Hello and how are you? Hopefully excited and nervy as a jumping bean and counting down the hours and minutes to our showdown with Manchester City in the 2026 Carabao Cup final! Nice!
Let’s face, it’s great to be in a final, and it’s been a while (2020’s Covid Cup final). Calling this one though is beyond me, I lay there last night before sleep thinking about the possible permutations and came up with nix. This one could play out in any which way? What do you think?
One thing, I hope we can put to bed an especially painful moment for me in our last league cup final back in 2018, when we were soundly beaten by City. The worst moment for me was watching the bench cam and around the 65 min when they scored their third. It wasn’t that it was the final nail in the coffin that hurt so much, to me the Arsenal had looked zombie from early on, but it was watching Wenger on the sidelines waiting to bring Danny Welbeck on. The goal goes in and Arsène spins around looking for hope on the bench and goes back to the game and just rests his hand on Welbeck’s back as a sign of comfort, knowing it was over. Man, that one tore me up. In fairness, City were excellent that day, but like SE Hinton wrote: that was then this is now.
I think on Planet Arsenal we need the same sort of day-out and good cheer that Newcastle had last year, and it’s very possible. Of course City are struggling a bit this year, but here they are still in a final, still second in the league, and still in the FA Cup.
Five subs are allowed, including a sixth if it goes to extra time.
We go into this one, with several uplifting and encouraging recent results under our belts. So, the rest I leave up to Areta and Co. Here’s to us! COYG!
Statto HQ phoned through the chances and they reckon Arsenal FC at 39.4% and Manchester City FC at 31.2%. Next up the FA Cup quarter finals against Southampton, at Southampton. So COYG!
Mills
Win this and it could be the first of an unprecedented quadruple, lose it and we can still win the treble that United fans have been dinning out on for 27 years. So although there is a lot riding on it, there is a lot of opportunities, and huge ones, still to come.
I’m hoping Pep’s ego wont allow him to shut up shop and it’s a good game. I also hope we open up somewhat and we all enjoy a good game of football that gives us a decisive win.
Pedantic George.
Positively Arsenal 
Brilliant preview lads and yes I’m nervy as fuck.
The strange thing is we are unbeaten in our last six against city and seem to have the upper hand over them and I’m quietly confident. So why so nervous? Well it’s still city and it’s a final and the first one of the season.
It is crazy to suggest a final is more than the silverware at the end of the day but this one has the potential to be so much more.
The CL and the F.A. cup are still a very long way off but a win here not only brings us our first trophy for six years but it seems to bring the league title nearer as well as the chance to dance around hug strangers and not be able to sleep from excitement like I was a little boy.
The opposition have several different styles of play from being statistically the best high press team in the league to defending deep and only having 30% possession when we played them earlier in the season.
Our squad is nothing if not adaptable and we can change styles and make other teams change as well.
Mills figures suggested a 30% chance of a draw after the 90 and we know our bench or “finishers” as they are now called are excellent.
I don’t care who plays, I don’t care how we play (style wise), I just care about bringing home the three handled cup and seeing those Red and White ribbons flying in the wind COYG.
LikeLike
I see it as vital we win today, as its a bit like the Fairs cup in 70 being the catalyst for the 71 double, and the 87 littleswood cup win leading to the 89 league title, although this is for the same season, I see a win today as giving the team the real genuine belief that they can go on and win the league, the CL and the FA Cup this season. On the counter side if we lose it will really build the pressure to get across that “winners” line.
LikeLike
Arsenal: Arrizabalaga, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Rice, Havertz, Saka, Trossard, Gyokeres.
Subs: Raya, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Mosquera, Norgaard, Martinelli, Madueke, Dowman, Havertz, Jesus.
no Timber, Odegaard nor Eze in the Arsenal squad
LikeLike
spurs currently 2-0 down at home to Nottingham Forest, but sadly west ham are 2-0 down to Aston Villa which keeps spurs out of the bottom 3
LikeLike
FT: Spurs 0-3 Nottingham Forest
spurs now 1 point above the relegation spots
LikeLike
COYG!
LikeLike
HT: Arsenal 0-0 Man City
Havertz had our best chance but he delayed shooting and gave the keeper time to get out to him.
the ref has been so one sided its beyond a joke
LikeLike
get Red Max on…
LikeLike
beaten fair and square second half.
LikeLike
I wouldn’t even put someone else’s money on us winning a trophy this season after that performance.
LikeLike
our next game is away to Southampton in the FA Cup on Saturday week, its live on BBC. The saints are on their best run of form in years and have now got themselves into the play off positions.
LikeLike
Aside of Hincapié being handicapped by the yellow( should have been subbed at HT?) and the Kepafingers/ Kepa yellow as key moments, its perplexing just like against Ipswich in 78. Another final where we didnt turn up. Play the fixture again in three days and maybe Arsenal win? Footballs so weird. Of course thats what made finals so excting years ago? I dont think anyone thought we would lose, that way today? I expected something a bit closer and extra time or even penalties.
The second half didnt look like us at all this season, and you could see they really really wanted it. We seemed bereft of ideas and midfield control. Maybe Eze and Martin if fit might have turned things around? Martinelli could have come on earlier and Red Max would have (maybe) given everyone a lift?
Do you think Kepa awas baiting the press too much?
my worry was City losing to Real and us cruising a bit against Bayer as aset up for the match.
Certainly seemed the worst half we played this season. But thats it, its done and dusted, City played very well in the second half and squeezed us. Anyway ( banned smiley) there other trophies to still go after…
Just hope nobody gets injured in the break. And hope Eze’s calf injury isnt as bad as it might seem.
COYG!
LikeLike
Saliba has pulled out of the France squad with injury.
LikeLike
The keeper decision was a bad one and I don’t just say that in hindsight or because of the goal.
Raya’s distribution and positional sense makes such a difference to our play especially when the opposition have the best record of high turnovers, well documented before the game.
With city pressing high and Kai and Victor up front we really didn’t need to play out from the back, we could have played long and picked up the second ball. Every time we tried to play out from the back we had to kick long anyway but it was under pressure and had no accuracy.
The number ten position would have made no difference because apart from the first ten to twenty minutes we weren’t finding our forward players.
The ref was bad and there was no consistency and in games against two big sides that makes a big difference.
When a team is struggling you look to your manager to change things and most managers would have made a change at half time with the last twenty five minutes of the first getting worse for us the longer it went on.
city came out swinging in the second half so whatever Mikel had said or tweaked at half time wasn’t working and subs were needed. Unfortunately they never came, even after the first goal they still never came and city saw our throat exposed and scored again.
With Trossard struggling for form and not working hard enough to protect Hincapie on a booking it was surprising just how long it took city to score.
After the second goal city sat back and let us come forward and Noni immediately got us corner. Realistically we didn’t look like scoring for the rest of the game and Calafiori was our most dangerous player and I’m sure he could of managed 45 minutes.
The Martinelli sub came ridiculously late with just nine minutes to go and Jesus coming on for Kai was another strange sub.
We need to pray all our players come back safe and well from international duty so we can win the bournemouth game and not lose the city game and the pain of today will start to disappear.
When we were coming twelfth in the league a very learned friend on here said Mikel would continue to get better and he absolutely has and absolutely will going forward but today highlighted one of the areas where he is still poor. His preparation is meticulous and excellent but his game management is still raw especially when things are going wrong.
He has said that his team needs to learn from this defeat but most of all Mikel needs to learn from it. In his first six seasons he hasn’t yet but that doesn’t mean he can’t and if he can master that he and ARSENAL will be brilliant.
LikeLike
well Mills my worry is that the performance today was cos the players couldn’t handle the pressure of getting over the winners line. Pressure does weird things even to the best of players, I always remember the interview Moritz Voltz gave about his time at arsenal, how he couldn’t catch his breath on his debut, and then when it happened again in his second first team game, that was him done at Arsenal, it was too big for him, he had a good top flight career, but never hit the heights that was expected from him, and that was down to pressure.
I knew a GAA player in my own county, he’d get man of the match week in week out, in front of 50 to 100 or maybe up to 500 spectators, but put him out in front of 5,000 or more and he couldn’t play a lick.
I also knew a young lad who was a very good GAA player and a very promising soccer player, he had about 10 EPL clubs scouting him, without really knowing it, they contacted his family and told them how impressed they were by him and that they wanted to give him a trail, he was as proud as punch and in fact his game went up a level, but but as soon as Nottingham Forest told him they would have scouts at his upcoming games and that they were considering signing him to the youth team if he impressed in those games, his performance went out the window. Forest backed out as did most others, he did have a few trials, but it totally disillusioned him and he packed in the soccer and stuck with the GAA.
Pressure and how one handles pressure is probably the most important aspect of sport, especially high level sport.
LikeLike
I don’t think it was pressure today because we started so well and if we had froze that wouldn’t have happened.
I lay this one purely at Mikels door, city adapted quickly to what we were doing and as they grew into the game that was it we never looked in it. Even with twenty minutes to go to half time you could see unless something drastically changed their was only going to be one winner.
It might even had been better had city scored just before half time as then Mikels hand might have been forced but unfortunately he just watched and shouted and then watched some more.
LikeLike
Arsenal U21 team v Sunderland (Arsenal): Mitchell, Ferdinand, Owusu-Gyasi, Chapman, Ogunnaike, Ibrahim, Julienne, Stevens, Mooney, Harriman-Annous, Hashi. Subs: Murisa, Hamill, Nduka, Bailey-Joseph
Game is live on arsenal.com
Sunderland took the lead after just one minute
LikeLike
Sunderland go 2-0 up, just moments after Arsenal thought they had equalized, a Stevens header seemed to going to cross the goal line and Hashi tapped it home, but he was offside.
LikeLike
Penalty to Arsenal
Harriman-Annous who won the penalty, has his penalty saved, it was not a great penalty, neither far enough in the corner, nor powerful enough
LikeLike
3-0 to Sunderland just before half time
LikeLike
Harriman-Annous with a fine finish to pull a goal back, 3-1
LikeLike
another loss for the u21’s,
LikeLike
Big game tomorrow for the Arsenal Women, they face Chelsea in the Womens Champions League.
LikeLike
Obviously beating chelsea at the Emirates not long ago should make a big difference in confidence and from what I hear they have a lot of injuries as well. Their manager was joking it was a seven aside game.
LikeLike
HT: Arsenal Women 2-0 Chelsea Women
Blackstenius and Kelly with the goals
LikeLike
seems Eze will be out for up to six weeks with a calf injury
LikeLike
chelsea women pull a goal back
LikeLike
russooooooooooooooooooooooooo makes it 3-1
LikeLike
FT: Arsenal Women 3-1 Chelsea Women
Blackstenius, Kelly and Russo with our goals, they play the second leg next week
LikeLike
Great to see the Women bring back some ARSENAL cheer.
LikeLiked by 1 person
the chelsea womens manager had a big whinge about the ref and VAR after their defeat at the Emirates yesterday
LikeLike
the game Arsenal will play in Dublin this summer is not as first mentioned against Liverpool, but is against Real Betis. Will be played at the Aviva Stadium
LikeLike
Kim Little has signed a new one year contract with Arsenal Women
LikeLike
Gyokeres has scored all 3 goals for sweden v ukraine in their world cup qualifier tonight, few minutes left there.
LikeLike
Norgaard scored the 4th goal for Denmark against North Macedonia
LikeLike
Czechia v Republic of Ireland going to penalties as is Wales v Bosnia & Herzegovina
LikeLike
Ireland fucked up in the penalty shoot out, they were 3-2 up, but then missed their final two penalties to lose 4-3
LikeLike
wales out too as they fecked up in the shoot out too.
LikeLike
With Eze already out and Saka’s lack of form, Madueke’s injury is a real worry. We need the leg brace to be a precaution but it doesn’t look good.
LikeLike
a good day for the Arsenal Women, they beat spurs 5-2 in the NLD, Russon x3, Foord and Blackstenius with our goals.
Arsenal are now up to 2nd with 2 games in hand on Man City, who beat Man Utd 3-0 today, they are 11 points ahead of us, but are running out of games to catch them up. If we are not to catch them then its good they won as it puts man utd behind us on goal difference but we have two games in hand on them too. Chelsea play Aston Villa at home in the morning, they are a point behind us but have played a game more.
LikeLike
Madueke, Saka and Rice are all returning to Arsenal and have withdrawn from the England squad
LikeLike
Kim Little played her 400th game for Arsenal Women today
LikeLike
The women’s game was a joy to watch to be honest. Fast one and two touch football without the horseshoe of death and the CB’s starting play but holding on to it a lot less than the men’s game.
Its still physical but with more emphasis on the technical. It is faster with more risk of losing the ball although safe in the knowledge that you will have the chance to get the ball back quickly.
It got me thinking about the men’s set up and the race to the bottom regarding trophies and money. Is the risks involved in the men’s game now to high that we have stale football especially at the business end of the season.
I wonder if it was Peps ticky tacky football that actually started the current rut because teams realised the danger of losing the ball and the amount of time and difficulty in getting it back.
The heavier and more tactical blocks which were put in place to counter pep ball then in turn led to the necessity of making dead ball situations count.
So as the money and stakes have gone higher the quality of entertainment has gone down and that’s where the blame for the current malaise lies and of course pep.
I certainly hope women’s football doesn’t go down the same path because when George Graham complains about the rigidity of football you know we’re in a bad place.
LikeLike
Igor Tudor leaves the spuds by the old “mutual consent”.
Another Human that has been hugely damaged by the scourge on society that is rotten ham hapless.
There should be a health warning on the club and maybe even pay health tax like you do on sugar and fags.
LikeLike
well Ian two things I would say about the openness of Women’s football, and the boring way mens football is a lot of the time.
By the way chelsea women beat aston villa women 4-3 today to go back above Arsenal into second in the table, they are 2 points ahead of us but with 2 extra games played.
LikeLike
have to laugh at journos astonished that fans booed Ben White after the same journos ran attack pieces on Ben White in the lead up to the game. Usual fake bullshit from the gutter dwellers in the UK football media
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah Ed it’s a real shame about the quality of the keepers in the women’s game. There was talk a while ago about making the goals smaller but I don’t think that will happen or would help
The speed element is circumvented by the one and two touch football and speed of pass rather the sluggishness of the men’s game until there is a breakaway or the attack hits the box.
The Chelsea v Villa game was strange as Villa scored early but then Chelsea quickly went three-one up. Villa then got two quick goals to make it even at halftime.
After a mad first half the second was quiet comparably but typically Chelsea scored the winner with just nine minutes to play.
LikeLike
Arsenal under-15s are packing their bags and heading east next month for the nine-day Next Gen Beijing Cup in China
Provisional squad heading to Beijing
Charlie Phillips, Max Lo Presti, Zach Van Der Straaten, Frankie Wyatt, Hudson Sando, Onye Asiegbu, Isaiah Matthews, Beau Luton, Keyaan Davison, Fletcher McBryde, Mikael Bonaventura Yetna, Noah Laditan, Blake Day King, Emmanuel Ahaneku, Reiss Twenboa Kudoa, Jaden Maghoma, Kyron Raymond-Callender, Luis Munoz, Bubacarr Jallow, Leo Aliadiere, Ezra Okafor
from Arsenal.com
LikeLike
reports in Germany say Arsenal are currently the favorites to sign German striker Nicolò Tresoldi (21) from Club Brugge, talks are said to be progressing for the Germany U21 Striker.
LikeLike
Gyokeres has put Sweden 3-2 ahead in the 88th minute of their world cup play off v Poland
LikeLike