FA Cup

19th February 2016: FA Cup preview – Pondering our line-up for Hull

Posted on by TremendArse

Happy Friday. So it’s Hull at home in FA Cup tomorrow afternoon as we look to keep alive our hopes of winning the competition for the third season in a row.

This fifth-round fixture against Steve Bruce’s side will also be the third year running we’ve played The Tigers in the Cup of course, having come from 2-0 down in 2014’s final to win 3-2, before beating them 2-0 at Emirates stadium in last season’s third round.

The visitors come into the game sitting pretty at the top of the Championship and will no doubt prove difficult opponents, but then, we’re unbeaten in 14 FA Cup ties, will be playing at home, have better players and are clearly strong favourites to make it third time unlucky for a Hull side who ought to be sick of the sight of us.

That said, in a similar vein to how he appraised Burnley before they played us in the previous round of the competition, Arsene Wenger explained why he rates tomorrow’s opponents as being top-flight class, when he spoke at his pre-game press conference this morning. He said:

They are in a strong position in the Championship, but the level in the Championship has gone up tremendously. We saw it against Burnley, you need a top-level performance to beat these teams. They are very strong because they have been together for a long time. Let’s not forget, if you go through their team they have all played together in the Premier League. They are all Premier League players, even on the bench. I consider them a Premier League team.

Which is true. Lots of Hull’s players have Premier League experience and in Abel Hernandez, they boast a striker who’s a full international with Uruguay and has scored 16 goals in 25 Championship games this season.

Hernandez was actually strongly linked with a move to Arsenal from his previous club Palermo, on the day we signed a certain Mesut Ozil at the end of the summer transfer window in 2013, so he’s a player Arsene evidently rates highly. Here’s what the boss had to say about the striker in the build-up to tomorrow’s game:

He has a strong body. His movement is very solid and quick – it’s good. He is a great finisher and has scored 16 [league] goals. He keeps Chuba Akpom out of the team, so he must be an exceptional player because Chuba is a great player. He is something we will have to deal well with.

Still, I fancy Per and Laurent or Per and Calum to keep him well shackled when we face him tomorrow, which brings me to how we might line-up. With Gabriel unavailable through injury and Koscielny a slight doubt, there’s a chance our central defensive duo will be Mertesacker and Chambers.

But with Mathieu Debuchy now out on loan – so he can play regularly but still not get picked for France because he’s past it and there are better alternatives for Didier Deschamps to choose from – we don’t have an obvious right-back to cover for Hector Bellerin, who we’ll presumably rest for Barcelona on Tuesday. Perhaps Mohamed Elneny could fill in or Mathieu Flamini even, but I’d much rather a player who’s more acquainted with the role. We’ll see.

Elsewhere at the back I think we’ll see Kieran Gibbs come in for Nacho Monreal at left-back and David Ospina for Petr Cech in goal. Further forward my guess is we’ll see Alex Iwobi, Flamini and Elneny forming a midfield three, with Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Theo Walcott wide of Danny Welbeck up front.

That’s a very attacking and very pacey front four if we say Flamini and Elneny will be tasked to hold and protect our back-line, and also means we’d be resting almost all the players who I expect to start against Barca.

You’ll notice no Joel Campbell in there and that’s beacuse I have a hunch his work-rate and reliable link-play is something Arsene will want in his side against the Catalans, ahead of the more erratic, albeit more dangerous going forward, Chamberlain or Walcott on the right of our attack, so he might keep the Costa Rican on the bench.

Or I could be completely wide of the mark, Joel will play tomorrow and the boss will unveil an innovative selection for the Champions League in the hope of outwitting the reigning European champions. We’ll find out soon enough I guess.

Back post-match.

COYG!

31st January 2016: Arsenal handed home FA Cup tie against Hull

Posted on by TremendArse

Sunday salutations. The draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup was made a little earlier and we’ve been handed another home tie, after being paired with Hull City for the third year running.

After beating them in the final in 2014, we faced them in last year’s third round and emerged 2-0 victors at Emirates stadium thanks to goals by Per Mertesacker and Alexis Sanchez, so perhaps Steve Bruce’s men can prove our lucky charm as we aim to make it a hat-trick of consecutive Cup wins.

Two of our young stars, Chuba Akpom and Isaac Hayden, are of course on-loan from Arsenal at the Tigers, so it will be interesting to see if we grant Hull permission to play them against us. Personally, I’d say hell no, because you know, I want them to have fewer personnel options against us and rule out a Lomana LuaLua scenario, where a player scores against his parent club. But that’s just me – Arsene Wenger may well feel very differently. We’ll see.

Speaking of the boss, he’s been praising Alex Iwobi, after the teenager put in another very impressive display as a central midfielder against Burnley yesterday. Arsene said:

I think he has shown everybody that he is a good player again. I personally find him very interesting because of his decision making, his awareness is very interesting. He is a boy who, two years ago, not many would have said he [will make it]. You see he develops very well because he’s very clever. I like his game, I like the timing of his decision making and the quality of his decision making. He always turns where you want him to turn and he plays the ball where you want him to play the ball. He’s very interesting. He can play on the left, he can play on the right, he can play behind the striker and he can even play as a No 9, because he scores goals in training.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been as impressed with Iwobi as the boss and every other Arsenal fan. Where I think he has an edge on the likes of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, especially the former, is that he’s more reliable in keeping possession and making the right pass at the right time, as the boss highlights above. He’s similar to Joel Campbell in that sense and also works as hard as the Costa Rican going both ways.

I think it was telling then, that the Ox was positioned on the right and Iwobi preferred in the middle against Burnley, because despite being a fan myself of the former Southampton man playing centrally in the past, the truth is he gives the ball away far too frequently when he has played there. So if Chamberlain would prefer to carve out an Arsenal career in the middle, that’s something he’ll have to improve significantly in my opinion, as will Aaron Ramsey if I’m honest.

As for Walcott, I think it’s pretty clear that he can be lethal up front, but looks pretty useless out wide more often than not. All of which is to say that if Iwobi can continue playing well when given an opportunity centrally, with Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere out injured, he has a great opportunity between now and the end of the season to prove himself as a genuine starting candidate in the middle moving forward.

Right, that was a very brief one today but it’s Sunday, the Milan derby kicks off soon and it won’t watch itself.

See you on Transfer Deadline Day.

30th January 2016: Arsenal beat Burnley to progress in FA Cup

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. Alexis Sanchez made a match-winning return to Arsenal’s starting line-up this afternoon by grabbing an assist before scoring our second, as we beat Burnley 2-1 at Emirates stadium to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Our right-back on the day, Calum Chambers, had given us the lead in the 19th minute when he finished first-time – Carlos Alberto-esque – with the outside of his right foot after latching onto Sanchez’s nut-megged pass following a fine team move. But the visitors drew level with half an hour played, when a sustained attack on our penalty area eventually ended with Sam Vokes heading Tendayi Darikwa’s cross past David Ospina.

Eight minutes into the second half however, Sanchez applied an emphatic finish to a breakneck Arsenal counter-attack, calmly half-volleying home Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s right-wing cross from close-rage. That settled the tie and keeps us firmly in contention to become the first club to win three FA Cups in a row since Blackburn Rovers in the 19th Century.

Those of you who read yesterday’s post will have noticed me playing Arsenal Manager by offering my prediction for today’s starting selection. In the end, I was just the one player wide of the mark, with Joel Campbell an unused substitute against the Clarets and Francis Coquelin instead making his first start since recovering from the knee injury he sustained back in November.

But Mohamed Elneny did start to make his full debut for the club and put in a busy, if unspectacular, shift in a box-to-box role. I tuned in on Setanta Sports and their commentators and studio pundits were blabbering on about how Elneny was ‘a typical Arsenal defensive midfielder’ because he was more a number 10, straying all over the pitch, running wide to provide overlaps and generally far too advanced and adventurous for their liking.

They wanted a defensive midfielder to be more disciplined, hold his position in front of our defence and not involve himself further up the pitch, which to be fair, is reasonable enough. Except it obviously escaped their attention that although Elneny’s best position may well be defensive midfield in the long-term, that wasn’t his assignment today, because, erm, Coquelin was doing that job. Elneny had clearly been afforded the freedom to play in more of a number 8 role by Arsene Wenger, and he did well considering this was his first game at a new club in a new country.

The Egyptian was industrious, kept his passing simple and successful for the most part, and showed he’s more than willing to shoot given a glimpse of goal – something too many of our players shy away from too often in my opinion.

I did think he looked a little weak in the one-on-one dual, but I’m sure once we get him on a personalized strength-building programme similar to the one Mesut Ozil benefited from, he’ll be better equipped for the physicality of the English game. Overall then, a very promising first outing in Arsenal colours for the former Basel man as far as I’m concerned and here’s what Arsene made of his latest signing’s display:

I felt he started a bit cautious, played a bit secure. He became more adventurous. It will take him some time to adjust to the power side of our game here, but the intelligence, the mobility and the technical level are good.

Elsewhere in our side I thought Kieran Gibbs was lively and played pretty well, Sanchez was his usual irrepressible self and Coquelin was understandably a little rusty, yet still as effective and aggressive in his defending as we’ve become accustomed to. Oliver Giroud on the other hand, apart from a good lay-off in the build-up to our winner, had a game to forget with little coming off for him.

Back to positives though and I thought Alex Iwobi was very impressive again, as he was in the last round against Sunderland, with the youngster heavily involved in the moves for both of our goals today. He’s quick, passes well, has great awareness and also showed great tenacity in competing for the ball in midfield.

A little like the Ox and Tomas Rosicky, he also appears to have the ability to ‘accelerate’ our play, by carrying the ball smoothly and directly forward to set us on the attack. Very, very promising indeed but as one of numerous young talents attached to the club and obviously striving to achieve regular first-team involvement, you do wonder how we’ll incorporate them all.

For instance, Chuba Akpom, who’s out on loan at Hull, grabbed his-ever first hat-trick at senior level today, as the Tigers beat League One Bury in the FA Cup, to provide a reminder of his talents. Then there’s Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Gedion Zelalem, Jon Toral, Dan Crowley, Serge Gnabry, our two new Nigerian starlets and despite being the oldest of the lot, the one I rate highest of all, Wellington Silva.

Still, it’s a good problem to have, as I’m sure Arsene will feel, and it’s good to know we have genuine quality bubbling under the surface of the first-team squad should we need it.

Until Sunday.

29th January 2016: Next up, it’s the Clarets in the Cup

Posted on by TremendArse

Happy Friday folks. So FA Cup fourth-round weekend is upon us and we’ll be looking to take a step closer to winning the competition for the third season running when we host Burnley at Emirates stadium tomorrow afternoon.

But despite residing a league lower in the Championship, Arsene Wenger has pointed out that Sean Dyche’s team has Premier League-class players, and cited our loss to Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup earlier this season in suggesting Arsenal won’t be underestimating the Clarets. Speaking at his pre-match press conference this morning, the boss said:

I saw them on Monday night beat Derby 4-1 and I realised when I watched them that all their players played in the Premier League, we played against most of them. They have Gray up front who is very efficient, they have other players like Barton, Arfield, Boyd – they have all played in the Premier League. They have Vokes up front with Gray, they have good players. We know that we have learnt in the Premier League that the teams who have come up from the Championship, it is not like 10 years ago – they compete at the right level. We have learnt something this season, we went to Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup and got quite a severe defeat. We have to show we have learnt from that. We have to be humble enough to accept that and to think it’s not because we turn up at the Emirates and play against Burnley that we will win the game. We have to earn the right to go through this round and qualify. If you don’t do that, we’ll have a bad surprise.

Joey Barton in particular, is a player we’ll have to guard against in my opinion. Not because he’s a good footballer or anything you understand. I mean, he may have been decent earlier in his career, but at 33, he’s clearly past his prime.

No, we’ll have to watch him because as a player, he’s a nasty, spiteful, mouthy bast*rd in the Diego Costa mould, who’s very good at drawing retaliation and getting opponents sent off (I’m thinking Abou Diaby at St James’ Park in the 4-4 draw in 2011), if he isn’t being dismissed himself for something, that is.

Of course, it’s still a game we’re strong favourites to win, even if we’ll be rotating our squad. And speaking of how we might line-up, Arsene revealed today that David Ospina will replace Petr Cech in goal but stopped short of confirming that Mohamed Elneny would be handed a full debut, or whether Francis Coquelin would come straight back into the starting selection following his injury layoff. He said:

I will make some changes, not many. We spoke about Elneny, maybe I will give him a chance to play. Coquelin I have to think about. I will play with a team that is a Premier League team. Coquelin gives us defensive stability in midfield so he will compete with the players we have in this area. Before he was injured he had a very good spell in the team and the results were good, including his defensive records. He is now in a position where he can compete again for his position. It is a possibility [that Elneny will start]. He is naturally a box-to-box player who is a bit more defensive-minded than your usual box-to-box midfielder, so he can play in several positions in front of the defence or go box to box. He has good technique, good vision, he is very mobile and agile.

You would imagine we’ll be a little cautious with Coquelin, given his importance as our number one defensive midfielder, so I’m guessing the Frenchman will start on the bench with Elneny starting as our defensive shield in front of the defence. Tomorrow’s team is more difficult to predict than it has been for a while now due to players returning from injury, but I’ll have a go anyway because, well, it’s quite fun:

Ospina; 

Chambers, Gabriel, Koscielny, Gibbs;

Elneny;

Campbell, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Sanchez;

Giroud

Per Mertesacker is of course suspended after his red card against Chelsea and he’ll surely be replaced by Gabriel. With Mathieu Debuchy’s future at the club still very uncertain ahead of the transfer deadline on Monday, I doubt he’ll be involved, so I’ve gone with Calum Chambers at right back, to give Hector Bellerin a rest.

Kieran Gibbs for Nacho Monreal at left-back is a given I reckon, and I’ve picked the same two attacking midfielders centrally, in the Ox and Alex Iwobi, who started there in the third round against Sunderland. I suppose Rosicky might start but given how long he’s been out injured, I’m guessing we’ll ease him back to competitive football with some minutes as a substitute.

As for who plays upfront, Olivier Giroud was sacrificed early against Chelsea after we went down to ten men and against physical Championship opponents, I’d be inclined to start him, rather than say give Theo Walcott the striker’s role.

Finally, on the the flanks I’ve gone with Campbell and Sanchez because the former would provide more defensive support for Chambers behind him than others, and Sanchez’s cameo last weekend, whilst impressive, suggested to me at least that he could do with some game time to regain match-sharpness.

Right, I’m done playing Arsenal Manager for now. Let’s see who the boss picks and how they preform come 3pm tomorrow.

Back post-match.

28th January 2016: Squad takes three steps closer to full strength

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. With the winter transfer window coming to a close in a few days’ time, it’s looking increasingly likely that Mohamed Elneny will be the only addition to our first-term squad this month.

But when you consider today’s update from Arsene Wenger on our injury list, which confirmed that Francis Coquelin, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky are all back in full training, it’s difficult to highlight an area in which we’re lacking in options, even if you could argue we can be improved in terms of quality.

That said, with Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla still on the treatment table, I suppose our best two ‘passers’ from the middle of the park are unavailable, if you assume that Elneny will be more of a defensive option and Mikel Arteta is no longer up to the task. So if pushed, I’d say that’s the one potentially problem-position we need to find a solution for in the short-term, until Jack and Santi are ready to return.

Who knows, perhaps Elneny will show he can step in and circulate the ball like Cazorla, or Aaron Ramsey can alter my perception that passing is his weakest attribute by playing it around like Andrea Pirlo in his pomp. However we look to cover for Cazorla’s absence though, I think our results in January suggest we need to try something other than the Mathieu Flamini-Ramsey combination in there.

Anyway, here’s what Arsene said about team news ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Burnley at Emirates stadium when he spoke to the official site:

Mertesacker is out because of the red card, and everybody else is available, apart from Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla. After that it is just a question of selection and decision-making, that is the key. Jack and Santi are progressing well but they are at least a few weeks away. But these two apart, it is just about competitiveness and match fitness. Danny Welbeck is not completely ready but he is not far. He needs a game or two because he’s been out since last April. The Stoke [under-21] game is too soon because he only had one session with the team, and that is too short. Francis is available to play now because he has passed two weeks of full training. Tomas is also available for selection.

I’m sure we’ll get more clues as to which players might start against Burnley when the boss holds his press conference tomorrow morning, but we’ll no doubt be rotating the squad quite a bit, especially when you consider we host Southampton in the league on Tuesday.

Elsewhere Per Mertesacker, who as the boss mentions above will be suspended this weekend after falling victim to Diego Costa, er, falling over thin air, has been speaking to the Arsenal Weekly podcast about leadership, energy, managing the loss of players to injury, the squad’s development, mental strength aaaaaaaaaaaand team spirit – i.e the usual. He said:

There’s always a balance between having good leaders and a good team, but everyone needs to lead. Everyone needs to lead, to talk and give energy to the squad. It’s a balance and you don’t want to do too much or exaggerate at times, you just have to get the team going at times. In general we have a good balance in the team and a good squad. We’ve still got players coming back from injury but we’ve never complained about it, that is the main reason for our success. Players have stepped up, brought their energy and we’ve got the results as well. We won¹t look back on players being injured as a negative because other players have stepped up, especially this season. We’ve kept the same squad and we have obviously made some great additions over the past two years. In general, the team spirit has grown a lot. We are competing at the top and that’s something that was not always the case when I joined. The team is much stronger and mentally stronger as well. There are a few steps to go, the season is always long and to get consistency is never easy. There are challenges ahead of us but they make us even stronger, and I must say that the team spirit in the squad is huge at the minute.

Hands up who instantly pictured William Gallas lecturing his Arsenal team-mates in a pre-game huddle some years back when they read “you don’t want to do too much or exaggerate at times”?

Well I did, and it just reminded me that even if Gallas was arguably a better centre-half than Mertesacker, he didn’t have half the personality the German does. Sometimes, that can be more valuable to a team than ability.

Back on Friday.

11th January 2016: Burnley next in the Cup + Pre-Liverpool chat

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome to a brand new week on TremendArse. The fourth-round draw for the FA Cup was made earlier this evening and we’ll be welcoming Joey Barton’s Burnley, who currently sit fifth in the Championship, to Emirates stadium on either the 30th, or 31st, of this month.

I have to admit I haven’t seen Burnley play since they were in the Premier League last season, so I have no idea about their strengths and weaknesses as a side, but we’ll obviously be super favourites, especially as we play at home.

There’s still the matter of three tricky Premier League fixtures to navigate through before that game though, and Arsene Wenger held his pre-match press conference this morning as we prepare to face Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday night.

Team news is mixed, with a positive update about the availability of David Ospina and Tomas Rosicky, but a not-so-positive one regarding Alexis Sanchez. Here’s what Arsene said:

We will have to test Ospina who was not available on Saturday. We have Rosicky back in training so the situation is getting better. Ospina is a muscular issue and we have to check if he will be available or not. Overall I think he has a 60/40 chance to make it. He (Rosicky) will be back in full training this week, it is fantastic because he has been out for very long and it is good to know that a player of that calibre is back in our squad. We think he (Sanchez) will be short for Wednesday, he has a chance to be available for Sunday [against Stoke]. He is always keen to play. If you listen to Alexis, he can always play – even when he is injured. We try to be cautious. With a muscular injury you never exactly how big the risk but he is very close. If you look at him training he is very close.

Considering the above and the fact Mathieu Flamini is expected to be available, I can’t see beyond a starting line-up of:

Cech;
Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal;
Flamini, Ramsey;
Campbell, Ozil, Walcott;
Giroud

Arsene was also asked about what he thought of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, compared with Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool, and said:

Every time we go to Anfield, we face a team who is up for it. It’s always a ferocious battle, no matter who the manager is. They had a very strong manager before, they have a very strong one now and Klopp has the personality to do well there. [We need to] play our game at a good pace. We are used to pressing. It is not just Liverpool who do that, everybody in the modern game [does it]. Pressing has been created in England basically because there is a history of teams who have done that very well so it is part of the modern game to make quick decisions, be very short with your first touch and play your game.

Pretty diplomatic stuff, as you’d expect, from the boss there, but he must be looking at Liverpool’s absentee list, which includes Philippe Coutinho (who in my opinion is their best attack-minded player) and Martin Skrtel (their best defender) and think we’re playing Liverpool at a great time. Obviously we have injury woes of our own but we do have a relatively settled side at the moment, with a set game-plan and a stable defence, which I’m not sure you’d say about Klopp’s side currently.

Reports today suggest they’ll have Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho available to play, which is a real shame because I was really looking forward to seeing two players forced to play out of position in the heart of their defence, yet Skrtel will undoubtedly be a huge miss for them and for once, I really fancy our chances heading to Anfield, rather than merely being cautiously optimistic.

Back tomorrow.

10th December 2016: Campbell, Bellerin, Iwobi, Wellington Silva

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. We travel to Liverpool on Wednesday of course, but with a few days still remaining until that game, time now to look back at some of the reaction to yesterday’s FA Cup win over Sunderland.

First up it’s the manager Arsene Wenger, who compared the rise to first-team prominence of Joel Campbell this season, with Francis Coquelin’s ascension from Championship loanee to undisputed first-choice defensive midfielder for the Gunners last term. The boss said:

He is kind of in Coquelin’s position last year. Nobody expected him [to do well] and now he is taking his place in the team and he is ready to fight for the position and he is efficient. I agree [that he is playing with confidence]. That comes out of his game. Compare one month ago to today, he believes he belongs there and has a right to play.

I shared my thoughts on how good a player I think the Costa Rican has become for us in yesterday’s post, but one word I didn’t use to describe his game was ‘efficient’, as Arsene does above. Yet that’s probably the best one to sum him up.

He’s efficient going both ways; in attack he picks the right pass 99 times out of a hundred, or shoots first-time if at all possible, and when chasing back he doesn’t merely track an opponent’s run, he tries to forcibly win the ball back at the earliest opportunity. When you consider he’s not 24 until June, Campbell’s still got plenty of time to improve a great deal and if he consistently produces performances like yesterday, he’ll surely stay first-choice even with everyone fit, just as Coquelin has.

Aside from Campbell though, the other standout players for Arsenal against the Black Cats were the two youngest members of our starting line-up, Hector Bellerin and Alex Iwobi, and both spoke to the official site after the game. Bellerin discussed the club’s aim of winning a third, consecutive FA Cup, as well as the team’s performance against Sunderland, saying:

That is the goal of the whole team. We love this competition and the fans love this competition so we need to try and do our best. We are trying to get the third in a row. We knew it would be a hard game. It is always hard in the third round of the FA Cup. We had a tough opponent and a lot of changes so we had to adapt to that. We didn’t start really well but the team responded like it should. It was a great effort by the team and it was very nice to get through to the next round. They started pressing really high and we knew we had to be a bit safe when playing the ball. Sometimes we make mistakes and that is normal but we knew how to respond to it. The team was up to the challenge. We didn’t rush the game and we knew we had to be patient. It is nice to get the three goals and that is confidence for the team as we have a difficult week ahead.

Whilst a jubilant Iwobi expressed his delight at realizing a child-hood dream of being an Arsenal player, saying:

It is amazing. It is the best feeling ever. It is a dream come true. Since I was a young boy I have always wanted to put on my shirt with Iwobi on my back with the Emirates [crowd] screaming my name. As a young kid I always wondered if I would get there and to have this opportunity today, I’m just thankful. It was a young boy’s dream come true. Playing at home with everyone screaming your name and giving you the confidence to express yourself – it felt like a proper debut. Training and playing with them [the first team] every day is such a learning curve. Hopefully I can train with them more and play more so I can develop every day.

The lucky, lucky (but obviously extremely talented) b*astard. I remember dreaming about pulling on an Arsenal top with my name on the back, the fans chanting my name as I left five defenders for dead, beat the keeper with a dizzying piece of skill before stopping the ball on the goal-line, kneeling down and heading home …

But back to reality and Iwobi really does seem another great prospect with a stride similar to Abou Diaby and a penchant for low-hanging socks like Alexander Helb and Paulo Dybala. He did the simple things well yesterday from a central midfield stationing and fully deserved the applause he received from the fans when he was substituted in the second half.

Finally, Wellington Siva was in Cup action for Bolton yesterday and very brief highlights of our Brazilian prospect in action can be seen on the BBC website here. For the record, if you haven’t followed this blog since I started it in June last year, you’ll be unaware how highly I rate Wellington, so I’ll tell you now: very, very highly.

Higher than any other un-established player under contract at Arsenal and although there were reports in the past questioning his mentality and fitness, I think those issues are now non-existent and I fully expect him to stake his first team claim at Arsenal next season, having had a year to acclimatize to the English game.

Til next week.

9th January 2016: Three first-time finishes put Arsenal into fourth round

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. Arsenal made it 13 FA Cup wins in a row by beating Sunderland 3-1 at Emirates stadium this afternoon, thanks to goals by Joel Campbell, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud.

Our defence of the Cup began with us boasting a much-changed line-up featuring Alex Iwobi in central midfield alongside Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, with Calum Chambers backing them up in the defensive midfield role.

At the back, Petr Cech retained his place in goal with David Ospina – expected to start by many – not in the squad at all, and Kieran Gibbs and Gabriel replaced Nacho Monreal and Per Mertesacker respectively, from last Saturday’s starting line-up against Newcastle. Campbell and Theo Walcott kept their places on the flanks and Giroud again led the line.

I actually missed the first 20 minutes of the game and once I’d found a stream and settled down, we were a goal down – but just about to equalize. Laurent Koscielny had been caught in possession with 17 minutes played, after Gibbs gave him the ball under pressure and left him little time to sort out his feet. Jeremain Lens nicked the ball and finished emphatically past Cech at the near post.

Sunderland’s lead lasted just 8 minutes however, because Iwobi released Walcott down the left, he took on his marker before cutting the ball back into a busy penalty area for Campbell to saunter onto and nonchalantly guide home into the corner first time. As it would turn out, it was the first of three, one-touch finishes by Arsenal players on the day but this one was easily the hardest to execute.

Campbell carefully adjusted his stride to connect with the ball at the peak of it’s bounce, ensuring he kept it down and on target. Intelligent work from a player who seems to be going from strength to strength as our right-sided attacker.

The Costa Rican doesn’t appear to have a weakness in terms of his effectiveness for the side, now that he’s producing goals on a regular basis. He rarely gives the ball away, his passing is accurate and well-weighted, he can play the intricate game in small spaces, he tracks back like Alexis Sanchez – I’m struggling to find an area he’s obviously weak in.

But back to the game and after going into the interval level, we survived a scare in the second period when Steven Fletcher saw his header rattle our crossbar with Cech, for once, beaten. It was quite an open game at this stage but after Arsene Wenger sent on Ramsey and Mikel Arteta for Iwobi and Chambers after 67 minutes, we took control of proceedings and were ahead within five minutes.

Hector Bellerin and Campbell played a one-two down our right-hand side and the Spaniard crossed for the on-rushing Ramsey to guide home left-footed at the near post. Three minutes later, Bellerin produced an even better assist for Giroud to tap home, as he threaded a precise pass with his instep across the Sunderland defence to the far post. With Mesut Ozil given the game off, Bellerin emerged as our chief goal-creator to further embellish is burgeoning reputation.

Then came the moment everyone had actually turned up, or tuned in, to see: a first competitive appearance in Arsenal colours for none other, than Jeff Reine-Adelaide. The French teenager didn’t have time to embarrass an opponent like he did Kevin de Bruyne in the Emirates Cup last summer, but he did get himself on the end of a cross and force a corner after having a shot at goal smothered by their keeper.

Coincidentally, we produced the same result, courtesy of the same three goal-scorers, as our win over Sunderland at Emirates stadium back at the start of December. But this time, our reward is a place in round four of the FA Cup rather than three points and we’ll find out who we face next when the draw is made on BBC’s The One Show on Monday night.

See you on Sunday.

8th January 2016: Sunderland in the Cup kick-starts testing run of fixtures

Posted on by TremendArse

Happy Friday folks. Arsene Wenger held his press conference this morning ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup third round clash with Sunderland at Emirates stadium, and insisted his side won’t be taking the competition lightly as they attempt to win it for the third consecutive season.

Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce indicated earlier in the week that he’d rest several first-choice players tomorrow, with a Premier League game at Swansea on the horizon next mid-week, but Arsene says he’s only looking as far ahead as the next game and won’t be prioritizing any one competition over another. He said:

We want to win every competition we participate in. The FA Cup is one of them, for us it is an important competition. Confidence is a global thing and you can’t really separate it from one competition to another. My energy is about giving absolutely everything to win the next game. The next game is the FA Cup. For us it is a very important competition as always. We just this week had the semi-finals of the League Cup. The teams gave absolutely everything. I saw Everton against Manchester City and it was a top-class game. That’s what you want – the teams to commit. At our level, you do not choose when you commit and when you don’t. This is a serious competition. I’ve won the FA Cup six times – that means I take it seriously. In the whole history, nobody won it more. That means as well that it’s not so easy to win it. You want to feel as well that your team is ready for every single challenge and the FA Cup is one that matters to us.

Whilst I don’t doubt for a second that Arsene genuinely wants to win every game he manages, we’re likely to rotate our squad quite a lot tomorrow in preparation for Wednesday’s league game at Liverpool, so we’ll undoubtedly be under-strength against the Black Cats. Yet that’s merely part of management; using your resources sensibly, and so rather than being disrespectful to the world’s oldest cup competition, he’ll just be doing his job.

Arsene also explained he won’t be expecting an easy ride against Sunderland, despite their boss hinting at resting players, and highlighted the importance of a competition he’s won a record six times, and Arsenal have lifted on a record 12 occasions. He said:

I’ve been in the job long enough to not expect any weaknesses from Sam Allardyce because I know him well enough to know that his team will be focused and motivated no matter who plays. In the Premier League you cannot say that the managers play weaker teams because everybody has a squad of 25 players who are of Premier League level. The FA Cup is a great competition. We take care of this competition like everybody does. Everybody dreams of winning the FA Cup. There may be some priorities at some stage of the season for some clubs who think they are in trouble and have to make these kinds of decisions, so they choose. We are confident because when we perform we know we can beat anyone in the Premier League. We have learnt this season that the Premier League is tricky and we play at home in front of our crowd where we feel that we can qualify, but we have learnt against Sunderland that on the break they were dangerous. It was a very hard-fought win against them.

That game was at the start of December and despite taking a first-half lead through Joel Campbell, we were made to work very hard for the three points after Olivier Giroud scored an own-goal just before half-time.

The striker made amends in the second period, heading home an Aaron Ramsey cross, before the Welshman sealed a 3-1 win himself right at the death. With memories of that game still relatively fresh then, we should be well aware that tomorrow is likely to a be very testing, even if both sides will likely be missing some key players.

But if we can win, it’d be a great start to a difficult run of fixtures that sees us travel to Liverpool and Stoke before hosting Chelsea.

Back post-match.

COYG!

7th January 2016: Sanchez still sidelined but Arteta available for FA Cup clash

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. As Arsenal prepare to welcome Sunderland to Emirates stadium on Saturday and begin our defence of the FA Cup, Arsène Wenger today revealed the latest team news ahead of the game.

The big news is that Alexis Sanchez won’t be risked as he recovers from his hamstring injury but club captain Mikel Arteta is back in contention for a starting berth following his own injury lay-off.

Discussing the latest prognosis for several of his troops, Arsène said:

The team news is that, from last week, we have no big injuries, and the squad will be similar to the squad who played the last game against Newcastle. Will a young player or two start? I haven’t decided yet. The bad news of the week is that Alexis is not quite ready. It is a precaution because of his hamstring, and it takes a few more days. He’s not bad but he’s not ready. Nothing’s changed [from the original timescale] with Santi. It could be a bit shorter with him because he’s often quicker [to recover] than you expect him to be. Cazorla and Coquelin are doing well. Tomas Rosicky is not far, he’s back in full training next week, so should be available soon. Mikel (Arteta) is available.

So Sanchez shouldn’t be far off, Rosicky’s nearing a first appearance of the season, Arteta’s back and Cazorla and Coquelin are making good progress from knee injuries – but there’s no word on Jack Wilshere or Danny Welbeck. That’s obviously a big concern because whilst Arteta and Rosicky offer depth and cover, the England duo are genuine contenders for first-choice selection, if they could just get fit!

Mohamed Elneny still hasn’t signed, so with the above updates in mind and considering we’ve heard noises about significant rotation; with Mesut Ozil, for instance, being given the weekend off so he can rest up for our trip to Liverpool next midweek, and perhaps a first competitive start for Jeff Reine-Adelaide after his two-goal showing for the under 21s earlier this week, I’m guessing we could line-up a little like this against the Black Cats:

Ospina

Chambers Gabriel Koscielny Gibbs

Arteta Ramsey

Campbell Reine-Adelaide Oxlade-Chamberlain

Walcott

My reasoning behind the selection is that Olivier Giroud and Per Mertesacker haven’t had a rest recently, whereas Laurent Koscielny sat out our win over Bournemouth. Also, Mathieu Flamini is our only truly defensive midfielder in the absence of Coquelin and I wouldn’t want to risk losing him to injury ahead of our game at Anfield.

Giving Ozil the weekend off completely, makes sense, seeing as he’s our best player, I can’t remember the last time he was rested, and we’re royally f*cked if he picks up a knock. And who doesn’t want to see Jeff play? Let him loose I say. A start for Alex Iwobi is another possibility and it was interesting to read last month that he’d been deployed as a central midfielder for our development teams. Yet if Iwobi does start, I’m guessing it’ll be on one of the flanks.

Elsewhere, rotating both fullbacks is a given, I’d have thought, and I would have selected Mathieu Debuchy at right-back, shifted Calum Chambers infield and rested Koscielny too, but seeing as Debuchy didn’t make the squad for our win over Newcastle as his future at the club remains uncertain, I’m not sure he’ll play against Sunderland.

If he does, then great, and we can rest our entire back four, but after Tony Pulis ruled out interest in taking Debuchy to West Brom recently, Aston Villa manager and former Gunner Remi Garde has revealed he’s spoken to Arsene about the fullback. Garde said:

I had a conversation with Arsène a few days ago about some of the players and Mathieu Debuchy was among these players. It’s too early and it won’t help me or anyone to go forward in this style to make too many more comments.

If we do allow Debuchy to leave, surely it should be at the end of the window, which would let us rest Hector Bellerin for the Sunderland game and the fourth round of the FA Cup – scheduled for January 30th – should we progress.

We’d be keeping an experienced squad option for at least the rest of the month and Debuchy would then have the remainder of the campaign to play his way into the France squad for Euro 2016 at another club – something he clearly values above helping Arsenal to trophies.

That’s about it from me for another day.

See you tomorrow.