Good afternoon Positive Red People,
I trust we are all primed for his evening’s game which, by my reckoning, is our 8th serious contest with the Blues in the last 16 month. (W3L1D4). The semi final tie is perfectly balanced. Like us Conte’s men have struggle to score goals, despite bringing in an expensive striker in the Summer. Recent draws have been greeted by the spoiled Stamford Bridge hoard with “Boooos”. A home crowd booing ? Ridiculous.
I anticipate both managers will put out their strongest possible sides, so that for me would involve Aaron back, with young Alex Iwobi tasked with filling the departed Chilean’s role this evening. Will Sead come back in ? I hope so. It will be a wet, cold night, and perhaps run into extra time and penalties. A tank is likely to adapt to the conditions better than the smoother wheeled vehicle that is AMN.
Of our opponents Conte appeared to say that Cesc and Morata were out with injuries yesterday, and this morning’s MSM report that he and Batshuayi have had another contretemp – perhaps a dash from the Potteries for Crouchie iis not impossible after all (no I have no idea if he is Cup-tied either!)
One moment of brilliance from one of the many excellent players on show, or one catastrophic error, will ensure that one club and their supporters returns home in despair, and one triumphantly matches on down Wembley Way determined to dent Pep’s ambitions on the 25th February. To lose at the semi final stage – very cruel. What I absolutely will not tolerate is cheating from players on either side. I expect all the players, and both managers, to do their best to assist the match officials over what will be a tense 90 or 120 minutes. Like all of you my fingers are firmly crossed that VAR will improve decision making and erase both the cheating of opposition players and the refereeing errors that have cost us so often.
And speaking of brilliance;
So settle in for kick off at 8.00 pm UK time. Lets have plenty of noise, clapping, blowing your Arsehorns, and no sneaking out before the end.
Positively Arsenal 
zappacosta on for moses
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ah fucks sake iwobi, shoots straight at the keeper, really should have scored
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great block by bellerin
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Just started watching. The team seems to be playing with freedom and trust. I like this new look Arsenal.
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not liking this game management by oliver
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Iwobi should have killed the game off, still.
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ramsey and kolasinac on for iwobi and lacazette
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monreal is a class above
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Just thinking that, ed. Monreal is miles ahead, reading the game brilliantly.
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4 minutes of added on time to be played
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1 nil up and you fucked it up, 1 nil up and you fucked it up
FT: Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea
come on you gooners,
February 25th Premier League game against Manchester City rescheduled. We will play Manchester City instead.at Wembey in the CC final.
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Elneny being moved to CB for the second half made all the difference, freed up monreal to play freely at lwb.
We were second best for most of the first half, but we were the better team in the second half and Xhaka got the winner.
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Unbelievable – At times we were eye watering tonight – but the sheer grit, the sheer clinging on
And yet we did just enough
Football eh ?
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Took until the 84th minute for the sly commentators to notice that Elneny had dropped back at HT.
A card that was prepped in pre-season came out in this match with that smooth switch, and the Petrosquad had no answer tonight.
These recent games between the two squads over the last two seasons have been something!
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Wenger has a great record against this new modern manager Conte
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Wenger Out!
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Great win.
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the final is on my birthday.
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I don’t know about the rest of you, but that game really meant something to me, I was so nervous at the end, and that is always a sign to me of how important the game is.
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My only regret is AFC couldn’t sneak in that third goal and allow the manager to indulge Eddie coming on for a few minutes against the club that let him go. Next time.
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Oliver Holt
Verified account @OllieHolt22
9m9 minutes ago
Another trip to Wembley. The sheer hell of being an Arsenal fan goes on.
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Wenger does not do tactics
Wenger does not do standing on the touch line waving his arms about
Too busy fucking about with the zip on his overcoat for any of that new fangeld fanny.
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Well done Arsenal!
Another trip to Wembley for a Cup Final.
Haven’t our fans suffered enough?
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This team will only get better. I really like what I am seeing.
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I have never seen a goal like Monreal’s. Like a pool shot.
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I should imagine the line will be something along the lines of ‘ would rather be spared a thrashing in a final by Peps pepped up wonder team’
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The post-Sanchez bounce continues in the most delightful and pleasing fashion, real motivation, grit and togetherness took us through that one.
And that’s four finals in five years for the club said to be in crisis.
Well played, one and all.
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Wenger when asked about Aubameyang – “no new on that”
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Tee-hee-hee…
Wembley…again…
Tee-hee-hee.
Well done gunners.
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wenger On the win
I felt that in the first half there were tactical reasons for not expressing the quality of our game, we rectified that at half time.
In the second half we won the ball high up and controlled the game.
Why start with a back four?
We know each other well, there had been many draws. I wanted to win, to score goals.
A satisfying night
It’s a great satisfying night for us. We managed to beat a strong team.
In January we paid a heavy price for uncertainty in the dressing room – now we are back.
On Aubameyang
The best is I don’t talk about that. If something happens, it happens. If not I’m perfectly happy with the squad I have.
Wenger on Jonny Evans
We are open to strengthening the team. But at the moment we are not close to signing anyone.
More on the win
We have shown we can beat big teams. That’s important for the second half of the season.
Wenger on Monreal
For me he gets very much credit but maybe there’s less focus on him because he’s not a candidate for the English national team. Maybe he’s not enough on social media.
I like the work of silent leaders
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Love those quotes about Monreal.
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Oh, that one felt damn nice!
1st half ropey and was extremely grateful to go in level; 2nd a great improvement.
So much so that I had that word with myself late on to say even if it goes wrong from here it’s been a good effort and a good game.
Monreal, Ozil, Elneny with terrific performances, everyone else could be pleased with their efforts by end as well.
Would love us to arrive at point where we don’t have the almost crazy vulnerability- whatever opposite of parking bus is: empty depot?- in defence we showed first half, but in immediate future the hope is that increased potency in attack will cancel out great deal of that.
Anyway, so glad we won.
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Wenger: “In January we paid a heavy price for uncertainty that existed in our dressing room. Now we’re back with more clarity and can focus on our game.”
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Rob Harris
Verified account @RobHarris
35m35 minutes ago
Arsene Wenger: “I have the right sometimes to have a small sense of humour even though I am not very talented at it.
Somebody once told me at Arsenal you’re five minutes away from a crisis. No. Three.”
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Had totally lost track of fixtures so a mild surprise no game this weekend. Boo
Disappointing on one hand, but also underlines how much more manageable our fixture list looks at moment without FA cup.
Kos is main one I look at in relation to schedule. Held up well to 2nd game in 5 days tonight, but that extra break, till Tues now, could be vital. Definitely feel the ideal with him is once a week , and when he has much busier week he suffers in games afterwards if not immediately.
Next month looks decent on that front, though it would help enormously if we can win first leg with Ostersunds decisively and so leave him out of 2nd, with Cup final only 3 days later.
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There seemed to be so much more room to pass the ball without Sanchez’ head in the way.
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Goes to show when all the boys play for each other and there’s a level playing field ! What a fantastic team effort!
Random thoughts about the game, how did Bakayoko not get a card? Other than that I have no complaints about Oliver. I was swearing at Xhaka, love the boy but damn could he pass the ball in front of our player and not behind, stopping the flow…I did stop swearing at around the 60th minute!
I like our look, we were always hell to play against but I really think we’ll take it up a notch or two!
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Congratulations to the boys, another cup final, we are up against a great team, a great manager and a rich state, but never write these boys off at Wembley.
A performance full of ability, passion, and dare I say it, unity.
Nice one Arsene
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So the senile, egotistical, dictator has led us to Wembley 10 times in the past 4 years and won 9. And they said it was the End of An Era.
While we at Positively Arsenal defied the wobbling, weakhearted, nellies, saw their was light at the end of tunnel and multiplied our support.
Isn’t it great to be right, to hold the course despite the occasional defeats and setbacks. There is more to come Positivistas. The Boss is a genius. Mark my words.
PS: How I cry for Santi Cazorla. Since he was felled last February, it was downhill until May. But Wengerball is back.
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That was magnificent. I thought Elneny was outstanding tonight. I was a little critical of him on Saturday as I thought his passing was a little slow and loose. But as I said to GP, I thought he just needed the sharpness from playing regularly and tonight he showed a quick mind and feet and spot on decision making about passing and tackling. I also thought Iwobi was very impressive and Ozil, was on another level as usual. He is just amazing, and I’m so glad I have the privilege of watching him strut his stuff for my team.
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Elneny MOTM although it was the tactical switch that changed the game. If ever there was a game to highlight Arsene’s tactical nous it was this one another myth busted for the wobs.
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I must have been watching a different match to many of you on here because, apart from Hazard’s goal in the first half, when we were not at the races, I thought we matched them and the first half was even. Maybe some people were expecting a continuation of Saturday’s performance, but we were playing chelski not Crystal Palace. It was always going to be tight and we would have to dig in to win it. I think it was that team unity that got us over the line as well as not giving Hazard any diving opportunities in our box.
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get Aubameyang and Evans in, Ozil, Jack and Rambo on new deals, and everything in the garden will be coming up smelling of roses.
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Ed 12.28
I’ve been reluctant to say it but ,yeah, that would certainly leave things looking very good, and it seems possible.
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The Independent Sport
Jonathan Liew Chief Sports Writer
Wenger, for his part, refers to Monreal as a “silent leader”: an exemplar, the sort of player who gets unfussily on with business and yet inspires others to emulate him. “The world of silent leaders,” he explained, “is when people come, they perform, they don’t talk, they go home, and they come in the next morning, train well, and then the next day they do it again. They are the real leaders.”
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My best effort is up and running
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