By Bulldog Drummond
It’s all happening.
Oh no it isn’t
Oh yes it… well, who knows. Here’s a collection of ramblings from people who think they know, but they can’t all be right.
So since that lot is as clear as mud let’s talk about the footie. And here we have some team news that may (or may not, given the above) be right.
- Mesut Ozil should be back
- Laurent Koscielny should be available
- Nacho Monreal should also be in the squad,
- Olivier Giroud is not yet ready and the story is that Alexis Sanchez is unlikely to play
- Maitland-Niles is ill
And now let’s move on to the regular look at the teams’ recent performances and the home and away table.
We have slipped a little down the home games table…
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 8 | 31 | 31 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 5 | 22 | 29 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 7 | 18 | 26 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 12 | 15 | 26 |
But even so the record is not that bade with a fairly solid 27 – 12 goals tally at the Ems.
Crystal Palace’s away form is far less positive with just two wins, and three draws against six defeats. Worse they have only scored six goals away from home in the league so far.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 9 | 19 | 31 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 21 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 21 | 11 | 10 | 21 |
| 4 | Liverpool | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 29 | 21 | 8 | 21 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 20 | 12 | 8 | 19 |
| 6 | Burnley | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 12 | -1 | 17 |
| 7 | Leicester City | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 14 |
| 8 | Watford | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 13 |
| 9 | Arsenal | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 18 | -4 | 13 |
| 10 | Newcastle United | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 17 | -6 | 11 |
| 11 | West Ham United | 13 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 17 | 26 | -9 | 11 |
| 12 | AFC Bournemouth | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 17 | -9 | 9 |
| 13 | Crystal Palace | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 15 | -9 | 9 |
This tables give Arsenal a goal average at home of 2.45 goals scored per game and 1.36 conceded. Palace have scored 0.54 goals per game and conceded 1.36 per game. 2-1 to Arsenal should be the minimum we would expect, with possibly 3-1 being more likely. More if Palace have an off day.
Palace in fact are second in the injury league
| # | TEAM | Men down | Last to fall | What happened? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Watford | 9 | T Cleverley | Hamstring Injury |
| 2 | Crystal Palace | 8 | A Townsend | Ankle Injury |
| 3 | West Ham United | 8 | C Kouyate | Knock |
| 4 | Burnley | 7 | C Taylor | Rib Injury |
| 5 | Arsenal | 6 | A Maitland-Niles | Illness |
with their eight players out being, on the physio room chart…
| Man Down | What’s up? | When back? | This game? |
| J Schlupp | Ankle Injury | No Return Date | No |
| A Townsend | Ankle Injury | January 20, 2018 | Late Fitness Test |
| S Dann | ACL Knee Injury | No Return Date | No |
| J Puncheon | PCL Tear | No Return Date | No |
| R Loftus-Cheek | Ankle Injury | No Return Date | Unknown |
| M Sakho | Calf Muscle Strain | February 4, 2018 | No |
| J Ward | Groin Strain | January 20, 2018 | |
| C Wickham | ACL Knee Injury | February 26, 2018 | No |
Only two out of the eight could play, according to Physioroom.
Arsenal’s list from Physioroom confirms the general expectation, although they have Ozil still to take a late fitness test and Maitland-Niles as a possible player.
| Man Down | What’s up? | When back? | This game? |
| A Maitland-Niles | Illness | January 20, 2018 | Late Fitness Test |
| M Ozil | Knee Injury | January 20, 2018 | Late Fitness Test |
| L Koscielny | Achilles Injury | January 20, 2018 | |
| N Monreal | Ankle Injury | January 20, 2018 | |
| O Giroud | Hamstring Injury | January 30, 2018 | No |
| S Cazorla | Plantaris Injury | No Return Date | No |
Thus ten more days for Giroud, but by the time the game starts we could be down to two players out, and one of those, as I say each time, is not listed in the 25 so could not play anyway.
And just to round things off for this session, here is our squad list for the season so far showing the number of Premier League games played per player.
| Sqd | Player | Starts | Subs | Goals | Yellows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | Héctor Bellerin | 23 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 33 | Petr Čech | 23 | 0 | 1 | |
| 29 | Granit Xhaka | 23 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 9 | Alexandre Lacazette | 20 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| 18 | Nacho Monreal | 19 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | Laurent Koscielny | 18 | 0 | 3 | |
| 7 | Alexis Sánchez | 17 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| 31 | Sead Kolašinac | 17 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Mesut Özil | 16 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| 8 | Aaron Ramsey | 14 | 2 | 3 | |
| 20 | Shkodran Mustafi | 13 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 17 | Alex Iwobi | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 23 | Danny Welbeck | 7 | 9 | 3 | 1 |
| 10 | Jack Wilshere | 7 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 16 | Rob Holding | 5 | 2 | 2 | |
| 30 | Ainsley Maitland-Niles | 5 | 3 | ||
| 21 | Calum Chambers | 4 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | Per Mertesacker | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| 35 | Mohamed Elneny | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| 15 | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | 3 | 0 | ||
| 34 | Francis Coquelin | 1 | 6 | ||
| 12 | Olivier Giroud | 1 | 14 | 4 | |
| 14 | Theo Walcott | 0 | 6 |
Table adapted from 11v11.com
More details anon.
- Child trafficking allegations return to haunt Chelsea
- Arsenal v Crystal Palace Saturday 20 January 2018 – The Match Officials
- Revealed: how most of the Arsenal transfer stories will conclude at the end of January.
And from the Arsenal History Society
Us as Gooners know that Arsenal will beat Crystal Palace in the week No. 23 Premier League match that’s will take place tomorrow at the Emirates Stadium.But should there be any Gooner or Gooners who does’t know this, I’ll that Gooner or Gooners not to be a proper Gooner or Gooners but fake ones. For, I believe even Roy Hudgson, the Crystal Palace manager has already known in the back of his mind that his bringing his rejuvinated Eagles team to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday to face the Gunners in this Premier League match encounter is for mere formalities so as to enable Crystal Palace escape being sanctioned by the FA for not honouring a scheduled Premier League match date.
In regard to the Arsenal incoming and outgoing transfers in this January window, we all know that 2 senior teamers of Coquelin and Walvott have left the club on permanent basis and a 3rd Gunner in the name of Alexis Sanchez could also leave the club soon. But who will be the new players that Le Boss will bring in to replace these 2 departed Gunners and one likely to depart from the current winter transfer window? None has been brought in so far to my knowledge. But the media has it that a Henrikh Mkhitaryan of the RedDevils playing at Man Utd is going to be used by his club as makeweight to take our own Alexis Sanchez away from the Emirates Stadium to Old Trafford Stadium while the Henrikh Mkhitaryan will come in to the Emirates Stadium to replace Sanchez within days. Let’s hope this proposal will soon come to fruition.
If the above becomes settled, which new player will Le Boss sign to replace Theo Walcott who has left Arsenal for Everton in a transfer deal between the duo clubs? It has been mooted in the media that Le Boss may sign a Bordeaux player named Malcom as replacement for Walcott. But a report in the media is suggesting that Le Boss is becoming pessmistic not to sign the player because of Bordeaux insisting the Malcom be loaned back to them after being signed by Arsenal. A transfer deal which Arsenal has refused to accept in which if care is not taken, the deal could derail. One thing in this saga which I want Bordeaux to understand is, there is no way a club will sign a player from a club in excess of millions and loan the player back immediately to the club they signed him from. Not even Arsenal FC will accept this terms. For it is unethical for any top club to do such thing. It’s unheard of at anywhere. Had it been Arsenal signed Malcom say around £2 to 4m, they could loan him back immediately to Bordesux. But to sign Malcom in excess of £10m and above and loan him back to them immediately? NO! It can’t happen. In fact, it has never hapened anywhere.
Nevertheless, I’ll implore Le Boss not to be pessimistic on this Malcom transfer to Arsenal but be optimistic to get the deal for Malcom over the line for Arsenal this window. Let him make Bordesux see reason that transfers are never done this way. But if Bordeaux want a player to loan from Arsenal on short temporary basis, he’ll give them one, as Arsenal have many top quality players in: Welbeck and Giroud who out of the two, one of them could be loaned to Bordeaux on condition he must be played regularly. Or alternatively, one of Arsenal U23 strikers and mid-felfers in: Nketiah, Nelson, Willock, Dragomir, or Osei-Tutu, a defender to help hold the Bordeaux defense-line tightly from conceding goals will be loaned to them. Or if they want the first teamer, Adelaide, they will be given. So, let Bordesux name their pick among the above names, Arsenal will loan them one to help them in their relegation fight.
I believe the signing of striker Aubameyang from Dortmund goes through when it has materialised. Ii wno’t be seen as a replacement signing by Le Boss this window but to further boost his attacking quality options in his starting XI. Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang and Malcom to Arsenal this window will surely make Arsenal done. Wow!!!
My 3-2-3-1 Arsenal starts and 7 Gunners on the bench for our home Crystal Palace match.
Starts:
Cech
Chambers…. …Koscielny…….. ..Mustafi
………..Bellerin…………Kolasinic…………..
Oezil…….Wilshere…….Xhaka……..Iwobi
……………………Lacazette……………………
Bench:
Ospina BFG Monreal ElNeny Adelaide Welbeck Nketiah.
Arsenal is a changing, a changing we are. 🙂 AW, i do not think will be there next season, i don’t know why, but it’s just a feeling i get.
Anyway hope this is enough to motivate the players left to buck up and start playing for the shirt and club every week.
//
Malcolm looks good but they may want much more than Arsenal will pay, especially as Arsenal have their own youth wanting to come through, but to buy him and loan him back to Bordeaux til end of season is a good option if Bordeaux would accept.
Finsbury?!!?!
Alexis? what a bastard? …. suarez biting or alexis diva/mercenary baggage? hmmmm
I think we will kick on now with a good win against Palace. Sanchez was disrupting team harmony and the last few months he’s become a bit of a ball hogger, helping teams press.If we have Ozil back with Welbeck and Lacazette making those runs, I think we’ll win by a couple. My only worry is the dangerous Wilfred Zaha who I would have loved to see join Arsenal – he really is top quality. So I’m going for 2-0, 3-1 or 4-2 all of which I will be happy with.
Moving on. I read this today about Sanchez which made me laugh. Quote: “I won’t look back fondly at his time here, because his era was so average”. So there you have it, an Arsenal blogger who thinks Arsenal winning 2 FA Cups in Sanchez’s 3 years here & finishing 2nd, 3rd & 5th is ‘so average’. I’m sure there are a lot of teams who would bite their arms off to achieve that ‘so average’ or the 3 FA Cup trophies in 4 years. Still, the narrative is what it is I guess, lets talk down every achievement. After all, some Arsenal fans were gutted Man City lost preserving us as the only unbeaten league winning club.
AFC Nemesis
19/01/2018 at 4:26 pm
“I think we will kick on now with a good win against Palace.” “So I’m going for 2-0, 3-1 or 4-2 all of which I will be happy with.”
Arsenal 4 – 1 Crystal Palace
Even better than you predicted.
Lets hope that ongoing your broader analysis is correct.