Arsenal FC vs Everton FC Emirates Stadium, London Friday, April 23, 2021 3:00 PM EST / 20:00 GMT NBCSN I didn't bother with an image because I don't give a rat's a**. For the past 9 hours I've gone kayaking, done housework, took my son to his mother, and made dinner. All the while I've thought of little else but how much I want to beat the ever lovin' f*** out of this man. Arsenal's opponent for Friday is a proud club. One with a global following. Owner of the 4th most domestic championships among English football clubs. One of the most historic brands in England and the Premiership. One that's on the cusp of constructing a brand new state of the art stadium to help them keep up with the big boys. Yet none of that matters since they had the audacity of not being among the clubs without wealthier ownership at this point in time, and as a result they'll be shunted to the back room of football relevance while Tottenham, owners of 7 fewer English titles than Everton, gets ushered to the front of the queue. The Euro Super League is coming and the Toffees are being punished for having built their shiny new digs 3 years too late. Think they'll want to make a statement on Friday? One can imagine them beating an enigmatic Arsenal and then turning to the gods of footballing TV and asking "Is this what you left me for?!" I will root for Arsenal this season. I'll pray this Euro Super Greed crap gets rebuked hard, and maybe even pushes the bullies of the game back to the ground for a spell, and then I'll pray Arsenal find some way to redeem their character in the future. If not, then it's clear Arsenal and I won't need each other anymore. Until that fate is certain I'll say "Up the Gunners!" But pardon me if I don't also enjoy a smile if Everton win. After all, it's not like Arsenal will be earning their place among Europe's elite via domestic qualification. They've already bought their way in.
Arsenal planned for the next 10 years in 2005 based on false promises made by Uefa RE Financial fair play and Uefa couldn’t do the walk on the grounds. Arsenal stabbing Uefa in the back is not bad for me. Uefa kept failing with their promises— Osman 🎗 (@OsmanZtheGooner) April 19, 2021 that's a fair point though
Well @GunnerJacket, wouldn't it be nice if your current emotions were no more complicated than feeling a tinge of guilt at still having MD thread duties, after today's "result"? Instead I guess you're feeling something akin to deep shame for our beloved club, whose owners (and management?) are showing their true color. True greed. BUT I make a motion: let's allow this match thread to be focused on the football, which is certainly what Arteta and the boys are going to have to do for the remainder of the season. And try to push aside the furor that is the potential ESL, or at least push that obsessive discussion to it's rightful place... The "Mikel Arteta is the New Manager" thread.
Yeah, lots of tricky decisions for Mikel for Friday. Including GK where Ryan arguably deserves more PT (as the boss alluded to), there league is gone, etc. But OTOH, if you're planning on using Leno for the following (huge) cup match, do you risk him getting a bit rusty by leaving him out this game? Then there's LB. Do you give Xhaka a break from that role, partly b/c he got some sort of knock last time, and also he's probably not a strong defensively as Cedric? When it comes to facing the likes of James. Thankfully the completely distracting shitshow which was the Super League has largely subsided, so with any luck he can get some quality time with his squad to prepare. Something Chelsea apparently didn't quite have the luxury of doing in the past few days.
ESL was a shit idea but people acting like UEFA and the CL are some bastion of football when the ECL is changing formats for the purposes of more matches, meaning more money for them as they dish out ******** all to the clubs. Clubs should have stuck to the ESL and used it to fix the CL. Instead we now have clubs with tails between their legs and UEFA back running the ship.
You might wanna check out the substantial discussion of the ESL in the Other Footy Teams thread. And hopefully this thread can stay focused on our football. And Friday’s match. And therefore be a little psychological break from the shitshow that this past 5 days has been!
Done! We are winning this match 3-2. Rob Holding will score. I actually think Everton have been very up and down lately, unlike earlier in the season, and will be very gettable. That said I also thought we would hammer Fulham.
Eddie starts, Martinelli is on the bench. 📋 Tonight's team news...🏴 @EddieNketiah9 leading the line🇬🇭 @ThomasPartey22 starts🏴 @CalumChambers95 at right back#️⃣ #ARSEVE— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 23, 2021
Would like to have seen Martinelli start at ST but I get not throwing him out there now given that he has never played ST under Arteta. Little surprised though that Balogun didn't make the bench with Laca & PEA out. What's the over-under on seeing Willian today?
Yeah, I'm a little surprised by that. Unless he's resting them for the UEL match, but that's 6 days away, so probably not. I could say the same about Martinelli, that he's saving him for Europa, but I wouldn't count on that. Obviously ST has become our biggest positional concern at the moment. With Laca & Auba unlikely for the semifinal.
As questionable as it is for tight knit protests in the 100's or 1000's during this pandemic... I completely understand and support them doing this. When they feel as strongly about something as most English fans do about this issue. Lots of us in the USA did something similar last summer.
Our boys have come out on the front foot. Several dangerous chances in the first 3 mins, including a sweet cross by Chambers that no one latched onto. COYG!!!!!
NBC or IMG should turn off the stupid fake crowd noise and let the real fan noise filter through from outside.
I love the way ESR just wants to move the ball forward. He came back to take the ball off of Party & Dani, and within 1 second he played a 30 yard pass up to Chambers on the right flank. Seems so simple, I'm not sure why more of our players don't gravitate to that.
I like the way we're playing. We just need to get the ball a little further up the pitch, closer to their goa, and then be clinical with a finish or two. Otherwise, Everton look dangerous enough to score against us, even with their 40% possession.