By Bulldog Drummond
The good news is that for Koscielny everything is going to plan. The manager recently confirmed this saying, “First, the idea is to play with the Under 23s, but also I am looking at him and with his good performances and good feelings, he is close. Maybe Monday he can play with the under 23s.”
That would be good because things have not been going so well for the under 23s of late, perhaps because of the number of players moving up to be in the first team squad. After a 4-0 win over Liverpool and a 2-1 away victory at Leciester which the midland division of Untold went to watch, Arsenal then had two draws (goalless at home to Everton, 1-1 away to Swansea), and then on 3 November a 4-5 home defeat to Chelsea – the team under investigation for its dealings with juniors.
That left the under 23 league reading like this…
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everton U23 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 4 | +12 | 21 |
| 2 | Derby C U23 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 20 |
| 3 | Chelsea U23 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 15 | +5 | 17 |
| 4 | Brighton U23 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 17 | 11 | +6 | 16 |
| 5 | Arsenal U23 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 22 | 17 | +5 | 16 |
Meanwhile we are told Monreal is still not ok and is not in the squad. On the other hand the good news is the confirmation that both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are up and ready to rock n roll, or whatever the correct phrase is these days.
That is not the case for Stephan Lichtsteiner with his hamstring problem and that is said to be something that will be assessed today.
Bournemouth are entering a series of fixtures in which they play three of the top five in the course of two weeks, so “steady as she goes” could well be their approach at this time. They might even fancy their chances of grabbing sixth or seventh position in the league come the end of the season, and so having a bash at the Europa League – although Burnley showed this year just how tough getting through the play offs can be.
But overall the general feeling in the media is that a 16 match unbeaten run counts for nothing because we have drawn a few games and we’re not in the top four. Arsenal in decline is the feeling.
Eddie Howe however, as always, is more measured and reasonable, and by and large seems to come across as a jolly decent bloke. For this game he said, “Arsenal have outstanding attacking players and a good look about their team, it will be a tough match. If one to 11 we are very good, then we can do well. It will be an interesting game to see which attack comes out on top and it will be a great battle for our defenders as well.”
More anon…
OT watching the spuds v chavs & Atkinson playing for spuds with selective blindness and cards only for the chavs. The most biased display by an official of the mob.
True, Arsenal 11 unbeaten run in the PL so far at this stage in the campaign is looking good but all to no avail as they have dropped from the top 4 places where they were to 5th as a result of the 3 consecutive draw games they’ve played in their last 3 games in the PL. So, it can be said it doesn’t really count for them but it will start to count if they beat Bournemouth tomorrow ahead of their hosting Tottenham Hotspur who if they beat, they will return to the top four places again. We all know this. So, what is the essence of my saying it?
I am saying it because it is not late for Arsenal to return to the very competitive top four places again but if they will return to the winning ways they were before starting from their though away match against Bournemouth tomorrow with a win over them and beat Tottenham next weekend to return to the top four places. But surprisingly, Dele Alli and Harry Kane are beating Chelsea with a goal each for Tottenham at halftime. But will Chelsea come back in the 2nd half to hold the Totts to a draw? That’s my preferred outcome in the match. So, Chelsea should step it up to at least get a point from the match. Let’s wait and see.
Some numbers to back up Menace. Chelsea committed 11 fouls and inflicted no treatments for 3 yellows. The spuds committed 20 fouls and inflicted 2 treatments for no cards.
The first goal was scored following a foul on Kane. It was actually a foul by Kane on Luiz followed by a dive by Kane. Atkinson chose to give a foul against Luiz & if I’m not mistaken he was also booked.
The foul on Hazard in the box was a penalty all dau=y long, except in the case of the selective blindness of the corrupt PGMOL official.
There were several off side calls, some of which were on side. The assistant being wrongly positioned in line with the last defender.
Tottenham Hotspur who unexpectedly beat Chelsea 3-1 this evening in the PL at Wembley, a neutral ground Per say which has seen Chelsea unbeaten run to the season came to an end has now have Arsenal under pressure to beat Bournemouth tomorrow in the PL if they are to avoid getting trapped in the 5th place but keep their hopes of moving again to the top 4th places on the rise before hosting Tottenham in the PL at the Ems next week.
We all know the Pgmo, alias PIGMOB will not desist from to mob any team in the PL who they’ve chosen to mob until the VAR comes into effect in the PL next season to reduce the effect of getting mob to maybe to the barest minimum. It’s all about which big club is playing against another big club in the PL, then the Pgmol will instruct their match officiating officials which of the 2 big clubs they should mob. Today is Chelsea turn to get mob. And they’ve gotten mob in their match against Tottenham in the PL this evening. But come to think of it, Man City and Tottenham hardly gets Pigmob by the Pgmo when playing against other teams in the PL over the course of 2 past seasons campaign in the PL I’ve noticed. Why? But Arsenal often than not look totaly get mob by the Pgmo when playing against opponent teams in the PL irrespective of whether in the big games or not. Therefore, at the Vitality Stadium tomorrow in the PL, Arsenal should be fully prepared to neutralise the Pgmo if they decide to Pigmob Arsenal in their away match against Bournemouth by activating their Pgmo anti-Arsenal match win in the PL antidote which neutralise the Pgmo whenever they attempted to carry out any anti-Arsenal match referring against Arsenal in the PL. Arsenal should play a superior game tomorrow that’s totally superior in all aspects to the game that Bournemouth have on offer in the match to play against Arsenal to thus consequently neutralised completely any Pgmo anti-Arsenal match officiating against the Gunners in the match.
@ Menace
I thought the same as you regarding Sp#rs first goal , contact was minimal if any Kane throws himself in the air free kick , he done it all game