As discussed earlier, Unai Emery’s biggest target this season is to get Arsenal back into the Champions League, and after a 16 game unbeaten run, the pressure is on to try and keep our run going against our biggest rivals for that coveted Fourth Place.
Tomorrow we are away at the 6th placed Bournemouth who are the surprise package of the season so far, and although it is going to be far from easy it is a game we simply must win if we are going to have confidence in our following two games. The Gunners have not won a Premier League game in a month, and if we go into next Sunday’s crucial North London Derby without a win under our belts our bitter rivals will feel a bit less worried about facing us at the Emirates. They are currently just four points ahead of us and we really can’t afford for that gap to increase any more.
Then just three days later we have the joy of travelling to Old Trafford where we will face a Jose Mourinho side that are currently four points below us. If we can arrive there with six points under our belts than we will know we have real chances of a Top Four place and I would happy if we only got a draw up there to make it seven out of nine for the three games.
This really is our most crucial ten days of the season so far, and at the end of it we will either all be the happiest Gooners around, or we will be crying into our spilt milk and concentrating on the Europa League for the rest of the season.
Which do you think it will be Gooners???
Darren N
– Bournemouth: Winnable due to the long preparation time prior to this game, but they must be cautious, otherwise it could end up like the Crystal Palace game
– Tottenham: Arsenal will have a good chance because they will play at home and Tottenham should be predictable because they have the same manager/ players since last season
– Man United: Tough away match, because they have fast players like Rashford/ Lingard/ Martial and they are dominant in the air (Lukaku/ Pogba/ Smalling/ Bailly/ McTominay/ Matic etc)
Sort out the wings… use Iwobi in LW n Bellerin in RW… with 3 CM and one striker OR 2CM and 2 strikers.
Bench Ozil
Yes let’s bench Ozil who has created 22 good scoring chances this season. Great idea
The same Ozil that has done exactly what in big games this season? He’s gone missing against City, Pool, Chel, and is even inconsistent against the lesser teams as well! Where was he against Wolves and Palace? Our best performance this season also came when Ozil wasn’t even the match day squad.
I wouldn’t dare start him against Spurs, and Utd, and I feel the ONLY reason he does start is because we have nothing better, NOT because he’s a WC player.
I think the whole team (except Leno & Torreira) went awol against Wolves…. just imagine if Ozil had conceded those penalties against Palace!!
Sheesh!!!!
But Ozil isn’t a defender. He’s meant be doing his business in the final third, but does he?
We’ve played three quality teams so far, and if you’re being honest, he’s been poor in all 3 of them. An improvement against Liverpool, but still nowhere near the level expected and required from a so called WC player, on a monster wage. Ozil’s performances in big games under Emery and Wenger is not even up for debate anymore. He performs well maybe every 1 in 8 games against quality opponents.
But maybe we can forgive that, if Ozil is dominating the lesser teams? In a way, this is more important as more points are up for grabs against these teams. But even in these type of games, Ozil is inconsistent. For every Leicester performance, they’ll be a Palace or Wolves performance from him.
That awful penalty from him against Bayern years ago just sums him up. Almost all ways bottles it when we need him the most!
I know he’s not a defender… I just meant he gets the blame for everything, so imagine if he’d clipped (cough) Zaha! Everyone would be calling for his head!!
I don’t even know why he took that penalty, as we all know he’s not known for hammering the ball is he?! But at least he eventually made up for that miss (in that 2-0 win)
It’s not only up to him to win us the game… there are others out there too…
We lost that game Sue, 0-2. Nonetheless, I think Ozil does a lot but his ridiculous wages distort everything.
I know QD… he made up.for that miss (even if.it did take.a year ?)
From citing what he did like almost 5 years ago, it looks like u don’t just dislike him, I think you hate him
Only that he won the motm at this same encounter at the emirates last season
I don’t want to sound like I’m giving excuses but how many of our players were actually seen against city and Chelsea second half? How much were you expecting from someone who was played off position, Ramsey that started in the play making role, what did he do?
And he didn’t go missing against Liverpool, you’re the one that failed to find him.
??
But we already know Ramsey is an average player, so I don’t get your point?
Ozil has only justified his hype in one gane this season . ONE! n that was against Leicester.
I want all 9 points so badly, but I have to admit I am worried about these games. Yes if we’re all on form then we could easily win all 3, but with not getting going from kick off & leaving it till the 2nd half (Well 86th minute against Wolves) to get going and some stupid errors (Yes you Xhaka) we could easily lose them too.
Old Trafford hasn’t been a great place to visit, even when United were absolute pants we still couldn’t beat them!! And to face them just 3 days after the NLD!! Sigh!!!
As long as they all give it 100% I won’t complain too much ? I really hope we get something out of these games, as it doesn’t bear thinking about if we don’t… I’ll be unbearable to work & live with ??
Looking forward to seeing how we approach this game. I’m expecting us to tackle it like we’re a championship chasing team, as in title not league. I expect to see bags of energy, but from the first half – onward for a change. Doesn’t have to be the first minutes, but as soon as we feel our way into the game and when the passing seems slicker, we really need to try and make sure of it. I expect Emery to have the measure of these and for our forwards to be as hungry as ever. Torriera, I expect to see exercising some demons ..as I’ve just heard some “Breaking News!!! News is that one Mesut Ozil, has just nutmegged Torriera, out on the training field, and that Bellerin, totally went off on him (Mesut). Some fans were on Twitter giving out about the incident – You can’t make this stuff up. One fan said, you wouldn’t do that in a real game Mesut, because he’d break you in two. Another fan said, big whoop!, how about showing it in a big game instead of disappearing for a change. And I think this might be one of those instances, that our old friend Jon Fox, might say ..BUNCH of SNOWFLAKES, what has our generation come to.
The Ozil haters on this site are ridiculously annoying. Some even talk about iwobi the boy cant create a chance only good dribbling skills arsenal is lacking in two quality wingers or two quality wing backs problem is are we out looking for them.
?
Ozil has been below per this season… and that is not news.
Iwobi has also done better than Ozil this season, especially when he plays from the left… that also isnt news.
Ozil should be delivering what Silva gives City consistently but he hasnt even delivered up to Sigurdsson or much less Madisson yet you claim any one that says the truth is hating on him?
We need consistency and justice for 350k per week.