The curtain comes down on the English football season as two familiar London rivals, Arsenal and Chelsea, go head-to-head at Wembley in the FA Cup Final this afternoon.

The Gunners knocked out holders Man City in the semis, whereas the Blues had to get past Liverpool, Leicester and Man United on route to the final.

Good day one and all.

This hasn’t been an easy season for Arsenal at all; winning just four of our first 15 Premier League games had us at a real disadvantage. But since Mikel Arteta’s arrival mid-season, we have seen a steady upturn in performances. However, the lockdown put a real dent in our momentum with results since the restart not completely satisfactory. This saw us finishing just outside the European qualifying spots in 8th-place.

So it all comes down to this; one game that could transform a disappointing campaign into a moderate successful one, with entry to next season’s Europa League. One game that could be the difference between Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang extending his Arsenal stay other not, one game that could be the difference between getting a shiny new toy, or promoting from within.

The Gunners do have pedigree when it comes to reaching the finals in the FA Cup and will hope to continue that trend today. However, the Blues are as prolific when it comes to playing in finals, but hopefully Baku is the furthest from our lads’ minds.

Frank Lampard was appointed at the start of the season with the club under a transfer embargo and having just sold their talisman Eden Hazard. Considering he guided his young side to top-four and reaching the FA Cup Final, he has done remarkably well in his maiden season.

However, that will not be enough, because with this their only chance at silverware, winning the Cup will be as important to them as it is for the Gunners.

Chelsea are unbeaten in their two league meetings with Arsenal this season (W1, D1). Interestingly, both matches were played with Arteta and Lampard in their respective dugouts. The Blues’ 2-1 win at the Emirates was Arteta’s first home game in charge. At Stamford Bridge it was very different with the Gunners showing real grit to come from behind twice after going down to 10 men in their 26th minute, to draw 2-2.

So this is the start of a new chapter in the battle between two rookie managers looking to win their maiden trophy in the Cup they lifted as captains.

Team news

Arteta used a 3-4-3 formation in the 2-0 win over Man City and is likely to go with that again, as well as a similar looking lineup. Though with Mustafi injured, Rob Holding once against get the chance of starting in the final of this competition.

Hector Bellerín missed the Watford game with a calf issue but was back in full training. So too first-choice goalkeeper Bernd Leno; however, Arteta has already confirmed that Emi Martinez will start between the sticks.

Prediction

No two teams have had more success in this famous old trophy than these two since the turn of the century.

This, of course, will be the third time in the last four seasons these sides meet in a finals, with varying success. With Chelsea finishing the league season 10 points better off than the Gunners, one would assume them having the edge, but it is Arsenal that have the love affair with the FA Cup in recent times … so this could be a very closely contested, low-scoring, yet very entertaining match. COYG!

— @LaboGoon

After 11-and-a-half months it’s finally the last round of Premier League fixtures on the 2019/20 calendar, with Arsenal hosting Watford at the Emirates Stadium.

The Hornets are staring down the barrel, needing at least a draw to have an outside chance of avoiding relegation, whereas the Gunners come into this match on the back of a shock 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.

Good day one all.

Arsenal has been very hit and miss in recent weeks; notable wins over Wolves and Liverpool in the league was followed by a superb FA Cup victory against Man City, but defeats either side of The Reds clash have left us 10th-place in the league table.

Of course, it’s disappointing but we also shouldn’t ignore that we are in a period of transition since Mikel Arteta walked through the door mid-season. However, with next weekend’s FA Cup final against Chelsea still offering a shot at redemption, we simply cannot go into that match on the back of successive defeats.

As luck would have it… Watford come into this game having lost each of their last five games on the road across all competitions.

An incredible 3-0 victory over league champions Liverpool on 29 February, ending their then unbeaten league run, hasn’t given the visitors the boost they thought it would, as they won only two of their nine matches since (D1, L5). Nigel Pearson was dismissed just two days prior to their 4-0 trashing at the hands of Man City in midweek because of that failure.

If they are to dodge the relegation trapdoor then simply beating the Gunners may not be good enough, as they would also need the misfortune of Villa who will be equally desperate for a win against a West Ham team, that may already be on the beach. Not a great position for Watford to be in, but caretaker coach Hayden Mullins will be expecting from them to at least hold their end up.

Team news

With six days between today’s game and the FA Cup final, Mikel could field a strong XI, considering he already made six changes for the Villa game. Skhodran Mustafi, of course, is out injured so Rob Holding could come into the side alongside David Luiz and Kieran Tierney.

I think the toughest decision to be made concerns Ainsley Maitland-Niles. He was on the outside of the team but hugely impressed versus City, so whether he would make way for our new number 7, Bukayo Saka, will be telling this afternoon.

Prediction

With Arsenal’s incredible home record since the start of the year, this fixture is perhaps not as daunting on the face. But Watford is such a petty side that if they feel they really are getting relegated, this match has the potential to get real ugly.

Be that as it may, hopefully we remind Troy Deeney just how big our cojones and send them packing to the Championship with a “you’re welcome” parting shot.

COYG!

@LaboGoon

Goal scorers are always regarded as the best players if they are posting good numbers. Now that might be fair enough if you think that is all that matters. Now I’m a big believer in that a players stats is a good reflection of his ability. But I mean all the stats, not just goals and assists. The problem is that some stats are disregarded and some have not been collated because it’s not possible to quantify them accurately.

For example, how do we measure which was the key pass or movement that opened up the game leading to a goal or a chance? A pre assist or a pre pre assist , could be much more key than the final assist, which could be as simple as anything.

How do you measure the understanding a player has for his team mates? If someone is pulling opposition players out of position , opening up space for the assist or goal, how is that measured?

How do you measure when a player passes to a team mate and he has time and space to create or pass the ball on again, against a hospital pass or one that will surely result in loss of possession? They are both recorded as completed passes.

How do you measure the skill of a player finding good space, if he doesn’t get given the ball?

How do you measure the cost of squandered possession if it’s a while before the goal against us is scored, or how much energy is used by the team trying to regain possession?

But “GOALS AND ASSISTS” they scream, when rating players.

Most fans watch the ball, so if a player chases the ball, hogs it when he gets it and takes a shot from anywhere, fans will be impressed. Not all fans of course, some actually understand the game.

Some of you might already have guessed that this blog has been inspired by my opinion that Sanchez was not a world class player for us, and perhaps the most overrated player in the clubs history. Not because he wasn’t an incredibly gifted player, because he was also incredibly bad at many of the things that define a great player.

I have to be honest, I didn’t want him when we signed him and thought he would not fit with our style. That style was based on dominating the ball with technically gifted players, since Arsene had introduced it(very much before Pep at Barca) in 2008.

When Sanchez arrived, we had Jack, Santi, Ozil, Rosicky and had began to look like contenders for the title and started winning silverware. Despite he himself being technically gifted, he was the opposite of these players. He often lost the ball 30+times in a game, our team play became disjointed and we were left exposed to counters. Occasionally he had games where he didn’t squander the ball, and frankly, he and the team then looked very impressive.

People will talk about his “peak” season, where he was prolific with goals and also more than decent with assists. But that coincidentally was the first time in 20 years we finished outside the top four. Go figure.

So let’s think about just how much sense the “BUT GOALS AND ASSISTS” merchants make.

Dennis Bergkamp made a goal or assist every 1.74 PL games

Sanchez made a goal of assist every 1.20 (all comps) games.

So those stats would tell a “BUT GOALS AND ASSIST” merchant, that Sanchez was better than God himself.

Ramsey scored 40 goals in 262 appearances, one every 6.55 games (PL)

Vieira scored 27 in 279, one every 10.33.

Assists are even more in favour of Ramsey

So “BUT GOALS AND ASSISTS” merchants would have us believe Aaron was better than Patrick. Now I’m a huge Ramsey fan, but I would laugh at myself if I made such an assertion.

There you are then, judging a player’s worth to the team ,based on stats alone is stupid, but judging them on headline stats is utterly ridiculous.

Finally, if anyone thinks I’m calling them stupid if they thought Sanchez was a great player, I’m sorry, because that’s exactly what I am doing. His form since he left Arsenal and didn’t have Ozil and Arsene, to make him appear good, is the real reflection of him. The proof of the pudding, as they say.

Pedantic George

What counts more in a football team? Is it the quality of the players? The manager? The playing system? Stable ownership? The fans? Which one? All of them? Of course the answer is all of them how does each of the above measure in relation ?

If someone attempted to add up all the parameters, that’s after multiplying each parameter with a gravity coefficient factor, he/she’d most likely not conclude the equation, because simply the factors used would feel random, spontaneous and not very serious. What does “good ” player mean? What is a “good” manager and what is a “good” system? Does strong ownership also mean successful ownership? How does the fan help the team achieve VICTORY?

On to ours then, we need to let go of the dichotomy over ownership matters or managerial matters or players matters or formation matters. We need to stop comparing the era of riches (1998-2006) with the period of “saving” going on the past 7 years ( if more) and look straight at the truth. Good players are those who offer to the team and the cause. A good manager is one who gives to players the opportunity to offer to the cause of the team. A good system is the manager’s medium that will enable the players to produce deliver and excel. But for there to be an efficient system there needs to be planning. For this planning to exist you must have a director/owner hierarchy, a board, that supports the manager, and has the financial convenience to also support the manager;s choices in a depth of time and not knee-jerk and short-term. For all this to work though the team also needs the fans on their side. None of this can happen without the support faith and belief of the Arsenal crowd. It doesn’t matter what you have but how you combine what you have with HARMONY.

We get bombarded about tactics, about being weak as a system, that we don’t press or play high enough or deep enough or sideways enough or this and that. We read about players constantly , expensive and cheap, about managers who can do better and not, and so on and I have realised after many years that its all a bunch of crap really. I’ve seen players who have come from the unknowns and have become legends, players who were expensive purchases flopping miserably, coaches who didn’t exactly fill you with confidence going on and winning the lot, or leaving a mark behind imprinted in the memories of fans forever and other managers with high a profile cv destroying whole teams in the space of weeks. And why all this? Because the public wants “titles” that’s why. Because the pressure from people to win trophies has become unbearable, they want instant results, hungry for titles. Fair enough, but such mentality wont lead us anywhere.The fans of Arsenal need to stop looking at the past 7 years with scorn and hate for the lack of silverware and concentrate, as noted earlier, in becoming the factor that will push the team FORWARD for years to come.

Good morning positive people.

Arsenal Andrew has a few words of wisdom for us and the fanbase.

“Well, we did predict a more subdued performance following the thrillers v LFC and Citeh, and so it proved. All eyes on the cup final, one imagines and it would not surprise me if Watford cause more anguish in the meantime.

I think we have to understand that the Mikel Arteta direction of travel is where we want it to be, even if the squad currently is not. And let’s bear in mind it took Klopp 4 years and £400 million to create today’s Liverpool juggernaut** and even Ol’ Red Nose was close to the sack before his Man u came good. Okay, I know it only took Arsene Wenger one full season but hey, let’s be reasonable, he had the benefit of being Arsene Wenger.

It’s taken Citeh years of unregulated and unpunished financial doping to come within 15 points of this year’s champions. So given the restrictions on funds, we have got to recognise that there is likely to be only so fast – and so far – that Arteta can currently go with Arsenal.

Wenger’s genius was to take a mid-table club with mid-table funding to be competitive at the top table, not just for a few seasons, but twenty. He was so successful at this that most observers felt it was the club’s DNA that took them to that point rather than one man’s brilliance. Some people spent ten years or more claiming Wenger should have done more with what he had.

History already suggests he did far more with the limited resources available, than anyone could reasonably expect. And we already know there are those with far more resources who have achieved far less and who have received a fraction of the criticism Arsene received.

So one can only hope that this AFC fanbase at least can be fully aware of this lesson, get behind Mikel, and give him the chance, measurable in MULTIPLE SEASONS, rather than games, to take us back to where Arsene routinely led us.

Obviously a first FA Cup would do very nicely indeed but a final in his first half season ain’t bad.”

After the lord mayor’s show, comes the dust bin cart, and however we cut it, however we accept the mitigating circumstances, that was a dust bin performance.

I think the problem is that we got two results against Liverpool and City from hard work, organisation and effort, not from creative flowing football, and fans assumed one way of play would mean the other would follow. Well it didn’t. We went from all the players following instructions and being exceptional in their execution, to none of the players executing a decent attacking performance.

There really is no point questioning Arteta’s selection, because we simply don’t know the fitness levels of the player or what his plans are for the next two games, and Chelsea has to be the priority.

It’s clear to me that Xhaka is the main man in this squad, but he has been playing every minute of every game, he needed a rest, the problem is that we were so poor without him that he had to come on at half time.

We are crying out for a creative player when we play teams that we will dominate with possession and territoriality. Ozil is by far our most creative player , but for reasons unknown, he is persona non grata, so he was sadly out of the equation. There simply isn’t anyone else.

There’s no point crying over spilt milk, it was a bad night, but it’s fair to ask why? Anyone can beat anyone, as Liverpool and City have proven, but don’t think for a moment that their fans won’t be asking why they were poor against Arsenal.

I believe it will take 3/4 years for Arteta to just get us back competing for  champions league place, but again, we are entitled to point out that someone has done the damage to the squad in the last two years that has made the project so big.

Anyway, onward and upward. We have a cup final to look forward too.

COYG.

Pedantic George.

They say that one Swallow does not a summer make, well ok, but that was a golden eagle sized swallow we saw last night. Some of us have believed in Arteta for a while, this particular someone was advocating for him to be our next manager while he was still playing for the club, but the tide of opinion must now be firmly on his side? Surely?

We started the game off being battered and giving the ball up for fun, 17% possession in the first 10 minutes and it was looking ominous. Then Luiz played a through ball from midfield to Aubameyang, he took it under control and a goal looked certain, only for him to fire it straight at the goalkeeper. Although he should have scored, it was a turning point. Suddenly we were more composed on the ball. Soon after, Emi had the ball and after passing it around the back for a while we broke out, 17 passes later Auba scored about the best team goal we have seen from any team, this season. It really was a work of art.  City continued to dominate the ball, but we pressed and defended magnificently.  Auba got gifted the ball in the box and fluffed an easy lay-off which should have been 2 nil.  But we looked the most dangerous side of the rest of the half,  despite having much less of the ball.

City came out for the second half , with a flea in their ears, started moving the ball quicker and turned up the heat. It was almost one-way traffic for the entire half, but once again some neat decisive play saw Tierney set Auba free and he finished with the aplomb of the great finisher he is.

Every single Arsenal player excelled. It was a phenomenal defensive display. Not the desperate stuff we saw against Liverpool, this was organised hard work, planning and execution. David Luiz turned up with a performance that I have not seen bettered by any Arsenal centre-back in a very long time. Despite the magnificent of his performance, for me, Xhaka excelled even that. We have not witnessed a centre-mid play that well since the days of Vieira.  I kid you not.  Xhaka is our leader and heartbeat, his critics should “F*CK OFF” as he might say to them.

What a night, what a result, what a future we might have if Arteta gets the support he deserves.

One swallow? Perhaps, but perhaps not.

Pedantic George.