Premier League - Matchday 5 - Burnley v. Arsenal - September 18, 2021

Just watched the match... a somewhat fortunate 1-Nil-to-The Arsenal me thinks. As correct as that VAR decision was, we've definitely seen those go the other way. Also Burnley were profligate in their shooting.

But I really liked the resilience and calmness of our defense. And Tomiyasu is a proper defender!! Gabriel too. Wish I could say the same for White... but if he can improve the quality and consistency of his defensive actions, then we should have a keeper. And speaking of keeper, it does seem to be Ramsdale's job to lose now... wow, I didn't quite see that coming so quickly.

Not sure if we should be a little concerned that Partey & Tierney were subbed. Maybe it was just rotational, given our midweek match, but at least in Thomas's case it looked like he asked to come off... troubling? Tierney who knows... he was cramping shortly before, but then I heard the PBP guy say he was holding his thigh after a heavy challenge.

p.s. How about that ballsy incisive run by Tavares at 93'! Direct sprint with the ball, down the middle of the pitch, from box to box. Wow!

Onward!

 

I think Partey was suffering from cramps. Not sure about Tierney.

 

Tierney cramped up and one of his teammates helped him stretch the cramp out a few minutes before he went off and Arteta said they were both suffering from cramps,

 

I think the pitch was shit which slowed down a lot of passes

I’m
Not worried about white

 

Phew!

 

I have seen some people complaining about the last two matches but lets be honest last season at this time, we drop points.

 

Hope you’re good to do the following thread from your vaca.

 

have a lovely vacation, homie.

 

so, what do you dread more for the NLD? craig pawson officiating or having xhaka* back?

Craig Pawson will be officiating the north London derby. pic.twitter.com/2ArAcjPJD0

— Orbinho (@Orbinho) September 20, 2021

*for the record: i actually like him next to partey. i don't necessarily like him coming back rusty in NLD. and i don't like him playing if his head isn't on straight.

 

And the Brentford loss to open the season doesn't look nearly as bad now seeing how well they are a legit side well-positioned to stay up this season.

Arseblog discussed Xhaka’s return on today’s podcast. I forget who mentioned it, but it was pointed out he usually comes back pretty sharp after committing stupid mistakes.

He’s rested, and he provides some steel in defense. I won’t be upset if he starts or sees considerable time. It’s nice to feel like we have good options in midfield with Lokonga and AMN being solid cover or spot-starters, if needed.

 

Arsenal Twitter (tm) is going to melt down when Xhaka starts the derby, but it’s probably the right call.

I’m going to get creamed for this one. Paging @And_ROOS

 

Twitter will be an absolute dumpster fire this week.
For everyone.
Arsenal wins? We go equal points with Spurs who have gone on a weird downward drop in form with Kane being hot garbage and everyone saying Spurs messed up not selling him when they could have. Bonus points if one of our new signings gets the wins, or the memes if we won off a Saka penalty.

If theres a draw, itll only be a shit show if something happens during the match.

If Spurs win, and its due to a Xhaka mistake/red card etc, well Twitter will melt.

Honestly I hope we go with the team from the Burnley match and have Xhaka on the bench. He doesn't deserve to be a walk up start, his form doesn't demand it.

 

Big chances and goals scored, and the final scoreline is all I care about at the moment.
Have we had a big chance? Does Odes FK count as a big chance considering the distance from goal? Or is it an open play stat only?

 

According to the chart we’ve had 3 big chances, better than only Sp*rs and Villa. It isn’t open-play only (penalties are counted as big chances), but Ødegaard’s free-kick would go down as quite a low-value chance.

As @The Jitty Slitter says, though, it’s way too early for any signal to cut through the noise at this point, so this is all useless.

 

Assuming the back 5 stay the same and Partey and Aubameyang start, who does Xhaka replace from the Burnley lineup? The one-for-one would be Odegaard given the role he played on the left side and dropping deep, but I don't see that happening. So it's one of Saka, Pepe or ESR and a change back to the 4-2-3-1?

The NLD lineup will tell us a lot about where Arteta is at. Does he fall back and "play it safe" and put his veteran, experienced midfield that he trusts as a leader back in the lineup for a big derby? Or does he embrace change and youth and go without Xhaka?

 

All of this assumes that all our players show up at Emirates on time...

 

i'm not yet trying to claim to be a fan of ramsdale but i appreciate the hell out of this manner of cross claiming: