he could be somewhat considered as one of the Invicibles, as his debut in August, 2004 was well within the 49-game unbeaten run (in fact he played in the last 8 victories of that run that ended in late October).

  • I do like a touch of madness in my GKs, Stu …
    In 1v1s, on CKs, you could feel even the tough guys had second thoughts because they knew the Big Man was tougher, “no-holds-barred”; I loved it.

  • Oui, ami. Jens was grand for both us and Germany. His pen save v Riquelme is as fresh in my memory as the day he made it. As is that slightly deranged death stare with which he would intimidate opposition strikers. Just… that calamitous rush of blood at four minutes past nine on May 17th, 2006 is a stain upon his C.V. which I cannot erase. If only he had paid more attention to the great Bob Wilson’s coaching and the example he set with that wonder save at the feet of Georgie Best: Here’s Bob talking about it with Alan Hudson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCVQGARFiw4&t=309s
    Bob would be number three in the list of great Arsenal keepers I have seen, after the magnificent Pat Jennings and big David Seaman.
    I would love to get a hold of Jens biography, aptly named, “The madness on the pitch”. I have Bob’s, a wonderful read.

    PB, that is cheating, including Sanchez, but I did love that fella, too.

  • Fantastic combination of lineups and we all seem to mostly agree on ideal midfield and attack. We do this in the knowledge that the backup is also very strong.

    Although I like the idea of Zubi or Declan deep with then two more attack-minded/positioned midfielders in front of him a lot…. I think Arteta would be daft not to play both Zubi and Rice (sometimes Merino instead of either of them) in the midfield base with then either Eze, Martin O or Ethan in front of them. I think this is the strongest midfield setup in any sort of game. Zubi and Rice have so much to offer that they just have to play in any game we really need to win.

  • Never heard of Guillou, Duc, but he sounds great. Would have been nice if he had been of the same era as Giroud, assuming they do indeed sound quite the same when spoken?

  • Legal, strong points about preferring Kai to Gyo, and yes the jury is still out. I am a stickler for energy and attitude and the Swede oozes this whereas the German seems so languid at times. What I need to see is that when an obvious change is presented Gyo will take it. Until now he has had very few proper chances so I dont know whether he is a taker of these. I know for sure that Kai misses quite a few of these which makes him not totally suitable as a CF.

  • PB, good to read your comment.

    A line up without any defensive midfielders who can outscore any team? Yes it’s a pipe dream but a creative one.

  • PB, I think the squad will get thinner, possibly this January. I think the club will not be held to ransom anymore and wait till the right offers come in. Ethan is of course going nowhere, I suggest you dont believe such rubbish.

  • Good thing to see is that we all have no problems mentioning three players who have improved; in fact it’s hard to keep it to three only. I like to add that, when played as a super-sub, also Martinelli has impressed. He loves spaces to run into and when the opposition gets tired and start to leave space behind them, the Brazilian killer is at his best. He could become the Ole Solksjaer of our team.

  • Midfield and Attack against any team that we need to beat:

    Zubi-Rice
    —Ode/Eze — (who ever in best form)
    Saka – Gyo – Madueke (Eze if Ode plays in midfield)

  • I appreciate your optimism, TA, (about the predicted saldo of the winter transfer) as always.
    And I would really like to see those front 6 against Atletico, Bayern and Inter, as we need our best line-up and best form to make 5+ points from those 3 games.
    However I would add /Martinelli to Madueke (depending on form), as they have vastly different contribution: Noni is easy on the eye, but (so far) no quantitative contribution, while Gabi sometimes struggles with decision making, but his recent games are all about G+A.

    But it’s really good to finally have 8 players from the top shelves to cover 6 positions. And I must add Kai, as his versatility and technical abilities can change games; and I sincerely hope that after his unfortunate run with injuries he has so much to prove that he will give Arteta more severe headache than I can ever do (despite my best efforts).

    So on paper we have every reason to keep out hopes up, with a world class defensive unit (including backups that could easily walk into the starting line-up of almost any top team), an elite midfield that is starting to find its balance between stability and creativity, and the attack that consists top talents (yet struggles to convert possession to chances and shots to goals). If the management can address the size – I know I sound like a broken record, but which not only helps with the confidence and satisfaction of the squad players, but also sends our wonderkids to trajectories with much higher ceiling than the current practice implies, furthermore improves their fitness and form if and when they should play in a highly competitive game, as opposed to the last 12 minutes of a cup fixture – then we will be in wonderland.

  • Good observations re Madueke and Martinelli. I think the former is a better baller but yes he needs to score and assist more. Madueke also has a certain energy and positivity that is hard to replace… and he sports an angelic smile which I love.

  • What a great podcast, Stu, thanks (I enjoyed The Great Liam B.’s a lot, too, actually …)
    I was right behind, literally a few feet away (our dear ol’ Stade Robert-Diochon has always been more of a bear pit than a football venue) from Bob in 1969 (one of the two halves, don’t remember which).
    I can’t say I remember details of the game, and certainly not Bob’s performance that day (I don’t think he had much to do tbh), but I clearly remember how my 10-year-old self was under the impression of togetherness – of physical strength too – that oozed out of Mee’s boys that day. I had been used to going to games with my ‘pa for a few years already, but it looked like nothing I had ever seen before … Well, England were World Champions, weren’t they? and the end of the 60s were the leanest of French football’s lean years, so nothing surprising about this, I guess. There was a beauty to it that hooked me well … once and for all as you know guys.
    There were excellent football players in that Rouen team, though, you know, but – just to mention one of the many problems dragging French football down in those days – you wouldn’t believe the state of the one and only pitch ALL teams of the club (including us kids) trained on, then, for instance …

  • Was it this game, LG? The 0-0 draw in the Fairs Cup. I found this clip. You could pause the moments it captures the crowd behind Bobs goal and see if you can spot your young self…

  • Yep, I’d seen that footage before, Stu; I think it still can be found on the site of the 2025 version of the club (they’re doin’ great btw, I might write a few things about ’em later on) somewhere.
    When at the start of the video, Radford shoots just wide, that’s where I am, somewhere behind the ad board “Bayard” of which the last five letters are visible. This is the “North” bank of Diochon, the “Rouen” side, which was very unusual because the “South” bank (the “Elbeuf” side) was our usual haunt, where my ‘pa would always stand, along with his colleagues-buddies.
    We would always turn up late, so I wouldn’t have to stand too long, and my ‘pa was used to elbowing his way through the crowd so as to ask the guys who had turned up earlier and stood right behind the goal (because he wanted the net to prevent my face from being hit by the ball in case a shot went wide), if they were kind enough to make room for his “lilun” – which they always did of course.
    This means most of my early childhood memories of football are visions through a goal net, but funnily enough not of that day; I think I was not far on the left of where Radford’s shot hit the board, because I still have clear visions of this right (from my pov) side of the pitch, how Mee’s lads seemed to develop their game in an organised, disciplined way from there, how big and strong they looked too – but not through a net! This is a b-a-w footage, but you also can guess from it why any other away kit than the holy yellow-and-blue of that night is absolute anathema to me …
    Thing is after setting me up, my dad stepped back up to watch the game, and it’s him I would like to be able to spot. Simple pleasures of the working-class it was, I guess, but I know how happy he was on such nights, sharing – and passing on to – the immense love he had for the beautiful game with his son …

  • “Visions through a goal net”, a fine title for a chapter in your biography, LG.

    My Dad took me to Newmarket Park in Auckland to watch a rugby league game in the 60’s. All the men wore brown trench coats, smoked, swore and, being an evening kick off under lights had a few under their belt already. The air reeked of tobacco fumes, beery breath and, being seven years old and rather short, I went home laid out seatbeltless and asleep on the back seat of Dads Morrie thou’, not knowing the score or anything about the game other than I had held his hand through its entirety.

  • As I grew older, I realized that with what the FC Rouen’s opponents’ goalies were being shouted at by the guys around me, about what their wives were doing with other men while they were freezing their butts and b…s on a strange football pitch, a whole apocryphal kama sutra could have been written. I hope The Great Bob didn’t have any French …
    My ‘ma knew it was so, but she didn’t mind; she had worked a few years – when she first came over to Rouen in ’52 – on Rouen’s Old Market Place (where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake) for the Breton fruit and vegs wholesaling family who had raised my dad. There, language was very … flowery, too; at dinner we often were treated to a “best of” the jokes both of them had heard during the last few days, that was great fun.
    I often thought about the irony of it when I sat important exams, writing very serious papers about the works of “Great Writers”. I often came to think that my parents not being afraid of all the wonderful things you could do with language, might have been what brought me here, among boys and girls who, very obviously, were of a much more “posh” background. It used to relax me a lot …

  • Koeman had Timber play next to Van Dijk v Malta on Thursday, with Jurrien having a licence to push through the lines and connect with midfield and beyond. It’s a trial. Dumfries is a very strong right back and Timber, although relatively small at 179cm, may become his preferred CB partner for Van Dijk…

  • Thanks, T. !
    I saw highlights of the Malta game, Dumfries and our lad seemed to get along just fine indeed.
    You’re packed at the back, aren’t you? Maybe a back-3/back-5 would do the trick allowing you to play most of your defensive talents together, but your culture of attacking football is so deeply rooted that I doubt Koeman will ever pick:
    Verbruggen
    Timber-VanDijk-VandeVen (DeLigt)
    Dumfries-Gravenberch-DeJong-Aké
    Reinjders
    Depay-Malen
    A formidable bunch that would be – impregnable by the look of it … I can assure you Deschamps wouldn’t hesitate one second to sacrifice beauty-art-media praise for a string of 1-0 wins leading to a major title, you know …

  • Great to see your knowledge of Dutch national and club football, L.

    That is a very fine lineup. The Dutch are missing that Van B, Van P kind of CF, and they have been doing so for long. So yes focus on defence/midfield could be it.

    Holland is no longer the progressive nations it once was, and neither of the big J.C.s has much influence these days. Flair and look towards the future have gone. Pragmatism rules and that’s reflected in the football, including the lack of attacking players with swagger and flair.

    Depay and De Jong are the exceptions.

  • You never know with knee injuries … I didn’t expect to get Martin back any time sooner tbh. Silver lining is we’ll need a fully fit whole squad from February onward, and now there’s an outside chance we just might.
    Turning point in Jack’s new life as a coach. The Kenny might become a favoured destination for Hale End scholars in need of a loan making at least a little sense (Jack already has Walters and Bramall in his squad). He could also revive careers that have gone off track, like Patino’s for instance, I wouldn’t be surpised if he should lure Charlie back home during the next TW.
    I’m really happy for him, but I wish the club had brought him home instead, and entrusted him with the U21-U19 when Ali gave us the slip. We’re off to a disgraceful start in the Youth League again this season, there’s no way Jack wouldn’t have done better than that …

  • So many lovely posts/comments on the thread, traversing various topical issues, from tactical formations, to matters of historical interest. I enjoyed going through the lot. Well done.

    No reviews needed as it would seem, justice was done already and nothing to add.

  • So happy for Jack; he has the trappings of a good manager type and I feel he would like to get some success out of Luton and grow in the process. I shall be watching/listening in on Luton’s games till further notice, just to see how Jack is getting along.

    The number of managers who can be termed Arsene Wenger’s protégés is growing. From Vieira, Henry, Cesc, RvP, Gio van Bronkhorst, Jack and Arteta, of course.

  • Very creditable draw for our lads this morning in Norway. May have been different with Haarland and MO8 on the pitch, but watch out World, the Kiwi’s are coming…:)

  • Lol, Stuart. Never reckoned with NZ when it comes to the beautiful game so it would be treat to see the Kiwis bring their grit to the World Cup stage….., if only.

    My star-studded Super Eagles side barely scrapped their way into second in Group C of African qualifiers, sneaking into a potential African play-off placing (November ‘25) with hope to qualify from the International play-offs in March ‘26. It will be nerve-wracking for many. The thing is we started poorly as uncertain management and a bit of ego tripping cost us full points in the early games. We shall see how it goes because I feel the likes of Lookman, Osimhen and Iwobi need that stage as the world would also like to see them.

  • This will be our third world cup, Eris. We went through the group stage unbeaten (including a draw v Italy) the last time we were in the finals.

    Yes, I join you in the hope that the Super Eagles will make it, if only to see Alex there. Always loved him as a player.

  • The 1982 game against Brazil is a classic, Stu – as all the games Brazil played in that tournament were. The All … Whites fought bravely, but this was probably the last truly great Brazilian team, in the “1970” sense of “great”. Socrates-Falcao-Eder … Zico, etc. what a bunch of artists! Hidalgo’s ’82 first-choice XI, with Tigana-Giresse-Platini-Genghini in midfield was probably our best team ever; Brazil- France would have been a final for the ages …
    Just took a look at the play-offs, Eris. A “Way of the Cross” it’s going to be for your boys from now on, to make it to the summer tournament. I just don’t understand how a CF like Osimhen has ended up in Galatasaray … what a waste.

  • Now you mention it, I recall NZ were at the 1982 WC, Stuart. Thanks for the solidarity with Nigeria; most fans didn’t give the team a chance after the slow start in the early games of the group stages.

    LeGall, that French side of ‘82 did pack a great bunch of players. I also liked to watch the likes of Tressor, Battiston, Six and Manuel Amoros. I was also surprised no top side went for Osimhen too; maybe something to do with his temperament …. ?

  • And Rocheteau, my all time favourite French winger. That ’82-’86 French team was fabulous. The 1-1 draw with Brazil in the ’86 World Cup quarter final is the best international game I have ever seen.

    I have Brady’s autobiography, LG. A signed copy, no less. Love the photo of him as a wee boy sporting the fiery red hair.

  • “Championnat National” (French “League One”) tonight:
    FC Rouen 3 – Paris13Atletico 0

    FC Rouen so far:
    P1 GP10 W7 D2 L1 F17 A6 GD+11 Pts23

    Last 5:
    P1 GP5 W5 D0 L0 F9 A0 GD+9 Pts15

    Smells like “Ligue 2” (just sayin’ …)

  • PSG played their Ligue1 game vs RC Strasbourg today, obviously giving them a full extra day before their UCL game away at Leverkusen. Arsenal play the late fixture of the EPL, vs Fulham Away, even though we also play Tuesday night.

    Just feel the English FA need to help the EL teams in Europe some weeks. Of course, I know fixtures are made before the start of the season. But we always have nearly half of those fixtures moved for TV or other reasons.

  • I bought the book when it came out, Stu – but of course mine is unsigned, you privileged Antipodian.
    Love the “Ballard” anecdote, as well as Kieran Gibbs’s homage to his mentor … If only for what these lads’ careers have turned out to be – and there’s much more to the rest of it of course – Liam would be entitled to be as proud of his time at the Academy as of his playing career.

  • Afternoon pals,

    I am in Norwich for a break and will watch the game in a pub. Will try and post something later.

    Good to read your comments; all seem in fine fettle. 🙂

  • Raya
    Timber-Saliba-Gabriel-Calafiori
    Zubimendi-Rice
    Saka-Eze-Trossard
    Gyökeres

    Kepa-White-LewisSkelly-Mosquera- Merino-Dowman-Nørgaard-Nwaneri-Martinelli

    Full strength, no holds barred; I like it.
    Makes sense, too – Atleti plays later on tonight, and they have to make the away trip to London. You’re right about the FA’s general lack of support for English clubs Eris, but in that case their schedule is more punishing than ours.
    Fun games this afternoon, Danny W. got himself a beauty of a winner again …
    COYG

  • Looks like Arteta picked the team with no consideration about the midweek game. I guess priority is the league and any other thing will take care of itself.

    COYG!!

  • Fulham are really making it difficult for us but we look like we can step it up whenever we need to.

    The hosts have had chances while we had, perhaps, the one clear chance from Gyokeres’ palm stinging effort at Leno.

  • A lil’ better after the 35th, but otherwise …
    WTF ?!?
    Let’s just pretend this half didn’t happen, COYG

  • That was one hard earned 3 points. After the lone goal, we did stay back to grind it out and that looked game management instruction. Gyokeres’ wait goes on for a goal to break the barren period (not that I worry for him because he is getting chances).

    Atleti have a late fixture too today; that’s a surprise seeing as they come to the Emirates Tuesday. I will be paying attention to their results to see if they hold back a bit to conserve energy.

    Still top of the league and onto the next game.

  • Clean sheet and a set piece … Dunford, what about writing a backup anthem? A rocker, this time …
    We still rely way too much on Bukayo’s magic imo. But then again this is very likely to change when Martin Ø/Madueke/Kai are back, and when all the new signings have found their feet – some are still wobbling, aren’t they?

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