By Bulldog Drummond
One factor we must bear in mind is that the next game for Arsenal after tonight’s match is on Sunday against Chelsea and we might want to rest a player or two before that. Most certainly we don’t want to be picking up further injuries or bookings which could stop players from being available for that next or subsequent games.
As for whether a 0-7 home defeat is likely, and therefore whether it is worth risking players on the edge of a ban we might look at the worst home defeats for Arsenal in recent years. Chelsea did score four against Arsenal in 2009, but Arsenal got one back to make it a three-goal deficit. And I do recall a few other three-goal deficits against Brighton, Liverpool, Aston Villa, and ManC in the last five years, but nothing on the scale that would be needed to overturn the victory in Europe last week.
So it is a pretty silly article that talks about players being on the edge of a ban – since Arsenal don’t have to play them, not least because players on the edge of a ban might well be tempted to be extra careful and not play their full game. Cards are carried over to the quarter finals, but not into the semi-finals.
In terms of the team, Football London state that “Ben White is one player that could feature from the off on Wednesday evening having played just 22 minutes since his own return from injury last month.”
Saka, it seems, is not quite ready for a game but is apparently getting very close to starting full training. A few more weeks to go I suspect.
As for who Arsenal play next time around it is one of the Madrid duo, with Real Mad being 2-1 after playing at home in the first of the two games over At Mad. Here is where they stand in the Spanish League.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Barcelonaa
|
26 | 18 | 3 | 5 | 71 | 25 | 46 | 57 |
| 2 |
Real Madrid
|
27 | 17 | 6 | 4 | 57 | 26 | 31 | 57 |
| 3 |
Atletico Madrid
|
27 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 44 | 18 | 26 | 56 |
Arsenal have a good record against PSV overall, having won five, drawn four and lost just two. In terms of home games, the results have been three wins and two draws…
| Date | Match | Result | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Nov 2002 | Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven | D | 0-0 |
| 14 Sep 2004 | Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven | W | 1-0 |
| 07 Mar 2007 | Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven | D | 1-1 |
| 20 Oct 2022* | Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven | W | 1-0 |
| 20 Sep 2023 | Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven | W | 4-0 |
*Europa League – all others in the Champions League.
The Daily Mirror has its usual bonkers approach by running the story that Martin Keown has said that he urges Arteta to give Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly a rest. But less we think the publication is getting a bit serious they also include the notion that “Questions have been asked about whether Arteta’s side have the winning mentality”. We might add that questions have been asked about the Mirror having any relationship with reality.
The Evening Standard includes Martinelli in their line up with Trossard playing at centre forward…
Raya;
White, Saliba, Kiwior, Tierney;
Odegaard, Jorginho, Zinchenko;
Martinelli, Trossard, Sterling
MSN have a line up for the match of
David Raya
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly
Partey, Rice, Odegaard
Martinelli, Merino, Trossard
Meanwhile Sports Mole have an interesting and I think more likely line up
Neto;
White, Saliba, Kiwior, Zinchenko;
Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice;
Sterling, Trossard, Tierney
They also tell us that Arsenal “could become just the second English team to score 10 goals across a two-legged Champions League tie after Manchester City’s 10-2 defeat of Schalke 04 in 2018-19”.
This is interesting in the light of the Champions League results for Arsenal this season. That set of data took me a bit by surprise so I did indeed go back and have a look…
Arsenal have played nine games in the Champs League this season, lost one (away to Inter), drawn one (away to Atalana) and won the rest. The total number of goals scored by Arsenal in the Champions League this season is 23 across the nine games. The goals conceded total is three.
So yes it really is 23 for and three against. It would be awfully nice if we could take that first number up a bit further. Of course this is not going to take us up to the record level which actually is 45 goals by Barcelona in the 1999/2000 competition, but even so, a few more would be most jolly.
So that’s it. As they say in the media, “Enjoy the game.” The difference is, when one of us on Untold says it, we mean it.
