доброе утро Positivistas,
For those of you keenly anticipating the wit and wisdom of young Stew this morning after the Summer break you may be dismayed to discover a change of plan. As someone who was also looking forward to the morning musings of our resident quill-meister I am among you.
Normal service will be resumed in the near future. As Arsene says it is essential that top performers enjoy a proper break to recover mentally and physically from a the heavy 55 game 2015/2016 season, and prepare properly for the long contest ahead.
On to the football match and if I were choosing a game to preview then probably Leicester at the King Power would be around or at the top of the list.
The two top sides in the PL last season, both sides backed by excellent keepers, crammed with attractive ball players, and you just know both sides will score goals today. There is always noise at Leicester’s stadium. The home crowd is always frantic and a small pitch ensures that all the action is condensed. Despite watching the game on the TV I find in smaller, noisier grounds I am much more off my seat and in and out of the domestic technical area.
The Fates have even graced us with Mr Clattenburg so we have the best the footballing authorities can supply in terms of a match official. I hope we shall hear no more of Mr C for the whole weekend, though that rather depends on the players. Dissent ? I may have been watching the wrong games last week but my impression was that ( almost all) players were more cautious, a smidgeon more restrained in their contact with the referees and the linos. We shall see if the behavioural modification lasts.
Of our opponents it is still a bit strange, this Leicester City ‘phenomenon’. Until last season LCFC were, not to be too unkind, a bit of a joke, a bit of a ‘guaranteed six points’. Always had been a soft touch, either skilful dandies but with no bite, or rough and with no footballing brain. Either way easy meat for Arsenal season in, season out.
Both our games in 2015/2016 showed the formidable change in the Foxes, 7-3 on aggregate. LCFC over 38 games an example, in a week of transfer hysteria, that football is a team game and a players combined, thinking, moving, organising on the pitch together, who are determined will always achieve more than 11 individuals no matter their price and/or the size of their wage. That we managed to inflict two of only three league defeats on Ranieri’s side was very much to our credit last season, that only one other club managed to best them is very much to theirs.
Both clubs started the campaign with a blip last weekend and there were the inevitable references to an “ashen-faced” Claudio Ranieri and an “ashen-faced” Arsene Wenger this week “under pressure” and this evening’s designated a “must win” game for both.
Let’s get it clear shall we. Win, draw or lose today any dancing in the streets would be premature. 36 games to go. I know some Arsenal fans by Monday last had given up on the PL. For them the trophy, even any thought we might challenge for the trophy, was gone. I think they are foolish. I trust by about 7.20 tonight they will also feel they were a little foolish.
Of the prospective line-ups I see Huth is back in the centre of the Leicester defence and I assume that will improve on their shakey back 4 display against Hull. Other than Musa I think we know all just about all their players and I expect no surprises. We know what they ‘do’, they know what we ‘do’.
Us ? Arsene was particularly gnomic in the press conference on Thursday. Rob Holding, who I am sure will play alongside Chambers again, will enjoy and learn from the experience over 90 minutes far more than he would from second string action of watching from the bench. I expect Xhaka, Elneny and Le Coq all to get on the pitch today. I fancy the Ox to make his mark today as an attacking force.
Enjoy the game and we shall speak later.
Positively Arsenal 
Is it the camel ?
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A handsome fellow .
Perhaps everyone is hiding under the bed Andy?
Fear factor has maxed out it appears !
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At least its on Newsnow today.
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Thanks Andy: great stuff and just what was needed to whet the appetite. My attention has slightly wandered as on Netball duty (pre-season friendly, but with two new faces who have joined the squad and who looked promising in mid-week training) this mid to late afternoon. I think the wisest course of action is to see where we are after 10 games, and only start to get excited then. There is a lot of noise about us at the moment – and much of it seems deliberately calculated to upset and destabilise. If I had any words of advice for AW it would be to stop giving interviews and PCs as whatever he says is deliberately misquoted, or taken literally when it was meant metaphorically. A good case in point is his latest comments reminding us of the strikers we have – Giroud and Sanchez through to Sanogo – and saying that he needs to buy better quality that that or it won’t be an improvement. And of course this has been misrepresented as him saying that he cant find better quality than Akpom and Sanogo. Which I don’t think was what he was saying at all.
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This morning I have seen a few usually sensible social media participants saying they were dreading the game George.
FFSPeople. It is a potential feast of footballing quality – tuck in. As FH says a few weeks down the line it will all be clearer.
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To the point A5.
Arsenal is known not to be the best starters but we are also known to not let that get in the way of building up some momentum. Arsène knows exactly what needs to be done, as do the players, because a few tough lessons were learnt last Sunday. Leicester, having build up all this expectation with being the defending champions, will be the team being more apprehensive, especially in front of their loud crowd. And that’s something we can capitalise on.
As the spine of our team slowly make their return I suspect today will only be about getting the job done. I have no doubts that Santi will deliver. COYG
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foreverheady it is clear that those that take only Akpom and Sanogo from that Wenger quote are deliberately misrepresenting what AW said, they are by and large WOB, you will not see them say “for fucks sake he can’t find better than Alexis and Giroud”, as they know that would actually mean proper debate, and show the reality of the situation.
Of course Wenger does himself no favors actually including Akpom and Sanogo in his list(he probably has his own reasons for doing so), but he should be savvy enough to know how it is being used by the malcontents to attack him and the club, and of course the players. He made a rather strange quote about – what strikers have real madrid bought this season – again this comes across as a tad silly, CL winners who bought Morata to add to one of the finest attacking list any club has, it really does AW no favors at all.
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Swansea City Academy @swans_academy 31m31 minutes ago
HALF-TIME: #SwansU18s 1 – 0 @Arsenal U18s
Plenty of chances from the #Swans as Liam Cullen’s strike gives the U18s the lead at Landore.
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Double duty Andy Nic. Well done. While our big Arsenal bloggers and mainstream media are in full fear-mongering mood I wish to remind everyone of the following never data in the Arsene Wenger era:
* Never less than 4th
* Never below Tottenham
Average league position: 3rd.
Relax Positivistas. As Andrew Nic reminded us, it is game 2 of a 38 game season.
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As for the Campbell loan deal that is being mooted, for me if it makes room for Gnabry to get game time then I’m all for it, as some on here will know. I’m not the biggest fan of Campbell,(you will know that I always seen him as a sixth or seventh choice when everyone fit) in reality he has only had a handful of good games for us, and even in them, its more a case of hard work and a few exceptional moments, than any full 90 minutes of top quality. I always found Joel’s over reliance on his left foot slowed down and fecked up a lot of our attacks, as he would when on the right have to turn back or go inside, leaving him very predictable. He only scored 4 goals, and I think he has about the same amount of assists. The odd thing with him is that those goals and assists were usually of the highest quality.
But when you look at our wide positions we have the choice of Alexis, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Gnabry, and not forgetting Wenger liking for one attacker and one midfielder in the wide positions, so Ramsey and Wilshere also options. So would it be any real surprise if Campbell is allowed to leave. The only thing I find odd is that its a loan move that is being mooted, and not a sale, and also not a sale to a BPL club, just think of the over the top fee if we could get a BPL club to buy him, but maybe the club are reluctant to sell this summer to a BPL club for a big fee, cos of the fuss it would cause in our fanbase due to what they see as our lack of spending.
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Swansea City Academy @swans_academy 10m10 minutes ago
FULL-TIME: #SwansU18s 1 – 1 @Arsenal U18s
#Swans earn first point of the season as Cullen’s opener is cancelled out by Nketiah’s header.
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I cannot wait for the game tonight. I’m very optimistic.
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IF EVER A SVORELINE FLATTERS A TEAM this Stoke v ManShitty is one
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SCORELINE!!!!
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This fuckwit commentator described ManShitty as impressive. Bollocks. I know it’s early days and I do expect them to improve, but that was not an impressive performance.
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Come on you clarets
Come o
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n palace
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Not forgetting the hornets.
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I’m looking forward to the game today as well. Good write up, thanks Andy. Hoping for a win if only to shut a few siren voices up. Enjoyed the Liverpool game last week and had we gone 2 up with Theo’s penalty counting for the first I think our stranglehold on the game at that point would not have been loosened. Instead, some terrific goals from Liverpool led to a week of weeping from some. What a shower so many of our fans appear to have become.
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Burnley two up. Blimey.
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I assume “crammed with attractive ball players” when talking about Leicester was a sarcastic comment. I can’t really think of any of their team apart from Mahrez that could be called a ‘Ball Player’ on their squad. Unless you’re referring to Huth holding the nearest strikers balls when defending a corner….
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To be fair I was thinking more of Mahrez, Okazaki, Gray and Vardy with the ball at his feet but I take your point
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Leicester City : Schmeichel; Simpson, Huth, Morgan (c), Fuchs; Mahrez, Drinkwater, Mendy, Albrighton; Okazaki, Vardy
SUBS: Hernandez, Musa, King, Amartey, Zieler, Gray, Ulloa
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FT: Burnely 2-0 Not Klopp’s Team
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Well well you tease Arsene, Rob stays in alongside a freshly rejuvenated Kosc – and look who is on the bench!
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i’m not sure how the FA are going to cope, they have already 4 BPL champions to crowned and we are not fully through the second week, Liverpool champions last Sunday, Man Utd yesterday, Man City earlier today, and Chelsea this afternoon, the FA must hope that the two manchester clubs don’t win their next four or five games, or they will get a gold trophy for being the new invincibles, like man city last season, and chelsea the season before.
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the u18’s drew 1-1 today away to swansea, with Nketiah scoring his 27th goal in 30 games for the u18’s since the start of last season. Virgina was back from the olympics
Virginia
Osei Tutu-Omole-Olowu-Barden
Benson-DaSilva
J. Willock-Coyle-Smith Rowe
Nketiah
Subs: Burton (for Smith-Rowe, 64). Not used: Barden, Beckford, Olayinka, Daley-Campbell.
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16 minutes in and after great build up play a poor cross in by bellerin has wasted the best opening of the game, a good cross in and theo would have had a tap in, but hector tried to pull it back to ox
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half way through the first half, its a scrappy game, with arsenal just about the better side, Alexis not been in the game yet, ox and theo in it a bit more, cazorla with some fine bits of play
vardy gets a word in his ear for a late foul on monreal, coquelin gets booked for foul on vardy.
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24 minutes in and ox cuts in on his right and lets fly from edge of the area, it curls a foot or two wide
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clattenburg not going to book lcfc players by the look of it
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35 minutes in and afc on top, but not testing the keeper enough.
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lcfc players still immune to getting booked
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42 minutes in and lcfc with a penalty shout, looked like kos may have got a touch on the ball
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44 minutes in, shocked, mendy booked
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HT: 0-0
arsenal on top, few good chances.
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Neither side really got into gear, and for us that killer ball not quite arriving. The Ox is looking good and I’m pleased with Holding. Bit more direct around the edge of the box, maybe Elneny for Le Coq to give us some height at corners.
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COYG
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looking at the penalty appeals replay and kos got the ball, the ball clearly is played as it changes direction, and drinkwater done what lcfc players like to do, dive trying to win a penalty
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think we need giroud on so we have the option of putting in a high cross, plus alexis is spending far too much time too far away from the lcfc goal area
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second half about to start, and the question is, will coquelin get subbed off or sent off this half.
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alexis wastes so much ball its unreal
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cech just done to vardy what he did last season at home to vardy, a little drag back to send the forward the wrong way
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is lee dixon color blind, he just said our kit is yellow and grey,
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clattenburg playing dm for lcfc,
mendy off injured, king on
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need to get coquelin off, he is going to get sent off if he commits another foul.
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cech is poor with the ball at his feet
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57 minutes in and bellerin with a long range shot straight at the keeper
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coq now looks like he is afraid to make a tackle, he really needs to be subbed off. lcfc on top last few minutes
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