A guest post from @LaboGoon
When Arsène Wenger changed formation in the final two months of last season we went on an incredible run. There was balance between offense and defense, and with all the players playing their part it was a thing of beauty man. Those who stood tall were Koscielny, Monreal, Ramsey, Xhaka, Alexis, Giroud and Özil.
Following that Arsène and the board decided its important to keep the spine of that squad together and augment them with just 2 starting players to ensure a smooth transition on to the next level. Those are Sead Kolašinac and Alexandre Lacazette. The former becoming a cult hero in no time, the latter showing great composure in front of goal with an icy coolness.
Now before last Sunday vs Everton, due to various reasons, Arsène never had an opportunity to showcase his grand vision for this season. When he finally got the chance… oh boy, it was so magnifique that long after the final whistle, that ultimately put Ronald Koeman out of his misery, there was echoes online of “give us more, give us more”.
That brings us to Swansea today. They don’t score many goals, in fact just 6 so far this season in 9 outings, but they also conceded just a solitary goal in their last 4 away games. And with their primary objective being not to get relegated, one can expect them again being very focused on jealously guarding their goal by playing with 9 men behind the ball.
Should that give us pause for concern… well I’m not nervous, Arsène have the same team of last week available for selection today and I just can’t see them shutting us out , especially if our “awesome foursome”, Ramsey, Alexis, Özil and Lacazette, do what they did so well vs Everton – batter their defence till they’re drained of all energy, then devour their poor souls. Not rocket science this football ‘malarkey’ eh?
If I’ve got one criticism of last week it would be the lax manner in which we conceded the 2 goals. If the players can work on improving that, I can see us using this game as a nice launch pad in preparation for next weekend’s Super Sunday opponents – Man City.
But for now… THIS is the BIG one. It’s Arsène Wenger’s 800th PL fixture at the helm and it needs to be a good one.
Should we win today it will be 10 on the bounce at the Emirates. So good luck to those going to the game and scream your lungs out and wave your flags, because at the moment there’s no place like home. Do so too for the rest of us watching from around the globe, as we will be there in spirit.
Fingers crossed the Arsenal “give us more” and the Arsène gets his party.
Positively Arsenal 
Good morning Labo – a Saturday afternoon fixture which is a rarity. I fancy a patient game today, with a late winner finally picking apart the Swans’ dogged defence.
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Thanks Labo
Only concern for today, if things go to plan, is that Fabrianski will put on a goalkeeping Masterclass, he’s the only thing between the Swans and the drop so far this season.
Jack Wilshere giving hints on Twitter he’ll start today, surely not?
I believe the boss should stick with Xhaka-Ramsey axis, with Jack on as a sub after 70 mins, if required. D.
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A very good morning and a rarity indeed A5 and DC.
1-0 should and would be good enough, but there’s so much energy and a feel-good mood at Colney, that I can’t help but feel the boys wanna take that to field and up our GD column.
Fabianski does know how to turn up uninvited doesn’t he? I hope today is not one of those.
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Excellent LB,
Going forward we were majestic but with swansea so far being so tight at the back we cannot afford any of the clowning around we saw at the back last week.
Adrian Clarke said its important not to give teams who are low on confidence something to cling on to and once again killing this game off early will give us all a much more enjoyabe afternoon and allow the players to fully express theirselves.
To that ends once again we have to keep the tempo up and make sure the posession is with the midfielders and not just with the back three.
Got to give a mention to the U23s who are playing chelski today and will probably field several U18 players against a youth set up that has spent the most money in recent years in the PL and the disparity in funds is bigger than with the first team.
A good win or wins from ARSENAL today and this could be very good weekend for us COYG.
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Thank you LG
It is a beautiful Autumn morning here in London, I hope the day finds you all well wherever you may be.
With the Europa/UEFA cup scrambling league KO times this might be one of the few games we get to watch without floodlights for a month or two! temperatures should be consistent over the match, I expect the physios will not be as nervous as they would be over vulnerable hammies, should be a similar XI to last week. I wonder if the fans of clubs in the CL this season who’ve lost key players to twinging hamstrings in recent weeks have been blaming their board, their manager, their kit man, for the demands put on modern athletes by broadcasters who see their players as nothing but donkeys, whilst quoting unemployed physiotherapists in order to increase the number of their followers upon social media, whilst claiming that they hate modern football, on twatter, but I digress…
Swansea have lost two of their key forward players from last season, and they’ve always defended well when I’ve seen them come to north London. Then again that’s what you’d expect from a good football team which is what they’ve been since they came into the league a breath of fresh air when compared to the stale Pulis and crew. But they’ve struggled to keep the momentum going in recent years, one or two managerial appintments didn’t click, this steering of a football club safely amidst the sharks/agents malarkey looks like a pile of pish eh?
I do not imagine an easy victory but I am looking forward to watching the two best footballers in this football league* strut their stuff courtesy of the manager who convinced them to play for this club.
*sorry George but I’ve enjoyed watching both! Especially when they have an in form Cazorla/Ramsey in support. A song of Fire & Ice!
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Too superstitious to state my confidence levels for today- last time I tried changing habits and boldly predicted a win was Watford home last year- but the signs are pretty good.
Home form strong, should be putting out near best side, including that exciting front three.
Training photos yesterday made me feel good about where we are at presently. High quality experienced players all over the place, a few to return, number of talented youngsters boosted by recent game time (*oh, but the harm we’re doing, the harm, playing them out of position. Crazy clueless bastards we are)
Seeing Debuchy looking happy when he hasn’t for such a long time was particularly nice. Fit and well, he is an excellent boost to our squad strength. Feel like every decent minute we get from him is a bonus.
Would like to see us show bit of extra care and caution in decision making in our own half today. Avoid getting caught on a turnover there- fair or ,as likely, foul- and our chances of success are high for the day.
*In at number 2 this week in my ‘Arsenal fans being utter twats’ chart. Ask chips for number 1)
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Thanks Labo. Hope they produce a performance that allows us all to forget the total BS, fake news, and me me me attention seeking from mainly middle aged men this week.
But should they falter, I will back them all the way next game, cannot speak for clubs abroad, but surely there is no club in this league that gets the shit Arsenal do. And anyone that coaches them or wears the shirt deserves nothing but admiration and support because of all this. Yes , they are well paid, but so are far lesser players in lesser teams that haven’t won anything for years, but get little but media and malcontent adulation.
But, hopefully a good day today, looking forward to that front three, should they play of course, then subs who are capable of coming on and rescuing the situation, or hopefully, twisting the knife.
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Great preview LG and you attracted some really good comments from the Positivistas. So thanks for those as well..
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Quite a change from the past 2 seasons where our away form was a tad better than home. Seeing a team less decimated with an injection of new energies that have all played a role at some point so far bodes well for the club.
AW has finally got a schedule that fits his template for nurturing, improving & maintaining players. Like other organisms, players grow in responsibility by playing actual games. Trial and error is the foolproof way we all fine-tune our unique takes on life.
I expect a 2-0, 3-1 or 4-1 to the Arsenal regardless of what heroics Fabianski throws down. Last week’s team starts with the same bench + Debuchy.
COYG!
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The Swansea centre back Fernandez getting a few favourable mentions in the morning’s media – Argentine apparently and one to watch.
I hope he has a nightmare
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Scuadmore’s elite PR team will be hard at graft as the Two Best Managers in the World (TM) go head to head in this exciting contest.
Where both teams can be seen to be happy with a 0-0 bore draw…there was better fare for the punter upon the football pitch when the AFC B team played a match against Norwich.
It is what is (sh*t on a st*ck).
–
COYG.
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< It is what it is
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Props to Jorge Valdano.
He called it as he saw it.
Some might say that it was a harsh statement but to be fair you can dress a turd up with bells and whistles and £300-500M worth of tat but it’s still gonna look and stink like sh*te…
…it’s hard to understand how the modern hack dwarf is so defensive when it comes to these modern day charlatans.
Back in the day everybody knew and laughed at Del Boy Tel and his mates but at least they had an interest in playing good football…then again when you’ve got Souness as a main plundit, the individual who ploughed his way through the accounts of two of the biggest clubs in the land, to their doom, then it’s easy to understand why there’s no critique.
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And if the hack dwarves credibility evaporates in front is such a fetid mess leaving nothing but a pungent odour then where does that leave their back slapping arse blagging pals?
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Ben Davies showing yet again why he’s a better footballer then Rose, keeps it 0-0. (IMO and in the opinion of the league table Tottenham’s form or football has been better since Rose has been injured).
Yet the football on the pitch won’t stop lunatics like Philips Auclair pronouncing Rose and Walker as the two best FBs in Europe.
Has he heard of Marcelo for starters? Asking for a friend.
We can acknowledge quality. Even at Tottenham: Llorente was once considered to be Europe’s in form “target man” style striker. Koeman will tell all and sundry, any old hack, that Giroud now bears that mantle (never acknowledged or highlighted by hacks like Auclair and their desperate hangers on!).
A critique of the Tottenham manager would highlight not starting the target man when his only other main striker is out, especially when going for a draw (a late winner for the tinies will call me out here…!), but it’s not going to happen (Llorente will score the winner knowing my luck).
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As you can all tell from the length of these comments the Football on display has got my rapt attention…
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Tired legs, and multiple chances as the clock ticks past 75 mins.
The £60M sub who’d just come on and was fresh manages to find the target for the home team.
Route one goal kick, flick on by Lukakau and Martial on the end to finish.
Quality finish as you’d expect from a French forward on the fringes of the national team XI, given the mean quality of French players produced by the French coaching system, but it’s been a boring and poor quality football match put on fate by these two individual managers.
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< put on as fare by these two managers
–
COYG!
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Commentator:
“Tottenham have to play higher risk football now”
To quote said commentators pin up idol:
“Ah ha!”
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But. At least the competed. For seventh odd minutes. Might only have had shots on goal from outside the box, but they were competing. And that’s what counts! To do, is to dare! Or something like that…
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< if Ramsey had ignored his weaker foot and missed a chance like Alli (their only chance from inside the box?) you wouldn't hear the end of it
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Erudite and eloquence the Arsenal way Bro. Arsenal are looking exciting again, the London swagger is returning and I’m waiting for the cannons to fire 👌
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Don’t do things the easy way!
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That didn’t go according to plan!
I can only hope I didn’t put the mockers on our boys and that they come out swinging after the HT talk. Swansea will invite the pressure on their goal and we just need to make sure we get shots away on target.
a_b at 9:41am > “its important not to give teams who are low on confidence something to cling on to”. Too true.
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COYG
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Balls. Nasty habit just lately of being on top then conceding on opponents first break.
Let’s hope we can turn it around. Not watching (can’t hack another bad stream day) but maybe big Oli the right man against megabus
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They say it’s a game of two halves
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Never in doubt
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Crisis club, with finished manager and shameful board ruining club, who’ve won 3 proper trophies (and 3 which count or don’t, depending on who asks, wins em) last four years, 1 point behind successful club who’ve won one carling cup in 20 odd years managed by star manager who’s won fuck all.
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Thanks Labo.
The usual ‘performance’ from Mason. 3 times Ars players rose for a header – Swansea bundles into the Ars player – Lee gives a foul against Ars. That was the least of his 12th man against Ars schtick- and what a vicious foul on our left back. No cards for Swansea.
(Just thought I’d mention the shenanigans – following a win).
Commentators in a fight to win the “disappointed in the outcome”, battling with Venus getting to the WTA finals. (Even there Venus had to make a challenge to confirm the ball she’d hit was In. Umpire surely saw that but didn’t overrule).
The little bits of manu spuds I saw was not nice. Indeed, pretty yuk.
Well done Arsenal.
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Had to follow the game on Arsenal Player, it’s dreadful comms.
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Aaron scores the winner, then I flip over to a Stoke/Watford brawl where Shawcross gets knocked on his ass and Deeney shows his again and gets yellow (should have been red). That’s a pretty perfect Saturday if you’re a Ramsey fan.
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Alabamagooner
Can you watch all the Saturday games live in America,then? Must be good, and pretty jealous of that if so
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We have to pay extra to stream the ones that aren’t on TV, Rich, but yes, they are available. The Arsenal game was streaming only today. NBC used to give us those games included on extra channels or streaming, but starting this season it’s $50 for a season long subscription to stream them. I paid it because I’m weak.
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Now I understand, its all a cunning plan, let them go ahead, then hit em with sucker punches. But, I would suggest not trying that with City.
Good second half performance.
And before I forget, Wenger out, Stan Kroenke fuck off out of our club, Ramsey, your not fit to wear the shirt etc
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Its odd that selected PL games are showing in England. Here in SA we have every last PL game of the season, and La Liga. Satellite is a monthly fee of $70 or so on the current exchange. If there’s too many PL games at the same time (and clash with other sport) , they open extra 2 channels to accommodate. Haven’t show the Carabao though, but we might get the semi’s and finals. Do show FA Cup ofcos.
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Ofcos that $70 package is for over 350 channels that include movies, lifestyle, etc. And various sport from around the globe.
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Arsenal the only club described to have had a lucky win why an opponent has a goal rightly ruled out for offside, we are never unlucky when we drop points when having a goal ruled out for offside, not even when wrongly ruled out. Odd
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Ben DinneryVerified account @BenDinnery 2h2 hours ago
Kolasinac to be assessed. Initial checks suggest the problem is not too serious – complained of tightness in his hip.
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Chelsea U23’s 2-2 Arsenal U23’s
Dragomir and Willock with our goals
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Wenger on Debuchy
“We are all very pleased for him because he has gone through some very difficult moments with setbacks.
The fact that he got through 120 minutes the other night (against Norwich) is a big boost for him.
He needs to recover now but from now on, He’ll be a candidate to fight for the team places again.”
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I don’t know what was said at half-time, but it certainly did the trick. They came out like a different team second-half and that victory was well deserved. Swansea made the most of their good fortune when Koscielny slipped, but other than that they did not pose much of a threat, but still glad to have the 3 points.
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the arsenal game is fourth on match of the day
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seemingly passenal, Wenger told them to get the ball switched to the left as quick as possible, that Bellerin was tied up with Clucas and that there was lots of room on the left
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It’s funny eduardo, but I was sitting near to one of those football ‘experts’ who stated that if he was in charge, Kolasinac would be taken off at half-time as he was doing nothing, but he knew that Wenger wouldn’t have the balls to do it! Didn’t hear too much from him at the end of the match when the useless lump scored and assisted the winner!
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well I’ve not seen anything of the game apart from the goals, but I’m told
Xhaka was shite, as usual
Ramsey was glory hunting, as usual, and needs to learn to stay back and defend
Per is useless and far too slow, as usual
Koscielny is over rated and in decline
Lacazette is a waste of space and £50M down the drain
Oddly enough wenger needs to stop taking Lacazette off
Alexis has downed tools and no longer wants to play for Arsene or Arsenal
Oddly enough Alexis was our man of the match, the only one giving his all
Ozil was useless
Cech should retire
Wenger has been found out, and Clement out thought him and if he had as good players Swansea would have hammered us, in fact all managers have sussed out Wenger
the strangest thing was – on the day we set a new record for winning run of games at the Emirates – same old shite at home
I really do wonder why those who view Arsenal games like this, actually bother, why would anyone continue partaking in an activity that seems to make them so miserable or that they so clearly refuse to enjoy
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should have stated that today’s win was our 13 win in a row at home (same old shite from Arsenal at home)
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Arsenal have won 10 PL games in a row at the Emirates for the first time ever.
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