By Bulldog Drummond.
So what’s new?
Arsenal do not have the worst starts of any team in Premier League games this season, contrary to some suggestions. In fact if we take the first 30 minutes as the “start” there are three teams who do worse than us: Man U, Wolverhampton and Leicester.
In the middle half hour (the last 15 minutes of the first half and first 15 of the second) we are third best behind Liverpool and Man City.
In the final 30 minutes of each match we are fourth best behind Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City. Which as we know means we ought to start a bit sharper, at the start, but we are not, as some have said, the worst starters in the league.
And not surprisingly the Premier League has rejected the FA’s pleading to reduce the number of foreign players. Interestingly, as you will have seen if you follow the Arsenal History Society Anniversary files each day, there was exactly the same plea being made (only by the media) on this day in 1975. These media chaps, they never grow up, they never learn.
The FA could push the rule through with the support of government, but I suspect the Premier League would fight very hard to overcome the rule. The PL always seems to me to be much tighter and much stronger than the FA, so I imagine the FA would quickly back down.
Emery said: “We started with an Arsenal that barely won against the top six, even though this year we haven’t done so yet either, but while also having serious difficulty winning away from home, something we have already improved upon.”
Certainly there is some merit in that – here are our matches against the other teams that ended up in the top six last season…
| Date | Match | Result | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06 Aug 2017 | Arsenal v Chelsea | W | 1-1 (4-1) | FA Community Shield |
| 27 Aug 2017 | Liverpool v Arsenal | L | 4-0 | Premier League |
| 17 Sep 2017 | Chelsea v Arsenal | D | 0-0 | Premier League |
| 05 Nov 2017 | Manchester City v Arsenal | L | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 18 Nov 2017 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | W | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 02 Dec 2017 | Arsenal v Manchester United | L | 1-3 | Premier League |
| 22 Dec 2017 | Arsenal v Liverpool | D | 3-3 | Premier League |
| 03 Jan 2018 | Arsenal v Chelsea | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 10 Jan 2018 | Chelsea v Arsenal | D | 0-0 | League Cup |
| 24 Jan 2018 | Arsenal v Chelsea | W | 2-1 | League Cup |
| 10 Feb 2018 | Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 25 Feb 2018 | Arsenal v Manchester City | L | 0-3 | League Cup |
| 01 Mar 2018 | Arsenal v Manchester City | L | 0-3 | Premier League |
| 29 Apr 2018 | Manchester United v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
That makes three wins, four draws and seven defeats last year taking all games into account.
Emery also said: “We’ve had four draws in our last five games and we need to give the team a push now. I’ve spoken with my team during the international break. Our goal is finish in the top four but it’s not easy.”
Elsehwere Raul Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham have said that there would still be funds to invest without Champions League football, but admitted that a place in Europe’s elite competition was an important part of their self-sustaining business model.
That sounds to me as if there is some money, but don’t start thinking about anyone costing over £20m.
And there isn’t much they can do about Danny being a home grown player – if they are dropping him from the 25 and want to replace him, it has to be with a home grown man. They can of course bring in a foreigner, but then they would have to drop a foreign player out of the 25.
Physioroom has Arsenal top of the injury league with seven men down but there is every reason to think that two of those are actually fit – and to be fair Physioroom simply has them as slight doubts…
| Man down | What’s up? | When back? | Anything to add | Sunday? |
| A Lacazette | Seems ok | |||
| P Aubameyang | Seems ok | |||
| D Welbeck | Ankle | No Date | “Has undergone a second op” | No |
| S Lichtsteiner | Hamstring | No Date | No | |
| N Monreal | Hamstring | 25 Nov | Slight Doubt | |
| K Mavropanos | Groin Strain | Nov 25 | “Expected to return to full training in November.” | No |
| L Koscielny | Achilles | Nov 25 | In full training | No |
Bournemouth have five men down
| A Smith | Knee | Feb 2019 | Undergone op | No |
| J Lerma | Hamstring | No Date | Major Doubt | |
| A Begovic | Wrist Injury | Nov 25 | Slight Doubt | |
| J Stanislas | Groin Strain | No Date | No | |
| J King | Ankle Injury | Nov 25 | Late decision | Slight Doubt |
So, after what seems an incredibly long interlull with nother much on the blogs except chatter and chitter about transfers that will never happen, we can start the build up one more time.
- Arsenal Women – Who might step up to replace our injured players?
- Arsenal’s sponsorship deal with the Emirates was bound to explode one day
- Arsenal youngsters join three old timers in training but one absentee is noticeable
“And there isn’t much they can do about Danny being a home grown player – if they are dropping him from the 25 and want to replace him, it has to be with a home grown man. They can of course bring in a foreigner, but then they would have to drop a foreign player out of the 25.”
Not so. We only have 15 non home grown players in a squad of 24 at the mo. So we can bring in one non HG as things are, or two if Ramsey leaves.
Aside with the home grown issue for now to leave it till when it comes up to deal with it. Which I believe Arsenal will deal with it squarely and come out from it not depressed whenever the issue comes up to be dealt with. But for our away match to AFC 8ournemouth in the PL on Sunday which is the current issue at hand to be dealt with successfully by Arsenal, the Gunners who know they have to beat this Bournemouth side to avert dropping points again in excess of 8 points in 4 consecutively PL games should they drop another 2 points again against Bournemouth. The Gunners MUST rediscover themselves to start winning matches again in the PL and beat Bournemouth irrespective of the fatigue some of them would have suffered haven played in the Nations League, Commebol, Afcon qualifying and friendly matches for their various countries in the last10 days or so. But still come out with a win over Bournemouth who are expected to push Arsenal hard in the match. But since Arsenal have known that Bournemouth will push them hard in the game, I believe they’ll become more prepare and ready themselves not be caught in the game bv Bournemouth as they were caught by Wolves in the League in their last home match in the PL when they underated Wolves because Arsenal have beating them over a long period of time which would have cost the Gunners a result in the match if it hadn’t the cross bar that came to their rescue in the final 2 – 3 minutes of the match.
Aside with the home grown issue for now to leave it till when it comes up to deal with it. Which I believe Arsenal will deal with it squarely and come out from it not depressed whenever the issue comes up to be dealt with. But for our away match to AFC 8ournemouth in the PL on Sunday which is the current issue at hand to be dealt with successfully by Arsenal, the Gunners who know they have to beat this Bournemouth side to avert dropping points again in excess of 8 points in 4 consecutive PL games should they drop another 2 points again against Bournemouth. The Gunners MUST rediscover themselves to start winning matches again in the PL and beat Bournemouth irrespective of the fatigue some of them would have suffered haven played in the Nations League, Commebol, Afcon qualifying and friendly matches for their various countries in the last10 days or so. But still come out with a win over Bournemouth who are expected to push Arsenal hard in the match. But since Arsenal have known that Bournemouth will push them hard in the game, I believe they’ll become more prepare and ready themselves not be caught in the game bv Bournemouth as they were caught by Wolves in their last PL match in at home when they underated Wolves because Arsenal have been beating them over a long period of time which almost cost the Gunners a result in the match as the cross bar came to their rescue in the final 2 – 3 minutes of the match.