Arsenal host Olympiakos at the Emirates Stadium this evening for the second leg of their last-32 Europa League tie, with the hosts holding a 1-0 advantage thanks to Alexandre Lacazette’s late strike in the first leg.

The Gunners will be in high-spirits following a run of positive results, more so after three wins on-the-bounce from the last three to now have extended our unbeaten run to 10-matches across all competitions since the turn of the year.

Mikel Arteta can certainly be pleased with how the players have responded to him to have a defined playing style. But he will also be well aware that the hard work only starts now as we head towards the business end of this campaign.

With the Europa still our best route to secure qualification for next season’s Champions League we may go with a strong lineup, especially with a relatively favourable FA Cup tie at League One side Portsmouth on Monday night, to not risk leaving things to chance against the Greek Super League’s finest.

Pedro Martins has already did a lot of tough talking to put the home side on notice and is very confident about his teams chances to overturn the 1-0 deficit: “This is Olympiakos and you will see that in London. I believe in this team […]. I believe we can win at Arsenal.”

Following their loss to Arsenal last Thursday, their only defeat from their last 19 matches in all competitions, they beat PAOK in a top-of-the-table league match over the weekend, to make it four wins from their last five matches in all competitions, and it’s on the back of that they head into London.

However, the visitors got a rep for being poor travellers outside Greece; having lost 10 of their last 11 abroad in European competition, excluding qualifiers. So they will have to do something special if they want to turn this tie around. That being said; the last time they visited the Emirates was on the 29 September 2015 and they ran out 3-2 winners. A similar result would see them advance to the last-16 at our expense.

Team News

Arsenal’s win against Everton came at a cost with Sead Kolašinac forced off the field with a shoulder injury that could keep him out for quite some time. Kieran Tierney is back in training though, but only expected to make his return on Monday night at Fratton Park.

Lacazette stayed on the bench on Sunday against the Toffees, so he should be fresh to lead the attack.

Lucas Torreira and Mesut Özil, who didn’t make the flight to Greece, are both available for selection, as is Sokratis who picked up a knock late in that match.

Prediction

The Gunners will be looking to keep the current momentum going in front of the Emirates faithful and will certainly feel upbeat after last week’s result. Although a slim lead, it will allow them some comfort to dictate the pace of the game, sit a bit deeper than usual to allow the Greeks coming at them, which in turn will give them chances on the break. Certainly a game Granit Xhaka can thrive in with those stunning lobs over the top. Ergo I predict a hard-fought close win for the home side. COYG!

@LaboGoon

Good morning positive gooners.

Well that was good, bad  but never ugly. It was a great game of football involving two teams both trying to win the game. Much credit should also go to Everton, who also had both good and bad moments.

Let’s start with the bad and get it out of the way. We conceded two goals from set pieces with some old fashioned Arsenal defending. Much has been made of the set up for the first, specifically  the gap left between Mustafi and Luiz, but for me, if Sead hadn’t been sucked into dropping back as the kick was about to be taken, all the Everton players would have been offside. For the second, there was a bit of panic from players trying to clear the ball, and Leno didn’t cover himself in glory, but I think he was also unlucky, he tried to make himself big, but the shot became a scuff that dribbled under him. He would likely have saved a decent strike.

Another bad was Saka and his last half hour performance. He lost the ball frequently in dangerous positions. We shouldn’t forget that Arteta had left him out because he was gassed, he came on and for almost an hour he was magnificent, so it should be no surprise that he was the one that appeared to suffer most physically. I feel that there were a lot of players running out of gas, but he just, at his young age, suffered the most.

The good though, much outweighs the bad. Although Everton will feel, and rightly so, that they did enough to get something from the game, the way we held on was fantastic. We got three points because when almost every player was dead on their feet, they dug deeper and deeper , and gave every drop of everything.

Then there’s Leno, having made a bit of a gaff on the stroke of halftime, he was unbelievable in that final quarter.

Having gone a goal down in under a minute, we wrestled control and were well on top for the next hour. To a man, all of them played well. Again we saw Ozil benefit from two technical players , Ceballos and Xhaka, being with him and around him, all three were impressive, but Ozil stood out. Personally I though we lost a lot when he came off, but we have to accept his gifts might be less important when it’s a back to the walls situation, all be it that it becomes more “backs to the wall” when he goes off.

Aubameyang was given MOTM, for his two great finishes and his tireless running, he was great, but Eddy and Pepe played their part as well.

For many reasons it was an Arsenal performance that we can be proud of. After three games in a week, to play an in form team that has had two weeks to prepare, suffer two setbacks and still out play them for a good hour, then come away with the points? Great stuff!

Arsenal is hosting Everton at the Emirates Stadium this evening for their Premier League clash; with both teams on relatively good runs-of-form at the moment.

The Gunners come into this match on the back of a nine-match unbeaten run in all competitions, whilst the Toffees have just one defeat in their last 11 league outings (W6, D4) to give them a two-point advantage over us in the league standings.

Since taking over the reins at the Emirates Mikel Arteta has made Arsenal a difficult side to beat. Our defenders, who were much derided for their inability to keep clean sheets prior to his arrival and even labelled “uncoachable” by Gary Neville, have really stepped up, and at a time we are missing quite a few through injury.

We went from a team not knowing where their next clean-sheet is coming from to having five in nine matches since the turn of the year, including three on the bounce in our last three matches.

This give credence to the opinion that we have a talented group of players who were either just under-performing or lacking the right guidance in recent times. And with the Arsenal faithful now starting to feel hopeful about their progression under Arteta’s care, concerns about his “lack of experience” has all but fade away.

Our attack still need to improve though, as too often their lack of finishing seems to undercut the efforts of our defence. That’s why it was so good to see Alexandre Lacazette ending his goal drought to score in successive games. If we can get a good spread of goals amongst our attackers, we should have a good chance to qualify for one of the European competitions next season.

Everton head to the Emirates in decent form, however, north London hasn’t been an easy place for the Toffees with their last victory away at the Gunners all the way back in January 1996. Something Carlo Ancelotti will no doubt hope to change.

Whilst defence remains an ongoing issue for the Italian, as their wins mainly comes from them having to outscore the opposition, there’s no doubt about their improvement since the days of fluttering above the drop zone under Marco Silva. Their leading goal scorers Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, with 20 goals and four assists between them, even caught the eye of some Europe’s top clubs.

Team News

Mesut Özil, Hector Bellerìn and Lucas Torreira all missed the trip to Greece but are expected to return; the former two to the starting lineup, the latter on the bench as Dani Ceballos continue his midfield partnership with Granit Xhaka.

The front-three could be the dream team of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pépé and Alexandre Lacazette, with the latter leading the attack.

Sead Kolasinac could replace Bukayo Saka, for some rotation to give the young ‘un a rest ahead of more games to come. Pablo Mari may be named on the bench, with Cédric Soares and Sokratis missing out.

Prediction

The last time these teams met the match ended 0-0 as both coaches watched on from stands, but Ancelotti will fancy his teams chances this time round.

However, Everton’s good form is mostly at home with them somewhat inconsistent on the road. If you add their miserable history away to Arsenal, it certainly doesn’t look for the visitors. Ergo I think the Gunners may just edge this one, even if it could turn out being a very competitive match. COYG!

@LaboGoon

Arsenal return to Europa League action with a trip to Greece, taking on Olympiakos at the Karaiskakis Stadium for the 1st leg of their last-32 tie. Mikel Arteta, of course, will oversee his first game on the continental scene.

The Gunners go into this match on the back of an eight-match unbeaten run across all competitions since the turn of the year. Even though half ended in draws, the Gunners will still be in high-spirits following their 4-0 second half razing of Newcastle United in a league encounter this past Sunday.

However, Arteta does not shy away from saying the players still have a long way to go to meet his expectations, while also recognising that they’re moving in the right direction. The progress they have made is something we can all be proud of because it implies that the Spaniards message is filtering through.

We have reached this ’round of 32′ as group F winners, however, with a mixed bag of results. After winning the opening three group games, we went winless in each of their last three (D2, L1). So no doubt Arteta will be hoping we hit some consistency to continue the progression as he targets success in the Cup competitions.

Meanwhile, Olympiakos play their first game in this season’s Europa, after being bumped down from the Champions League. They come into this match on the back of a comfortable 4-0 win themselves this past weekend on the domestic front and will be full of confidence.

Pedro Martins’ side is on a great run of form at the moment, in fact the last time they lost a match was on the 26th November against Tottenham in the CL. They are unbeaten after 24 matches in the Greek Super League (W18, D6); boasting a formidable goalscoring record of 50 league goals with only nine in reply.

They lead PAOK by two points and play them this coming weekend. So while that match will likely take priority with them targeting domestic success, we shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking they won’t try advance to the next round of the Europa at our expense. Arteta made no bones about seeing them as tough opponents:

“Papa [Sokratis] has made us even more aware of that, if we had any doubts… He knows everything about Olympiacos, about the country, about the type of fans that we are going to find here.

“I’ve been very aware from the games that I’ve watched about them and their passion, their quality and the atmosphere that we are going to have to be playing in tomorrow. So yes, it’s a difficult trip away from home and we’re going to expect a tough game and we’ve prepared for the game knowing that it’s going to be a difficult challenge.”

Team news

Of the notable absentees from the travelling party are Lucas Torreira, who misses out through illness, and Mesut Özil, him and his wife are expecting their first child – congratulations to Mr and Mrs Özil.

With the Europa providing an alternative route into next season’s Champions League Arteta could have a selection dilemma – does he rotate or pick the strongest XI from those available?

There have been some impressive performance of late though and some on the fringes that have really put their hands up. So whomever gets selected we can be sure deserves it.

Having ended his goal drought on Sunday, Alexandre Lacazette is likely to lead the attack with Eddie Nketiah dropping to the bench.

Mattéo Guendouzi made the flight and could come in the side with Dani Ceballos, who excelled on his return, likely to retain his place with Özil at home.

At the back Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Sead Kolasinac are all in line for recalls, with new signings Pablo Mari also available for selection, while Arteta expect Cédric Soares to step up his recovery in the coming days.

Prediction

The Gunners are favourites to make it through over two legs. However, with home advantage the Greeks will be tough to beat and if we make more than a few changes to the lineup we could find ourselves in for a long night.

Be that as it may, we can expect a hard-fought and very entertaining game with both sides giving it their all. COYG!

@LaboGoon

I’m tempted to say something like that was a game of two halves,but I wont because that would be pathetic, so i’ll say it was a game of one third and two thirds. The first half an hour was none too impressive, but after that, we were well on top.

Arteta set the team up, with his selections, to best combat the deep block in a disjointed game, and it worked. With Xhaka and Dani in the midfield it allowed Ozil to do his Ozil thingamabobs, drifting into space, with a good chance the ball would reach him. And it did. Xhaka did what we have seen him do recently, and played in a hybrid CM/CB/wingback/fullback position, which allows Saka to bomb on and gave Dani more time and space. Xhaka will not get many plaudits, but he had a huge effect on the game.

I keep banging the drum that Ozil has not regressed, and he just needs the team to find him in space, i think that was exactly what happened today. He had a great game.

Ceballos also had a fine game, his passing both penetrative  and accurate. I hope this is the start of a nice little cameo from him that lasts until the end of the season.

I would be mean to not mention Saka, what a talent he is, but as I mentioned, he should say thanks to Xhaka for allowing him the freedom that he took advantage of.

Another player that had a fine game, was Mustafi. He is an exceptional defensive header of the ball. In fact he has been good consistently under Mikel, it’s a shame that he gets no recognition because……. well because he’s Mustafi.

Oh what joy it is to have our Arsenal back. Ok , I know, but it feels like a corner has been turned.

Twitter, blogs, podcasts and “click bait” presenters have changed the face of football support. The more extreme your opinions are, the more aggressive your delivery is, the more successful you will be if your goal is to profit from your supposed support of a football team. Being heard is more important than being informed to many of the new-age fans.

AFTV is both the most unpopular example of this and also the most successful. It doesn’t mater how repulsive the “stars” are, how ridiculous their opinions are, how much damage they do to the club, it’s reputation and standing, as long as enough people subscribe to and follow them, it’s job done. We saw Hector Bellerin point out that it was wrong, for so called fans, to profit from negativity, and what happened? They faked a recording of him slagging off the club, attacked him remorselessly and attempted to turn the fans against him. Their ploy was exposed, but did it matter? No it did not, more people listened , followed and subscribed. Again, job done.

You might think we would have learned, but no, hell no! We then saw the most moronic of them set up their own Youtube channels , some even broadcasting live from the front seat of their cars, they then get a huge following and make even more profit.

As if that isn’t bad enough, but we regularly see TalkSport radio, the biggest sports radio station in the world, going to these most uninformed and objectionable profiteers, for their opinion on matters they are hugely unqualified to give, it’s a joke.

Think about every “famous” blogger, podcaster and Youtuber ,then think of why they became well known. Almost every one of them are negative extremists. Are they known for their understanding of Arsenal, it’s business model, the players or the tactics? No, they are known for their attacks on almost all things Arsenal. Some are just outright rude and aggressive while others hide behind humour and snide analysis, but all have one common thread, they prey on negative feelings.

The question is, are these people driven by popular opinion, or do they drive popular opinion towards a place where they become the stars of the prevailing opinion? Let us not forget that popular opinion had us improving if we could just get rid of Arsene Wenger, it had Emery doing a great job and Raul was “the Don” ! Make no mistake, these people are looking for ways to attract attention and make a profit, the profit might be in direct £ or a surge in their own profile, but looking they are.

Recently, while having a discussion abut Mesut Ozil, I used names like Arteta, Wenger, Pep and Jose, to back up my opinion, the rebuttal expert witness they drew upon to counter me was “Clive from Arsenal Vision” , the justification for using this colossus of football knowledge was that because people paid to listen to him, he must have a valid opinion. This is where we are.

Currently , most people are behind Arteta, but make no mistake, as soon as some of these “fans” see a profit in turning against him, they will. The problem is that those of us that are still on board will give them the oxygen they desire by highlighting their negativity on social media. We have seen the backlash against AFTV and they have recognised the problem by pretending to be positive. But it won’t last because all the profit is in negativity.

Good day everyone.

There is no getting away from it, that was a disappointing result and a disappointing performance, we can almost taste the collective disappointment in the air.

Since Mikel rocked up there has been a swell of optimism running  through the club, from management to players to fans. The results haven’t been great but most can see an improvement in performances both individually and collectively from the players. So we went to Burnley and we expected a win and a good performance. Our disappointment comes from the levels of expectation we ourselves created. Had Emery still been in charged we would not have had the same levels of expectation, so the disappointment would be less. As Andrey Arshavin once famously said “Your expectations are your problems”. 

The problem with putting forward excuses, is that people dismiss them even when they are valid mitigation.Well for me there were good excuses why we didn’t play very well.  I say”very well” because in fact we did not play badly, actually for periods we were reasonably good, given the conditions. So lets look at the conditions for a moment.

The pitch was left with the grass long which clearly favours a less technical team. Therefore immediately we have to accept the technical side of the game will take a knock. And before people start shouting “it’s the same for both” it’s not, the more technical side loses more advantage because they have more to lose.

I felt that Arteta picked Guendouzi over Torreira partly because of the conditions and that Burnley mostly bypass the midfield, so he wanted a ball carrier rather than a shield. Unfortunately young Matteo had a game that he didn’t carry the ball well or progress it well with his passing. The problem was then made worse when Xhaka had to move from midfield to leftback, leaving us with Guendouzi and Torreira in the centre, a combination that has never worked.

One of the tactics seemed to be for Aubameyang to move more central allowing space for Saka to run into, a tactic that was working well until Saka literally got smashed out of the game. We lost our best CM ,who moved to LB and our best wide attacking threat. A double whammy.

The loss of Xhaka in CM immediately means Ozil becomes less effective  because he doesn’t receive the ball as often and in as good positions. More on Ozil latter.

Move up front and we had Lacazette, badly out of form, Aubameyang not at his best on the day and Martinelli playing on the side that suits him less. Their collective hold up play was poor. Perhaps on reflection Mikel will feel he got the selection wrong, but no one was complaining when the team was announced, it looked to most that it was the right starting three.

There has been a lot of moaning about Ozil’s performance, something that I seriously can’t understand. “Mesut Özil made the most ball recoveries, created the most chances, completed the most final third passes, succeeded the most dribbles and made the most interceptions of any Arsenal player when he was on the pitch.” I don’t know what more people want from him, he can’t pass the ball to himself so he is relying on the other players to either give it  back to him or do something decent with it, well on the whole they didn’t. He doesn’t have a playstation controller so he can move the others into good space and he cant make them pass the ball better. Ozil is definitely not the problem in this team.

On the bright side we look much better defensively, Mustafi didn’t put a foot wrong and play really well, Luiz looks a good player again and Hector is looking better with every minute he gets under his belt.

I have always said that we need a balanced MF, and I feel that the best one is Xhaka, Torreira and Ozil, but if circumstanced dictate that this trio is unavailable we struggle. Well circumstances did just that yesterday.

Nothing is going to stop me from being optimistic about our future under Arteta, the only question is how distant is that future and what levels of performance are we going to be happy with, because for sure, there will not be the levels of investment that will make us contenders for the league. We simply have to curtail our expectations or else we will be in a constant state of disappointment and anger.