Good morning Positive fans far and near,
The penultimate hurdle of the Premier League season safely skipped over last night. A predictable result for us. The two goal margin hardly reflected our control for long periods of the game and the siege of the Black Cats’ goal. Our performance was as easy on the eye as any home game this season, and a good deal more pleasant than some dour bus parking events. Fair play to Pickford, and all the Sunlun defence, who gave their best and were a good deal more competent than I have seen them in their other diabolical excuses for professional football this season.
Of our lads;
Another very good evening for Xhaka, from ‘zero’ to ‘Arsenal legend’ in just four games. His diagonal, long passing game is exquisite at times. Hector had another impressive match and it is very difficult to see quite where he and the Ox are going to fit onto down that side when both are fit. Both can play at right wing back and do it well. Where their combination leaves Theo I am not sure, sweating presumably? Ozil and Sanchez’s instinctive appreciation of each other’s position and intention sparkled, and Larry battled throughout.
Very disappointing to see Aaron succumb to what looked like another muscular injury. Hopefully the Welshman’s withdrawal was precautionary as he is a man who is made for Wembley.
I suppose the only slight question mark in the course of the evening was whether we really, REALLY, required a three centre back set up against the PL’s weakest team, and who play only Defoe up front ? One advantage the approach had was that, at various times, Rob, Shkodran and Nacho all carried the ball forward and were prominent in attacks. The centre backs were a bit cautious for my taste but the job was done. We will certainly play three at the back against Everton and against Chelsea so it may just be ensuring the players are as used to the system as possible. I suspect that Arsene will have the defence in this morning for an hour of “passing back to the goalkeeper” practice. (Bloody Nacho !)
So the dice are set to roll on at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Top Four or Thursday, Madrid or the Moldovan Post Office team ? We press onward with hope, as ever.
Enjoy Wednesday.
Positively Arsenal 
I watched with half an eye as I worked my way through a mountain of photo edits but I think In saw much the same game as you Andy. Nacho’s error was really the culmination of a series of fuck ups but I would have thought aiming any back pass either side of the goal was fairly basic stuff. In the end Cech did what he had to do.
Not much else to add except how much I regret Aaron’s latest injury, always they seem to come just as he returns to form.
Thank you for your review.
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Good read A5!
Özil put in a near flawless performance last night and Granit Xhaka mehnn, how good is he? It is like Mikel Arteta got cloned, just more feisty. Fingers crossed Aaron is alright.
Sunday is gonna be a cracker.
Operation “chemistry, cohesion and momentum” building up to Wembley is on track.
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Sundays an odd one what with all the stats, facts and figures, but leaves us with plenty of excitment, and then the FAC to follow. I like it we can switch formations now. Did the trick last night. Onward we march!
I agree with Stew about Aaron,he was really starting to cook. Bah!
Thanks for the penultimate league game review. Cheers A5!!
COYG! Viva Las Wenger!
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Frustrating victory as far as having created an astonishing number of chances (36 in the end?), we ‘only’ converted 2 when really we needed four+ for the sake of goal difference. How painful will the weekend be if we miss out on Top 4 thanks to that?
Credit to Sunderland for coming out to play although 70+% possession tells its own story; they will be toast in the Championship if they don’t get even a few of their footballing ducks in a line.
Enjoyed the continued emergence of Holding, Mustafi and Xhaka and it was good we retained our back three shape for most of the game. Shape and personnel are two big keys for achieving the kind of consistency that has been a tad hit and miss for us this season, on and off. Certainly the hallmarks of both Leicester and Chelsea’s recent/current league success has been minimal change through injury (admittedly in combination with a Euro-lite football workload).
We are told the night was a huge success for two of our “Supporter” clubs in persuading between 10,000 and 20,000 to stay away from this rearranged mid-week televised fixture with the relegated northern misfits. I believe last season’s Thursday fixture v WBA was similarly lightly attended and that was without the benefit of a “Supporters” Club boycott. So, yet again, even after all that has – and hasn’t happened – only ambiguous support at best for the kind of change certain types are so keen to effect.
I was reading recently about Obama Derangement Syndrome – this is the state US Republicans apparently got themselves into over their former president that led them to become so wrapped up in their opposition to him that any sense of greater purpose was lost to them. (In the UK we’d probably label this as ‘getting one’s knickers in a twist’).
Sound familiar?
Seems to me that amongst our “Supporters” groups, Wenger Derangement Syndrome is very much ‘a thing’.
To everyone’s embarrassment.
I do hope they stay away from Wembley in a fortnight’s time.
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And thank you to Andrew for his post-match post – penultimate one for the PL and as bright and fresh as he was at the start of the season!
#consistent
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I believe Aaron is OK.
But don’t hold me to that.
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* West Brom game was moved to a Tuesday apparently.
I’m Rob Holding you to that George. Mustafa reason for saying that!
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“I do hope they stay away from Wembley in a fortnight’s time.”
I guarantee you they won’t. The malcontents will be front and centre ready to whip out their banners if we don’t win, but will have collective amnesia and celebrate with abandon if we do. They are just a bunch of glory seeking hypocrites who are only interested in Arsenal when the going is good.
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The pleasure is mine AA.
I did not go myself last night but I wonder whether some of the explanation for the number of empty seats was not just the boredom factor of watching relegated Sunlun on a Tuesday but that the game was a rearranged weekend fixture. I noticed even at the Leicester game a few weeks back it was not full around me in the lower tier.
When I go to the Ems, and no matter where I sit, around me are groups of Japanese tourists, Norwegian stag parties, bemused Austrian picnickers who have ticked the “Game at the Emirates” box on their London package tour itinerary.
From what I understand, having had the occasional chat with the aforementioned visitors these trips, and the tickets, have been booked months in advance at the time of their original package trip. On arrival they are issued with season tickets with the owners name and and return them post match.
If the Saturday game is then re-arranged it becomes more difficult to re-sell the tickets, hence the big gaps last night.
It probably would do no harm if the club, and the various supporters groups, admitted that 000s of tickets to every game go to one off tourists. It does not appear beyond the with of the cub to retrieve at least some of these stray season tickets and reallocate them to local fans on the waiting list, or just sell them at the door.
Good luck to the visitors I say – no doubt their choice of a football outing in the capital will widen in years to come.
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Had some sympathy for Sunderland supporters last night. Can’t imagine what it’s like to support a club who have no choice but to play extremely defensively, including taking time on throws et al, when already relegated.
They and many other clubs have little choice though these days given they go all in on that being the way they try stay up, which means, with no practice of anything else, they’ve less chance of getting a result playing differently and it’s likely they’d be heavily beaten. But still, it’s a sad sight for me when a club who are down, or safe, aren’t able to try have a real go on the front foot.
Anyway, that’s them. We got the job done, could have scored many more, while Xhaka and Ozil played some great stuff.
I find it weird that Ozil’s performance isn’t enough to dominate even the negative fans impressions of the game afterwards. The empty seats sucked, the overall performance wasn’t perfect,etc, but anyone who watched got to witness a fantastic performance from a great player, in a winning effort.
That alone makes for a positive experience and a good evening, surely.
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AA: The best metaphor for the anti-Wengerism in the British media is the Corbyn Derangement Syndrome. Like the Washington Post and the New York Times, the chief attacker is The Guardian. Wenger is a challenge to the EPL Establishment who simply see the league as a vehicle to attract foreign money. Wenger must not succeed lest the public be convinced we can have a league of the most modern progressive football not a competition between those with the deepest pockets. Btw China has the deepest pockets but the players are generally rejects from the European Leagues. No wonder they are trying to snap up English teams with the blessing of the EPL, the same Establishment who exported your factories and jobs to China. These are the same people who want more austerity, more privatization of the NHS and continued rundown of a decrepit, fragmented British railway system.
Thanks for that breezy report AndyNic.
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Scudamore’s vision and ambition was to turn the PL into an evolution of the Glaswegian Tanning Salon. Same model, slightly different scale!
(please see the demise of the giant club formerly known as Glasgow Rangers, the context for why Souness is a ‘respected’ football plundit)
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Fins: Under Scudamore’s vision the Chinese own some of the biggest midland clubs; Birmingham, Aston Villa and West Brom. They have an ownership interest in City and their eyes are now set on Southampton and Crystal Palace. Saw an article in the Guardian shedding crocodile tears about the loss of English ownership but lauding the Chinese for their investments. The English elite who sold up must be laughing as they tipple their Gin. Btw I have no doubt in my mind more 2nd tier players and those at the end of their career will leave the EPL for the Chinese Super League. If the 4th or 5th ranked striker in Argentina, Lavezzi, can be earning £400k per week, the temptation to Aguero must be off the scale. Sooner or later, when the Chinese have enough power, Championship and PL games will be played on Fridays and Saturdays to fit the schedules of the Chinese tv market. Again I ask the question is this the dystopian, neo-liberal, globalist future for English football?
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The old fart’s thoughts
36 shots and only 2 goals bears testimony to young Pickford’s performance last night. He was a promise for Sunlan’s future at least. Will they be able to keep him? Mind you Petr’s much less demanding job was coped with admirably, two good saves in the first half and then a scramble for Nacho’s back pass. I’m still trying to work out why he wasn’t where Nacho thought he was but no excuses for Nacho.To my mind, it was strange seeing Kieran in the position that Nacho seems to have made his own. I would have swapped the two early on.
It was a frustrating game for the most part; for all of Oz’s brilliance we didn’t quite seem to gell when it came to hitting the net. Sure, Pickford didn’t help, but overall we treated many gold plated chances with disdain and we may well regret that should the Pool somehow manage to drop a point on Sunday. Hopefully that will have disappeared for the next two games, Alexis to add to his tally and Lukaku none. Winning the Golden Boot will be a good reward for him.Pity that his first half “goal” was justly disallowed.
Keep the faith.
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Btw: Let’s not miss sight of the fact it is the bankers from the City who structure and finance these transactions who are the biggest beneficiaries of these takeovers. As we learnt from the details of the Madrid deals the Chinese are not stupid; they leverage their wealth by borrowing money from the capital market to do these deals. These are legitimate vehicles to repatriate their wealth from the mainland. Abramovich showed the way. Globalism and neo-liberal economics are great innit?
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Shotts
I blame Venga and the worst run club on the planet for everything!
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Sorry Fins, on this you are wrong. Not Vengar. Its Putin’s fault.
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They must be working together!
I knew it. You can’t trust these axis of evil commie bastards.
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I want it all
I want it all
I wannna Wexit and I want it now
(Thanks to Brian May)
Maybe that’s the solution? Timmy P &a pals dressed in pink spandex standing atop the micro roundabout opposite the armoury after having hired a pa rig? Probably a better use of Usmanov’s money then all those planes they’ve been hiring, the posters, the projections, the “hundreds” of protestors?
For sure they’ll get more people paying attention and less people laughing at them!
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Ex-KGB (taps nose)
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Its not possible for Liverpool to drop a point, they either drop 2 or 3.
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Yup that was another bizzare and remarkable commentry from the in game plundits.
Slagging off the arsenal for not scoring enough goals in the match or in the season. Completely irrelevant! yet becasue they repeated this meme ad nauseum understandably some will be confused becasue this gr*t has been pumped into the ether even though it literally doesn’t add up.
If you were listening then you’d have heard these clowns attempot to trun down the Arsenal at every available opportunity (almost as if the club offended their employers puritanical & religious extremism). We can’t be sure why some have such dripping and palpable hatred for Arsenal Football Club, there could be hundreds & hundreds of millions of reasons, but that doesn’t mean we can’t laugh at them!
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The goal difference bit was relevant for us in relation to City, because if they lose and we win, it will come down to it. With Liverpool GD doesn’t matter. We are a point behind and as long as they don’t win and we do, we finish ahead of them.
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If Liverpool lose and we draw it goes back to goal difference – then goals scored.
If we do not beat Everton though I would be more than a little disappointed.
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Watford might nick a point, if they beat City then it won’t only be Spurs who are Spursy.
I haven’t checked the odds *coughs* but i’m guessing most punts were on Liverpool dropping points after the City LCFC match,
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< thanks
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Sanchez “Arsène is more than a manager here. He was, still is and will always be the right man for the job”
I’m tempted to use a smiley little face !
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PG: Is Sanchez trying to get us off his back? Smart boy, that Alexis Sanchez. Very smart.
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*wags tail with delight*
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Hah Forest survive relegation on GD!
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Arsenal Ladies 0-1 up against the evil commie bastards.
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Game is on BBC!
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Only listened to two mins of this but from the little I’ve heard and seen Nigel Pearson is an interesting and likeable soul:
https://youtu.be/bqI9yznmx-w
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Happy to give the credit for good plunditry when there’s so little of it!
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on the low attendance yesterday, petr cech said he had 15 unused tickets, due to the game being rearranged, that if it had taken place on original date, he had 15 friends who had flown in for the game, but they could not come back last night
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so if we win the fa cup will the malcontents and banner wankers try to disrupt the victory parade, will the real arsenal supporters allow them to get up to their stunts on such a day.
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Tom WilliamsVerified account @tomwfootball 16m16 minutes ago
Full-time: 0-0. United guaranteed to register their lowest number of wins in a Premier League season.
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Squawka FootballVerified account @Squawka 14m14 minutes ago
Fewest wins by Man Utd in a Premier League season:
17* in 2016/17
19 in 2015/16
19 in 2013/14
20 in 2014/15
All post-Fergie. 🤔
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Eduardo 9.44 pm – yes and no, without a doubt.
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Huddersfield through to the championship final v Reading, after beating sheffield wed on penalties
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ozil gave the lad his man of the match award
http://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/players/mesut-ozil-arsenal-make-sick-13046633
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I see the media narrative is in full flow with pictures of the Emirates crowd just before kick off when the crowd was looking very sparse, however, there were a lot of latecomers and it was quite full around me in the Clockend within minutes of the start. I have definitely seen less people in there than last night. But let’s not stop facts or balance getting in the way of pushing an agenda. I don’t see the media banging on about attendance figures for other teams, chelski for example are always advertising general sale tickets for European and other cup games on the radio.
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passenal have you any idea how many fans enter the stadium via the car parks, as some go on the police figures for attendance, which is only for turnstile entry, and does not count anyone entering the stadium any other way, and I seen someone claim that thousands enter in other ways such as through the car parks.
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https://scontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18447369_1494355917293539_8690469064371833019_n.jpg?oh=58c3522f4559ccb87551918d38ff7a92&oe=5977782F
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passenal why wouldn’t the media narrative be that the place was empty, when you have that shower of shit AST, and RedAction (two so called SUPPORTERS groups) claiming that their was 25,000 empty seats
High ranking AST members calling for a boycott, while at the same time telling AFC that they should be taking season tickets off those that fail to go to games. Talk about running with the hare and barking with the hounds.
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Shane BurnsVerified account @MediaShaneBurns
The team that finishes fourth in the Premier League, could have a Champions League play-off against Napoli, Dortmund or Sevilla.
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Is it true that they Wob want to disrupt the potential victory parade? Do they consider for even one second outside of their absolutists egos the affect that would have on the side before the game?
Imagine for one sec that you are AFC and youve won an amazing game, 3-0 down at HT and AFC win the game 4-3 with a last second goal by Mesut that bends through the air like Liam’s goal v the Spudneys all those years ago leaving Chelsea destroyed. Everyone goes potty and its one of the greatest moments ever in AFC contemporary history.
Next day its blue skies and sunshine and then youre on the bus and see the Wob slagging your Gaffer off and probably yourself, and some stupid plane with a banner hanging out the back. Whats in your mind? “whats the point?” “whatever we do we just get slagged off no matter what we do?”.
Of course maybe the idea that there will be a protest will lodge in the back of the lads minds and act as a small hindrance, limiting any belief even before you go into the game.Ffs its going to be tough enough taking on the Chavs let alone fighting inside hatred.The enemy within?
And these people say they support AFC. Perhaps its time to look up the definition of support?
COYG!
Ok rant over, I know Im preaching to the converted, Im going back under the stone now.(sounds of shuffling and mumbling fading away).
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These vermin would drown puppies live on TV if it gave them 2 more minutes in the public eye.
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retrospective bans for diving next season, the age of technology is rolling on.
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All in all Ezekiel do you think the move to the Chinese Super League has been a success ?
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