Image courtesy of www.gunnerstown.com Arsenal FC vs Newcastle United FC Emirates Stadium, London April 1, 2019 3:00 PM EST NBCSN “"Elegant is not a word many people associate with Newcastle. Urban? Yes. Dynamic? Possibly. But elegant? Hmm.” - National Geographic Traveller "People keep asking if I'm back and I haven't really had an answer...But now, yeah, I'm thinkin' I'm back!" - John Wick ~ Lo and behold, peeps, the international break is over and the Premier League season home stretch begins in earnest. Our heroes currently sit 4th in the table with just 8 matches left. Continue to show their mettle and they're poised to land a Champions League spot, and possibly enjoy a special holiday along the way. What's more the run in will show the final state of progress under new coach Unai Emery - Vital understanding as we frame our collective lamentations for the upcoming summer transfer window. Newcastle comes in 3-2-1 in their last 6 since Miguel Almiron joined the squad, though it is the burgeoning partnership of Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon that has had the biggest affect of late. Their play remains enigmatic - beating Manchester City but losing to WHU - but they've shown hustle and played most every contest close for the past few months. And at 8 games to go they're not quite assured of safety in the Premiership so they'll still be trying for points, knowing Arsenal is likewise an enigmatic performer. Aaron Ramsey is a probable scratch from the game due to injuries sustained while on Wales duty, so plan your fantasy leagues accordingly. Whether or not that impacts the initial game plan only Emery knows, seeing as his lineups are about as consistent as a Keno score, but fans have enjoyed seeing a more attacking formation lately and the team has seen some results. So why change the formula against a team not known as a defensive stalwart, right? I reserve the right to amend this prediction as we get closer to game time, but for now I'm feeling plucky. Arsenal isn't a wall on defense but they get the job done. 3-1, and the home fans end their Monday on a high.
Smash'em On a most unrelated note, Newcastle Brown Ale is now made by Lagunitas in Chicago. Weird. https://www.americancraftbeer.com/lagunitas-to-brew-newcastle-brown-ale/
In case anyone missed it, here's the highlights from our match in Dubai over the break https://www.arsenal.com/news/watch-all-goals-our-win-over-al-nasr Nice to see full run outs for Saurez & Mavro... 2 players who I suspect have impending decisions... about possible purchase or loan respectively. Jenks looked like a friggin #9 on his goal! John-Jules (who?) with the wonderful opportunism of a pick-pocket, followed by the cool, calm of an assassin. Can we see more of that please? And just to make the scoreline interesting, right on cue, our defense gives up a stupid clumsy PK near the end... but guess what? It wasn't the usual Mustafi to blame... it was the rarely seen Pleguezuelo! Man I gotta learn his nickname... or maybe not bother, since he may not be long for an Arsenal shirt? Anyway, hope they're all mentally rejuvenated and adjust well to a 30-40F drop in temperatures on returning. Ready for the last 10-13 games of a critical run-in period!
Team News from Arsenal.com says: Torreira (suspended) Ramsey (thigh) back in full training Monreal (calf) back in full training Lacking any more nuanced comments from Emery, I'd guess that Ramsey & Monreal are iffy starters. Also, I'd heard that Sokratis & Kolasinac both missed some playing time with their countries (due to little insuries?) so hopefully they're both fit & read to go... Monday & beyond. In order to pull off our 2 remaining goals for the season, I think the gods of fitness are going to have to treat us kindly. Edit: After watching the training video on Arsenal.com where neither Aaron nor Granit were active, I wonder if they're most iffy for Monday. But everyone else looked up for it, including Sok & Nacho, so our back line should be solid. Of course if we play a 4 then the RB is always a crapshoot.
If this doesn't put a big smile on your face, then I don't know what to tell you... https://player.arsenal.com/video/check-out-our-best-goals-home-newcastle And Theo's goal... I could watch that every day for the rest of my life. And it's not even the only one he scored after being knocked to the floor.
Yup! And big reps to Moussa, Hugo and Tony today. [emoji4] If we can just play to our level, or at least get some good luck like Pool got today, then we're golden!
We need this Dub. A chance to go 3rd and get closer to UCL football. Let's see what Emery and this team are made of.
Fairly unscientific but yesterday's training pics posted on Arsenal.com featured Ramsey prominently, along w/ Monreal, Sokratis, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Elneny, Guendouzi, Iwobi, Mkhitarian, Suarez, Ozil, Lacazette & Aubamayang... along w/ a few others. But I did not see Koscielny, Kolasanic, Maitland-Niles or Xhaka. As I said, I'm not sure how much one can read into this, but it's a little interesting. Edit: I just watched Emery's presser and he said Xhaka had been given another day's rest to recover.
Agreed. Trips to Everton and Wolves won't be easy for this enigmatic club, and the Europa League has a handful of decent sides remaining, as well, so Arsenal need every point they can muster, especially at home. Just win the game that's in front of you and each step will bring the focus and belief into clearer sight. Gotta meeting during game time today so... C'MON YOU GUNNERS!
Xhaka & Kos out of the squad today. Knew about Granit but what happened to Laurent??? Missing him is a general concern. Edit: The other very specific concern is Mustafi in a back 3! And playing in the center???! Ugh. Edit: Luckily it was just NBC who came up with the central Mustafi prediction... don't know how they came up with that. Mustafi ended up playing on the right side as usual. Phew. Just praying he doesn't gift the opposition another goal.
Arsenal 19 Leno 20 Mustafi 5 Papastathopoulos 18 Monreal 15 Maitland-Niles 8 Ramsey 29 Guendouzi 31 Kolasinac 10 Özil 17 Iwobi 9 Lacazette Substitutes 1 Cech 4 Elneny 7 Mkhitaryan 14 Aubameyang 22 D Suárez 25 Jenkinson 49 Nketiah
There goes Almiron trying to con the refs again. I just pray that Anthony Taylor and all the other EPL refs don't fall for his antics.
We should be 1-0 up. A well worked corner with Ramsey johnny on the spot to slot it home. But it was called back for a teeny-tiny pull of the arm/sleeve by Sokratis? That looked way soft to me!
Sokratis is usually pretty solid on 1-v-1's against a CF. But that one he got totally wrong, and Rondon owned him. Luckily their ensuing corners led to nothing.
Watching Newcastle take liberties with their throw-in location, I just had a bright idea. Give the AR's the magic spray too. Let them put a little mark down on where THEY judge the ball to have crossed the line. That would fix the throw-in cheating just like it did for defensive walls. Maybe I should suggest it to Don Garber? Edit: I just realized the problem... the AR's only run one half of the pitch on their side. So there's no-one really close enough to 50% of the side lines to actually do this. OK, so it wouldn't be a perfect solution but maybe use it when you can, and at least clean up half of the cheating?
ABA on the bench. Too conservative for me. Mustafi forcing passes and continue s to be liability. Ramsey playing like a champ again.