By Bulldog Drummond
Moving on from the first part of the preview of the Leicester game we might note that Craig Shakespeare said in July, “I’m not a fan of saying we have to get to the 40-point target – I think we have to aim higher than that.” So maybe they will try and take the game to us, building on Arsenal’s famous poor start to the season in recent years.
If so they may well use their prime tactic which seems to be to bemuse the opposition by changing tactics alternatively using 4-4-1-1, 4-3-3, 3-4-3 and finally 3-5-2.
The manager declared that their opening fixtures offer “a challenging and exciting start”. Early games also include Man U away, and Chelsea and Liverpool, although it should also be noticed they also play Brighton, Huddersfield and Bournemouth early on. If they are going to establish themselves as top six challengers they will need to be picking up points in those games.
Mahrez is still at the club and still wants to leave, and the club will sell him for around £50m if anyone comes along with that price. “He wants to play for a top-six club,” said the manager, “if we don’t get an offer from a top-six club, he stays.” But according to the press, he’s already left for Roma.
But Mahrez didn’t do much last season: six league goals and three assists, all told. Vardy scored 13 goals in 35 league games last season and got five assists, fractionally more than Giroud who scored 12 league goals and gave three assists. But then Arsenal also had Alexis with 24 goals and 10 assists. Vardy was Leicester’s top scorer.
Indeed, to use the Guardian’s analysis, he was the only Leicester player in double figures.
And this leads us into the problem that Leicester have. In the aftermath of their league title, there was masses of paper talk about bigger clubs buying up their talent, and all that silly larking about with one particular player saying he would go to Arsenal and then saying he wouldn’t.
During this spell, Leicester ran around doing the headless chicken shuffle giving a number of players new extended and higher priced contracts. But, and this is the problem, Leicester had only one season of additional income to pay for this – last season, in which they got Champions League money.
There was no extra income from the crowd – they always sell out – and no extra from marketing (which as we have noted now several times was suspiciously high from unnamed sources anyway). Financially they are stuck with these higher salaries and extended contracts and only the slightest chance of getting more money from just one source – a top six finish.
But enough of that, “are you not doing injuries this season or not?” I hear you shout, and yes indeed I am. So here we go with the first injury league table of the season, which sees Liverpool! top (!) equal with our old chums State Aid United. Arsenal, following our protests about the way Physioroom.com deal with the returning players (seemingly handled differently by different clubs) are way down the league in 13th.
| Pos | Club | N0 down | Last man out | What he got |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool! | 7 | J Henderson | Illness |
| 2 | West Ham United | 7 | A Cresswell | Muscle Injury |
| 3 | Everton | 6 | A Lennon | Knock |
| 4 | Crystal Palace | 5 | B Sako | Muscle Injury |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 5 | K Trippier | Ankle Injury |
| 6 | Bournemouth | 5 | J Defoe | Groin Injury |
| 7 | West Bromwich Albion | 5 | N Chadli | Knock |
| 8 | Leicester City | 5 | V Iborra | Groin Strain |
| 9 | Stoke City | 4 | B Krkic | Calf Injury |
| 10 | Manchester United | 4 | A Young | Hamstring Injury |
| 11 | Swansea City | 4 | T Abraham | Groin Injury |
| 12 | Watford | 4 | C Cathcart | Knee Injury |
| 13 | Huddersfield Town | 4 | M Cranie | Hip Injury |
| 14 | Arsenal | 3 | A Sanchez | Abdominal Injury |
| 15 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 3 | B Kayal | Broken Leg |
| 16 | Newcastle United | 3 | D Gayle | Hamstring Injury |
| 17 | Manchester City | 2 | B Mendy | Thigh Strain |
| 18 | Chelsea | 2 | T Bakayoko | Knee Injury |
| 19 | Southampton | 1 | V van Dijk | Foot |
| 20 | Burnley | 1 | D Marney | ACL Knee Injury |
| Who? | What’s wrong? | When will we see you again? |
| Alexis | Abdominal Injury | August 27, 2017 |
| Gabriel | MCL Knee Ligament Injury | September 9, 2017 |
| Santi Cazorla | Plantaris Injury | No Return Date |
| PLAYER | What’s up doc? | When you coming back? | Today? |
| V Iborra | Groin Strain | August 26, 2017 | No |
| K Iheanacho | Toe Injury | August 11, 2017 | Maybe |
| D Drinkwater | Thigh Strain | August 19, 2017 | Slight Doubt |
| I Slimani | Gashed Leg | August 11, 2017 | Maybe |
| R Huth | Ankle Injury | August 26, 2017 | No |
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
| 25 Aug 2001 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 4-0 | Premier League |
| 23 Jan 2002 | Leicester City v Arsenal | W | 1-3 | Premier League |
| 06 Dec 2003 | Leicester City v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 15 May 2004 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 31 Aug 2014 | Leicester City v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 10 Feb 2015 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 26 Sep 2015 | Leicester City v Arsenal | W | 2-5 | Premier League |
| 14 Feb 2016 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 20 Aug 2016 | Leicester City v Arsenal | D | 0-0 | Premier League |
| 26 Apr 2017 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 1-0 | Premier League |
And here, as promised in the headline with the mention of videos is the game from last April
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n6xEOKE8lw
Actually Leicester’s winless run against Arsenal goes back 21 games during which time they have managed seven draws. Although we could note that Vardy has scored Leicester City’s last three goals against Arsenal in the Premier League, but of course has not been on the winning side.
However you will know that we don’t do well on opening day fixtures, having won just one of those in the last seven years. We also gets lots of opening day red cards – and seeing who the referee is we can expect this to continue. In fact I would be surprised if we didn’t actually have one or two players sent off while in the tunnel, waiting to come onto the pitch. It’s that sort of match.
But to put it in a nicer way, the last time we lost three opening day league fixtures in a row was 1958-1960. In 1958 we lost 1-2 away to Preston. In 1959 we lost 0-1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday. And in 1960 we lost 2-3 away to Burnley.
The manager was George Swindin, and these were his first three seasons. In his fourth and final season we started with a 2-2 home draw to Burnley, meaning he never managed to win the first game of the season – quite probably the only long term (ie four years or more) manager to achieve such a rotten starting record. What we really need is three or four penalties to get Lacazette into his form.
And so, I hear you cry, what of the teams?
Ramsey, Ozil, Wilshere and Mertesacker are all training, but the first three are still probably not ready, and we have such a squad these days that it would seem pointless to risk anyone, except perhaps Mert. But I just wonder if Ramsey might sneak in, if he really is up and ready.
Koscielny as we know it serving the second of three, Alexis is out for a couple of weeks, and Mustafi is still working his way back after a late return but he could be back.
So I’ve come up with
Cech
Mustafi Mertesacker Monreal
Bellerin Kosasinac
Xhaka Ramsey
Ox Iwobi
Lacazette
If Ramsey doesn’t play the Ox could play alongside Xhaka and Welbeck could play as one of the two players alongside Iwobi, feeding Lacazette. If Mert or Mustafi are not playing then we could use Holding or Elneny in the back three.
Beached: Obviously depending on the above a selection from Elneny, Giroud, Ospina, Welbeck, Nelson, Walcott, Holding, Maitland Niles
And I can’t finish without September 2015. The hour and a half waiting to get out of the car park was, for once, bearable, although the result was so much contrary to what the media expected they seemed to just let it go by.
I am excited about the new season.
Contrary to what the media would have us believe, we have lots of reasons to be excited (unlike Totteham who have lots to worry with a move to a temporary stadium where they haven’t performed well at all, unrest among the players about their low salaries, inability to make big money signings and offer higher wages due to financial constraint of building a new stadium which will last for a good few years, but most of the media ignores these points).
We have not lost any of our players and have managed to add the most clinical striker in Europe and the best left back in the Bundesliga last year. We have some exciting youngsters (Reiss Nelson) and some more mature young players (Iwobi and Chambo, if he stays).
The uncertainty over Wenger’s contract is over for at least another year, and as per him it might have impacted the team last year, so that’s one less thing to worry about.
We have had a good run towards end of last season including the FA Cup and a good start to the season beating last year’s champions with most of our first team missing.
We might have Cazorla back in October too giving us tremendous bench strength overall.
So there is a lot to be optimistic. So clearly it became incumbent upon Mike Riley to foul the mood by sending Mike Dean to referee our first game – a move which I can honestly say I expected after our community shield win.
However, I am a little hopeful that this year the refereeing might be a little better than last year. You see VAR (video replays) will hopefully be introduced from next season so the Referees might think that it would look very odd if there is a sudden improvement in their decision-making after VaR is introduced, so they may want to smooth out their performance away from the attributes we have increasingly seen in the Mike Riley era.
I have been eagerly awaiting VAR for past few seasons thinking that once it is introduced, Arsenal will win the league within 2 years. I feared it might be too late for Wenger last year, but I am happy that Wenger would get at least one year working under VAR where Arsenal would have less chance to be screwed over by the PiGMOLe.
The advertising scripts are causing problems trying to read this site again. Although it’s William hill shite rather than skybet shite for a change…
It’s time for me to make the prediction for the new champions. I was successful last year and I fear I will make the correct prediction again.
1.Manchester City – they have added a new goalie and three full-backs to their ranks which means their middle of the defence will be better protected. They have enormous talent upfront and should bang goals for fun. I expect them to win the league while also claiming the best attacking record. Their minuses are central defence and central midfield where they are too light.
2.Arsenal – we have added two important players for a relatively small amount of money (while also breaking the transfer record). If we get one more central midfielder (Rabiot, Matuidi, Krychowiak or someone like them), we can compete with City for the title. Lack of CL football might play in our favour and I reckon that our new formation will make us stronger. We have a lot of attacking options. If we lose Alexis by the transfer deadline, we won’t make Top 4.
3.Manchester United – I predict a lot of ugly 1:0 victories for United and the referees making sure that the most expensive team ever doesn’t miss out on CL position again. Lindelöf was a comic relief in the preseason. I reckon they haven’t solved the LB issue and Mourinho seems to be unable to bring the best out of their attacking potential (which is hardly a surprise).
4.Chelsea – they will suffer a decline, I reckon. Without Hazard for the tough opening of the season, European football for the first time for N’Golo Kante and the whole Costa issue don’t work in their favour. Also, they lost one of their senators John Terry which influence in the locker room will be missed.
5.Liverpool – with or without Coutinho, they won’t make Top 4 as Klopp doesn’t know how to deal with the league without a winter break and how to make his squad work on both domestic and European front.
6.Tottenham – Wembley, departure of Walker, disappointment among the players with lack of signings, heads getting turned with higher wages elsewhere…
Will the Arsenal FC team of the Gunners during the Premier League opening match tonight at the Emirates Stadium not pounce and pound the visiting Leicester City Foxes team by 4 ruthless goals to nil at the end of this match to collect all the 3 points at stake? I believe the Gunners on behalf of the Arsenal FC and us the Gooners will pound 4 Foxes down to the ground by the butts of their guns during the match and capture them and caged them into cages for exhibition show, first for the Emirates Stadium faithful fans goers to behold there at the Ems. And for us who are not in the Ems but watching on TV to see them on the TV screens during and after the battle of the game has concluded with no any Gunner seen getting pawed by the pawing nor bitten by teeth biting by the Foxes during the game battle.
So, that’s it.
Josif, do you really think the $iteh full backs will settle in that quickly?
FB is an easier position to settle than many others but that will still be an impressive feat.
@Andy
Yes, I reckon they will. They have looked pretty impressive in the preseason with a 3-goal thrashing delivered to Spuds.
They were weak on the flanks as they had players past their prime (Sagna, Zabaleta, Clichy) or were never close to top quality (Kolarov). That left their defence too exposed to counter-attacks. Important thing about Danilo and Mendy: both came from the clubs that won things last season which means they are likely to bring some winning mentality with themselves. Walker is completely opposite as an ex-Spud but will bring more stamina and marauding down the flank than either Sagna or Zabaleta could have brought.
Their weakest spot, in my opinion, is the central midfield. Gündogan is a player I absolutely adored at Borussia Dortmund (I saw him as a legitimate heir to Arteta) but he’s been going through years of injury set-backs. Yaya Toure is as old as I am and that’s too old. 🙂 He is 34 and has never liked defending. Fernandinho is primarily a central midfielder who has to put an extra effort in the defence due to Yaya’s weakness. If Kompany gets another injury, their central defence will have to rely on Otamendi (pretty unreliable lad, in my book) and youngster Stones (he makes Holding’s transfer even bigger bargain every day).
As for Arsenal, I reckon if we go through the first five games unscathed (11 points or so), we can win the league or at least put a serious battle for the title. We have three difficult away games (Stoke, Liverpool, Chelsea) and we manage to get points from those three games, we might have a great campaign. My biggest worry is our central midfield as we have two top options (Xhaka, Ramsey), two useful options (Coquelin, Elneny) and two options that we can’t rely on due to injuries (Cazorla) or injuries/possible departure from the club (Wilshere). If we could lead the league until Santi returns… Maybe, just maybe we could win the league.
We’ll have at least 28 official games until the end of the year (provided that we go out in Carabao Cup on the first hurdle) due to World Cup 2018 which should play in our favour given that we can use our “too big” squad for Europa League and focus our best team on the league. Liverpool have at least 8 European games this year, Man City 6 CL games as well as Man United, Tottenham and Chelsea.
Another key period will be February-March when we usually have problems in the league due to European obligations. If we don’t get out of EL group, we’ll be able to focus on the league and big games we play in that period.
Mr Drummond, I think it should be bravo or kudos to me by you for getting Le Prof starts 100% for our home PL game against Leicester tonight in my comment posting on Wednesday responding to one of the UA article postings.
From the #arsenal twitter account, it’s
Cech
Holding Monreal Kolasinac
Bellerin Xhaka Elneny Ochambo
Ozil Lacazette Welbeck.
Wow! Arsenal 4-0 Leicester @ FT plus added time.
If we are trying to draw 11 starting players from a population of 28, assuming any player can play any position, it only takes about 21.5 million tries to have at one correct.
COYG!
Games hasn’t started yet, and both Daily Mail and Guardian are taking shots at Arsenal. Dorks!
COYG!
Gggooooooaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllll………..
Craka laka…..
Come on Gunners
Welcome to the Premier League, M. Lacazette!
offside
Bah horsefeathers!
Nice header Lacazette.
Also nice to see 13 and GGG here.
COYG!
And we ve already seen the first illegal goal of the season… going to be a long season.
Can you expand on that Al? Neither Guardian or Daily Mail mentioned anything.
COYG!
Okay, two or 3 minutes later, Guardian says there was a hint of offside.
COYG!
New rules make him onside though.
Come on Gunners…
Having played as a Goalkeeper, I know what Cech will be feeling about that goal.
Ooooooo ox.
Gord
The Leicester player who knocked the ball back into play was offside, but hearing the new rules mean he was on.. ?
That should be a card…. Hope he’ll be consistent.
McGuire hauls Lacazette down stopping a promising attack and just gets a talking to.. let’s for a moment it had been Xhaka at the other end… think I’ve seen enough of this league ??
@Al,
OKAZAKI was offside when the ball was played. But when the ball came back he was on. So should be a legal goal as per new rules….
Mahrez dived there!!!!!!
Ok thanks for the clarification, Arsenal 13
Oooo kolasinac
Rare Ozil mispass
Oops…
Come ooooooonnnnn uuuuuuuuuu ggggguuuunnnnneeeeerrrrrrssss
I’m not seeing any commentary related to Mahrez diving.
There was some commentary referring to Carragher as a side kick. I think he could probably use a side kick (to your choice of body part).
COYG!
a poor giveaway
Horsefeathers again!
Well, I will have to leave the cheering to you guys. I have to leave for a couple of hours I think.
COYG!
Have left too Gord. All I’ll say is we have to win this match; dean’s appointment was no coincidence, we lose this one they’ll do us over again next week at Stoke. And it’ll be a ‘crisis’ again before the season has even begun.
Yyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh
Ccccooommmmeee ooooooonnnnn uuuuuuuuuu ggggguuuunnnnneeeeerrrrrrssss
Dany buoyo…
Yyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh
Danny!!
No no no….we are in for a win.
@gord.
Mahrez ran past a player and went down without any contact….at half line.
Had to turn the sound off. Can’t take listening to a f*cking Scouser put down the Arsenal. “Same thing as at the start of last year”…bloody hell…any problems we have with a back 3 are NEW because we weren’t playing a back 3 at the start of last year…*&$#@# git! The first goal was a scramble, the second goal was a giveaway by a midfielder and a very good cross. Yes, the central defenders should have been closer to Vardy but it was the giveaway that caused the problems.
Worry not lads…
Giroud and Rambo yet to come on….2 more goals expected ?
Duery and Beglin… For us on commentary.
I’m going to get the sound off, becasue even in french braodcasting, the BS level of the commentary is incredible.
And what am I heraing : Goal by Vardy, the henchman of Arsenal in the past years
Guess they have not read the piece above and ignore we have not lost against the Foxes in this millenium…
Hahhahahaha…our commentary team says Ozil isn’t world class.. Hahhahahaha.
“A player with world class moments, but not world class. ?
That was superb by Cech
Noooooooooooooooooo
Ccooommmee ooooooonnnnn ARSENAL
We are not direct enough.
We need more balls in their box.
Making so many mistakes.
Come on ARSENAL
Come on ARSENAL
Come on ARSENAL
That’s a bum save by their keeper
Awful defending tonight but we can still turn this shit around!
COME ON ARSENAL!!!
Why is stamping at Ozils feet never a foul….
Here comes the Welsh wizard…
moving to a 4-4-2. Some can learn from Elneny…ran off to give his team more time.
Come ooooooonnnnn ARSENAL
If we dont start to close them dowm like before we will lose this.
And stop the silly mistakes please.
Good game by Danny buoy
Change out Oezil please, not Danny
It’s our training system that effs us up at times. Not a very good performance at all.
We will lose 2-4
Rambooooooo
Yyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh cooooommmmeeeee ooooooonnnnn
Ramsey!
Oh i’m glad my prediction did not come true
Ccooommmee ooooooonnnnn ARSENAL
Giroooooooo yyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh cooooommmmeeeee ooooooonnnnn uuuuuuuuuu ggggguuuunnnnneeeeerrrrrrssss
Wwwoooohhhhoooooo
Giroud!
Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Phew!
Giroud scores despite the shirt pulling
Sing aloud gooners…
Sing aloud
We’ve got one hell of a team, with loads of options.
And I hope Kolasinac has a 10 year contract…. this guy is just incredible.
amazing…where did the 5 minutes come from…all those injuries, I guess.
5 minutes added time ?!?!?! wher the f…k did he compute that ?!?!
It used to be Fergie time, it looks like it is AA (Anti-Arsenal) time ?
checked in on the commentators and they are going on and on about that “handball” that wasn’t called on Oezil
Beast kolasinac
never mind the handball in their own box by the Leciester defender.
Say what you want about Mr Wenger, he has balls and his call to go for all the marbles was brilliant.
And he’s now got options galore.
Next time we need to change the keeper, just let the Ox play in the goals !!
Yes!
Yyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh
Win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win
Ahahahahaha
Come on Gunners.
Rusty but not a bad start. Monreal absolutely beautiful. Superb game.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!
VICTORYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Kolašinac doing Zidanesque pirouette! Holy shit!
Nice?
Greattt game indeed, but we have a few issues to sort if we want to step up another level.
Some thoughts…loved the way Kolasinac was positive from the back…the Ox as right full back…not too shabby, eh?…Xhaka and Ramsey are going to be OK in the middle.
Dean’s expression says it all
HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
Ox… brilliant. A little bit composure in final third and he’ll be unbeatable. Come on Ox. Come on ARSENAL
Btw. Giroud one short of 100. Not bad for a lamp post.
As for our defence…might have to have the opposite wing back tucking into the middle when we move up the wing to give some extra solidity on defence. Maybe between the defence line and the midfield.
Near the end they shown Ozil’s handball atleast 4-5 times, just wanted to ask was it of any significance?
Their handball and Offside goal get no mention at all, even thou it surely hand much more impact on the match.
Typical Sky coverage
If Man city had done this they’d be cheering them to the rafters.
You score 1 we’ll score 2.
If you score 2 we’ll score 3.
Or maybe, if you score 3 WE’LL SCORE 4 ??
Isn’t that what they’re all looking forward to at the Etihad this season?
Isn’t it that kind of football that’s going to win them the title?
Well maybe, just maybe, it might be the type of football that will win US the title. You never know.
Thing is, when City do it, it’s all jolly good fun and a genius manager. If we do it it’s endless criticism of our defence, and a conclusion that on the basis of that performance we have no chance of winning the league.
Well we’ll see. For me we were brilliant going forward, but dodgy at the back. But the central 3 where all back ups and the left wing back new, so very understandable.
In my humble opinion, and at this very early stage, I’m very very optimistic.
What a game! I was amazed that Dean didn’t find some excuse for not awarding our last goal. He had to accept the watch clicking on his arm saying Goaaaaaaaal. It wasn’t shown in the usual slow motion.
Dean the PGMOL cheat spoke to Leicester players a lot & evaded booking them. There should have been several yellow cards & probably 2 reds (2nd Yellows). Lacazette was being fouled incessantly every time he tried to turn. The assistant & Dean did the usual selective vision.
I was proud of Kola bear. He is just too good to be true. They call him the tank but he is so smart in his movement & pre-empts movement. He is an absolute steal.
Graet to have beated Leicester & Dean & screwed Rileys PGMOL plans.
What a game. What an atmosphere! What a result!