Good morning Positives,
All up early and ready for the kick off ? That’s the ticket.
A good opportunity for us to sit astride the top of the PL this afternoon following our visit to the Stadium of the Damned Light. Let us examine the opportunities, and the pitfalls, together.
The home side are in a terrible state. Just two points in nine games, five defeats in the last six PL games, bereft of confidence, already five points behind 17th place Boro and notional safety. Moyes’ stated virtually from the opening day of the season that they are in a relegation “battle”. I think the Scotsman is wrong. From the games I have seen involving Sunlun there is no “battle” in them. In their heads the players seem to have given up already. Checking the record books just one club with two points after nine games has escaped relegation (in case your interested Saints in 98/98 whose 9th PL game and 2nd point came at Highbury). Ten games and two points and no club has ever recovered to stay up. Yes these are bleak, bleak days for the Mackems, on the footballing abyss.
And yet who knows what just one win for Sunderland, one dramatic fighting performance, in front of the Wearside faithful might do ? The only thing Moyes can do is send his boys out to try to find that spark of resistance, that scintilla of pride, and to get some sort of result – any bloody result for them would do in fact. Could Whatmore be this week’s Barrow or Traore !? There will be a full house at the stadium. I anticipate we shall see a desperation in our opponents that will need to be controlled, extinguished and replied to with our brand of incisive, fast and direct Wengerball.
Of our lads I know we await Arsene’s call on the starting line up and whether Giroud will get back in to start or remain on his seat. He has a good record against Sunlun but my feeling is that the Frenchman won’t start and we will stick with Alexis up front. I see also that having rotated the team successfully for the Reading game two injuries have cropped up, Theo and Nacho, who enjoyed a rest in midweek. Whether either will feature I am not sure as Arsene ended a bit vague yesterday, with both restrictions slight. “Late tests” all round apparently. I would be pleased to see the Ox start after a good performance on Wednesday if Theo remains crocked. On a much more positive note, sit down Alabama, Aaron is back and almost certainly will get some action today. I have missed his quality in the final third and if Santi remains side-lined we will rely on the Welshman’s class to open up spaces in and around the box.
I see we have Mr Atkinson with the whistle today. From byword to refereeing controversy and poor calls, three seasons ago, to one of the best officials on the roster. Because the stakes are very high for the Black Cats I fancy he will be busy today.
As you may gather embark on our trip to the North East with some optimism it will be a productive afternoon. Let us therefore settle down to enjoy the game from 12.30 UK time. I shall be giving the fools on Sky hell. For those of you out and about the game is broadcast on Radio 5 Live.
(In case you think that you have missed a day young Stew is organising a very special birthday today and has been excused duties by The Leader. Remember though, the clocks go back an hour tonight).
Positively Arsenal 
Clattenburg putting in a shift this afternoon at Trafford Park – magnificent effort but 15 to go.
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Good humping for Pulis although they had a few chances in the 2nd half at 0-2 – Pep’s demise a bit premature perhaps
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And it goes from BAD to VERY BAD for Jose
Marvellous – well done Burnley
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Danny T. @King__Danny 29m29 minutes ago
Russian commentator: “It’s a shame there is no Eva Carneiro at Man Utd, there is nobody to blame for him”.
Fucking savage
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7 games ago, the malcontents told us Man utd were an example to us, they had a modern manager, in fact a tactical genius, they were ambitious, as seen by them winning the transfer window, and they had an insurmountable 5pt lead over Arsenal, well now we have an 8pt lead over them, this despite us losing the league last week by dropping 2pts at home to Middlesboro.
we have scored 10 goals more than man utd, and let in 2 less as well.
by the way, the new invincibles, THFC, despite not losing a game, and only letting 5 goals, are 3pts behind us, and have scored 9 less than us, we face them next week away, is it possible that for once we get a ref who will not allow them to kick lumps out of our players unpunished, and who will not fall for their cheating diving antics.
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its amazing to see the media and pundits bend over backwards to find all sorts of excuses for Man Utd, their players and especially their manager. shameful stuff from them.
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Never thought I’d live to see the day. Utd fans at Old Trafford:
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would like to point out that Alexis got his 50th Arsenal goal today, and it came in just 106 games – 99+7
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A quick trip to Istanbul next for Jose and his lads on Thursday then for a game at the Liberty on Sunday.
Ho – ho – ho.
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Monkey Sponge @monkey_sponge 6m6 minutes ago
Jose Mourinho refusing to speak to the press
infamy infamy, they all have it in for me.
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1886 @1886_blog 3h3 hours ago
In 106 games, Alexis has scored 50 goals and assisted 29 times. What a player. 🔥🔥🔥
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Giroud scored with his first two touches today
But what did the useless plank do with his third touch, waster
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so guys its the NLD next Sunday, and we have CL game away v Ludogorets on Tuesady, what sort of rotation, if any, would you do if it was up to you. A win in the CL game could mean we have qualified for the last 16 with 2 games to spare, and Ludo caused us lots of problems in the first half of our 6-0 win over them, to suggest that they are not a team we should take lightly, but spurs away is massive, so is it stick or twist. We talk about squad depth, how real is it, can we leave Theo, Cazorla, and Monreal at home midweek, give them the extra few days to get fully fit. Can we leave Alexis and Ozil at home, now that Giroud and Ramsey are back, and with Xhaka available, can we rest the Coq. We know Ospina likely to start, so Cech gets a few days off, but can we rest any more of our defenders, could we possibly go with our EFLC defense,
I get the feeling, the way Wenger has been speaking, that he is still a little concerned about the confidence levels in the squad, he seems concerned that it would only take a couple of non wins to dismantle the hard earned confidence gained from our run of wins, so I’m not expecting much rotation, but then is it really rotation when its players of the quality of Xhaka, Ramsey and Giroud that you can bring in.
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ha ha ha, just seen Zlatans miss in the last minute of the utd game, oh wow.
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If players aren’t 100% he won’t take them. He’ll start Giroud but have Alexis on the bench. Other than Giroud and Ospina I reckon the same starters as today.
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boydhilton @boydhilton 4h4 hours ago
Thierry Henry on Giroud: “People sometimes doubt him”. Yes I wonder who these mysterious doubters are… #Arsenal
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Sibs @SibsMUFC 3h3 hours ago
August: Rooney is the problem
Sept: Fellaini is the problem
Oct: Zlatan is the problem
When will people start to realise that it’s Jose?
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TH14 one of the doubters no doubt!
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Great to see Ollie G, back with a bang, so all those articles about how he is now surplus to requirements can go back in the bin where they belong.
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Well, that was fun. Now to watch the Man U game,.
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A%, thank you for standing for the ultimate teaser, Stew!
Alabama – wherefore art thou?
Apparently, after 2 games Rambo has more assists than Pogba, for c.£89 millions(including £24 millions to the Agent, and £4 to £5 millions mansion for the player). I have missed the train…..
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I saw that it was good.
Imagine losing your shit at. 1-1?
Lol cats.
Keep up the good work stew.
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The Man U game?
Well now Stew , the weekend get’s better….
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‘ALEXIS IS DOING EXTREMELY WELL UP TOP’
Arsène Wenger was delighted with his team’s performance in beating Sunderland on Saturday – particularly with his options up front.
Both Alexis and Olivier scored twice at the Stadium of Light, and afterwards the boss was asked about the two forwards:
on if Giroud scoring twice gives him a selection headache…
When they score goals, you have no headache. We play every three days and it’s simple – nobody can play all the games and it’s down to me to find the right balance in every single game between attacking and defending, even if we are more of an attacking team. Sometimes I can play them together, sometimes separately, but we play so many games that everybody should get the number of games he wants.
on Alexis’ form through the middle…
He is doing extremely well and I believe that he enjoys it. But we can as well play 4-4-2 with two through the middle as well, because Mesut can play in behind or on the flank. I will see. Let’s not create problems that we don’t have at the moment.
on being pleased with Giroud…
Olivier is a guy who is mentally absolutely fantastic. He’s strong and every time he’s questioned, he gives you the right answer on the pitch. I admire that in him. He’s a guy who has gone through some different questions. Even before the European Championship in France, he was questioned by the crowd and in the end everybody was on his side.
Copyright 2016 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20161029/-alexis-is-doing-extremely-well-up-top-#jStxT5I5yL3YUeeP.99
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Well NOTH, no one else was talking about Aaron, and I figured everyone was getting tired of me doing it. I thought maybe you guys completely missed his entrance into the game, seeing as it wasn’t until he popped up in the box that I realized it!
I was of course delighted to see him today, and he got an assist for his trouble.
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man utd knew jose was a cunt before they signed him on,
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/embarrassment-anger-disdain-officials-manchester-9154911
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what a surprise from Match of the Day, the Alexis goal which was a 22 pass move, the most of any goal scored in BPL this season, and they show about six passes of the move, but they have the time to show John O’Shea walking off injured.
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just after realizing that Ainsley Maitland-Niles came on as a late sub today, to make only his second ever BPL appearance, well done you man, a just reward for a fine performance in the EFLC midweek.
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by the way AMN is the 22nd player used by AFC in the BPL this season in our 10 games, and we have used 31 players in total across all competitions, 15 games.
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Squawka Football @Squawka 14m14 minutes ago
No Premier League player completed more passes today than Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny (89).
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must say again how much of a cunt Atkinson was today (as usual when it come to AFC games for him), not content with letting Sunderland away with lots of bad fouls, he compounded his inept performance by refusing Alexis a clear penalty, of course accompanied with a theatrical spreading of the arms, in an almost Dean like fashion. Of course, seconds later he had no trouble giving Sunderland a penalty.
the PGMOL are in full operation and I genuinely fear what antics their chosen refs will get up to in our next couple of league games – spurs and man utd.
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Tom Gordon @GoonerGordo 6m6 minutes ago
Lmao, Gundogan is a far better player than Pogba and he cost less than Pogba’s agent.
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FK³ @fkhanage 1h1 hour ago
Charged by the FA, sent ‘off’ at home, shirked media responsibility & left the FA Cup out of a squad photo to massage his ego; Jose’s week.
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Awful refereeing sees Alexis end with crazy stat in Arsenal win over Sunderland
By Lee Hurley – Oct 29, 2016
Martin Atkinson did not have a good game on Saturday afternoon when he took charge of Arsenal’s trip to Sunderland.
Not only did he allow the Sunderland players to kick Arsenal, ignoring a number of fouls, he should have sent Steven Pienaar in the first half for two yellows, had he not bottled the first one.
Before he pointed to the spot for Sunderland, he waved away calls from Arsenal for a penalty after Alexis was pulled to the ground just moments earlier.
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Ahmed @Ahmed91Gooner
Martin Atkinson did NOT give a penalty for this @FA ????
1:54 PM – 29 Oct 2016
877 877 Retweets 344 344 likes
He then booked Alexis for pointing out he was 100% wrong and, as you know, you can’t appeal yellows.
How can you be booked for stating the truth?
Alexis got a lot of stick from the Sunderland crowd who thought he was diving as he went down time after time without Atkinson giving a foul. Taking a little longer to get up after being clearly and deliberately kneed in the back of the thigh, he was greeted with a chorus of boos when he touched the ball.
So, in this sort of environment, it’s not surprising to learn that Alexis ended up having FOUR fouls given against him while he only received TWO in his favour.
Ridiculous, but not at all surprising.
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Positively Arsenal @Blackburngeorge 1m1 minute ago Blackburn, England
What? Spurs have only conceded 1 goal in open play all season?
Bloody hell.
Arsenal have not conceded a goal in open play this season with kos or mustafi in the team.
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So, old Wenger’s team have conceded one more goal, and scored one less than the magnificently modern Pep has done in the first 10 games?
Well, if Pep’s team had not callously lashed out at Gabriel in the pre season friendly, I would expect the GD to have been more in Arsenal’s favour.
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Today’s post is finally up.
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