Chelsea v Arsenal: team news and the transfer is agreed! Oh….

Posted on by Tony Attwood

by Bulldog Drummond

First, guess which website published this

Arsenal news and transfers live: ‘Deal agreed’ for Arteta’s first signing,

You probably got it for it has all the hallmarks of but one outlet.   But if you have not got it, when I tell you that the article doesn’t actually tell us who the deal is agreed with or for whom then you will know it is Football.London for no website does this “we ain’t gonna tell you” approach quite like they do.

What they do tell us is that, “Thomas Lemar continues to be linked with a loan move to north London, with Tottenham also reportedly interested.   Wilfried Zaha continues to be linked too, alongside Dayot Upamecano, two players Arsenal have held interest in previously.”

That doesn’t quite match with the headline though does it?  Mind you they are getting desperate because it seems anyone can write in with a rumour to FoLo these days – here’s their announcement… “We want you to get involved too – tell us your thoughts on what’s happening at Arsenal by tweeting us at ….”

Raging negativity

The negativity is of course still in the media big time, of course with headlines this morning reading…

  • “Even Adebayor was miles better”, “The guy is trash” – Many Arsenal fans discuss “shambolic” ace FootballFanCast
  • “Should be sold in the summer” – Many Arsenal fans discuss ace who lost possession 20 times FootballFanCast
  • Football transfer rumours: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Barcelona? The Guardian

Interesting though to see FFC running two negative tales within a short while of each other. Maybe they feel that we are not yet getting the message.

And indeed Sporting Life joins in on the act leading their preview with…

“Arsenal and Chelsea are both clumsy. It could be claustrophobic and heavy. Or it could be delightfully chaotic.”

Jonathan Pearce of the BBC damns by making the negativity slightly less acerbic…

“Arsenal were very average against Sheffield United. Without Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang and with Alexandre Lacazette nearly a year without an away league goal, I can’t see them carrying enough threat to win this.”

Now what is interesting is that all these writers and publications promoted the need a) to get rid of Mr Wenger and then b) to get rid of Mr Emery.  So they have got what they were after but are still whinging, whining and moaning.  That hardly seems reasonable, but then I suppose, they are journalists and the normal rules of debate don’t apply to them.  (Nor come to that the normal rules of anything else).

Mark Lawrenson on the BBC also doesn’t think much of Arsenal, but is slightly more measured in his tone with, “Chelsea punished Arsenal with two late goals at Emirates Stadium a few weeks ago and I am expecting a similar story this time too.”

But the BBC statistics department do not pull punches noting that Arsenal have won two of 10 league games since sacking Unai Emery, including one victory from five top-flight matches under Mikel Arteta.

They have dropped 13 Premier League points from winning positions this season, with seven of those coming since Arteta was appointed head coach.

But when they come to the away form they too note the strange paradox.  Arsenal have won just one of their last 10 away league games but are unbeaten in their last five top-flight matches on the road.

The big problem however is that Alexandre Lacazette has not scored an away league goal since February’s 2-1 win at Huddersfield.   Although I suppose one might say that this means it is time for him to score.

Here is the team.   First from Squwaka

Leno;

Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Luiz, Saka;

Guendouzi, Xhaka;

Pepe, Ozil, Martinelli;

Lacazette.

Red London have a variation however

Leno;

Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Luiz, Saka;

Xhaka Torreira Guendouzi;

Pepe, Nketiah Martinelli;

Talk Sprout gives us a combination of the two

Leno;

Maitland-Niles, Luiz, Sokratis Saka;

Xhaka Torreira;

Pepe, Ozil Martinelli;

Lacazette

 

Anyway, at least all the “experts” agree on one thing.  Arsenal are going to lose.

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48 Replies to “Chelsea v Arsenal: team news and the transfer is agreed! Oh….”

  1. Top my my “Football News” right now, is a story from The Guamfclj489jrniur about the Flat Earth Football Club.

    Perhaps they should write about the medja outlets that belong to The Flat Earth Society?

    If we force all of them to the edge, can we get them to all fall off? And take Piss Mrgan and the pundits with them.

  2. OT: Corruption

    A website called Portugal Resident has a story about Rui Pinto and Football Leaks (dated yesterday). I gather a bunch of other hackers protested Pinto’s incarceration.

    GamblingNews has an article on the new Integrity Toolkit from FIFA (world leader in corrupting football). There is no particular mention of the corruption we know as The (sweet) FA/EPL/PGMO, they just talk about national and regional games being a problem.

    https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/fifa-pushes-new-toolkit-to-fight-match-fixing-corruption/

    There are stories in the news, about some Spanish player (Raul Bravo) having ordered the assassination of someone. Which is a little worse than Keane deliberately injuring other players.

    —-

    Soccer On Sunday has an article about Guardiola breaking Oliver’s hand. I suspect it was written by a former “football journalist” and is not truthful.

    Their list of “Top Stories” pretty much verifies this. 🙂

    —-

    You have to think that something odd is happening. To pick 5 games of a certain characteristic from football worldwide, you would think that the chances of a particular team getting mentioned twice is approximately zero. Because one of the factors in calculating the probability is the factorial of the number of teams in the world.

    90Min has an article on 5 of the funniest red card events in “modern history”. Their 4th item, is some lower division Italian game where a player head butts a glass window and breaks it, and is red carded for that. So this set of listed events is taking consideration of a huge number of games (and teams).

    The second funny event, was Gibbs getting red carded for something the Ox did (all black people look the same to Marriner).

    The 5th funny red card wasn’t an Arsenal player, but Arsenal was still mentioned. And here is the quote:

    However, out of anger, Di Canio shoved the referee. It didn’t seem to be too big of a push, but the way the referee went down will forever go down in history. It was as if an invisible force behind him was pulling him backwards, something out of a cartoon. He couldn’t control his legs and fell to the turf in a simply hilarious manner.

    Both events involving funny red cards issue by referees, are pointing out behavior _BY REFEREEs_ that is unexpected; and Arsenal was on the field both times. PGMO officials are suspected of being INSTRUCTED to do odd things when Arsenal is involved.

    https://www.90min.com/posts/6541349-5-of-the-funniest-red-cards-in-modern-football

    Oh well, that is 2 URLs in a comment, so this should need moderation.

  5. Torreira being rotationally fouled consistently but Atwell doesn’t see it and allows Kante another kick at his ankles.

    Chelsea given apen while Luiz gets a red with VAR assisting.

  6. Jorginho the one that got away scores the penalty. It shows how bent this version of the game gets.

  9. That was a goal as soon as Mustafi made the stupid back pass &Atwell must have never had an easier red card decision. Shame for Luiz who was always going to foul Abraham from that position. Mustafi again.

  10. This league is a complete farce. I said it sometime last year and will say it again, until we get a media darling as manager [make of this what you will] we will never be given a fair chance.

  11. @ Walter
    Torreira pushed in the face at a corner=no more than a talking to , violent conduct ?
    All this physical pulling and pushing before the ball comes into play at a corner is not right , but what can a referee do other than talk to the offenders .

  12. I’d like to have seen a replay of the possible handball by Chelsea near the end of the first half

  15. What a magnificent goal by Martinelli. He gets the ball after a Chelsea corner goes awry and runs the length of the pitch to beat the keeper. It is poetic justice nothing less.

    Riley you cheat how sad are you now!!!

  16. This is a magnificent performance by Arsenal, Despite the fouling and bent officiating the 10 men for Arsenal played superb football as a team.

    Game ends Chelsea 2 10 men Arsenal 2!!!

  17. Massive effort despite being down to 10men. We however need to take confidence from the performance into the games with smaller teams where we should settle for nothing less than the 3points. Well done lads

  19. The red card was not necessarily what would have been given to other teams. It was a yellow card as the ball was played away from goal and there was a player on the goal line.
    The clear and obvious was that the chav went down because he had lost position. VAR should have seen that and advised on screen yellow & Penalty.

    But, this is Arsenal, so Red is what it is and in all honesty it might be the best thing that has happened to Arsenal. Without Luiz we might play more agressive attacking football.

  21. What about the obvious handball at the edge of the penalty area at the end of the first half? – ignored by the referee.

    Why was Chelsea second goal allowed? There was a forward who was well offside standing directly in Leno’s vision.

    Mustafi made a crucial error, but was magnificent in the second half, along with Xhaka, Leno and the whole defence. Lacazette, Saka, Pepe and Torreira were kicked to bits throughout the game.

    Proud of the ten man against twelve performance.

  22. Chel$ea 2 2 Arsenal

    Fouls are 11:8, cards are 2 yellow: 1 yellow 1 red. Chel$ea had a slight lead on possession, big lead on shots and corners. Attwell is the PGMO twit for the game. As mentioned above, the red to us was associated with gifting Chel$ea a penalty. At 47m, Chel$ea inflict a treatment on Arsenal. It’s possible we were given a free kick for this.

    Congratulations Gunners!

    —–

    OT: SheffieldU 0 1 Man$ity

    Fouls are 11:13, cards are 4:3 (all yellow). Mason is the PGMO twit. Treatment at 13m for Man$ity, it’s possible that Mason seen a foul and issued a card. That’s unreal. Mason gifts Man$ity a penalty at 35m, which is not converted. Man$ity inflict a treatment in extra time and end of game, and the player was off the field for a significant chunk of the extra time by the looks of things.

  23. John L

    You make some great points.

    The fouling that was let go was ridiculous.

    But I especially want to echo your sentiments regarding Mustafi. I do, and always have thought he’s a very good player who has over the years put in regular MOTM appearances, but his problem has always been a propensity to make a catastrophic error.

    Today he demonstrated both traits. A catastrophic error followed by a towering, near MOTM performance.

    He showed true character to stand up to everything Chelsea threw at him after such a big error. He should be very proud of himself.

    But honestly, just one towering performance amongst many.

  24. Looking at the medja was a big disappointment. Just about every “writer” is just bashing Arsenal or Arsenal players. Observation, bash, observation, bash, bash, observation, bash, …. If you assh… in the medja don’t want to write articles describing the game, just leave it alone. What is the point doing so much bashing?

    Even the Islington Gazette has to get their bashing in.

  25. That was a gutsy performance from Arsenal tonight. I think The Luiz red card should have been a yellow, as Mustafi was back on the goal-line. The handball at the end of the first half got little attention from the officials or BTSprout, in contrast to every incident where one of our players had the ball blasted at them from close range, when BT couldn’t show the replay fast enough.

    Atwell was demoted from the PL to the Championship in 2012, after putting in some awful performances. He should be demoted after this one. He’s really not suited to the job.

    Mr. McManaman is a commenter of blowhard proportions, whose emissions dwarf those of the developed world.

  26. OT: Instrumentation, and lousy PGMO

    I have long been a supporter of multiple teams. And I have long been a hater of even more teams. Usually competitors of teams I supported.

    Supposedly the PGMO/EPL/The (sweet) FA require officials to choose which _ONE_ team they support. That’s it. A referee can only support one team.

    For me, that is BS.

    Let’s have referees watch games, with a whistle in their mouth and a sensitive airflow sensor in the whistle. And present them with a medley of game snippets under the instruction that they should whistle when the “normally would”.

    I will bet you, that the referees will take in a breath to blow a whistle, and then recognize Arsenal and not blow.

    But, I think you will find that referees support 2-5 teams and hate 1-8 teams. And many referees will be indifferent (support + hate + indifferent is not a constant).

    To do such an experiment, one needs to present video of games _NOT_ refereed by the referee being “measured”.

  27. The only thing I am noticing about the game (other than the Arsenal bashing), is that apparently Arsenal should have kicked the ball out of bounds so that Abraham could receive treatment.

    Nothing about screwy officiating. Nothing about Chel$ea getting away with fouling Arsenal.

    Rose coloured glasses.

  28. I must admit I didn’t see the handball outside the box. I didn’t see any VAR examination either, but that is standard for Arsenal games unless the VAR appointee is a guest of Riley.

    The number of times Arsenal midfield were fouled is appaling. Torreira was kicked, pushed, shoved in the face and Atwell didn’t see anything wrong. The Abraham ‘injury’ was not of Arsenals making and Chelsea didn’t put the ball out either. The proximity of the advertising boards contravene the Laws of The Game (but then so do the PGMOL) and the Health & Safety aspects are the local boroughs. The so called officials are ment to check the field of play and are therefore responsible for Abrahams injury.

    Several draws by Arsenal, most due to the PGMOL officiating have cost the club millions, but there are many more millions that will be added to the costs.

  29. Just saw the highlights of the game . BIGMOB stiched it up according to the standard script.
    – Send off Arsenal player , for a yellow card offence .
    – Regulation penalty to the opposition.
    – No offside called for their second goal.
    – Allow unlimited ‘free kicks’ on our players .
    – Ignore any obviuos fouls that may result in penalties or freekicks in dangerous areas.
    – Flash a few cards at the opposition players , just to show ‘fairness’.

    Well at least we came back alive with a point ! Now just for ten more draws to ensure safety !

  30. Luiz made no attempt to play the ball (he couldn’t from where he was positioned) and deliberately pushed Abrahams.
    Yes, of course a yellow card offence.

  31. …although under recent law revision when a penalty is awarded the offending/fouling player should not receive a red card to prevent double jeopardy.
    Having re-watched the crucial incidents I’m still not sure about Abraham being ‘offside ‘ at Chelsea’s second goal. He’d just returned to play from being injured behind the goal and was in no condition to do much about anything. But, some might say if you’re in the pitch you’re in play, in which case…

  32. @Masterstroke,

    so if the double jeopardy rule is valid, we have another example of PIGMOB not respecting official rules ? Should’nt Arsenal appeal ?

  33. Chris
    If it was an accidental push, then a yellow should have been sufficient, but a deliberate push will still ensure a red card & penalty.
    On first look last night I thought it was deliberate, but I’m not so sure now. There was very little else Luiz could do once he got in behind Abraham who was bound to go down in that position.
    I don’t subscribe to this PIGMOB thing that goes on and have my own opinions.

  34. Masterstroke

    I think you make a fair enough evaluation of both incidents.

    I think the red card could of been a yellow depending on whether you see it as a clumsy attempt to play the ball or a deliberate foul.

    I think the 2nd Chelsea goal could of been disallowed if Abraham was deemed to be interfering (in the line of sight of Leno) with play.

    Both could of gone either way.

    The first I said last night was harsh, which I stand by, especially if the double jeopardy aspect is taken in to account, which I’m not sure it is any more, but I can see why it was given.

    The second I err towards it being offside as I fail to see how Abraham could NOT be interfering with play given his position. The fact he was limping is irrelevant.

    So 2 50/50’s and they both go against us, not only by the ref but by VAR and of course fully endorsed by the media.

    And this is a perfect example of what I, and others have been saying here on Untold. The pitch is titled.

    If 50% of 50/50’s went in our favour then that is fair. But they don’t. If there is any chance of seeing it in our opponents favour then that is how it is seen.

    But this is the problem, by their nature every 50/50 can go either way and by definition the ref cannot be wrong. He certainly cant be called a cheat.

    BUT if during the course of a game every 50/50 went against us, is that not cheating? Seeing every 50/50 in favour of our opponent ? Surely that IS CHEATING.

    I would contest a ref giving 60% of50/50’s against us, if not ‘cheating’ at the very least still displays a degree of bias, a degree of bias you may expect as the HOME team, but we don’t even get that. Even at home we seem to be on the wrong end of this bias, which often as not extends to a degree that I would call cheating.

    I think last night was a perfect example of a tilted pitch.

    2 massive 50/50’s. 100% go against us.

    Add to that the latitude afforded Chelseas aggressive tackling, which by and large was allowed to go unchallenged, let alone carded.

    Pitch tilting IS cheating but it is, by it’s very nature, extremely hard to prove.

  35. Nitram
    How about that! Both of our last posts have identical time. Bet that doesn’t happen too often.
    Yeah, we don’t get much do we. But I would expect that under Arteta we’ll be more resiliant and a bit of a fouling team even.
    Let’s see what happens then.

  36. Masterstroke

    Indeed, spooky !

    I certainly think Arteta will build resilience in to this team.

    As for fouling, maybe, but the issue isn’t really whether we foul more often, or to use another term, become more ‘cynical’ or not, it is more down to how we are refereed, than anything else.

    Unfortunately referees have a propensity to book our players at the earliest possible opportunity, making fouling, cynically or otherwise, a perilous strategy to say the least.

  37. Of course if being objective is your aim you’ll accept that Luiz made very little or no attempt to play the ball, so double jeopardy doesn’t count here. Decision spot on

  38. Deb
    Yeah, I’ll accept that Luiz didn’t make an attempt to play the ball and probably/most likely/almost certainly deliberately pushed Tammy. I keep changing my mind on this and have now decided that he’s to blame. Red card & ref got it right.

  39. If we want to make certainties out of this then Abraham definitely interfered with play in the build up to Chelseas second goal:

    1) He was directly in the keepers eyelike when the pass was made.

    2) He was definitely in the direct line of the balls trajectory as he actually had to make a small movement to get his hips away from the flight of the ball.

    Both of those factors, being in the keepers eyeline, and being in the way of the flight of the ball, means he had an impact on the goal.

    Definitely should of been chalked off.

    See, we can all do that.

    Isn’t funny how a supposed Arsenal fan is so keen to prove a decision against us to be 100% correct.

  40. @nitram, I disagree with you that he was in the keeper’s line of sight and interfering with play. Obviously the ref and var agree with me.

  42. There should be a Godwins Law rule on Football blogs which ends commenters participation in a thread when trolling others for giving an honest opinion.
    Seriously!

  43. Deb

    Of course you would side with anything that went against Arsenal.

    Abrahams had to swing his hips to get out of the way of the ball. If you are honestly saying he wasn’t in the keepers eyeline then as before talking to you is absolutely pointless.

    And as for citing the fact that VAR and the Ref agree with you as validation of your opinion is beyond laughable when the whole point of this is the cheating nature of VAR and the ref.

  45. Sorry but the link doesn’t work. No problem, it’s all there on arsenal.com, from every angle showing all those facts clearly.

  46. Look at the highlights on arsenal.co

    Match with these 2 laws of the game.

    LAW – Preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision.

    Freeze at 4:20

    Abrahams is definitely in Lenos line of vision, that is irrefutable. This will clearly affect his decision making.

    LAW – Clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or
    making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.

    Freeze at 4:28

    Abrahams clearly makes a movement to avoid the ball. This ‘clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent (Leno) to play the ball’ as Leno has to wait to see what Abrahams will do. Effectively he dummies the ball.

    To claim that Abrahams doesn’t contravene both of those laws by standing in the keepers line of vision, and having to move to avoid touching the ball, is defending the indefensible.

  47. @Nitram, First, you say I’ll side with anything that went against arsenal and arguing for arguing sake, Sorry to disappoint you bro, I won’t and I’m not. To borrow Tony’s language, if you were to make a living off mind reading, I doubt you would be able to afford a meal. I am the kind of person that if my kid was at fault in a fight, I’ll own up and apologize on his behalf. What I won’t do is insist he was right just because he’s my kid and I needed to support him. Same with my support for arsenal. I accept we’re not where we used to be or where we want to be, I don’t cook up ref errors to explain away our level.
    Secondly, I’ve gotten to watch the Chelsea second goal again and indeed Abraham paused his steps(forward movement) to avoid the flight of the ball BEFORE it gets to azpilicueta, maybe that stopped Mustafi from getting to the ball earlier, debatable. But does that put him in the keepers line of sight? Really? Anyway I earlier said my intention was to be objective. It’s your opinion that that obviously put him in the keepers line of sight, by all means enjoy your opinion. I stick with the onfield ref’s and VAR’s opinion as well as pictorial evidence that he wasn’t in the keepers line of sight. You also believe the refs and VAR are cheats, I’ll refrain from making such an accusation until someone provides evidence that they are.
    Finally, please let’s leave all these petty internet insults, I’m older than all that. We may not ever agree, that’s not a problem for me, it shouldn’t be for you too

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