Leeds team and comparing Arsenal to Man U (of course)

By Bulldog Drummond

Previously…

• Arsenal v Leeds and good news about freedom of expression
• Arsenal v Leeds – the tackles, fouls and yellow card index
• Arsenal’s last 100 league games, and Leeds’ one league victory

Although it seems unlikely that Aubameyang will play tonight, the manager has been making some interesting statements concerning the player, of late saying, “it is what Auba is transmitting on the pitch… I have never seen Auba transmit what he is doing now.

“Apart from the goals, the celebration when they put the ball in the net, do you see the way he runs, the purpose he has to press the ball, and when he takes it his movement, his link, how is leading the game – that is when he is changing the rest, not when he is static and then he puts the ball in the net.

“I prefer this Auba.”

Aubameyang is among a group of players with four goals so far this season.  Here’s the list of the top scorers…

Rank	Name	Goals	Assists	Played	Total Shots	Goal Conversion	Shot Accuracy
1	Mohamed Salah	10	5	9	30	33%	77%
2	Jamie Vardy	7	1	9	19	37%	63%
3	Michail Antonio	6	3	8	22	27%	59%
4	Sadio Mané	5	0	9	19	26%	58%
5	Bruno Fernandes	4	2	9	18	22%	39%
5	Roberto Firmino	4	1	7	8	50%	75%
5	Diogo Jota	4	1	8	14	29%	64%
5	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	4	1	8	13	31%	69%

Perhaps more telling, given the way that the Arsenal lineup has been reformed from that which we saw last season, Auba has three goals in his last four PL games.  Which is more than he got in his last nine games last season.

Mr Arteta went further and said, “For me it is a click.  It is a combination that realising that his role has to go well beyond what was good, or very good, two or three years ago.   With his role in this team, at this club, it is not enough.”

So tonight we have Leeds.  Here are the home and away records…

Although no one in the mainstream media will tell you this, Arsenal are the third best home team in the league this season

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Chelsea home	5	4	0	1	16	2	14	12
2	Manchester City home	4	3	1	0	12	0	12	10
3	Arsenal home	5	3	1	1	9	6	3	10

Leeds however are not good travellers

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
16	Leeds United away	4	0	2	2	3	8	-5	2

That comparison suggests that we should win easily, for even though our goal difference at home is just plus three Leeds have managed to go eight worse and get a goal difference of minus five.  So perhaps more than anything else, and allowing for a change of squad, we ought to be able to see this through comfortably.

So what of the team?

Sports Mole give us

Leno;

Cedric, Holding, Mari, Tavares;

Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Lokonga;

Martinelli, Balogun, Pepe

The Standard offer

Leno;

Cedric, Holding, Mari, Tavares;

Elneny, Maitland-Niles;

Pepe, Odegaard, Martinelli;

Nketiah

 

The Short Fuse goes in for exactly the same approach as the Standard

The Independent takes us along similar lines except that they give Lacazette another game….

Leno;

Cedric, Holding, Mari, Nuno;

Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Lokonga;

Martinelli, Lacazette, Pepe

 

Football.London tells us who they won’t play, saying, “In midfield, I’d stick with the double pivot and go for the experienced duo of Mohamed Elneny and Ainsley Maitland-Niles instead of giving a debut to Charlie Patino.

“The 18-year-old is going to be a great player but the game to play him in was against Wimbledon the round before. Coming up against Leeds high press on his first-ever senior start would be way too much of a baptism of fire.”

So Arsenal to get it wrong again.

In the end FoLo give us

Leno;

Chambers, Holding, Mari, Tavares;

Maitland-Niles, Elneny;

Pepe, Odegaard, Martinelli;

Balogun.

 

And that is about it for the variations in line-up.  We certainly ought to win given the way we have been playing, even with a wholesale rotation of the team.