Cannon Fodder

It was only Saturday lunchtime that we were pumped by Manchester City, and yet somehow it feels like a lifetime ago. The defeat showed up glaring weaknesses in the squad that need to be addressed, although in fairness there was nothing there that wasn't already known. So, with the transfer window closing at 11pm tonight, you would think that there would be a buzz of activity and communication from the club. Yet there has been nothing. Well nothing in terms of incomings anyway, which is all anyone really wants to hear about. there has however been plenty of drama surrounding potential outgoings, not least with Regards to Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Reports mid morning suggested that Everton had approached Arsenal looking to loan Ainsley for the season. This was rejected by the club, a decision which I agree with personally as I think we should be looking at cash sales only at this point, rather than watching an asset's value diminish further. I appreciate the view that we aren't...

There was a real heavyweight clash in the premier league yesterday. Two of the great clubs going toe to toe, controversy, a red card, drama. But before Liverpool and Chelsea faced off we had to endure Manchester City toy with Arsenal for 90 minutes, in what was akin to watching a cat play with a trapped mouse until it decided it had had enough of it. Honestly, What good is there to say about what was served up by Arsenal yesterday lunchtime? If you really want to find a positive from yesterday then you could maybe at a stretch point to the first five or so minutes, where we showed a bit of attacking endeavour and a bit of energy. But then the inevitable happened. City scored with what was their first real attack with intent, the heads dropped and the flood gates opened. The only surprise was that the score was kept down to 5-0, and Arsenal finished the day, and matchday 3, 20th in the league. 0 wins, 0 draws, 0 goals, 0 points and a goal difference of -9.  Now you could argue there...

Following the morale boosting midweek victory over West Brom, Arsenal face the unenviable task of a trip to the Etihad to face Manchester City today. As tough as that already sounds, it's the lunchtime BT Sport kick off. A fixture time that never seems to end well for the Gunners with only 4 victories from our last 11 in that slot in league and cup, with one of those last seasons opener against Fulham, 2 victories against Burnley and a North London Derby victory also in the mix. Aside from the mixed results, it also means we will likely have to deal with Steve Mcmanaman and all the "for me Fletch" that comes with it for 90 minutes, as if the game itself won't be painful enough. We should be going in to the game with a bit of confidence following our Wednesday exploits, regardless of the opposition. We are also potentially welcoming back Hector Bellerin, who would be a definite upgrade on Cedric who was about as "meh" as you can be last Sunday. The game has c...

  Week 2 points: 48 Total points: 127 I'll be honest, last week was a bit of a disappointment for Saka the net. Of the 48 points accumulated, 34 of these came from three players (Captain Salah with 6, Ederson  6, and Dias and Tsimikas with 11 each). No one in the rest of the line up went above 4 (Bamford).  So, a response is needed this week and that has prompted my first two substitutions. Livramento and Mac Allister have come in, with Jack Harrison and Kostas Tsimikas going out. Tsimikas was always going to be a short term option until Andy Robertson got back to fitness, so that change was always coming. Livramento is a bit of a left field replacement, but is a cheap starter in a Southampton side who have a run of favourable fixtures coming up (save for the trips to Manchester City and Chelsea in the next 5). Mac Allister comes in having accumulated 13 points in his first two games. Combined the transfers have saved me 0.6points for future transfers.  Aside from th...

Whilst obviously taking in to account the standard of opposition, the fact it was only the second round of the League Cup and our current league situation, boy does it feel good to be waking up to a win! Not just a win, but a win where we scored 6 goals! Not just a win where we scored 6 goals, but a win where we scored 6 goals and kept a clean sheet! West Brom fielding what was essentially their U23 squad no doubt helped facilitate a smoother passage through the second round than I anticipated when the draw was made, but there was still plenty to enjoy about the performance. For the first time this season, except for perhaps the first 10 minutes against Chelsea, we moved the ball forward with pace. Saka was excellent at carrying the ball from deeper positions, driving the team forward on several occasions. Even Mo Elneny played a forward pass in the build up to Aubameyang's second! With regards to Aubameyang, it's too soon to say how big and impact his hattrick last night will ...

Arsenal enter in to the League Cup at the second round stage for the first time since the 1995/96 season tonight, with an away trip to Championship outfit West Bromwich Albion providing an opportunity to right the ship and look to build momentum ahead of the daunting weekend trip to current Premier League champions Manchester City. Traditionally we have fielded weakened sides in the league cup, using it as an opportunity to blood some of the young players who are knocking at the first team door, but with the vultures in the media circling and smelling blood, I just don't think that is an option for Mikel Arteta tonight. Can you imagine the Jamie O Hara or Gabriel Agbonlahor TalkSport monologues if Arsenal were to lose tonight? For that reason I fully expect a line up as close to our strongest first team as possible, with maybe one or two changes from the weekend. Likely candidates for those changes for me would be Martinelli out and Balogun in, and Tierney out with Tavares in. Both...

Before the season started I thought it was not beyond the realms of possibility that Arsenal went in to the international break with 0 points from their opening 3 games. The fixture at Brentford always had banana skin written all over it, and then to follow that up with games against the European champions and Premier League champions was always a tall ask. As it turns out, that prediction looks more likely to come to fruition than not and I am somewhat at peace with that. What I can't make peace with however is the manner of the defeats we have endured so far. On neither occasion have we seen any sense of progression from what we saw last season. If anything, we have reverted back to the Arsenal of pre-Christmas last year, where the lack of creativity is what nobbled us in a series of narrow defeats. Only on top of that we seem to have gone away from the solid defensive foundation that led to us having the third best defence in the league, although that is very much an elephant in...

  Week 1 points: 79 Week 2 of the Premier league starts tomorrow, which means week 2 of Fantasy Football is here too! On the face of it, week 1 was a success. 79 points is a decent return. On the flip side, almost everyone had Salah, Fernandes, or both, with one of the two as captain. Still, a solid start and we move on to week 2. We're going with the same overall squad this week, with just a couple of changes off the bench. Consistently, one of my big mistakes is to make transfers for the sake of it, hardly ever getting to the point where I have the two freebies and more often than not, taking deductions to make more changes than I can afford. Not this time! So Saka and Tierney head to the bench (sorry guys, but you know, it's Chelsea), and in come Wan-Bissaka and Harrison. Both subs have favourable fixtures in my eyes although the FPL people have given Leeds home fixture against Everton a difficulty level of 4. AWB has a decent run coming up, starting with a 2 rated fixture t...

It seems Edu finally put the barbecue tongs down yesterday and remembered what his job is, as deals for both Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale were struck for €35m and an initial £24m possibly rising to £30m respectively. Say what you want about the players and the price tags (and lets face it, the pundits already have), but these were players that Arteta identified early and he has got his men. They fill urgent needs in the squad in terms of creativity and a back up goalkeeper who is not Runarrson, so in that respect, it is a job well done for me. I particularly like the Odegaard deal. He is a player that Arteta clearly liked after his 6 month loan spell who at one point it looked like we had no hope of getting, especially not for a reasonable price, so to have got him for less than we would have paid for Emi Buendia is excellent work by Edu. We saw in his loan, particularly the first half of it pre injury, that he is a player that loves to press, has an eye for a pass and seems will...

Deals to sign Martin Ødegaard from Real Madrid and Aron Ramsdale were both completed late afternoon today. Per The Athletic, Arsenal will pay €35million for Ødegaard, who impressed during a six month loan spell in the second half of last season, and £24million with a potential £6million in add ons.  Ødegaard is likely to be in the squad for Sunday's clash against Chelsea. It remains to be seen if the same can be said about Ramsdale, but with a Friday noon cut off point to be registered for this weekend and the deal seemingly close to completion, then it would seem likely. There'll be further thoughts on the signings and what they may mean tomorrow, but for now lets wish them both the best of luck at Arsenal.  

I honestly didn't expect us to win on Friday night. Not because I think that Brentford are a more talented team, but at no point during our pre-season games did I get the impression that we had showed any signs of improvement, in particular in our attacking play and chance creation, so really there is no point in going over the details of the game in any depth.  What I didn't expect was for the team to seemingly roll over and give up with out much of a fight. In fairness, I thought we started the match pretty well. Not brilliantly, but we were at least competitive. But as soon as the first goal went in, I had very little faith that we could turn things around, and that lack of belief is born out of the last year or so of watching us do the same thing time and time again without any success, but persisting with it anyway. I mean, how many times can you expect Kieran Tierney to ping crosses in to the middle where no one is waiting before you think to yourself "hang on a minu...

I am terrible at fantasy football. No point in denying it. Yet every year, I join the work’s fantasy Premier League with all the optimism of an England fan pre- major tournament, only to end up as successful as an England fan by the end of the tournament.   Still, with the new season brings fresh hope, so for the 2021/22 season I go again and heading in to week 1, here is the line-up I will be going with for my team “Saka the net”:   A lot of the team pretty much picks itself. Salah captain against Norwich seems a   no brainer considering Liverpool’s frankly one-sided league record against Norwich, Dias and Ederson were part of the team that kept the most clean sheets last season, Saka is a bargain at 6.5m and Fernandes at Old Trafford is bound to get a penalty to tuck away. A big part of Arsenal’s strategy is to give it to Tierney and let him ping it in to the middle and hope for the best, so there is scope for assist points there. Bamford and Ihenacho both did surprisin...

  "I think a project has its phases and I am telling you we are in a much better position today to be where we want to be very soon, if we do what we have to do. But we have to be ruthless." Those were the words of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta following the elimination from the Europa League at the hands of his predecessors Villareal. Very few would argue that the arsenal squad was in dire need of the ruthless overhaul that Arteta was talking about. Bloated in numbers but not in quality, it was obvious that there needed to be a significant number of outgoings along with some incomings to improve the talent level of the squad, and push the club back in to the European places in the forthcoming season. So, on the eve of the new season, what is the state of the squad and how much is still left to do? Lets take a look. Goalkeepers Going in to the new season, obviously Bernd Leno is the clear number 1 However, there is no competent back up in sight. The goalkeeping situation was o...