Kickoff from Ashburton Grove takes place at 2:00pm GMT/9:00am EST/4:00am HST. USA will provide the live pictures in…USA. The last few weeks have been no fun, but we’re still in a strong position in the league. Win here, then we have a nice long break to get healthy and get a couple more bodies back from AFCON before our next match. Not a lot to say about the game itself. Let’s punk these white supremacist assholes. Up the Arsenal.
Burnley has 1 win this season, and it was in October. Their leading scorer available for this match is Ben Mee, a centerback, who has 2 goals. Run it up.
If you look just at table position we should roll them. But of course things are more nuanced than that. Both teams have been fairly decimated by Covid/injuries/Afcon/etc, each of having requested and received postponements in the past week. And once again we must employ a make-make-shift-mid-field, perhaps the same one that played 48hrs ago (Lokonga & Odegaard)... thanks to our 2 best MF'ers opting to take themselves out of contention with senseless red cards. Hopefully Tomiyasu is fit to play RB again... actually quite a bit more fit than vs Liverpool where he looked subpar, and would've ridden the bench if Cedric & Chambers weren't injured. And hopefully the fact that neither Tierney nor Tavares was seen in yesterday's training is only to give their bodies some rest. But some pundits have said we might also have a bit of LB crisis brewing. That 18 day break can't come soon enough!
If true, we should switch to a back 3 and play Saka and Smith Rowe as wingbacks. I trust that setup a lot more than trying to force a back 4 and playing like...Gabriel at left back or something.
Interesting idea, if unlikely. Still it got me thinking of Saka at LB... remember those days?... he was so good there that we thought that might be his future!
True, but I really like the idea of a Gabriel - White - Tomiyasu centerback trio as an alternative to our usual setup. We don't really have the personnel to do it regularly, but against Burnley, we could swing it. I'd prefer to keep Chambers out of the XI if at all possible. Ditto Cedric. I don't trust either of them.
Yes. Had that thought also but then since Chambers was on the DL last match (I heard), I decided not to go there. Plus it makes me more than a little nervous.
Or IF we were to play the rare 3, maybe swap in holding? Make Tommy a RWB and as you suggested, Saka at LWB? Chances of Arteta doing anything like that? Slim to none.
Man the boss just doesn't have confidence in Chambers, preferring to move White out of his usual place and replacing him with Holding. And with Tommy not even in the squad makes me wonder could he be having fitness/recovery issues from Covid? (I never heard it said specifically what has been keeping him out) Pretty clearly the best Xi we can come up with right now, but just like last time, there's that youth-project, somewhat scary bench again. COYG!!!!
Not sure if I should puff out my chest with Arteta going with my White at RB and Holding at RCB idea or cry because he went with my amateurish, central defense weakening idea.
8' and Burnley just go very very close to a goal. Good save by Ramsdale, then a slight imprecision by Mee. As lowly as Burnley are we HAVE to score against them... and soon! p.s. Ramsdale subsequently came close to coughing it up within his 6-box... yikes.
Agreed. He's shown shakiness in the last few matches that was not evident before. Keepers have ups and downs just like any other player, often psychology based. That's what I think. Edit: and right on cue he flails on a punch and just about gave up a goal. Looks like we aren't likely to keep a clean sheet today, so we NEED TO SCORE first!
20' Two point blank shot attempts by Odegaard then Laca... both missed. Either one should've made us 1-0, but alas... Better crowd noise today in the league than last Thursday in the cup. I attribute that partly to all the youngins in the stadium last time.
Feels like a match advertising Arsenal's need for a central midfielder. Meanwhile, for a hot second there I thought Burnley's kit sponsor was a porn site.