Morning.
It’s the sixth time we’ve been away in our last seven games when we visit West Ham later this afternoon. The last one went quite well, so hopefully we can get close to that level of performance again today.
There was no real team news from Mikel Arteta at his press conference yesterday. “Just wait and see,” was his answer about Gabriel going off against Sporting, so we’ll have to do that. If he doesn’t make the cut, the manager can keep Ricardo Calafiori at left-back and bring in Jakub Kiwior alongside William Saliba, or shift the Italian across and make the switch to left-back. It could be Kiwior, it could be Oleksandr Zinchenko, maybe even Kieran Tierney, although I doubt that given how little he has played.
Then I wonder how he could possibly see this game. On paper, last weekend’s game against Nottingham Forest was easier than the trip to Sporting, and he made some changes. On paper I think West Ham away during the week is a bit easier than Man Utd, so I’m curious to see if he can maybe shake up his pack a bit. Not much, just one or two changes from the match in Portugal. That’s nothing obvious, but if there is more use of ‘squad players’ during this hectic period where we are consistently playing every three or four days, it would make sense.
Where I can’t imagine any change is with Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka, whose quality and influence make them impossible to drop. Or in other words: irreparable. Their chances of getting some ‘free time’ depend entirely on the game status. If we win well in the second half they can be withdrawn not to play the full 90 but have to start games for us. You really don’t have to explain to me why.
Arteta is keen to keep the momentum going after two very good performances, saying:
It was two big wins for us and now it’s about consistency, keeping the momentum we’re in and going even further tomorrow against a really good opponent and trying to replicate the performance to win the game.
And addressed today’s opposition, saying:
They are a very physical team, very good at direct play, where they attack second balls and have to dominate the game through the ball. Or if they have the space, they make a very dangerous team. Set pieces, and then the individual quality that they have, the forwards can create at any time in any situation that causes you problems. They are really well supervised.
It’s fair to say they’ve been inconsistent this season and defensively suspect at times, so that’s something we really need to try to capitalize on today. If you play like we did against Sporting, we will cause them all kinds of problems, especially in central defensive areas. However, they do have players who can hurt you. They come into this role thanks to a good win over Newcastle on Monday night, and in the Premier League you can’t take anything for granted.
However, it is a must-win game as we chase down a Liverpool side who have been so impressive this season, and who come up against a Man City who look completely out of sorts at the moment. It’s hard to do that other than a home win at Anfield, so it’s imperative that we keep up the level and get all three points today. Fingers crossed.
Okay, I’ll leave it at that for now. Don’t forget the preview podcast now available on Patreon. Join us later live blog coverageplus match report, goal clips, reactions, player ratings and much more Arseblog news.
Until then.