@LaboGoon emerges from international hibernation, and thank goodness… 

Here we are again… breathing a huge sigh of relief with the last international break of 2018 out the way and equally excited to be at the start of what is going to be a very busy period with the fixture list chuck-full in the run up to New Years Day – when we often rank the contenders from the pretenders from the relegation candidates. Ergo it’s vital to maximize performances to make sure we don’t have too much ground to cover later on.

Good morning one and all.

The Unai Emery evolution faces a stern test this afternoon with a trip to the Vitality Stadium to face a Bournemouth team enjoying their best-ever start in the top flight.

When Eddie Howe started his managerial journey with the Cherries they were in Football League Two and started their season on a 17 points deduction. Ten years on they are excelling well beyond their expectations and look to disrupt the party of the ‘big six’ – a measure of how much the man and his team are steadily growing year on year with modest resources. Take a bow mate!

Just before the inter-break both sides went through a bit of a wobble; the Gunners struggled to turn draws into wins and the Cherries picked up just one win in their last four Premier League games. So the break came at a good time as they are now keen to press the reset button and get back to winning ways.

Arsenal have had a mixed time playing Bournemouth in the six PL fixtures against each others. We beat them quite comfortably at the Emirates but on our travels to the south coast we’ve seen them really cranking it up. In our three visits there we beat them, then we drew and they finally got one over us in the last outing – and this season they are a much better side with a real cutting edge to them.

Howe’s steadfast belief in his ideas has made the Cherries an attractive side with attackers that can be a real handful and their “goals for” are only bettered by the top five teams on the PL table. If we want any joy today we need to find a way to negate that threat.

The habit of starting games slowly cost us in recent times as we lacked the infamous second half performances to offset it. With the hosts a side that gives it their all at the Vitality that and any defensive issues are what they will look to take advantage of. Of course them looking to play on the front foot will suit us as it will bring the trio of Özil, Lacazette and Aubameyang into the game. We know how deadly they can be if they have that extra bit of space to work with.

With both sides expected to have a right go at each others there are goals in this at both ends to make it a very entertaining encounter to look forward to.

Let’s go!

Good morning Positives,

A game nine and a half out of ten of us had marked down for three points but, as it turned out, a game I was happy to escape from with the solitary single point as reward. The unbeaten run goes on, and we remain in the chasing pack for he CL places, but an unexpected and unwelcome slip. Three points from the previous nine PL points on offer, and now three points behind our North London neighbours. Plenty of time and games to improve and return to winning games, but a check to our confidence certainly. That we stagger into yet another international break is, for once, a welcome interlude in which Emery can get to work on the training pitch and iron out the ‘kinks’.

Of the game itself a sluggish first half, even among  Arsenal’s sometimes slow starts with no urgency in our movement, and little accuracy in our passing. Wolves game-plan as superior to ours, when  they advanced over the half way line they looked threatening and we never did. Having rattled us the duly took a deserved lead.

A better second half and a far, far better last 20 minutes when the kitchen sink was duly flung at the obdurate opponents. But for some dreadful marksmanship from Auba the equaliser should have come earlier but, eventually, Mkhi forced in the goal, scruffy, lucky even, but fair recompense from a lot of sweat from our lads. The visitors retained a sharpness that but for Leno would have embarrassed us further but Atwell eventually blew his whistle, thank Gawd.

No contest for the MotM so well done Bernd. If MotM was a podium ceremony you’d probably have been on your own.

We shall rise, we shall be better, we shall smash Tottingham. Know this.

Enjoy your week.

@LaboGoon addresses his flock this Sunday 

Good morning one and all.

Arsenal host Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates this afternoon with the intention of going into the international break with a win …… and nothing less.

Given the remarkably competitive nature of teams above us on Premier League table, getting 3 points against ‘lesser teams’ is as crucial as it has ever been. Mancity, Chelsea and Liverpool at present don’t look like dropping points against anybody except amongst the top-six, Spurs despite not at their ‘pressure putting’ best still find a way to eke out results. So on that I think these games fall in the ‘must win’ category if we want to remain within touching distance of the top-four.

We will look to bounce back following a recent blip that see us dropped 4 points vs Crystal Palace and Liverpool. Results could’ve been better if we made the most of the chances coming our way. The draw vs the Reds particularly was probably our best defensive display all season and showcased a fighting spirit and desire to not let a big game slip away after falling behind. Should we build on that we have no reason to doubt ourselves competing at the very highest level.

Wolves got challenges of their own. After starting the season on the front foot in their return to the to flight and playing with great competence, they’ve lost their way since coming back from the previous inter-break. Could be that opposition managers have worked them out as they are struggling both to keep a lid on things at the back and scoring goals. In the three games post the break they’ve registered as many defeats, conceding six goals and scoring two – both from penalty spot. However I expect them to fancy their chances and prove they have what it takes to get a result against one of the ‘big six’. They already held both Manchester sides to draws and put in a valiant effort coming back from 3-0 down to lose 3-2 vs our neighbours to show they are not your run-of-the-mill PL ‘newbie’.

The Gunners may have too much in front of goal though for the plucky Midlands side with the prowess of Lacazette and Aubameyang to call upon, and if Xhaka and Torreira continue their command of the area in front of the defenders it will defang the Wolves attack.

All things considered Arsenal have been consistent against teams outside top-six, especially in front of the Emirates faithful; and although no pushover Wolves could be in for a long afternoon if we play close to how we did in our last PL outing.

Good morning Positives,

A respectable performance last night from Arsenal against limited opponents. A win and three points would have tied the qualification package perfectly but taking into account events in the 25th minute it was not ever likely to be a night I remembered for football reasons.

Danny’s injury was, let me not beat about the bush, a bloody catastrophe for the player. It came out of nothing. The fracture resulted, I think, from his landing from an attempted header on goal. It was exactly the same ‘footballing’ movement that had given him goals against Brentford recently. He probably practises jumping and heading a hundred times a week in training and has every week since he was eight years old. Yet this time he came down and he suffered a serious injury. Inexplicable.

As for the implications it looked the sort of horrible injury from which a player wipes away any plans to kick a ball for the remainder of their season. With Danny’s 28th birthday in a fortnight and with  him already in the final year of his contract I hope his recovery is as swift and as complete as possible.

Back to the football, Arsenal step on from the group stage to the knock-our round never having had to extend ourselves in any match. Guendouzi and Ramsey controlled midfield throughout last night. Rob Holding and Sokratis were thorough in what they did and made no errors. Jenks and Stephan ditto. Tidy all round. Our only weakness was in translating a lot of possession into clear, scoring chances which did not happen. As I said in opening perhaps our usual ‘appetite’, that extra =/-2% that makes the difference,  had been taken away, on a stretcher.

Nevertheless, I shall take the easy Europa qualification in four games. In part that has been the result of Emery putting out strong sides in each  game, albeit with a sprinkling of youth to be blooded. The second factor is, regrettably, because the opposition put in front of us has been mediocre quality at best. I had expectations that Sporting Club of Portugal might provide little more sparkle last night but they produced the same display that they had put on  a fortnight ago. I was wrong.  So  limited were they  this the first time ever we have ever played a team over two legs in Europe and the opposition have failed to register a single shot on target.

There will be harder battles down the road.

On with Friday everybody, and work hard.

Good Morning this Sunday morning Positives fans worldwide,

The best game of football that I have watched for a long time yesterday evening. Both sides played quality football and had footballers in very position who were comfortable with the ball and had confidence in controlling and using it, despite the press of the opponent. A word of praise too for almost all the players who approached the contest in the right way yesterday. There was very little whining to the referee and diving and no serious foul play that I saw. The only player who let himself down was Mane whose dishonest efforts were correctly ignored by Andre Marriner from early in the first half.

Of the game itself ? I admit I was a little tense at kick-off to see how our defenders would stand up to the quicksilver Scouse front three in open play. For about ten first half minutes there was an early wobble but once the tremor had passed I need have had no worries. With Sead returned, though a little rusty, our back line played with full  concentration for the full 95 minutes. Tackles were clean and decisive. When the ball needed clearing it was hoofed. Every attacking Liverpool thrust was met by coverage of at least two defenders. The opposition clearly had a  few sights of goals but never the defence-splitting-racing-in-1:1-on- Leno of my nightmares. Praise too for Mhki, Auba and later Alex Iwobi for putting in the defensive yards to disrupt and harry the visitors’ work on the flanks. Our only weak spot on the night was on Liverpool corners from which Van Dijk appeared to  have the run of the six yard box. A bit of work required on that one from Unai.

Apparently there may have been an offside goal ? No idea, collective sigh of relief around me and a shrug. I saw on the BBC website when Klopp was asked if the referee/lino had made a mistake with the incident he answered ” I don’t know, but he did not make as many mistakes as we did today”. Good response.

With the defensive platform in place we had the opportunity to play football going forward, with Lucas, Granit and Mesut playing intelligent football. My impression was Granit played a lot more simple, short balls yesterday. Possession was rarely wasted and we gradually began to open up gaps in the Liverpool defence, for Auba and Laca to exploit.

After our best first half of the season, even though we were still at 0-0, I was not sure what would come next. During the first 15 minutes we were definitely on top, and looked the more likely to score, so it was a kick to the collective North Bank bollocks to see the goal from Milner go in.

Within seconds of the disappointment though the crowd, and from the way the Arsenal players went straight back back to kick off them too,  were back on the front foot straight away. No heads dropped and with half an hour to go the game was still wide open.

The substitutions ? Odd sequence considering we were 0-1 down but that is what head coaches do – shake the dice. Great calls when they work, and last night they did perfectly with Iwobi offering a trickiness and energy  that Mhki had not against a tiring defence.

Beautiful and deserved goal from Alex Lacazette. His celebration, (caught by the Arsenal photoman Stuart McFarlane above) absolutely wild.

And with the score 1-1 I sensed both teams slipped slightly down a gear, although Hector could have capped a sparkling evening with a winner in the 88th minute.

Man of the Match ? An impossible choice but in line with my comments about the foundation being in place it is a split decision between Hector and Rob Holding, neither of whom put  foot wrong all evening.

Enjoy Sunday.

@LaboGoon – he’s working like a dog, not sleeping like a log

Good morning one and all…

Unai Emery kicked off his Arsenal reign with a pair of defeats against Premier League title contenders Man City and Chelsea. Following that the team went on an eye-popping 13 game unbeaten run in all competitions and now comes another test against high flyers, with the benefit of having worked with the team a bit longer to drive home his vision for the club and toward finding a more settled matchday XI.

Arsenal host Liverpool at the Emirates tonight in what is billed as the PL clash of the weekend, so hopefully we will get to see a real cracker with plenty of fireworks (get it?!) with both teams coming into it off the back of a good run of form.

Last Sunday at Selhurst Park our winning streak came to an unexpected end via a draw, to serve as a timely reminder that in a league where teams are separated by fine margins we cannot afford to get too comfortable, because being 2 points off the PL leaders less than a week ago could turn to 7 with defeat before the end of this day.

The Reds haven’t done much wrong this campaign and very fine margins separate them from Mancity at the summit of the log. Compared to the Gunners they scored 20 PL goals to our 24, conceded 4 goals to our 13 and kept a respectable six clean sheets. They don’t seem to shy away from the big occasions either as they came through almost unscathed against Mancity, Chelsea and Spurs with 1 win and 2 draws, conceding just 2 goals.

Scoring goals haven’t really been a problem for Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, putting a lid on things at the back is where they improved. So if we want to give ourselves any chance of victory we will without doubt have to be at our best and pull together as a team. Our “second half” performances drew many admiring glances and if we can turn that on from the outset, then it could well be the chisel to chop away at a stubborn Reds defence.

It’s hard to ignore our defensive issues, which hasn’t improved much since Liverpool put 7 goals past us last season, and if we aren’t switched from the start we will simply be asking for trouble.

The last time these two sides met though we play out a pre-Xmas 6 goal thriller at the Ems and there is every chance we could see something similar. Aubameyang has been in scintillating form of late to find himself joint top of the PL goalscoring charts after a slow start. With 9 goals in all competitions this is a fixture he is looking forward to. Lacazette will be disappointed with himself for missing a few recently too and will want to step up in this big one.

With two extremely attack minded teams going head-to-head, we can expect a game high on entertainment value from end to end, because both sides know the importance of getting a result.

The trip to the Emirates will not only be a measure of whether Liverpool can go all the way, but also whether Arsenal have indeed closed the gap between them and the ‘big clubs’ after dropping outside top 4 the last two seasons.

Who knows… a win and we may even be seen as bona fide title contenders by the press corps.

Good luck to everybody going to the game and fingers crossed we give Unai the cherry to put atop his birthday cake.

Good morning All Positives,

A quick word about what turned out to be an interesting game last night. The chosen team to face the Seasiders had a hint of the ‘old days’ of the Carling Cup  in it, with a number of new and youthful faces, as well as more experienced faces returning after injury, in the starting line up.

First half ? Well that went pretty much to plan with Blackpool a bit over-awed from what I could see as we pressed them back and created openings. Presumably their strategy was to frustrate us with ten men behind the ball and hope for a breakaway or an eventual dead-ball chance which, as matters panned out, was an (almost) spot-on approach.

A tidy  opener from Lichtsteiner, a clever slanted pass cut the visitors rearguard open, and a controlled finish from our Swiss elder statesman. For a bloke who scores once every Preston Guild* he was very calm, a quality some of our more regular goalscorers might look at this morning.

Second half ? More of the same and a second goal courtesy of good work by Carl J , who enjoyed his evening and looked in good fettle. The  finish by Smith Rowe, thumping the shot into the ground and through 4-5 Blackpool players in front of him, was also better than it looked at first sight.

At which stage, 49 minutes, we were floating along, easy win, and I think we relaxed, slipped the shoes off, gently closed the eyes for a moment. And why not eh ………….?

Well we all know what happens when you take your eye off the ball.

Matteo’s second yellow was unfortunate. A sly little tug on his part which, I agree with the young Frenchman, would in many games not be noticed and in others not attract a  yellow. However mon ami you did not need to do it, you were already on the Ref’s radar having been in his ear frequently all evening, and you were already in his black book. Guendouzi is an old head on young shoulders, huge talent and as on Sunday there at Selhurst Park will be times to take a yellow for the team,  but I hope he learned a lesson last night.

As for the consequences as I understood it he misses the next Caribo game. According to Arse.com the consequences are more severe ??

“on Guendouzi’s suspension and missing Liverpool…” 

Or have I misunderstood the headline ?

And after that the game was open, Blackpool scored a throughly deserved first goal, made two other good chances, and Cech’s moment of ineptitude nearly drove us all over the edge. For the Blackpool fans a session of attacking play from their players well worth the trip. We stuck at it and the job was done. The cherry on the evening’s cake was the draw and the Totties at home. That will be a grand evening.

My man of the match – the bloke in the photo. Nothing spectacular but a good performance on an evening when he was a lot busier than expected. Steady Pleggy.

Enjoy Thursday.

*For any Blackpool fans who may be reading

Good afternoon Positives,

Two points less than I was hoping for but on the balance of play between the teams a fair result. I had been hoping for a sharp start from us but it was Palace who came at us in the opening stages and but for some good defending from Shkodran and wayward finishing by Tottie reject Townsend we might have been behind. I thought we resisted  well but were far below the required standard once we got the ball over the half way line in the first 45. We could not string two passes together. I think Hector had one shot that was blocked, after which he was hobbling, but Hennessy had a v quiet half.

The first penalty ? We were almost at the half time whistle and our concentration dropped. Panic in the box from a corner for the first and only time all afternoon. Clumsy from Mustafi as he clattered into Coyote but not much he could do about it as the ball was bouncing free.

And then, dear reader, as happens game after game and week after week, we sprung into life after the break and hit then with the old 1-2. If I had any idea why we play football this way and the first and second halves don’t fit I would  write it down. I expect Unai would say the same. For the only time n the afternoon we took control of the game for 10 minutes.

Lovely strike from Xhaka then our turn to cause panic in the Palace box before PEA slipped in the second goal from a loose, spinning ball. The Man from Gabon thought a split second faster than his marker and that difference meant his foot go to the ball first. Nine millimetres over the line ? Fine margins but top, top quality finishing.

I expected ghat, having got in front and being in control at the time, we would carry on and get a third but Palace refused to follow the script. The home side surged forward and while Bernd did not have a serious save to make the ball was pinging around the Arsenal penalty box erratically. It was not smooth from us at all. When we did break with the ball and cross the half way line our close control and choice of passes was wayward. At no time did we ever look like adding to our goal tally, which in the end did for us.

Fair play to Hodgson – Palace have one player capable of turning a game on his own and that is Zaha who had given first Hector then Stephan a difficult time, “Get the ball to Willfweed’s feet lads” Woy yelled and lo and behold he did the proverbial trick. Couple of stepovers, Granit backed into the box, slightest of touches and over he goes. Cheating, cheating, cheating bastard. But hey ho. They probably deserved a point. We have sustained a mild setback, nothing more. Re-group, learn, move on.

My Man of the Match is Granit. At times I could see him looking over at Emery during the first half and mouthing silently “OI – BOSS – I – AM – NOT- A – LEFT- BACK”. Despite the Swiss’s obvious discomfort he did a good job on Townsend and, even with Zaha’s theatrics, had a good afternoon in a position that he clearly is not comfortable in. Add to that a superb free kick for the equalizing goal and this week the laurel wreath is yours.

Blackpool midweek and a really attractive contest between Klopp’s men and our lads  to kick off next Saturday late afternoon. We shall need all our energy and guile to earn the victory.

Enjoy what is left of Sunday.

@LaboGoon strides toward the Palace for Sunday lunch

Good morning Positivistas…

Arsenal is making the short trip to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace with hopes of attaining another 3 points, another ‘W’, the business of the day.

The Gunners are purring under Unai Emery and haven’t dropped a single point since the second game of this season. Not only is there notable momentum but also a lot of enthusiasm in and around this team. Having won 11 in-a-row in all competitions, including seven consecutive PL victories… that buzz is understandable.

Trying to derail the streak will be a difficult task for the Eagles considering the clubs’ fortunes are of varying contrasts. Roy Hodgon’s team has won only one of their last eight Premier League games, that was away to Huddersfield on the 15th September and you must go to their opening fixture vs Fulham to find their only other victory. Since the 1st September they have scored two and conceded seven goals. With them goalless at home too the Palace faithful will be looking for an improvement as they are in for a bumpy ride with Chelsea, Spurs and Manutd to follow today’s game.

Scoring goals is the least of Unai’s concerns. In Lacazette and Aubameyang the club possess a one-two punch we’ve been lacking for years; if things don’t work out for the one the other pick up the slack, if both are on fire you end up with an attacking masterclass. If both can’t find the back of the net we have a good spread of goals amongst the rest of the squad for good measure.

What is a concern of Unai are 1) the slow start to games, here he emphasised the need for more urgency and responsibility from the players, and 2) still being too open at the back, with tougher games to follow soon he want us to show some defensive solidity if we want to continue breathing down the necks of the early log leaders. This shows an awareness of the areas which we need to improve on and taking steps to do so.

I’m not going to stick my neck out and say today will be a cakewalk, but the Gunners are in a rather bullish mood of late, so if it all clicks the Eagles could be in for a long afternoon, especially with their issues in front of goal.

PS: Pundits are questioning whether our winning streak against so-called lesser teams is a true reflection of where we are [looking at you Paul Merson]. While that remains subject to opinion, it’s results vs “the farmers” that will ultimately decide where we finish on the log at the end of the season. So today’s game is by no means less important than games vs top 6 opposition… and anybody that think otherwise can go kick rocks.