Arsenal: the final countdown.

 

By Bulldog Drummond

Here is the Champions League table as it ended at the conclusion of the opening League programme of eight games each.

As we can see Arsenal got five points more at PSV, but scored the same number of goals as the opposition tonight.  However, the trick was in the defence which conceded over one goal a game fewer than tonight’s opposition.

 

As a result of not finishing in the top eight PSV had to play a play-off game against who they beat once and lost to once, but finished up going through by scoring more goals in their victory. 

Apparently, the previously of Tottenham man Ivan Perisic, called PSV “not a team” at that time. He went on to say he was “angry” about the lack of togetherness in the squad, calling for things to “change quickly.”  That comes from the TNT website    But then we should note that this commentary was made by a man who played for Tottenham and must be getting a bit fed up with the fact that all the teams he seems to play for don’t quite play as well as they talk.  Funny that.

Of course, negativity abounds.   The TalkSprout (sorry I may have typed that wrong) website says that Arsenal are approaching this match with “their worst goal scoring form this season with the North London side having failed to score in three of their previous four fixtures following their 0-0 draw to Nottingham Forest at the City ground last week.”

And what they don’t tell us, as ever, is how many other clubs have gone through a similar spell.

Arsenal qualified for the round of 16 thanks to a very solid group stage campaign which saw them finish third behind only Liverpool and Barcelona while the media were trying to whip up an anti-manager frenzy by telling us over and over that we needed a centre forward.

Despite currently sitting second, in their league PSV are without a win in their last four Eredivisie games, their latest being a 3-2 loss away to Go Ahead Eagles despite leading the game with 16 minutes to go.

However, the Dutch side remain unbeaten at home in both the Champions League and the Eredivisie this season, with their only home loss once again at the hands of Go Ahead Eagles in the TOTO KNVB Beker semi-final.  (I am not quite sure what that is).

The two sides last met in the competition as early as last season with PSV able to secure a point following a 1-1 draw at home in the group stages, however, Arsenal came out comfortable as group winners.

Arsenal are playing more away from home of course against a team that until recently were fairly free scoring.  But both sides have injury issues and my guess is that Arsenal will use their speed on the counter attack to take PSV by surprise, and get the away goal they need to put them off their balance.

Ethan Nwaneri, Raheem Sterling and Leandro Trossard might be able to play on the break.  If they can do that, it should help.  I’ll go for an Arsenal win by one or two goals