Back from the interlull, walking wounded in the midfield but the Premier League waits for no man. Squeak out a 1-0 here. Kick off is at 9 AM Eastern/3 AM Hawaiian/11 PM AEST for our Aussie posters
Trossard and Martinelli to start if Odegaard isn't fit? Will Mikel put in Nwaneri? It's gonna be very interesting and all the sweeter to beat Spuds with a weakened side
Good to get this thread up, with all the injuries & absences that've beset us right at the start of the season. BTW, I have the KO as 9:00 ET. Can someone confirm? As for the midfield?? If both Rice & Ode are out, and if Jesus is fit and playing at CF, maybe we could see some creative trio/quad combo of Havertz/Trossard/Partey/Jorginho? Ugh, it could be messy. Cannot imagine throwing young Nwaneri into the toilet bowl!
'tis 9 am EASTERN, my bad. Think my citrix window on my work computer thought i was in a different time zone and screwed up my thinking. edited the opening post!
Looks like left ankle inversion (lateral ankle sprain) for #Arsenal captain Martin Odegaaard. Hard to tell severity of these based on video or pain response but at best case (grade 1), he's day to day and race to fitness for the NLD. Was able to walk off which very likely rules… https://t.co/ek1XRWGt3m— Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT (@3cbPerformance) September 9, 2024
Plus: He's not in a boot when getting into the plane? Left ankle just in a sock. And as the PT guy post said, he walked off the pitch on his own. Minus: Hard to imagine him being anywhere near 100% for NLD If we could get him back 100% in 12 days for Citeh away, I'd be thrilled. But if it turn out to be 2-3 weeks I'd still be relatively pleased. Gonna be some "interesting" decisions in MF by Mikel and his staff
I heard that we will not be wearing red and white this weekend. And that we can blame that on both PGMOL and Adidas, perhaps. The word is, there’s too much white on our shirts, which, presumably confuses us with spuds’ home kit?!! LOL
This season’s north London derbies will have a similar feel to them with the usual excitement and passion, however they will have a different look than seasons gone by. That’s because both teams will be wearing their away strips in the fixtures this campaign, after the PGMOL and Premier League ruled that our 2024/25 home kit features too much white, thus clashing with Tottenham’s traditional colours, even with the option of red shorts and socks for us, which was also discussed. As a result, for the first time in recent ‘NLD’ history, we’ll be wearing our changed colours, with our black adidas away kit being donned at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where we’ll aim to clinch a third-straight victory at the venue. The decision by the PGMOL and Premier League will also mean Tottenham will wear different colours when they visit Emirates Stadium in January.
There aren't many teams that could cope with three players being out in midfield at the same time. This is a crazy stuff happens moment.
There aren't many teams with a chance for the title. We do but we didn't treat this last window as a team preparing to compete for the title. We had obvious gaps in the midfield that were barely addressed. The depth was loaned or sold away with no suitable replacements brought in.
Your first sentence is true (I hope). But part of having a shot at the title is being lucky with injuries. Man City are probably the only team in the world that could absorb significant injuries, and there are 115 reasons for that. And even they can't absorb Haaland or Rodri being out for a long time.
They can replace Haaland just fine. He missed 7 matches last season and they got 19 points from those. Harder this season with Alvarez gone, but they'll figure it out. And while missing Rodri last season was a backbreaker for them (3 losses in the 3 matches he was out for), he hasn't played yet this season and they're 3 for 3.
For us to beat City, we needed to add quality depth during the summer. We went the opposite route and now have less quality depth.
Ya know, Jorginho quickly came to mind when I thought about missing Rice. So then when Odegaard went down, I found myself almost assuming Jorge would play. But then I started to have some worries. And in particular I kept asking myself why has he not played lately? Could it be he’s not really 100% fit? Or he’s not in good form? Or the age curve suddenly consumed him? Has there been any credible reporting in recent weeks about his status??
Likely won't happen but with MO & Rice out I would be very tempted to run a 4-2-2-2 with Partey & Jorge in a double pivot and Havertz & Jesus in a double false 9 setup.
Is Jesus healthy? From MA's presser: The Brazilian striker returned to training after missing the matches against Aston Villa and Brighton with a groin problem, and Mikel hopes that if all goes well between now and Sunday that the Brazilian striker could be back. “Gabby was out there," he revealed. "He's got another session tomorrow and if everything goes well he will be ready to be selected in this squad which is great news for us.”
Nketiah 1082 Ramsdale 540 ESR 353 Vieira 297 Nelson 268 Cedric 62 Elneny 28 League minutes for players who left, I'm not seeing a loss of quality. Replacing them with Timber (who played 71 min), Nwaneri (who played 14) plus Sterling, Merino, Calafiori and Neto.