Good afternoon Positives,
Six changes but the job done against a ‘muscular’ Watford side who, as we all too well know, have proven to be a damn nuisance before at the Ems.
The first half was no great advert for Premier League football and while both sides had flashes of quality passing I did not think was crisp or accurate. Again our opener came from a dead ball and a defender scoring. Eight minutes gone and I assumed we were in for another Palace/Everton style scoring avalanche. Yeeeehaaah as us cowboys say. But NO, fool that I am. First, Sead slotted a sharp cross in to PEA but the striker could not connect, then Mesut danced through one on one on the visitors keeper only to be thwarted by a Greek foot. Goodness that second goal was elusive.
For our opponents Pereyera blazed over from 6 yards with the whites of Cech’s eyes clearly visible. Other than that the remainder of the first half I thought was even, with bits of attacking menace and errors from both sides.
The opening of the second half was somewhat uncomfortable – if you watched it with me I shall say no more and if you have not seen it yet don’t bother. We were under pressure and not really able to control the game or hold the ball for10+ minutes. However we held together. Repeated corners from Watford were dealt with well by Cech and our defenders. Shkodran and Rob Holding were a model of concentration and good co-ordination. Richarlison and Femenia pressed on the flanks but during this important phase we did not ‘crack’.
And then, as the rainbow emerges with little warning from the dark, wet sky so our second and decisive goal was slotted home. (That is not me below but I wish it was)
With the two goal cushion I was, for a full 60 seconds, chortling to myself and entirely relaxed. The game was over, the points settled. Off you go Watford, on you go back to Metroland.
No – no and thrice no. AMN made his first rick of a good performance in the right back slot and up stepped Deeney to take on our helmeted stopper. And despite the 16 previous penalties required him to fish the ball out of the net today good fortune was on his side. A powerful strike by the ugliest man in Watford but an equally solid left hand from Petr send it spinning up and away. It had to be Deeney Karma, kismet, the Fates, the fickle Finger of Fate etc. – do you know what I mean ? .
If Watford had the services of a good finisher rather the tub of lard they employ at Number 9 who can say. It is good however when an outstanding competitor and general good bloke like Cech gets what he deserves. 200 up.
After that a final goal on 77 minutes from Mhki who spent the afternoon being abused by Alan Smith on Sky and kicked all over the shop by Watford. I felt like giving the commentating equivalent of Eyeore a kick at times during today’s game to be honest, but at 3-0 I am magnanimous.
So that was that. A useful three points. I am hard pushed to really to pick out one or two Arsenal players who stood out today as it was, like Thursday, a good 11 man performance. We shall see if Shkodran’s groin is up to another game this week later on.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Positively Arsenal 
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seemingly young Reiss Nelson threw a strop today when Jack was picked to come on as our third sub, meaning no game time for RN.
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I see its 6 assists and 2 goals for Mkhitaryan in his 8 starts for us so far. Now if that was Oxlade-Chamberlain it would be called a transformation
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The difference between Mkhi, AOC ( and Theo for that matter) is that the Armenian does not fade out of a game never to be seen again when things start going wrong for him.
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i said earlier we needed another playmaker aside ozil after santis injury and now we have find mikkhi.
Sanchez though a great player but not missing him with Mikkhi in the team.However Giroud is surely b missed.
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anicol believe it or not there has been main stream media articles and afc blogs already writing off Mkhitaryan , in face same ones that claim AOC has been transformed, and that Alexis needs times to adapt at Man Utd. Its almost as if there are different criteria at work.
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And oh what a poor manger Mourinhio is who cant get the best out of Mikkhi.
Wenger has surely found a nice player.
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Top work Andy Nic but I could have wished for a less disturbing image in your penultimate line.
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ah Mkhitaryan has hit a nerve with some of the fan base with this
Mkhitaryan – “We’re always playing for the fans, those who are really coming to support us, they’re real fans. The fans that only come to the stadium when we’re winning? We have nothing to say. Just Thanks to the fans that came and supported us today.”
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A good thing about the last three games, is there have not been those 15 mins in each game,that are like watching an episode of Peep Show.
From behind the settee.
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Elneny was absolutely awesome today. So were Holding, Sead, Mustafi, Xhaka & Mkhi. Mo’neny though shaded it for me as MOTM.
Congrats to Petr Cech for his 200th clean sheet. Justice was done as Pereyra essentially bought that penalty. AMN gave him the option though.
The entire team, bar Iwobi, played really well today. Concentration level was really high. A really good way to prepare for Milan on thursfay.
Well done gunners.
Well done to all those goners who were at the stadium to lend their support to the team.
Onwards and upwards we go.
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corr: Well done to all those gooners who were at the stadium…
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Andy gets these reviews out faster than shit off a hot shovel well done.
Great performance today especially with a ref who let them foul with impunity and no pen again.
I have criticized Granit greatly in the past but these last few games he seems to be developing into the player Arsene and the scouts saw. Mo as well excellent and Rob at the back wonderful.
I’m a little concerned about Jack’s wastefulness in the last few games but we know the boy can play.
One of my pet hates with officials at the moment is throw one not taken from the correct place and when your playing a team who use long throws into the box as a weapon it’s important. They’re quick enough to stop us taking quick free kicks or not from the right place yet if you’ve got the ball in your hands you can run up the line as far as you want and the officials will even step out of your way ridiculous.
Great for Petre today to cap off a better performance than the anyone can beat Watford at home merchants would have you believe.
Pep said if you make six changes it will affect any team in the world’s cohesiveness, I hope he was watches the great one touch Wengerball today.
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Well done to them, another convincing performance.
But, How many more of the softest of pens are going to be given against us?
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on Cech having to wait for his 200th clean sheet in the Premier League…
“He had to wait a while to save a penalty! And it’s quite fortunate that it’s against Deeney, you know. ”
Arsene knows!
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/whats-latest-ozil-mustafi-and-bellerin#Awi0XtYUI0gj4mPI.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/whats-latest-ozil-mustafi-and-bellerin#T59HakwBpjOUdApU.99
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early team news for EL game on Thursday
Mustafi a doubt, as is Koscielny, but Ramsey is fine, he was rested today, Jack fine too, Bellerin likely to be fit and Monreal might be fit too.
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Ivan Gazidis today at the fans forum: “FFP has worked. 6 or 7 years ago clubs across Europe made a total loss of 1.8 billion. Now it’s almost at break even. FFP still investigating transfers, e.g. Neymar. Clubs still getting banned from Europe, AC Milan may be getting one in the summer.”
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The injury to Mustafi is the one downer from this game. Thankfully Kola had recovered to play through the 90, and Chambers to come on to replace the scorer of the opening goal. Amazing how we were denied a clear penalty and no one seems to be angry about it. Guess the win helps, and also we’re used to it by now.
Miki’s statement on the fans.. Wow! He’s probably getting abused on social media right now, but it seems to me that this team has decided to confront the enemy within. Hint: It’s not Arsene Wenger.
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Shard it was Martin Atkinson, now who was surprised that we were denied a penalty
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eduardo
Thanks for the clarification. I feel a lot better that it wasn’t a special privilege granted to the AST.
I’m interested in what Sanhelli had to say, if anything at all. Mainly because I’m hoping for some clarity on what his role really is. Both now and in the future.
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People keep talking about Iwobi having a bad game. I see a bit of Ramsey in Iwobi: has the idea, isn’t afraid to try, just needs to work on the execution. If he’s as mentally strong as Aaron, he’ll keep trying. And he’ll get it right. Just give him time.
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shard try
Sam @the_cannon
he has quotes from today
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I have a ticket for the Stoke game on 1April. Would love to meet up with any Positivistas before the game.
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Thanks ed..Just had a look. From the tone of the tweets it appears that the club expects Wenger to leave soon. But then it depends on what the questions asked were and what message they were wanting to send out. Soon doesn’t have to mean this summer either. Still, interesting.
Also interesting that Sanhelli was involved with Arsenal in the 90s through Nike. Still not sure what he actually does (I don’t mean that as an insult. I’m just interested) but I suppose we’ll know in time.
I wonder how the fans of the teams in Colorado take to Kroenke the younger relocating to London and being an absentee owner. (tongue in cheek)
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So we’re playing Stoke on April Fools’ Day? How fitting.
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well shard it seems when at Barcelona he was involved in the hiring of 8 managers
also a note of caution on the tweets from the fans forum, as you say without the actual question the context of the answer is in some doubt, also was any slant put on the answer tweeted, a line or word hear or there left out can make a lot of difference. Like most of these things either a video of the event or the full transcript is the only way to be sure.
for example Gazidis saying today that he could not talk about our next manager appointment “out of respect to Arsene”.
Now that is being used by WOB to mean Gazidis is clearly stating Wenger is off. While its as easy to suggest Gazidis is saying that he will not talk about a new manager cos we have a manager in place and so its pointless talking about an appointment when there is no vacancy.
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just seen the mkhitaryan penalty shout, my God, what does it take for AFC to get a penalty.
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I’ll be at that one George
Kelly, I was just thinking the same thing. I see he’s getting a lot of stick online and whilst he had one of those days today where not a lot was coming off for him, he doesn’t go missing when things are not going well. He can cause chaos with his running at defenders and we don’t have a lot of dribblers in our team. I’m sure he will come good in the end too.
I’m also wondering about this obsession with Nelson? I’ve yet to be that impressed by him, but I am wondering if he is beginning to believe his own hype without actually having delivered anything yet? I think Eddie’s 2 goals in the Carabao cup show much more promise than anything I’ve seen from Nelson so far. I did think AMN had one of his best games for us today and I’m finally starting to see some of what AW sees in him.
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yeah passenal, too many are confusing his great displays for the U23’s with what he has actually done for the first team, which as of yet is sweet fa, there of course has been moments of his skills, but he has not scored, or assisted, or even had a spell in a game where he had the opponents on the rack.
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Ok Passenal will remind closer to the day and meet up!
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Aubameyang to talkSPORT: “I am here ‘cos of Arsène Wenger, and happy to play for him. I’m frustrated not to be able to help the club in Europa League due to the rules but that’s life & I have to live with that.”
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re the above Aubameyang comments,
can’t be true, the itk’s and wob’s told us Aubameyang was signed by Sven and Ivan and that Wenger didn’t even want him.
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What do we have to do to get penalties – get rid of a manager that seems to have upset the footballing establishment for starters, not that I recommend that btw.
We won and won well, but some strange interpretations of the rules. Good to see those stalwarts of the English game, Utd and Spurs getting some very sympathetic decisions at vital times, this weekend , but then again, that’s what they do.
Still, we have only given away 5pens in the league this season, puts us joint top , with a few teams this season, but being positive ,some way to go to reach our to our total, and for a top team, a freakishly rare total of 10 against from last season
http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Premier_League_Penalty_Statistics.html
Still , a win is a win, and a confidence booster to finish the job against Milan
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Forgot to mention, building yet another nice negative penalty balance in the league, according to UA research, a regular feature since the arrival of Riley
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well mandy if I’m not mistaken today’s ref is very consistent with AFC and penalty calls, was it not him at OT all those years ago that viewed the Arshavin incident just like today’s as no penalty, you have to admire his dedication to not giving AFC a penalty no matter the opponent, and no matter how clear.
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Good win. Xhaka man of the match for me. Caught the eye a lot, excellent work all over the pitch. Mustafi not far behind. Eleneny and Holding also impressive.
The pen save was a fantastic moment.
The pen denied ludicrous, and an extension of how advantage rule is misused and abused to allow teams a lot of free hits on our players. Atkinson’s eyes were trained on it if I remember right, and the heavy contact on Mkhi after ball released was unmistakable.
Joke of a call, but then Atkinson was watching Bellerin at that moment he fell down with concussion, before turning his head abruptly away, the better to pretend there wasn’t any issue there with how Alonso won the ball.
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Atkinson and Arsenal certainly have a degree of history, good we were ultimately so dominant and negated him, on a bad day, those decisions could have meant a negative result
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story going round that Jamie Carragher spat at a man utd fan outside OT yesterday after LFC loss to MU
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disgraceful build up to the highlights of today’s game by MOTD2, very clear to see the narrative they want to push.
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how the fuck is an opponent running into a defender who is rooted to the spot a penalty,
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When the defender is an Arsenal player?
I have not watched MOTD for years. I’ve given up expecting objectivity and fair play from the BBC. Those standards belong to a bye-gone era.
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Wenger: “Negativity in England is like the rain … it’s easy to get. I absolutely wanted to win this game today. We had a physical game in Milan, we lost our passing in the second half.”
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A weekend where the PGMOL nailed their colours to the usual masts.
How did Utd not concede a pen.
Spurs offsides treated very different to , say, lacazette. And touching a Spurs player on the back sufficient to disallow a Bournemouth goal at a vital juncture.
If it were just ref mistakes, they would be evenly distributed, but some seem far away from an even distribution of fortune, can anyone remember the last time ref decisions cost the spuds games?
Still,it is said that Sky man Thierry Henry could be in the running should The Man depart, maybe we would miraculously get an even playing field with the PGMOL in that event, it is rumoured Sky have a degree of influence
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If we get past AC Milan on Thursday, Lacazette is expected to be fit for the QF games, he is back running
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Mandy the whole TH for manager thing is just easy money for SKYBET, idiots are taking skys chats about it as a sign its on, and are parting with their money, at good odd, well I say good odds, as there is no such thing as good odds when no change of it happening.
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Agree on the TH thing. Complete bollox.
I know it was posted earlier, but looks like arch Wenger and arsenal critic Jamie Carragher is in a bit of bother, if he really did do that, indefensible. Not a great advert for the state of pundits in our fair isles , if he is guilty of the charge of gobbing into a car
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he done it mandy, he has already contacted the family he spat at, and made an apology to them, and put up an apology on twitter
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I don’t have a problem with the Watford penalty award. Defenders can’t stand with their leg sticking out behind them and hope to get away with it. It looks like the Watford guy ran into him but he made himself ‘bigger’ and it’s just how it’s usually called. That Miki pen though. And seriously.. opposition players picking up players from the floor, especially after clear contact, should face a ban. Seems harsh? But what if someone is actually injured? It can be very dangerous.
I don’t really watch any other PL games anymore precisely because of the crap that happens with predictable regularity. So spurs and ManU get help? This show is getting boring. Part of me wishes Stan Kroenke moves us out of England (ridiculous, baseless fear mongering though that was) I watch more of Serie A these days. A league that had a match fixing issue and decided to actually deal with it rather than cover it up.
Eduardo. If memory serves that Arshavin non penalty award at Old Trafford was courtesy Mike Dean.
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