Hello and how are you? Sunday the 22nd of February sees the Mighty Cannon go east and up the Seven Sisters road for a clash with our favourite best friends, Tottenham Hotspur FC. KO at the Lane is at 4.30pm local time. Expected weather is partly cloudy, temps at 13° (feels like 12° ) and between 1 and 6% chance of rain.
I have nothing to add to this one, especially after the interesting posts on the blog this week, we all know what’s played out and what’s forming before us. Aspects of the media are setting us up for a fall, but I’m sure Arteta and Co have other ideas.
Missing for the Arsenal are: looks everyone’s potentially available, except long termer Merino.
Missing for the Spuds are: Wilson Odobert (ALC) Pedro Porro (thigh), Dejan Kulusevski (knee), James Maddison (ACL), Mohammed Kudus (thigh), Kevin Danso (ankle), Destiny Udogie (thigh), Lucas Bergvall (ankle), Ben Davies (ankle) and Rodrigo Bentancur (thigh), Cristian Romero (suspended). Doubtful is Richarlison and Solanke, but I think the latter will be back for this one.
The lads at Statto HQ were on their way to a large comic con and were attired in various styles of cosplay but still handed over the predictions: Tottenham Hotspur FC, Middlesex, 16.2 % chance of winning. Arsenal FC, North London, 60.9% chance of winning. Next up a holiday for the lads in Dubai and then Chelsea at ours. So COYG!
Mills
Our assault on the league seems to have gone from a Blitzkrieg to a Rorke’s Drift since Christmas. Kicking the proverbial out of Arteta and some of the new scapegoat players will do nothing to help our cause, but insisting the Sun is out when we are getting soaked to the bone, doesn’t seem too smart either. If anything good came from the fans and media murdering Wengerball on a budget, it’s that the horrible pain of defeat has, for me, been relegated to a dull ache. We used to play in a way that made me proud of Arsenal, win lose or draw. I know that often we were poor, but we always tried to me entertaining , brave and good. We had players that I adored, Arshavin, Cesc, Rosicky, Santi, Jack, Aaron etc. But those days are now just a beautiful memory and all the longing wont bring it, or anything approaching it back.
All we can do is support what we have, in whatever way we as individuals choose, and make the most of it. We might enjoy it less, but somehow we should at very least, try to get some joy from our hobby. If we can’t do that, perhaps it’s time of a new hobby, Knitting perhaps?
Games don’t get much bigger than this in my opinion, so enjoy what you can my friends. The run in will tell us as much about US, as it will about the team and our dear leader.
Pedantic George.
Positively Arsenal 
FT: Mansfield 1-2 Arsenal
Madueke and Eze with our goals in an open game where Mansfield has 18 or 19 efforts at goal and Arsenal had over 20.
The quality was not high though, and several of the Arsenal players will not have done their claims for a starting spot any good at all. Jesus and Martinelli were particularly poor. Havetz poor too.
But we move on into the next round of the FA Cup, think we are now at the Quarter Final stages so the quadruple is still the dream.
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before the next international break we have 4 games across 3 competitions, Bayer Leverkusen x2 in the CL, Everton in the EPL and then Man City in the CC final.
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Dowman looked great, just a bit more and hes going to be lethal. Amazing confidence, hope he stays injury free as long as possible.
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Mills the big worry with Dowman is that he will have his career stunted by the kickers, he is only back after a few months out cos he got done in a friendly game v Man Utd U21’s, our U21 coach recently talked about it and he said Max is used to getting kicked, but what happened him in the utd game was outrageous. Last season our U18’s played Man Utd in the FA youth cup and it was as clear as day that they were rotationally fouling him, and it took the ref an age to book any of them, and utd subbed off the guys who got booked for kicking him, and the subs kicked him in turn. PGMOL will do for him like they did for Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, Aaron Ramsey and Eduardo. He is at the wrong club if he wants to get protection from the Refs in England.
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16 year old Marli Salmon was very good today, but for his one mistake that indirectly led to the Mansfield goal, but for me Mosquera should have cleared it, he hesitated when he seen it was a mistake by Salmon instead of getting to the ball.
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Former Arsenal technical director Edu sacked by Nottingham Forest
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I see already relegated Sheffield Wednesday lost again today, they have 1 win the league all season, and sit with minus 7 points, I wonder has any team ever been relegated with less than 0 points. They have 10 games left, and as I said have only one win all season, and 8 draws. It was a disgrace what their former owner done to that club.
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18 year old Jaden Dixon made his debut as a sub today, he started very nervous but settled into it. He had only played 2 games as a sub in the Championship as a sub for Stoke, and 4 times in the league cup before his transfer to Arsenal.
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jayus Italy just beat England in the six nations, and they were the better team in the game, a well deserved victory for them.
Scotland beat France 50-40 earlier too.
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Thanks Ed, I dont watch the youngsters so its great that you can say what going on.
I suppose one day there might be so much money in the game that a player will be seen as much more of an asset than they are now and that a law will be introduced that a player who ends another players career will be banned. Perhaps even anti kicking schemes where super computers add up kicks during games and at one point players are penalised for their misdemenours? But predictions are all bets but who knows how the game will look in 50 years time?
One thing I do think is the FA has to think of some way of making the FA interesting. Looking back the finals I saw as a youngster were mostly great, everyone had a chance, until the time in the 90s when Chelsea got thrashed by ManUre and it was so one sided that it was boring. One thing that was great about the cup final was that anyone had a chance on that day, and was often proved.
But i liked watching Dowman, theres a hope around him, young players want to do well. Amazing that Saka has played 300 times already. Its suprising how many legends didnt play that many.
I hope wrexham do well tonight ( 1-1 as I write). Still remember getting the boot from them back in 91-92!
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Mills its now 301 for Saka as he came on today
as for how to stop the kicking I think a better idea than yours of banning a kicker if he ends a players career, or maybe a form of that where the kicker is out for what ever length of time the injured player is out. I think the best way is to make the ref liable for the safety of the player, which in fact is one of his actual key responsibilities but they face no consequences if they let a player get broken in two. Now and again a ref gets dropped for a game or two, or demoted for a game or two, or laughably put on VAR for a game or two.
A ref should be sending off players for rotational fouling, especially when its clear a player is being targeted. Also too many refs see letting the lesser team be over physical to “even out the contest”, which is ridiculous, dangerous and a disgrace. For me the Eduardo and the Ramsey leg breaks were both down to the ref allowing the opposition to “even out” the difference in ability of the two teams. Both refs in those games should never have been allowed ref any game ever again.
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Technically Max was excellent today but his decision making, like a lot of our players,was poor. You would expect that from someone of his age but the fact it is a running theme in so many of our players means there’s a problem with the coaching.
Cesc and Jack were technically gifted but had football brains as well, which we don’t see so much nowadays.
We are so good in so many areas of the game but game management and breakaways we need big improvements in. I think we must be the worst team in the league at breakaways and that showed today as Mansfield pushed forward and we squandered chance after chance including a five against two situation.
Mills, I just can’t see PIGMOL ever showing an appetite for clamping down on kickers as it’s the “English game” as such the media will never press them on it either.
Messi would not of survived over here and the same could be said for lots of technical players that sta us ed away from the PL money to protect their legs and the length of their careers.
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At the moment through to the last eight of the F.A.cup are
ARSENAL
chelsea
leeds
liverpool
city
port vale
southampton
and the winner is west ham v brentford
They say you always want a home draw but drawing port vale would be excellent. Basically we just need to avoid city, Liverpool and Chelsea at this stage and if two of those three draw each other it would be a bonus.
With the fixture list piling up the need for a decent draw is becoming more important.
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whats the bets on us getting City away? 2-1?
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apologies if this is a sort of a duplicate post, as i’m having trouble posting on here. Have to log in repeatedly
Dany Dolan has announced he is joining Arsenal, its not clear what exactly his role will be but Dolan had most recently spent six years working for Chelsea as their Southern UK Regional Coordinator, managing Chelsea’s scouts in the south of the United Kingdom, and before that he was head of Academy recruitment for Watford FC
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Rodri has escaped punishment after slating the ref in cities game against the spuds. In a decision which makes a mockery of the respect the ref campaign letting a player openly highlight the refs incompetence, in his opinion, seems bizarre.
What it does highlight, along with a string of decisions not to send city players off, is that PIGMOL are fully backing city in the run in and our game against city in the league will be all the more difficult.
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well Ian lets hope that this Rodri decision backfires on the PGMOL spectacularly and that lots of players now come out after games and whinge about the refs decisions and take an £80k fine, the precedent has been set now. Let the fun and games begin
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Ironically he even pleaded guilty to the charge
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we drew Southampton away in the next round of the FA Cup
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So Southampton away in the quarters.
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Man City v Liverpool
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Emirates FA CUP Quarter Finals Draws:
Southampton vs Arsenal
Chelsea vs Port Vale
Manchester City vs Liverpool
Westham or Brentford vs Leeds United.
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Excellent draw for us, avoiding the other big three and all PL sides. Only Port Vale would have been a better draw.
Looks like three big sides in the semi’s and probably all PL affair unless there is a massive shock.
Games to be played just after the final interlull on April 4th/5th meaning some of our much travelled players should get a rest.
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Leo Aliadiere the son of former Arsenal player Jeremie Aliadiere scored for our U16’s at the weekend. Leo is an U14 player.
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George, Bayer preview sent over,COYG!
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It’s up
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