Hello, and how are you?
As both sides of the online political spectrum wrestle with the problem of ‘freedom from’ and ‘freedom to’, and neither seeming to be aware of what ye be if you hold both those perspectives at the same time, Arsenal take on Port Vale, at Vale Park, Stoke on Trent, on the 24th of September. KO is at 21.00pm central European time, or 20.00pm UK time. Weather expected 12° and cloudy.
I’m sure after the frustrated teeth gnashing at our draw with City there will be a sense of fear going into this game, having seen what Grimsby did to Manchester United. And that’s why these competitions exist!
Everyone except Arsenal fans will be rooting for Port Vale, who are in 19th position in league 1. Vale are so far this season: W2 D2 L5, and played in a tough scrap against Mansfield at the weekend, with Darren Moore’s lads eventually winning 2-1.
Vale Park sits 525 feet above sea level and was originally built to be the ‘Wembley of the North’ when construction started in 1944 (completed in 1950) and now has a 15,695 capacity and I’m sure it will be sold out. At its peak, Vale Park could hold 42,000, and their club record is 49,76, in a 1960 FA Cup fifth round fixture against Aston Villa.
Vale park is one of the widest pitches in the football leagues, and it has a very spacious feeling, under the pitch is clay (the stadium was built on the site of an old clay pit and also has a coal seam running underneath it) rather than sand which makes the surface(apparently) hard to pass on, but having watched the Mansfield tie, it floods badly too, and the whole pitch seemed to be really sodden, which I’m sure has caused many a problem in the past.
Head to head, its PV: W 4 D 5 L13. Our last match with them you might remember back in 1998, in the FAC; 0-0 at Highbury and then 1-1 at VP, with the Mighty Cannon coming out on top in penalties. Before that the most recent clash was in the FAC back in 1927 on the road to that infamous FAC final.
Statto HQ have sent a message to say that Port Vale have a 4% chance of winning and Arsenal 86.1%. COYG!
Mills
Thanks Mills, I suspect Statto HQ are Arsenal fans.
We will field a team that is unrecognisable to the first 11. I like that, I love some of our “reserve” players and it will be a real test of just how deep our squad is.
There is a hangover among the online fans from our draw with City, why that is might be understandable, but I think it’s all a bit over the top, and appears orchestrated by pundits who have found a new way to put Arsenal down. Whether you agree with Mikel’s team selection or not (I didn’t), he has built a squad that is so strong it put the fear of God into Pep, forcing him to , for the first time ever, betray is most cherished principles and playing style.
In the end a draw wasn’t the worst result and a silver lining might be that Arteta adopts a more progressive starting 11 going forward. One can but hope?
I’m looking forward to this game, so I hope we get a good show and are royally entertained.
Pedantic Gearge.
Positively Arsenal 
Seems not that long ago. Pretty good line up for the Arsenal…
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i don’t understand people trying to push both naratives…that Arteta’s Arsenal played with a handbrake on and that Pep “parked the bus”.
if Pep parked the bus then Arsenal were playing with full throttle….
but if Arsenal played with handbrake on then Pep didn’t park the bus.
It cant be both…
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I got so used to Wenger playing the kids during cup matches, I forgot he actually used to play strong sides in the domestic cups. Carlos Vela comes to mind.
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Kepa, White, Saliba, Mosquera, Lewis-Skelly, Norgaard, Merino, Nwaneri, Saka, Martinelli, Eze
Substitutes: Raya, Gabriel, Timber, Gyokeres, Trossard, Zubimendi, Calafiori, Rice, Dowman
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Eze with his first goal for the Arsenal makes it 1-0
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seems Merino is playing as the CF
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HT: Port Vale 0-1 Arsenal
Eze with the goal
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Saka off, Dowman on
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White off, Gabriel on
Merino off, Gyokeres on
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Martinelli off, Trossard on
Eze off, Rice on
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Man City, Newcastle and Spurs have all gone through to the next round tonight
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Trossard makes it 2-0 to the Arsenal
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FT: Port Vale 0-2 Arsenal
Eze and Trossard with the goals, totally dominated the game without creating much, its Artetaball, its not pretty.
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Arsenal will face Brighton at home in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup
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All our games across all competitions in October are in London
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4th round draw
Arsenal v Brighton
Grimsby Town v Brentford
Swansea City v Manchester City
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Wrexham v Cardiff City
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
Wolves v Chelsea
Wycombe Wanderers v Fulham
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ex Arsenal youth player Billy Vigar has tragically died at the age of 21, he suffered a significant brain injury at the weekend when playing for Chichester he collided with a wall when trying to stop the ball from going out of play. He was put in an induced coma and underwent surgery but it all proved just too much for him and he passed away.
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Derby County U21’s 0-1 Arsenal U21’s
Kamara with the goal
Ranson
Hamill-Salmon-Sweet-Nichols
Dudziak
Copley-Agustien
Ferdinand-Sagoe Jr-Stevens
Subs: Ibrahim (for Dudziak, 58), Harriman-Annous (for Ferdinand, 58), Kamara (for Agustien, 68), Clarke (for Stevens, 85). Not used: Mitchell.
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PG, sent the preview over to you. Sorry its a bit late again.COYG!
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Arsenal U18’s had a 2-2 draw with Brighton
Arsenal women had a 1-1 draw at home to Aston Villa, conceding in the 94th minute.
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New post is up
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