The stage is now set, a win or draw against Everton and Arsenañ will go back into third position in the Premier League. While our away form is questioned it should not be forgotten that we have a great record against the Toffees – but that does not mean that there are not significant dangers, there are….
Everton has had a couple of decent 2-0 wins against Chelsea and West Ham but we have also been in fine form and a good entertaining game beckons, however, we have to be on our toes and these are the four dangers I feel we should be aware of.
Richarlison
The Brazilian international has had a mixed season with Everton, he started the season off brilliantly and then went backwards, but he has started to get back to his best and he will have to be closely monitored throughout, he is more than capable of being a game changer.
Gylfi Sigurdsson
Not the player he once was for sure but from the dead ball and on the edge of the area he can be lethal, this is one player we cannot afford to give space to near our 18-yard box.
Lucas Digne
The French defender has one of hell of an impressive delivery from the flanks, he has to be closed down or we will be inviting trouble.
The crowd
Their fans can be passionate and if we do not quieten them down quickly they will get their voice up and it can make a difference – as they showed against both Chelsea and Liverpool.The last thing we need is to invite sustained pressure driven on by their supporters, they can be the genuine 12th man.
Include the match officials.The Cardiff
Chelsea game comes to mind.The Blues
goal was clearly off side.If Cardiff are relegated they can blame the ref and lm.These mo are getting away with blunder after every blunder.Its time they are held
accountable and punished.
As for tonites game,the gunners must play like in the Chelsea and Mu games and stifle
the Brazilian and company.
If that is done I believe Arsenal can win
I hope the players don’t become complacent as they became when we were 10 points ahead of United only to have them claw it back and even overtake us as we floundered.
Every match has to be a cup final. we should approach the game as if we were in fifth place fighting to get into 4th. We don’t need the mentality of superiority which would only be our ruin.
Spurs are back on the wagon and so are Chelsea, United are riding their luck and historically have gotten favorable calls from the refs so we need to fight like a pack of wolves with its back against the wall.
Biggest dangers for me are the fact we are the only team in the Premier League without an away clean sheet this season and we’ve also won only one of the last eight away games in the league. Having said that, no one else has beaten Everton more times than we have though.
I would have thought of the bigggest danger to Arsenal winning today is NOT who we face but who we play.MUSTAFI
One of the biggest dangers is our penchant for giving away needless free kicks at the edge of our box. Sigurdson would likely punish us if we do.
The next biggest danger is our criminal lack of prevention of crosses from the flanks. We leave too much for the centre backs to do.
We should not play both Socratis and Mustafi for this game. It should be one or the other.
One is too rash and prone to giving away fouls, the other is prone to errors which inadvertently lead to goals.
That said, our best form of defence is to attack, that way we keep their pacy fullbacks penned in their own half.
Guendouzi should sit this one out as he would be close marked by the opposition players for his penchant to overplay and invite pressure on himself without sufficient spartial awareness of the danger around him.