by Bulldog Drummond
So we have injury doubts about Thomas Partey, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu while Kieran Tierney may be available, Martin Odegaard is expected back and Reiss Nelson either is or is not recovered from his long-term injury – the media finds it difficult to agree.
Emile Smith Rowe is now, like Mohamed Elneny, out for the long term following an operation.
For Tottenham the doubts are with Dejan Kulusevski, who got an injury playing with Sweden, while Hugo Lloris and defender Ben Davies are also possible absences, but both didn’t play with their country. so could make it. Lucas Moura is also a doubt.
But there is a fascinating set of comments from the media as it points out that (as we all know) Tottenham are one point behind Arsenal. Of Tottenham we are told by the BBC “Yes, they have been slightly fortunate with some of their results but that just shows they don’t have to play well to win.” Nothing about who they were playing!
Their manager is praised for his master class in the way Son Heung-min came “off the bench against Leicester before the international break. It was a masterclass from Antonio Conte to wait and bring him on.” Against Leicester?????
But they predict a 3-2 win for Arsenal, perhaps mostly because, “Only one of the 23 most recent top-flight meetings has been won by the away side – Arsenal’s 1-0 victory at White Hart Lane in March 2014.”
And besides that, Arsenal have scored against Tottenham in each of the last 23 home games against them, which is rather a fine record.
But on the other hand the opposition always score of late at Arsenal stadium – at least since we beat Leicester 2-0 last March. And surely everyone knows by now that all our goals come from the left foot so Tottenham will counter that. Maybe Arteta has a right-footed forward up his sleeve who can come on and confuse everyone.
On the other hand, Mikel Arteta doesn’t lose against the Totts either as a player or as a manager, so maybe that’s on our side too.
Tottenham however have gone 13 PL games without defeat. But it took Untold Arsenal to point out how easy most of their games have been this season: Arsenal and Tottenham: which has had the easier ride so far this season?
And there is another fact we missed. Tottenham have played seven games this season of course, and six of those have been in London. Yet another factor that suggests they are flattering to deceive. But the media all went with Tottenham to be in the top four come the end, and Arsenal not to be in that group, so they have to stay with them no matter how easy their fixture list.
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale;
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko;
Xhaka, Partey;
Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli;
Jesus
Pain in the Arsenal goes with the same team but a slight positional change.
Ramsdale;
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko;
Partey, Odegaard, Xhaka;
Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
But let us finish with a note from the jolly old Telegraph
It says, “there are questions to be asked of both teams. For Arsenal, there can be no hiding from the fact that the fixture list has been kind.”
And it makes no mention at all of that utterly crazy Tottenham fixture list: Southampton, Wolverhampton, Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Fulham, Leicester… Oh come on, is that a tough set of fixtures? The only slightly tough one was Chelsea away.
Really this wholesale media love-in with Tottenham has got to stop at some time, and one can only hope that Arsenal thrash them and that finally, ultimately, the media journalists will wake up or stop taking personal favours to write such stuff (although of course I have no evidence that they do; ignoring Tottenham’s fixtures so far and saying Arsenal have it easy could just be gross incompetence).
But don’t expect any sort of apology for the nonsense about their past fixtures and Arsenal’s. If you want to read some reality, you’ll porbably need to stick with Untold.
What a goal…talk about coralling a defense. Great play !
Anthony Taylor being his usual one eyed self
Go back to the game later, dial in 59th minute and let it run. Look at what/how Partey just controls it all !
He just owns the place.
Incredible.
From the Guardian feed… no comment !!
“74 min: Gabriel is bundled over from behind by Kane, who then rather petulantly leaves a boot in. He could certainly have avoided doing so. You’ve seen players sent off for less. England captain privileges.”
Well maybe now the deadwood journalists will say we did not beat a worthy top 6 team,,,,
GREAT PERFORMANCE! GREAT RESULT! Loved it!!!
Not that there is ever any doubt but North London remains red. Spurs remain a despicable bunch of cheats committing fouls that even a one eyed referee can’t ignore. Had they occurred at the other end we would probably have got two penalties. Needless to say neither was given.
I see Richard Keyes has very kindly given his permission via Twitter for Arsenal to celebrate their win today. What a nice chap he is!!!!!!!
There’s only one way to write it. Arsenal were much the better team. Calm with and without the ball. Confident in possession. They completely bossed the game. Partey was the pivot from which it all flowed. And that allows Xhaka to play in a more advanced position as he does for Switzerland. Arteta has a squad that implements his tactics with style and confidence. The centre backs play free yet disciplined defense. Saliba plays well beyond his years. Dribbles out of trouble, FFS.
Ah, the beautiful game!
The introduction to Saturday night football on SKY:
-It was an exciting return to the Premier League this afternoon.
Yes it was. Arsenal, leaders of the Premier League, were facing Spurs in 3rd pace, in the first North London derby of the season. So here we go. Let’s here about what was a great match !!!
No not yet. First of its Brighton’s 3-3 draw at Anfield. Okay, good point for Brighton but really? Bigger than Arsenal beating Spurs in the NLD ?
Okay, so here we go?
Nope:
Chelseas late winner at Palace is much bigger.
Okay, so now, here we go:
Nope:
“But the REALLY BIG STORY (that’s right, this is the REALLY BIG STORY) is Newcastle beating 10-man Brighton 4-1.
And that’s the headlines.
Not a single mention of Arsenals win over Spurs.
Then we have a graphic of the table, so they can hardly avoid mentioning us now, but hey, let’s not get carried away aye !!
“Arsenal the leaders after winning the North London Derby”
Yep that’s all it warrants.
Can you imagine the difference if we’d lost !!!
@ Nitram
I’ve completely stopped following the media and I don’t watch MotD. Seriously, 5hose people can go duck themselves. The agenda stinks and I want no part of it. We were awesome today. I don’t need some some dumb duck with two brain cells to telll me otherwise. COYG
Mikey (?)
I have, but more fool me I decided to dip in today for some reason.
During the match I had the volume down listening on arsenal.com as usual but seeing Cesc Fabrigas in the studio I thought I’d have a listen to what he had to say after the match, and I’m pleased I did. He had some good things to say including an especially glowing appraisal of Saliba, including when he first saw him play when he was 17 I think it was. Very interesting.
As you say, we were awesome today.
@Nitram,
seeing Saliba DRIBBLE his way out of trouble my first reactions was like : Is this guy nuts ? kidding ? insane ? take him off this arrogant sob…. and immediately after I just applauded, laughing as this just shows hoe our Arsenal Young Gunners are game after game starting to assert themselves and trust in themselves and each other.
Saliba is fracking incredible.
And the other players are on the same curve, this is what we saw today. A first goal straight out of the playground and none of the tinies were even able to understand they were being played with, figures in the sandbox. The 3rd goal is of the same type. These guys are family. It shows all over the pitch.
Was ironic to hear Conte complain about refereeing being inconsistent (thing is : he is damn right) now that tinies were on the reeiving end. Remember how he was berating ‘young’ Mr wrteta for making comments las season after Holdings red in the NLD at the end of the road ?
And now it’s sunday morning coming down, sun is shining and we are Top of the League and North London is Red all over the world.
Survey : who are you guys for today ? Manure or Citeh ? or a tie ? Which would be the best strategic result ?
To Everyone in The House 🏠
HAPPY TOTTERINGHAM DAY
So who do we think has had the easier start to the season now? 🤣🤣