By Bulldog Drummond
- Edu to Forest, just as we were noting their figures were misleading
- Arsenal, injuries, and the curious rise of the Forest
As things stand Arsenal are outside the magical top eight in the extended Champions League chart – but only just and indeed only because one game was drawn.
Inter Milan whom we are about to play, have the same number of points but are two places above Arsenal through having a two-goal better goal difference. The top eight go through to the next round. The next group of clubs after the top eight (which Arsenal currently head) have a two-legged play-off to see who qualifies.
Inter Milan, had what was for them an exceptionally long period away from the highlights of the Italian league between 2011/12 and 2018/19. During that eight year period they finished between fourth and ninth and won no cups, nor come to that anything else.
However, in the last five years, they have turned themselves around winning the league twice coming second twice and third once. In addition, they have won the Coppa Italia twice and were runners-up in the Champions League in 2023. So not a club to be taken lightly in their present form.
Here’s the current top of the European league table.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aston Villa | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 9 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 9 |
| 3 | ManC | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | +9 | 7 |
| 4 | Monaco | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 7 |
| 5 | Brest | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 7 |
| 6 | Bayer Leverkusen | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 7 |
| 7 | Inter Milan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 7 |
| 8 | Sporting Lisbon | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 7 |
| 9 | Arsenal | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 7 |
Inter opened their campaign with a goalless draw away to Manchester C followed by a 4-0 win over Crvena Zvezda (full name Fudbalski klub Crvena Zvezda, just in case you wanted to know)- which if you are of a certain age you might remember as Red Star Belgrade. They finally got a 0-1 away win over Young Boys.
They are currently second in the Italian league, behind Napoli. Inter have played six games at home in their league and won four, drawn one and lost one. Here’s their league table as of this morning.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Napoli | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 8 | +10 | 25 |
| 2 | Inter Milan | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 13 | +12 | 24 |
| 3 | Atalanta | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 29 | 14 | +15 | 22 |
| 4 | Fiorentina | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 22 | 9 | +13 | 22 |
If we compare Inter’s domestic form with Arsenal however this begins to look like a particularly tough game for Arsenal.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | |
| Arsenal away | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Inter home | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 8 | +7 |
Their one home defeat was against local rivals AC Milan 1-2 back in September. Since then they have played six games winning all of them except for a 4-4 home draw with Juventus. In their game against Manchester City, they had a goalless draw.
It might also be noticed that they had their highest-ever home attendance just recently with a crowd of 75,366 for the local derby with Milan on 22 September. So this looks like a team on the up and also looks like a particularly tough game all round
As for Arsenal, you might recall that after five years lingering in the Europa League last season was our first time back in the Champions League and we finally came unstuck against Bayern Munich, drawing at home and losing 1-0 away. So the long-term history in the Champions League that clubs like Inter can draw on, is not something Arsenal have.
It is of course a time when we could do with drawing on the experience of our captain, but that seems rather unlikely. All in all, this looks like a really tough game.
This game may have come at the right time and suit Arsenal , the Italian league is played at a much slower pace than the EPL , as long as we keep our concentration I think we’ll be fine , draw maybe nick a win .
Steve Vallins
I wish I had your confidence my friend.
I agree with Tony, this is going to be really tough. I know the stats suggest Man City dominated them at the Etihad but as I watched that match I remember thinking how dangerous Milan looked. They were anything but slow.
Add to that, we are not in the best form at the moment with 3 of our front players, Martinelli, Trossard and Jesus, playing nowhere near their best. And of course we are missing Odegaard more and more as the reliance on Saka has increased due to the aforementioned form issues.
I think we are in for a torrid night.
This team seems to have lost it’s sharpness and energy. Partey and Merino are not up to the speed and energy of the premier league. I believe that Rice and Marino have not gelled together.
I would like to see Rice drop back to his number 6 role with Marino and Partey on the bench. Give Nwaneri a start along Trossard in attacking midfield roles with Rice staying put and protecting the back four.
Also Havertz to push further forward and not drop back. Martinelli and Saka on the wings with Nwaneri and Trossard taking turns running into the box to support Havertz.
Overall, they should work on their sharpness and energy levels.
I noticed Newcastle when they came out for the second half, the coach put down some sprint spots and the players were practicing their sharpness and agility 5minutes before the whistle, to get them ready and sharp, and call I could see from the Arsenal team was them all hugging in a group, looking at the floor trying to hold each other up. Maybe not so dramatic as that, but they didn’t look sharp and ready! Not sure if it’s bad training, selection, motivation or what, but Arsenal seem to look tired!