The winless run is at 9, 11 matches without a clean sheet. 11th in the league, 4 points clear of relegation. Things have gotten so dire that I'm making this thread 12 hours before kickoff because no one else wants to, and I'm not even adding images, because exerting myself more feels like more than the club deserves at the moment. West Ham, for their part, are 16th in the league, 1 point clear of Southampton in 18th. They've won 1 of their last 10 matches, falling off a cliff since Arsenal Legend Lukasz Fabianski suffered a hip injury. He's still out, as is Jack Wilshere. This is where the streak ends, right? Kickoff is at 3 PM Eastern, 20:00 GMT, on NBCSN.
I really hate WHU, so if I'm bring honest with myself my enthusiasm today is more about hoping WHU lose than hoping Arsenal wins, because I've come to not expect the latter anymore.
The table today is sobering. We sit 11th place on 19pts. WIN and we'll have 22pts which will equal 3 teams above us: Sheffield, Palace & Newcastle. LOSE and we stay on 19pts, along with Brighton & West Ham. The company we keep today is sobering. On one hand it feels like there's only one way to go but up. OTOH if we lose, we will be 6-7 places and 4 pts above relegation.
London Derby I always disliked WHU they are a scummy lot. We got to win this one right? This is a relegation battle for MNF. Lineup wise let's play a 4-3-3. Please start Pepe, Tierney and Bellerin.
📋 Here's our team news for tonight...🇨🇮 Pepe starts🇧🇷 Martinelli also in the XI🏴 Tierney comes into back four🏴 Chambers partners Sokratis #WHUARS— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 9, 2019
That's a lineup that should easily be able to beat half the teams in the league. We'll see what actually happens.
As well as he's playing, he's not starting ahead of Auba I think this is progress, dropping Laca will help us a lot. Having a little more pace up top is good. Like Bigman I'm worried about Xhaka in essentially a two-man midfield though
Who knows how things will turn out, but here are some things some of us like to see: Auba - alone up front Pepe - starting! out wide Gab - glad to see in the line-up even if not as striker Ozil - playing centrally Torreira - at DM it seems Tierney & Bellerin - both in at same time Sokratis + Chambers - in lieu of Luiz + Mustafi Leno - this season's MVP
I'm not convinced Mbartinelli is good enough on the ball to play on the wing - he's a stopgap. It has to be either Nelson or Saka, neither of whom are ready yet.
According to Neil Ashton on NBCSN, Edu is pissed that Ljungberg dropped Luiz from the starting XI. To that, I ask, what ********ing matches has Edu been watching? David Luiz has been, beyond argument, the worst player for this team all season. If Edu really thinks Luiz is the answer, then Edu has no place in the player acquisition process. Laughable.
I'm not sure that this is the case - Luiz has made mistakes, but he's also important if you want to play the ball out from the back.
Luiz isn't good unless you're playing 3 at the back. His defense is just incredibad. He and Xhaka have basically the same impact on the game.
Eek: Mesut Ozil's 12 most recent starts in domestic gamesLLLDDWDDLDDLArsenal's most recent 12 domestic games where Ozil hasn't startedWLWWWLDWDWLD— Orbinho (@Orbinho) December 9, 2019
Given the paucity of skill among all the central defenders: A) No one should be pissed about any changes because there is no talent gap to suggest a decided advantage with either player. Not like you're going from Adams to some fan put of the stands, anyway. B) What they should be pissed about is having to choose between different grades of crap. They should be pissed about having to consider Luiz at all, not that he's not starting.
I'm no huge Ozil fan but that seems like a kind of stupid post/stat. There are so many other factors/variables involved in those games listed.
I'm sort of watching on a dodgy NBC stream. And oh god, I just noticed MIKE DEAN is the ref tonite. Praying he doesn't ruin this game.