By Tony Attwood
“Arsenal have confirmed that manager Mikel Arteta and his coaching team have all signed new contracts until June 2030.”
Back in September, it was reported by Sports Mole that Arteta had agreed a new long-term deal with the Premier League champions, which included a sharp pay rise on his £10m-a-year salary. Now that is confirmed, and the future is secure.
Elsehwere, Leeds have five men out: Mateo Joseph and Joe Rodon are not available, but three players are possible: Daniel James is on 25%, Jean-Matteo Bahoya is on 50% and Harry Wilson is down as 75% chance of playing.
Barney Ronay wrote that City’s “plastic success” was now “tainted”, writing that “arguably everyone who bought a Sky Sports subscription in that period now has a legal claim against City. I might just try that on when the current cases finish.
But back with us, Leeds have five men out: Mateo Joseph and Joe Rodon are not available, but three players are possible: Daniel James is on 25%, Jean-Matteo Bahoya is on 50% and Harry Wilson is down as 75% chance of playing.
To divert attention for a moment onto the eternal Manchester City front, the latest is that Barney Ronay wrote that City’s “plastic success” was now “tainted”, writing that “arguably everyone who bought a Sky Sports subscription in that period now has a legal claim against City Not quite sure that I would want to argue that one in court. I don’t think I could make the speech without bursting into laughter. But a nice idea.
A win for Arsenal is unlikely to us back to the top of the league by the end of the weekend’s fixtures unless Manchester City can knock Liverpool about when they play away on Sunday and it
Of course what we don’t know is what impact the recent events will have had on ManC players in the coming weeks and months. They might find a certain bravado arising in their veins as a result of the accusations, and indeed they might take strength from their support we have mentioned before, which appears to be revelling in the new notoriety. Mix that with a fair amount of laughing at the weak-willed oppositions that have been afraid to take on the League (as they now perceive the situation) and they could find new strength.
It is difficult to know how such emotions will play out, but it is just possible that if Arsenal can get an early goal the solid will-power of Leeds formed by their regular “us against the rest of the world” attitude will fall apart – and in the months to come the sake could be true for Manchester City and its fans. Certainly the chances of ManC being able to shake off all the thoughts of the charges and beat Liverpool away seem slight, so Arsenal really do have a very large incentive to win this won against Leeds.
There might even be a bit of light relief with both sets of supporters joining together at the Leeds game with some anti-Manc chants. If any club deserves the whole stadium rising up against them, surely it is Manc, even if they are not playing! Indeed if that could spread around every Premier League stadion it could show Manchester City just what everyone else thinks of them. I am not sure their most fervent supporters will quite grasp the point, but that is more their problem than ours.
But to return to our game, of course for the players of both Arsenal and Leeds the question is, can they put that out of their minds all of the fuss going on around football at the moment and just play their normal game. I suspect Arsenal fans at the game could have a part to play in this, showing that we will always be with Arsenal not least through the sheer knowledge that we don’t engage in the dirty tricks that seem to be so deeply ingrained in the lives of some other clubs.
Arsenal have a superb team available; a team which not only won the league last season but also got 38 more points than Leeds. It ought to be another win no matter what other issues are playing out in the background.
