Premier League Brighton & Hove Albion vs The Arsenal Amex Stadium Saturday, June 20 3 PM GMT (10 AM EST) NBCSN (US) Right, then. Nothing says shaking off a bad day at the office like taking a trip to the beach, eh? Maybe the lads can hang out at Palace Pier or visit the local toy museum to distract them from the shambles that is the state of their defense. Maybe some oceanfront yoga will do the trick? *sigh* At this point it might actually be best to get back into a match. Brighton come into the contest seated 15th but a mere 4 points above relegation. They'll come out knowing Arsenal are thin in central defenders and emotionally wounded, so this will be a crucial test for Mikel Arteta to help the Gunners find any resolve. The good news is Brighton aren't Man Citeh, especially in attacking pedigree. Plus, hopefully the Gunners plan to play the match with 11 men for the full 90 minutes. Best news of all, due to his red card Luiz can't feature. Seeing as the man directly accounts for 18% of Arsenal's goals conceded that has to mean something, right? Expect Arteta to emphasize offense not only to relieve defensive pressure but to re-energize a lot that didn't get off a shot on the Citeh goal. I'm guessing Arsenal gets 1-2. Will a makeshift defense make it count?
Is there a resurgence of the virus in England? Today 3 baseball teams shut down their training facilities and a golfer tested positive. It's because we're a nation of idiots, but I was wondering if our brothers-in-arms were having the same problem.
Good catch @GunnerJacket to start the new thread... slipped my mind entirely. With this crazy congested fixture run-in, it's going to be really hard to a) get back in the swing of following, and b) keep on top of our schedule. And if our team plays as shit as we did Weds, then it's gonna take a village to keep the matchday threads humming along. Not to mention any of the old regulars "attending" the threads! I for one will try to be here. And one has to hope we turn a little corner after Mikel erases the last match from his hard drive.
📋 Today's team news is in!🇨🇮 Nicolas Pepe starts🇫🇷 @LacazetteAlex leads the attack🏴 @RobHolding95 partners @MustafiOfficial#️⃣ #BHAARS— Arsenal (@Arsenal) June 20, 2020
My bad on the day. Got the date right, tho. Ozil makes the bench. Maybe this guy will be decent someday. C'mon you Gunners!
That's what NBC is speculating. Would be a surprise. But could be. Should be interesting. p.s. Ozil benched again. That's 4 straight Arsenal managers who've had issues with him. Hmm.
Those cardboard fans sure make a lot of noise. Impressive. More importantly, I'm really really hoping that Rob Holding has something good to show us today! COYG!!!!!
I'm not sure of our exact shape but it looks like Laca is playing as CF up top, and also we're playing a back 3.
Saka looks bright so far. And he just hits the bar!!! Edit: Did we sign his friggin contract yet??!!!
For those of you watching on TV (NBCSN) see if you notice a slight diminishment of the fake crowd noise if you switch to the SAP - Spanish feed (which is actually still in English). It seems different/subtler to me, so I'm sticking with that.
Not much chance to guage Arsenal's intent to press but the team seems better suited to a dry pitch with their passing.