The season is still very early but with Arsenal above Tottenham, Chelsea and Man Utd it is imperative that they collect all three points against Watford tomorrow and remain above their closest top-four rivals.
To do that they need to get the basics right and play to their true ability and now is not the time for them to revert back to their old ways of being poor on the road.
Watford are no world beaters, they are struggling and now is a good time to be facing them but that does not mean that it will not be a difficult match, it will be.
But this is a very winnable game as long as Arsenal do the following.
No more defensive mistakes
This really is a no brainer, the Luiz penalty against Liverpool and the Xhaka craziness against Tottenham were both self-inflicted. Winning at Premier League level is hard enough without handing out gifts to our opponents.
Play to their strengths
Arsenal’s strength is their forward line, even without Lacazette and they have to approach this game with an attack-minded focus. Watford will struggle to contain the attackers but if the forwards are not provided with decent service then they are blunted. Arsenal simply must make sure that attack is their primary strategy.
Control the pace of the game
Watford will try and slow the game down, Arsenal cannot allow that to happen, they must play the game at a pace that suits them. Arsenal has speed in abundance and that will put the Hornets on the back foot, they will struggle to stay organised and the Arsenal pace will create chaos in the Watford defence.
Positive mental attitude
Arsenal have to enter this game with an attitude that they will win, they cannot think about their poor away record, they cannot fall into the trap of thinking a draw is good enough, it is not. The opening day win over Newcastle showed that they can put their previous away form to bed and the attitude they showed in that game has to be replicated at Vicarage Road.
Be clinical
The forwards have to be far more clinical than they have been this season, I do not expect them to put every chance away but I do expect them to take advantage of the vast majority of opportunities that come their way. Arsenal do miss too many chances and it is just not good enough, I mean, imagine how the game could have turned out against Liverpool if Pepe had taken his chance.
OT.. be nice if Shelvey plays a blinder against his old team!
Oh great, going to have to listen to Troy Deeney on soccer saturday.. urgh!!
Score more goals than the opposition will
often yield three points.
Liverpool down by one at Anfield.
They will need their attack to bring the points
Arsenal’s forward line is as scary as Liverpool’s. Therefore conceded by one goal like Liverpool today would be okay, as long as Emery has the balls to field all his best attackers
If Emery wants to imitate Klopp’s 4-3-3, he had better watch Liverpool’s game today. He also need to use the new tactic in easier and less important games first, such as the League Cup and the FA Cup
Arsenal’s front three is nowhere near as dangerous as Liverpool’s at the moment.
We need another winger on the left and one striker on the pitch and then for them to prove they are as good.At the moment ‘PAL’ is just all hype and I can’t wait till we get a proper front three and a sustainable first eleven
takes time for all 3 to gel…
It’s not a how they gel but rather about the players
Kev, PAL is as dangerous as Liverpool attackers but not effective like Liverpool bcos Nic PeP is still adapting to premier league. Watching PeP goals at Reines, he was really good bro. Once Unai Emery gets his midfield formation right Arsenal front line will do great.
Aubameyang isn’t a winger and Liverpool play Firminho as a false 9.
It’s easy to see the reason why.
Nowhere near as dangerous as Liverpool’s
Mane equalizes 🙂
That’s what I hoped PAL would do.
Keep us in the game no matter what.
I can’t stand Liverpool fans but Liverpool have all the luck. City lost de bruyne for most of last season now they lose sane and Laporte for 6 months.
Same here, Ackshay.. i totally agree
One thing I really like about Mane and Salah is they always put in extra effort to score and they are very aggressive in challenging the opponents
Lacazette has similar aggression level, but I have yet seen it in Aubameyang and Pepe in this season
That’s why I’d prefer Ceballos and Martinelli to start the Watford game with them, because those two young players work hard in the field
gotanidea,trust me Martineli would be too inexperienced for Watford game. We bit them 1:0 last season in front of their fans. They will be out for revenge. I think we need experience players with aggressive youths. Will prefer midfield of Guendoizi, Torrerira Xaka/Willock. May be M.Niles should be replaced with C.Chambers; sometimes M.Niles is to attack minded and neglecting his defensive duty.
And then Aubameyang and PeP should be clinical when they have chance to score.
Win it I think we will. Provided the manager plays his part well. We have good enough personnel to get the job done.
Hmm. It was a good time to play Newcastle when we did. One record I don’t want to be broken is the invincible. Newcastle do me a favour.
Me too ?
Poor me. Try,Newcastle try.
Well Newcastle’s lead was nice while it lasted! Game over now… at least they didn’t get a clean sheet ?
After tomorrow match u will realize Emery is a mechanic
My fear with Watford game is if Unai Emery will get his formation right. Especially the midfielders. I also hope our attackers would be clinical. M not worried about our defense if we can score more goals. Emery should get his players to press high we have a chance of winning.
No more defensive mistakes – You can never rule out mistakes, but you can minimise them. Which means, if you have enough fit players, then don’t use players that consistently mess up, such as: Mustafi, Luiz, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Xhaka, etc.
Play to their strengths – Completely agree on this. We may still have 75% of our first choice defenders missing tomorrow, so attack has to be the best form of defence.
Control the pace of the game – This will be achieved with the correct midfield lineup. Emery seems to be of a counter-attacking coach, so this will never be our strongest area.
Positive mental attitude – I think we’ve made big strides in this area since Emery’s arrival. People may think I am bringing up Ozil just to slate him, but there’s no denying he has such a weak mentality, not just in regards to never battling for the cause, but also his lack of respect for the team ethos. He’s the only player I can really think of that struggles so much in this way. As with cutting out the mistakes, we must also avoid using players that lack the correct mentality.
Be clinical – I love Laca, but Auba is a goal machine, so we’re fine upfront. Our midfield needs to be more clinical though, starting with Pepe.
To cap it all up, all we need do to win anything this season is PLAY EVERY MATCH LIKE IT WAS THE FINAL. We have the materials