Hello and how are you? Wednesday the 14th of January sees the Mighty Cannon take a short trip over to Stamford Bridge for the first leg of our clash against Chelsea FC. KO is at 8-00pm local time. Expected weather is with partly cloudy with 41% chance of rain, and temperatures of 9° (feels like 7°).
Here we are again making a bid for the Carabao Cup final, although many pundits have put the Arsenal in the driving seat for this one, my own unreliable (jelly-like) instincts are saying that Chelsea have the slight advantage (and the backing of the media?). However, one thing in our favour is at least three Chelsea old boys might get a start and an opportunity to prove they made the right decision to leave. All I hope is that if we do lose, its not by a score that leaves us without a chance in the second leg. Hopefully you feel more positive than I do!
Moises Caicedo (suspended), Mykhaylo Mudryk (doping suspension), Romeo Lavia (thigh), Levi Colwill (knee) will miss this one for rookie Liam ‘I know Arsenals weaknesses’ Rosenior’s side. Malo Gusto , Cole Palmer, Reece James are reported to be doubtful ( and didn’t play in the FAC tie) but I reckon that we shall see them all starting…
For the Gun, Max Dowman (ankle), Piero Hincapie (thigh), Riccardo Calafiori (muscle), Cristhian Mosquera (ankle) won’t make the line-ups come KO. William Saliba, Leandro Trossard seemed doubtful, which I hope is dark arts rather than serious.
I barged in on the boys at Statto HQ and whilst they were debating the Tate-Birch conjecture, looked up from grappling with the problems concerning the ring of integers of a number field and then told me the stats: Arsenal FC have been given a 42.6% chance of victory whilst Chelsea have been given 29.4%.
Next up, a visit to Nottingham as we take on Forest. So until then, COYG!
Mills
Chelsea have a boat load of very good players and it goes without saying that this is their best chance of silverware this season. From what I’ve seen, admittedly under a now gone manager, they can be fluid and expansive from time to time.
It’s a semi final away from home, so it shouldn’t be anything but difficult, I expect it will be just that. I’m of the opinion that we do indeed have bigger fish to fry and we should keep our best ingredients for those dishes. I’ll be happy to come away with a draw and fight another day, in our own backyard.
This could be a good game, enjoy.
Pedantic Gearge.
Positively Arsenal 
Nice set up lads,
So 28% chance of a draw which would suit as just fine. The blues have given us the blues in cup competitions in recent history since we beat them in the F.A. cup final.
Their side today are notoriously inconsistent, apparently because they are young, and can be quality and crap in equal measure on any given day.
That makes it difficult to know if we have to gamble on players or not. Yes we have a big squad but this season is a bit of a nightmare fixture wise. In defence we are short in a game we need to keep it tight because many are predicting a low scoring game.
We have many match winners in our squad, but ironically tonight and against inter we could quite happily walk off the pitch with a draw, the match winners will be needed against forest and manure COYG.
LikeLike
Thanks Ian. COYG!
LikeLike
we have an awful record under Arteta in two legged semi finals, lost all four, only scored 2 goals in 8 games
LikeLike
reports claim that several London clubs, including West Ham, enquired about signing Ethan Nwaneri this month, on loan, but that Arsenal rule out him leaving.
LikeLike
Kepa; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard; Saka, Trossard, Gyökeres.
subs: Raya, Lewis-Skelly, Norgaard, Merino, Eze, Martinelli, Madueke, Havertz, Jesus
not looking good for MLS when he can’t get in the starting 11 with both Hincapie and Calafiori out, as well as Mosquera.
and Nwaneri needs to go on loan, he can’t even make the match day squad here, he aint going to develop watching from the stands.
LikeLike
…thats a good selection then you look at the bench, so strong! No Palmer, Gusto or James, they werent mucking around.COYG!
LikeLike
anyone see this story, what a cunt the swindon captain is and even worse is what his manager ian holloway has had to say about it
from the irish independent
The captain of Swindon Town was banned for seven matches for “violating” two opponents’ “private body parts” in a manner that has been redacted from a disciplinary report.
Written reasons in the case chronicle how Ollie Clarke, 33, admitted to two charges of acting in an improper manner or using indecent behaviour to an opponent but denied his actions were intentional.
Clarke was banned last month and fined £2,750 − a week’s wages − over his conduct towards unnamed opponents during Swindon’s Carabao Cup first-round defeat by Cardiff City on August 12.
An independent regulatory commission convened by the Football Association did not accept Clarke’s explanation, according to written reasons published this week.
They state: “With regard to this extraordinary incident in his match report, the referee, Mr Elliot Bell, stated: ‘Upon blowing the final whistle, XXXX [redacted] of Cardiff came to me and was visibly upset alleging that Ollie Clarke of Swindon had XXXXX [redacted]. He was very emotional and struggled to speak.’”
The findings continue: “There was no plausible explanation to be touching an opponent’s private body parts during a game (especially when the match itself was not in motion).
“The Commission considers this to be an extremely serious and unusual incident necessitating a severe sanction. However argued, the player’s XXXXX [redacted] of an opponent is a highly invasive/intrusive and violating action. As such, the sanction should be in excess of that of violent conduct.”
Swindon, who condemned the ban when it was imposed, said they continued to support their captain.
“Throughout the process, Ollie Clarke maintained his innocence and only admitted the charges on the basis that both charges were unintentional,” they said in a statement. “The club continues to support Ollie and will do so moving forward.”
Manager Ian Holloway also complained that Clarke would have been cleared if the matter had been dealt with by the police.
He said: “I vouched for his character, and I know he’s competitive, and he wouldn’t have meant anything that he’s allegedly done.”
Holloway continued: “We tried to fight it. It took so long, it was disgraceful. They drew it out, and now he’s got such a hefty ban. It was an unfair decision, in my opinion. But there you go.
“For me, it hasn’t affected the way I feel about him, not in any way, shape or form. I saw what he did. I’ve watched it back.
“And for me, it was nonsense. That’s the way the game is these days, and that’s the way they see it. But I would have rather they reported him to the police, and the police would have let him off, because there’s no evidence, simple as that.”
LikeLike
any of you guys happen to be electricians, as I’ve an odd story to tell.
I’ve a bathroom mirror with two lights on it, halogen lights, 4g 12v 20w and they haven’t worked in a very long time. They had been working now and again, one worked a for while longer than the other. With one thing and another I never got round to changing the bulbs to see if that would sort out the problem. So recently I decided to change the bulbs and see if that done the trick. But I had problems getting the bulb, had to order them at the hardware store. I did get LED 4g bulbs and put them in and they didn’t work. The hardware store then told me they had the halogen bulbs for me so I bought them as after all I had ordered them. I didn’t bother putting them in as it seemed it was not a bulb fault. And I had been talking to an electrician who is to do another job for me and he said he’d test out the unit when he comes for the other job and he said as the lights had worked intermittent for a time it was unlikely to be the bulbs and more likely a processor or something.
So to make a long story a bit longer. We had a power outage yesterday, for about 5 hours. And the lights came back on. I inadvertently had them switched on and when the power outage finished the lights were on. I switched them off, and back on but they didn’t come on. I left it a few minutes and the worked again, I switched them off and on again and they didn’t work. I had to leave them off a few minutes before they would work again. The LED’s had a bit of a weak light, a bit flickering.
So today I decided to put in the halogen bulbs and they are working great, can switch them on and off and on again they work.
Anyone got a clue what has happened and what might have been the problem. Is there something in the light unit that would have been reset with the surge after the power was switched on. Also why would the LED’s not work without a gap between being put on and off and on again
LikeLike
1-0 to the Arsenal, Ben White heads home from a corner.
LikeLike
the Ben White goal
https://x.com/i/status/2011532278774841838
LikeLike
HT: Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal
White with the goal, its been an open game, disappointed with Odegaard and Gyokeres so far.
LikeLike
Gyokeressssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss at last he gets a chance and he takes it 2-0 to the Arsenal
LikeLike
the Gyokeres goal
https://x.com/i/status/2011547118545383481
LikeLike
chelsea pull a goal back, bad defending all round
LikeLike
Merino and Martinelli on
Odegaard and Trossard off
LikeLike
yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 3-1 Zubimendi scores, gyokeres with the assist
LikeLike
the Zubimendi goal
https://x.com/i/status/2011552247038267713
LikeLike
Rice and Gyokeres off
Havertz and Jesus on
ah for fucks sake chelsea score again, this time from a corner
LikeLike
a penalty given to arsenal but he is offside so no penalty
LikeLike
FT: Chelsea 2-3 Arsenal
White, Gyokeres and Zubimendi with our goals, we let in two very soft goals in a game we should have won by 5 goals, but the tie remains in the balance now.
LikeLike
Ed, regards your electrical problem..you were just blinking for a very long time
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ian I blinking wasn’t
LikeLike
Once my deep football insight showed when I said it would be a low scoring game. To be fair lots of the pundits were saying that as well.
Once again we cannot control games when leading. Twice leading by two goals and having chances ourselves we have no end game management.
We play out from the back for seventy minutes and then just hoof it for the last twenty.
Again taking Gyorkores off was strange, he is very good defending corners and against a side who are very good in that area, replacing him with Jesus seemed like a risky decision especially as we were, by then, kicking it long.
I knew as soon as I wrote that we would be happy with a draw, I would be not satisfied with a win. It is a measure not only of a modern fan but also how many chances we created and how poorly we defended certain situations.
LikeLike
8 games away to chelsea unbeaten, 4 wins, 4 draws, best run of away results against them since Arsene Wenger team went 9 games at the bridge unbeaten
LikeLike
George, sent the preview over. COYG!
LikeLike
Arsenal U18 team v Man. City in FA Youth Cup (Arsenal): Porter, Owusu-Gyasi, Hamill (c), Onyekachukwu, Ogunnaike, Ibrahim, Murisa, Julienne, Thompson, O’Neill, Bailey-Joseph.
Subs: Talbot, Chapman, Pedro, Hashi, Marciniak, Harriman-Annous, Zecevic John.
LikeLike
man city take the lead, it seems they have been the better side so far
LikeLike