Graphic courtesy of arsenal-mania.com Everton FC vs. Arsenal FC Goodison Park, Liverpool April 7, 2019 - 9:00 AM EST NBCSN "When you do well for a team like Everton, it's easier to go into a top team and establish yourself." - Romelu Lukaku Onward the season goes as Arsenal look to take another step closer toward securing a CL spot and removing ever more rust that had gathered under Wenger's later years. Arsenal have won 3 on the trot and shown moments of both resolve and beauty along the way but they've also had classic moments of asinine blunders to leave any a Gooner groaning. Arsenal are a strong side but no one will confuse them with Man City at the moment. Everton, meanwhile, have likewise shown strong form of late and despite sitting in 10th place at 20 points behind Arsenal the Toffees have claimed 10 of 15 coming into this match, including a draw with Liverpool and the loss coming from a tough 3-2 loss at Newcastle. Manager Marco Silva and his players seem to be finally getting onto the same page, playing more to their strengths and not letting opponents simply dictate play. Zouma and Digne have proved apt in managing their defense while Richarlison and Dominic Calvin-Lewis have pushed an attack that usually creates more threatening shots then some of the other mid-table sides. They like to spread the field and will try to aggressively hound the Gunner's midfield. No roster surprises coming into the match of which I'm aware. Arsenal have been woeful away from home but that has included much more difficult away grounds (including all the top 6) and arguably this is the first time Arsenal have played with belief at this stage of the season in some time. Onward... and upward.
Except if you consider that Ramsey was added to our DL with "cramp". I kid you not! It must be something a tad worse than temporary cramp to induce Arsenal.com editors to put him on this list. I wouldn't expect him to start. But if recent lineups are any prediction we should see Mesut out there again. And I wonder what's up with Xhaka's groin(?) If he's not ready, we've got Torreira available again, right? (or does he have 1 more game to serve) And I'm hoping Kos is 100% again to rekindle our best CB pairing.
Must win match. Yanited dropped points, but Spuds and Chelski picked up wins. Game in hand, but pressure is on to keep this upward momentum. We have an easier run in, so no real excuses. Nervy 2-1 win.
Frankly I'm not so sure. Aresenal doesn't have any road trips vs another top 6 side but instead they visit the teams currently sitting 7-10! And each of those teams has notched wins vs a top 6 club. On the one hand that doesn't bode well for Arsenal, but on the bright side I hope it means the club will be all the more focused with each match. Literally a classic one-match-at-a-time scenario.
As per Arsenal.com today: Torreira is still suspended. Koscielny, Ramsey & Xhaka are all in doubt fitness-wise... still "to be assessed" ahead of Sunday. p.s. Nice of them to "clarify" Ramsey's injury as "groin" not "cramp". What were they thinking?!
Ouch... so Duzy & ElNeny at CM and only Sokratis & Mustafi healthy at CB??? We better score atleast 3
I would start both our strikers and put Iwobi deeper in the mean time. It's a little bit of squeeky bum time atm.
Agree. 4-3-1-2 / 4-4-2 diamond... ---------- PAE ---- Laca ---------- ---------------- Ozil ----------------- --- Iwobi --------------- Duezy --- --------------- ElNeny -------------- Kola - Sokratis - Mustafi - AMN
Yeah, and 2 out of 3 have groin injuries. Those are notoriously slow to recover from. I suspect both Xhaka & Ramsey may be iffy for our whole run-in.
There is literally nothing more Emery at Arsenal Football club right now than Denis Suarez. If you're gonna claim top 4, play your hand.
Forget just "top 4", finish above Scums and go for TOP THREE!!! Claim third OUTRIGHT and an automatic UCL Group Stage birth, let Shit "claim the 4th place trophy" (go to the UCL playoff stage), or, better yet, United if they don't watch themselves!!! If you ask me, I'd rather have Tottenham play Europa and have United in the UCL playoff stage instead!!! No guarantee that United will even make it past the UCL playoff stage. Let The Russians/Scots/Greeks/Turkish/Eastern European clubs have them for lunch there!!!
I can imagine the awesome site of Galatasaray fans lighting up the flares at the all-new Shite Hart Lane and hopefully torching that shithouse, just like they did to The Emirates a few years back, as you may recall:
Evertonian Roger Bennett was the guest on the latest Arsecast and he's his typical combination of humor & insight. https://arseblog.com/2019/04/episode-520-greyjoy/
What kits will we be wearing tomorrow morning at 6:00 am coming out of the tunnel? I would normally think we would be in our red/white kits but because Everton wear both white shorts and socks at home will we be unearthing our (seldom-used) red shorts and socks or will be be in our turquoise third kits???
So, Elneny + Guendouzi it is! And Auba on the bench again. In a more positive note perhaps, Ramsey made that bench too... Arsenal 19 Leno 20 Mustafi 5 Papastathopoulos 18 Monreal 15 Maitland-Niles 4 Elneny 29 Guendouzi 31 Kolasinac 10 Özil 7 Mkhitaryan 9 Lacazette Substitutes 1 Cech 8 Ramsey 12 Lichtsteiner 14 Aubameyang 17 Iwobi 22 D Suárez 25 Jenkinson Referee: Kevin Friend
Michael Keane comes down with some kind of illness just before KO so Jagielka replaces him. That might be a tiny break for us. COYG!!!!
Not exactly loving the offensive potential of that lineup but given the circumstances it is what it is. If Elneny can at least do his part defensively the club still has a decent chance. C'mon you Gunners!
Not sure why the Morris Dancing tune at Goodison doesn't get the full YNWA treatment. It's magnificent.