Hello and how are you?
Saturday the 12th of September sees the Mighty Cannon (2nd) taking a trip up to Wearside and take on Sunderland AFC (12th) at the Stadium of Light. KO is 8pm (local time) . Expected weather is 19°( feels like 15°) and 6% chance of rain.
So, after performance that was strong but thwarted in front of goal against Napoli, a game that might have at least at several moments suited the now departed Martinelli, we now take on the Black Cats and our old pal Granit Xhaka.
Oddly, nobody seems to know why the Black Cats are called the Black Cats, despite a few theories. However, take them on we will. Last year it was something of a negative watershed as we were reduced to a 2-2 draw, that somehow felt like a loss and did put a lot of pressure upon us and we seemed to go into a period of struggle afterwards? But that was then and this is now…
Le Bris’ Sunderland go into this game having beaten Hull in the Carabao Cup 1-0. They are W1 D1 L1 (with zero goals difference) in the PL, but may well have an eye on the 16th of September match against AZ Alkmaar, when their Europa League campaign starts, albeit sandwiched between us and Man City?
Saliba (obviously) Mosquera and Timber! are crocked for the Arsenal and Diarra and Mundle be out for the Mackem’s.
I knocked on the door of Statto HQ and they were watching re-runs of the 1973 cup final especially Jim Montgomerys rubbery-morphic save. However, they stopped and handed me a piece of paper with the stats and they reckoned up that Sunderland AFC have a 13.7 % chance of winning and Arsenal FC have a 64.3 % chance of nabbing those three points.
Next up we plough on over to the East marches of England for a clash with the Tractor boys on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup. Till then may your force be with you. COYG!
Mills
Arsenal have confirmed that 17 year old Georgian forward Andria Bartishvili will join next summer
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Excellent Mills,
Its funny how your memory plays tricks on you, I’ve always thought they were called the black cats but apparently it was only made official after a fan vote just after 2000.
Big Jim Montgomery and his 473 saves in one match, Alan Paskoe and little Bobby Stokoe a real old English manager. That was when cup finals were cup finals. 100,000 thousand in the stadium and terraces that moved as one with great surges that made them seem alive.
Apparently, with Sunderland being a port town and the sailors all believing that seeing a black cat before the voyage was lucky and the town adopted the nickname.
Also the biggest cannon that defended the port was also called the black cat, probably for the same reason.
So they have one big gun and we have a whole ARSENAL.
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Thanks Ian. Theyve changed the wiki page, several years ago they were still saying that nobody knew where the nickname came from.
My mind must be tricking me too, beacuse I would say they were known and the Black Cats before 2000.
I like what you wrote about the days when cup finals were cup finals, to me its very true. I kind of miss the those events, now its seems so organised and a bit contrived? Anyway, heres to the Arsenal! COYG!
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So our second of four away games, sees us travel up tut north to visit the Brexit town of sunderland.
They have reduced their opponents to fewer shots on goal than us, this season, at just 5. Up the other end they play direct football and will give us a proper battle. Xhaka already has the second most ball recoveries in the division.
In my mind it has always been a really difficult place to go and wins are usually narrow and hard fought, but our record against them is excellent.
This seems to be a place where draws loom large so our forward line and indeed the whole team need to be clinical. I’m sure Bruno will get a warm welcome.
Again I do think they will struggle with our squad and although usually if the game is close their crowd is noisy, I think they may get very nervous.
This will be another big test for Tzolis but we have other players, indeed lots of players, who will absolutely relish a battle like this COYG.
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Raya, White, Konsa, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Saka, Havertz, Tzolis
Arsenal bench: Kepa, Hincapie, Eze, Timber, Gyokeres, Madueke, Merino, Zubimendi, Bruno
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Timber has come on for the injured White
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Sunderland given a penalty that will only be given against Arsenal, but thankfully Raya with a brilliant save keeps it 0-0
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Bruno GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG with a great goal to make it 1-0 to the Arsenal
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https://x.com/i/status/2098868571913011307
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Rice and Tzolis off
Zubimendi and Eze on
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phew!
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four wins from four in the EPL, top of the league, 6 wins from 6 in all competitions, another clean sheet, and oh my what a fuckwit of a ref, they can change the name of the PGMOL but its still the same bias inept corrupt cunts of refs.
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no minutes for Gyokeres again.
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Martinelli got a hattrick for his new club
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Raya with the first penalty save of this EPL season
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https://x.com/FConPredict/status/2098874925612237256/video/1
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https://x.com/ryagustinas1998/status/2098868350352806288/video/1
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https://x.com/adamkeys_/status/2098879876874784901/video/1
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our U18’s beat crystal palace u18’s 2-0 but our u21’s lost 4-1 at chelsea u21’s, scanlon scored again for the u21’s
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We know that chelsea have majorly corrupted the youth leagues for over two decades now. However looking at the strength of the side we put out, I was hoping for a better result.
Our youth sides rarely play together and so it is difficult to get cohesion, especially when the players who have been around the first team squad come back in.
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New post is up
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