- How referees are manipulating the number of yellow cards this season
- What more can be said about ManC before the game v Arsenal?
- Manchester City v Arsenal: the games no one will tell you about
Of course there is also another Arsenal vs Manchester City game on today and that kicks off just about the time I am writing this – and the Guardian has a very poignant opening note saying “one of the WSL’s all-time greats joined Manchester City on a free transfer this summer – a move that left Arsenal fans utterly heartbroken. Miedema had spent seven years with the Gunners, winning one WSL title and three League Cups.”
But as I can’t get to the women’s game I will stay focussed on the match in Manchester. There is talk that Kevin De Bruyne could play or might be a substitute despite going off after 45 minutes Inter in the midweek game. Nathan Ake and Oscar Bobb are however both out of contention.
Declan Rice is back however but Martin Odegaard is now said to be out for a long time and Mikel Merino, Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko are all out as well.
Manchester City have knocked up four league wins and a Champions League draw this season. This adds to a run of victories in the league that started on 3 April with a 4-1 win over Aston Villa, and ran for 10 consecutive league victories plus the four this season. The only chink in that run is that they only beat Brentford by one goal – but that really is clasping at straws. If Arsenal are going to win it is going to be through a tactical masterpiece, or a referee for some reason we cannot speculate about, getting thoroughly annoyed with ManC.
But we can take some hope from the fact that we got four points off them last season, and in those games ManC didn’t actually score – the first time that has happened in 17 games.
However ManC have lost more times to Arsenal than they have to any other club and Arsenal have beaten ManC more than any other club except Everton. An Arsenal win will take the defeats of ManC to 100, exactly the same as defeats of Everton – although given the way Everton are performing I’d hope for a couple more victories in that regard before this campaign is done. The only problem is that no one has beaten ManC at their ground for 47 games. But Arsenal have won six consecutive Premier League away games since drawing 0-0 at Manchester City on 31 March, so maybe, just maybe…
But if most of that sounds like a ManC win, if Arsenal win or draw they will be the first club ever in the Premier League to go through a dozen consecutive league games without going behind in an away game. That one came from the BBC – I wonder how they find these things. They also tell us that Arsenal “have kept a clean sheet in nine of their past 10 away league fixtures,” although it seems we rarely win against reigning champions. But that’s not really surprising.
Where we have been getting the goals it is from set pieces, and this seems to be another area in which the meticulous preparation of the team of men working alongside Arteta can come up with the goods, as we saw with the goalkeeping coach and the mid-week penalty save.
And I can add one of those snippets, again from the Guardian, “Bukayo Saka could become only the second player after Thierry Henry in 2004-05 to provide an assist in each of a team’s first five Premier League matches to a season.” (They obviously have a bigger computer than me to track such things).
As I write this it seems Arsenal women are 1-0 against ManC so I must hurry along and get to the TV. But first something on the team.
Raya;
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber;
Havertz, Partey, Rice;
Saka, Trossard, Martinelli
Raya;
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber;
Partey, Jorginho, Rice;
Saka, Havertz, Trossard.
Sporting News have the same line up as the Standard.
But Pain in the Arsenal come up with
Raya;
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber;
Jorginho, Partey, Rice;
Saka, Havertz, Trossard.
So it will be something like that. Meanwhile, as I write this it is still 1-0 to the Arsenal in the women’s game. So off to the TV.
Finished 2 – 2
Surprise surprise we had a perfectly good goal ruled out for off side.
But I suppose our equaliser could of been ruled out as it looked like a foul in the build.
Probably a fair result over all, but Beth Mead did miss two ‘sitters’ in the first half.
It was Stina Blackstenius with the two bad misses in the first half. Through ono on one with the keeper both times. Put the first one wide and the second too close to the keeper. Russo missed a third in the second half. I couldn’t see why our ‘goal’ was red out for offside, too many people standing up.
Overall a draw probably about right. Definitely looked like a foul on Kelly in the build up to our second.
Andrew
Sorry, my mistake. Of course it was Blackstenius.
In real time it looked level. So benefit of the doubt and all that. But on freeze frame the Man City players foot was definitely playing the Arsenal player on side.
Despite the THREE misses, probably a fair result.