With a two week international break coming up at the start of September, Arsenal can expect to be much stronger after the next two Premier League games against Everton and Leicester City, which are both away from home. The Gunners will be fitter and will hopefully have a full squad to choose from when we face Man City on September 13th, but we still need to get something from the next two.
Arsene Wenger has been talking about the trip to Goodison Park this weekend, as reported by Arsenal.com, and the manager is expecting a real test. In fact, he reckons that it will give us a proper feeling for how well we are set up compared to last season, when our away game to Everton was a humbling experience for fans and players alike.
Wenger said, “First of all a team is life and life is movement. That means the team doesn’t stand still, we move forward and improve.
“We have young players, which means that every year they can be better. Also the team improves with success, which we had a reasonable [amount of] last year.
“We have a good opportunity on Saturday to show that we have moved forward and that we are stronger than last year.
“On the day, Everton deserved to win. We were unlucky with the goals we conceded because two of them were not regular. We had an off day but I think in a season that can happen.
“We beat them in the FA Cup in a convincing way, so it will be interesting, because they are a team now flirting with the Champions League places. It’s a good, good test.
“They [have a good chance] because this season they have entered the bracket of clubs who spend between £20-30 million for one player.
“Behind that is the ambition to go into the top four and they were close last year. They lost some pivotal games, I think about Crystal Palace, which allowed us to get in front of them after they beat us. But they have the quality.”
I am bot really sure that we should read too much into the result on Saturday if we do lose, even if we have got the World Cup winning Germans back in the side. They will be rusty for one thing, while the likes of Giroud and Cazorla have still not got going properly yet. I will certainly be happy with a draw.
The same can be said if Arsenal beat Everton, because they have started pretty slowly as well, drawing with newly promoted Leicester in a sloppy game last weekend. Let’s just hope that it goes our way and we play better than we have been doing so far.
An interchangeable front 3 of Reus, Sanchez, and Walcott would be menacing. (With Campbell, Ox, Cazorla as reinforcements) But these reports of Reus are nothing new, just recycled news.
Reus is not a striker…..
Neither was Henry.
Why not buy an actual striker?
We have too many of these winger/ striker players.
Campbell, Sanchez, podolski, Walcott.
If we were to get Reus (hypothetically speaking) he would most likely play LW. I mean how often does he even play as a ST anyways? He plays 90% of games at LW for BVB.
We all want a new striker. But it does not appear to be a priority of Wenger’s.
And if Wenger would FINALLY put some emphasis on the LW, I would not complain at all.
totally agree we should buy a proper striker…..City has Dzeko, Negredo
Chelsea has Drogba, Torres and Costa
Man utd has the mighty RVP
they are proper strikers that fully focus on scoring….
Chicharito …
he is quick with good finishing, EPL experience, cheap
and better than nothing (Giroud,Sanogo)
we are not desperate……no one wants Chicharito he cant even score when RVP was injured…..
we need world classs big name players here at Arsenal
neither reus nor sanchez or walcott are pure strikers…
but neither is eden hazard, lionel messi, or gareth bale…
but they all put the ball in the back of the net on a consistent basis. the age of a pure conventional striker is no more. and yes we do have plenty of attacking mids/wingers but how many actually produce consistently???
attention to LW is a must. cazorla is weak in his defensive responsibilities and is caught out drifting inside into his more natural position leaving gibbo or monreal constantly exposed. the same can be said for ozil when he’s deployed on the wing. and podolski can’t get a game anymore so Reus at LW would be immense as he’s someone who can score, create but also responsible defensively. because any avid gonber knows our left flank has been a huge weak spot for the last few seasons that we’ve only managed to find bandage solutions for
the conclusion is we need a proper striker as we dont score enough goals to win….
there players have a striker in their team…..
Hazard has Torres, Drogba, Costa and previously Eto
Bale has Benzema
Messi score heaps of goals to cover up …and barca has proven that they can win without one……
@Hafiz you make no valid argument.
Chelsea’s strikers were shite last season and Benzema hardly did much better than Giroud last season in the goal scoring department. Barcelona has no pure ST and still score bags of goals. Even Bayern besides Mandzukic had no pure striker, with attacking wingers/mids in Goetze, Muller, Robben, Ribery providing goals.
You need attack minded wingers who not only produce chances but also score. We have only Walcott [when fit] who can provide goals by the bunches. Cazorla, Podolski haven’t done the job although also dealing with their own injury woes. Gnabry, Ox, Campbell are still unproven and have potential to fulfill.
The conclusion is… 2 wingers with the quality of Reus and Sanchez providing support for the albeit subpar Giroud would provide us the goal scoring threat we so desperately need from midfield. Rambo and Ozil might pop a few in but they can’t be relied on.
City: Aguero, Jovetic, Dzeko, Negredo
Chelsea: Costa, Drogba, Torres
United: Rvp, Rooney
Liverpool: Sturbridge, Balotelli
Everton: Lukaku
Spuds: Adebayor, Soldado
Outside the top 6: Bony, Remy, Benteke
CL contenders: Lewandowski, Benzema, Suarez, Ibra
There’s a lot of pure strikers better than ours in our own league. Not surprisingly all the top 4 contenders have at least one better than Giroud and Sanogo.
Reus is great, Alexis is great….but we absolutely need a Cavani/Falcao. Lone strikers or conventional strikers are a clear feature of football today. The only two we possess are decent, which is not good enough for a team with title ambitions.
he was at monchengladbach
Campbell should be given some chances to impress & that kid deserves it.
I completely agree, I do not have a clue why we are not using Campbell more.
Goodison park is a fortress
the mighty Chelsea and City have been struggling to beat Everton at their home….
what chances to a team like us that refuse to spend big, have??
Has anyone told you, you talk shit?
Pretty sure everyone on this site has tbh..
Have you recently suffered from some major traumatic event. You are the most negative person on earth. It is not smart to wager your entire worth as a human being on a sporting event each week.
Translation: Take it easy, smoke something and relax – it will all be OK.
@mohawk
Righteous…
I so badly hope we get Reus.
Oh what!
Reus Walcott Sanchez interchangeable will rock!
And Mesut and Aaron behind them.
Attack is the best form of defense. Teams will shit their pants, they’ll forget to attack when they see Reus, Alexis, and Walcott in front of Mesut and Aaron.
lets get a proper striker, instead changing here and there….
and who might you suggest…
a) the nut job Balotelli – although at a cut rate transfer fee but run the risk of disrupting your dressing room and dealing with his attitude
b) the over priced world beater that is Cavani – LOL see WorldCup2014 in the record books to see his 50m valued performances… is he an improvement on giroud? YES. so only a swap deal would do us any good
c) the world class pure striker that every club in the world would like to have but doesn’t exist or isn’t available
Conclusion… MARCO REUS.
If you’re judging Cavani on his WC it’s hard to take you seriously. Messi was absolute rubbish…so he’s shite too yea??
And how a swap deal makes any sense is beyond me..
It does not matter which words Wenger chooses to apply to this game. Arsenal will either win it or not and despite Wenger’s words or the result, they won’t disband the club or give up on chasing trophies – and we will still be gooners tomorrow.
All we can do is support ALL of the players on the pitch whoever they are. Turning against an individual player right now won’t help the club win this game.
(But I wish Sanchez or Akpom would start up front).
Isn’t Akpom on loan to Coventry City?
Could be. I am just a proponent of selecting Akpom over the other options at Arsenal. He is FAR more proven and capable than Sanogo but Wenger is in love with Sanogo for some strange reason so Akpom becomes an afterthought to Wenger.
Akpom should be available – Sanogo should go on loan.
No he played for Arsenal U21 yesterday.
super
Manolas and Reus is done deal.
where are your sources??
some say Hummels, Howeded, Khedira, Draxler and Mueller deals are done deals tooo….
Wenger and his favorites like giroud, arteta and sanago will lead us no where -.-
I believe Saturday will present us with a good test and that is for sure
Depending on the form of our players remember we have only started some team members as said are not yet there also they have been playing some hard games so some could be a little tired I am banking on a good selection of inform players to do the business at Goodison Park
On the issue of enforcements its very important that we fill in the gaps at the back and the cdm with balatoli singing to Liverpool I believe it is becoming a necessity to acquire 2 more players