There are no easy away games in the Premier League but when you are at home you do have a significant advantage and if there is ever a time to push that advantage it is when you are up against a promoted team.
That is not to say that Villa will be walkovers, they will not be but let’s be honest, they are not a top-six side, in fact, they are not even a top-ten side and Arsenal should be beating them with comfortable ease.
Anything less than a win will not be acceptable and I would argue that anything less than a comprehensive win will not be good enough.
Arsenal really does need a good performance tomorrow and the only way to ensure that is to pick a team that is attack heavy.
Arsenal has the players to do just that even with an injured Alexandre Lacazette out and Unai Emery should send the players out with a focus on overwhelming Villa.
In the first half against Watford, it was an attack-minded Arsenal that took to the field and by half time they were 2-0 up. The second half showed what happens when you let up on the attacking and try to be conservative.
I mean no disrespect to Villa but they only way they will get a result tomorrow is if Arsenal allows it, Man City took Watford to pieces today because at no stage did they let up, they were relentless, Arsenal eased up last week and paid the price, it is not rocket science to work out which strategy works out best.
Yes Martin and I’ve said it many times myself – why does Emery often appear to play to our weaknesses (defence) and not to our strengths (attack)? Baffling!
Against Villa he has a great opportunity to put things right and pick a good starting lineup but I won’t be holding my breath.
If he runs true to form he’ll be more worried about stopping them – a newly promoted team at that – than letting them worry about us and our excellent attacking capabilities.
We can’t keep on attacking and hope for the best pal. There is threat from counter attack.
In the second half against Watford, Emery did the right thing considering it’s an away match and tried to park the bus (8 players defending). The problem is our bus more like Mr.Bean’s mini cooper ?
top teams don’t pack the bus,when they lead,they score more,ask Liverpool and man city…..Arsenal is beginning to become too defensive with this coach
top teams do park the bus but only for strategic games…
such as protecting a 1 goal lead with 10 to 15mins to go
90% of the time top teams do attack and push for more goals….
Why park the bus when you are 2-0 up at half time. That’s when you allow your opponents to have the ball and get more confident. Just keep playing as you were and let your opponents worry about you. Man City showed how it should be done.
Technically, we started to park the minivan after Sokratis made that dumb pass and the score was 2-1. After Ceballos and Ozil were substituted.
Anyway, that’s not my decision pal, it’s Emery’s ?
I just tried to reason out
well…with spud on a downwards…both Chelsea and Utd are not consistent
3rd and 4th place are up of grabs….we have a very strong chance of top 4 this season
Fans need to stop panicking….a win whether it is by 1 or 2 goals is still a win
We need to stop throwing points away then. Also win today and then next Monday at home to to Man Utd
I agree. We need to focus on getting 3 points not on how big we win. A win is a win. A win is 3 points.
I think we have something special with our attack: Ceballos, Pepe, Aubameyang and Lacazette. Ideally we need another winger next summer but it looks like Saka could help us a lot this season.
Ceballos was a great signing. Better than Ramsey at every level. He’s a great link between defence and attack, he can create from deep field, he doesn’t mind getting physical and challenge for the ball. He’s got vision and can unlock defenses. I hope he stays with us.
Ozil remains average. Not terrible but not worth anywhere near his huge salary.
Pepe needs more time, more matches and more belief in himself and he will perform like he did in Lille
Aubameyang and Lacazette are excellent centre forwards
Our attack is much better than our defence sadly, so at home we need to focus on Attack in both halfs. Against Watford we were great in 1st half but Emery focused on defence in the 2nd and we suffered
Ramsay and Cabellos are two different kind of players
both are quality….Ramsay probably similar to Lampard style of a player
Ozil is a quality player….he needs to play with certain players and style to bring the best out of him….but he tends to be lazy and inconsistent though
Yes we have amazing talents in that department. The problem is we are always a work in progress. By the time the defense is sorted out, we need to look for another attackers.
thats the issue most teams are facing
unless the fans want the club to be a City or PSG and pay whatever the club or players want…for instant fix
Development will always take time with trial and errors.
True John, we don’t have the money ?
I’m afraid next summer we would be very quiet in the market because of our ongoing payments.
Guardiola must have benefitted from reviewing our match against Watford. Yes, they (Man City) were relentless against them and Watford was duly found out.
I really hope Emery stops his mindset of being too careful and get his selection and substitutions right. He should know the players better than us fans and should prove it with the results he gets from matches.
It might be a bit too soon to see more of Bukayo Saka so soon again after Thursday. He is still so young and shouldn’t be made to play too many high profile games just yet.
Time for Pepe to show us what he can do. Time for a couple of goals and assists from him.
That midfield needs some work though. But I am looking forward to a handsome win later today.
Saka is a talent….his performance on Thursday has shown that he ready to play first division football
The first team has Auba and Laca infront of him….
He needs to go on a 2 season loan to improve further
If he can get 60 games under his belt…he will improve
Forget about Man City’s latest result against Watford, because Arsenal don’t have Man City’s discipline and ruthlessness to their players and staffs
Our players are very familiar to 4-2-3-1 at home and we always won with it last season at the Emirates, so let’s stick with it and use our best attacking players:
……………………….Leno
Maitland-Niles . Sokratis . Luiz . Kolasinac
…………….Willock ……….. Guendouzi
Pepe ……………….. Ceballos …………. Saka
…………………….Aubameyang
Since the match is at the Emirates Arsenal will dominate possession and attack the inferior opposition….how ever away from home I think Unai Emery wants us to be a team that sits back absorbs the pressure and counter attacks while playing out from the back no matter who the opposition is (although he doesn’t have all the type of players to play this way) hence the high number of shots conceded…
When did we last dominate any team? With Emery we get dominated and thrashed. Wenger was better than Emery. By the end of this season, five managers will be shown the door. Unai Emery, Victor Valverde, Zinadine Zidane, Mauricio Pochettino and Ole Gunner Solkedier . I really wish Emery was the first. But Allegri is never an answer. I would go for Arteta. He knows the club well, would settle in quickly, good English, has experience in EPL. Allegri is unproven in EPL and again he is also very Pragmatic and am not sure about his English
The same five manager who were deem world class managers especially Zidane after 3 champ league wins
Arteta has the potential but will he succeed we will never know unless hes tested…
the same goes for King Henry….many wanted him previously…but none interested after his Monaco stint….
Why should Pochettino get the sack? He got them to a champions league final last season(after beating Man city) and has had them qualifying for it for the last 3. Pochettino truly is the best thing to have ever happened to the spuds.
The Villa fans are confident of getting a result later, as we’re giving away penalties and we’re pathetic in a way only Arsenal could be!!
That is false hope in their case! Sometimes even a wildebeast thinks it can fight off a lion..
Their hope is justified QD, but they forget it’s a home game. In home we are a lion, away from home we are a giraffe with its head stuck in a tree ?
That image of a giraffe with it’s head stuck in a tree has finished me! ??
@kenyanfan, choosing an inexperienced Arteta over Allegro will be suicidal
Emery is like most of us fans, playing lads out of positions. He needs to identify 2 or more players per position and train then to play in that position. In the name of rotation, you can’t have Torreira as to box-to-box and Willock as DM.
AMN had already been messed around with and we don’t want other youngsters to go down that route. They need to be bedded in and moulded to play for the first team, instead of being hyped up and played. We have good first team players to be on the pitch and they need to be played, with the youngsters as back-up, pushing the seniors. Guendozi and AMN are examples of getting it to early and not making use of it.
We should make easy work of a struggling Aston Villa languishing in relegation. We will be back im the top 4 and hopefully we will stay there for a while!
We need to be positive today and attack in numbers but also the defence must be disciplined. As Torriera is not working as a DM at present I think Luiz needs to replace him in midfield and if Holding doesn’t play today I think Mustafi will possibly return with Sokratis. Both CBS are not good enough but unless Emery shows some balls and plays Chambers with Holding, who else can play? I just wish we would cut out all the backwards and sideways passing, it drives me nuts, Ceballos and Kolasinac please take note. My prediction is Guendouzi will have a good game and Pepé will score in a hard fought 2 nil win.
Emery is the problem he has no first xi a better coach would av done that and only rotate few positions in Europe…I am pretty sure that Villa will come with belief that they can be an upset and once they can push over our midfielders they can surprise arsenal I hope the boys will know the a win today ll take them to third or fourth ahead of man utd next weekend
That is exactly the kind of mentality we hope Aston Villa will bring with them today. We want the silly chaps to think they actually stand a chance and to attack, so that we can have an open game. If they come ready to park the bus am afraid we will struggle to break them down and the game will end up in a frustrating draw. We CANNOT afford another draw..we are already 10th!
Yes Emery is the problem but I can’t see him being ousted this side of January. With Leicester’s goal difference +3 and Man U’s +4 we need to win by 4 goals with United to get “Hammered” so we go 3rd or 4th, which I can’t see happening.
Man u is travelling away. A draw is what they will get. Chelsea will probably be held or lose to Liverpool. We will be back in the top 4 tonight.
Oops my bad, I never could count?
But I don’t understand this notion that Emery has no 1st eleven. We can literally name 8/11 of his first players every week, so what tinkering are people referring to?
I don’t understand it as well. Man utd rotated for the Europa League I didn’t see Ole getting slated for tinkering.
Exactly.
I would say the opposite. We need to start learning how to defend, otherwise we’ll have to keep scoring 3 or more just to win games.
Do not underestimate Aston Vanilla !
I know a few still have stains in their pants from the Frankfarter game but it was only the Germans, we are playing an English team !…………….Two world Wars and one world cup against the farterland !…………what have they ever done ?…two pathetic attempts at world domination whereas Britain have had the greatest Empire ever !……….I feel emotional pride rising in my loins !
same shit everywhere huh ?