A determined Arsenal will be looking for a convincing win on Wednesday.
Considering the current circumstances Arsenal really needs to beat Vitoria Wednesday afternoon in Portugal. Anything less and the situation for Unai Emery will be a whole lot worse than it is today.
The problem for Emery is that the Portuguese side has already shown they will be tough opponents. Their expansive football at the Emirates shook Arsenal and only late goals from Nicolas Pepe saved the day.
Vitoria has to win otherwise they will almost certainly be eliminated, even a draw is no good for them. They will go for the jugular early on and will be confident following their unlucky loss at the Emirates.
I know very little about Vitoria and their fans but I would expect the stadium to be both intimidating and packed.
Emery may well put out a stronger team than usual in order to avoid the loss such is the predicament he is in right now.
I see Pepe starting and possibly even Ozil, however, because Arsenal plays Saturday evening away at Leicester City, a match far more important than this one, the Spaniard may not play anyone that he has in mind for that game.
Which means we may see the return of Granit Xhaka to the team.
What Emery cannot afford is a bad performance in Portugal, he has lost the fans, he simply cannot lose the board as well.
So, in conclusion, this is a critical match and the decisions that Emery could have far-reaching consequences. I would not be surprised to see a very open game, sort of similar to the Liverpool match. Whether that works for Emery I do not know but I do know that a poor performance is unacceptable.
I know one thing, you can expect to see Emery standing knee deep in a sand pit with his head buried!!
On the pitch you can expect to see Mustafi, Saka, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles and Xhaka with a mixture of goodness..
Sorry to a pessimist or impertinent, Fed up and still not in the mood for Emery and his circus of horrors! 🙁
To be frank, I don’t care about this match. Emery’s always grind out good results in Europa. We’re not supposed to be playing Europa. If Emery stays we’re probably going to make it to the final and blow it again, I don’t see no improvements from last season, we definitely regressed.
I can’t wait to see how the Saturday match goes
We should be able to beat Vitoria SC without playing our regular starters
Play Ozil, Xhaka, Martinelli, Saka, Mustafi, Niles, Sokratis, Kolsanic, Chambers, Smith-rowe, Martinez
BTW. I care about all the matches we play. And want to win them.
A real Arsenal fan should in my opinion
@Innit
Exactly. No matter the circumstance, always wanna see AFC win. That said, Vitoria looks to have a decent looking bunch of players, but full of fight and they set up right. Sort of baffled how they haven’t gotten anything out of their run… Oh well.
I’m in Portugal at the moment and, believe me, the Portuguese expect to win this game quite easily.
They still feel aggrieved about the result against us and it’s amazing how unfazed they are about playing us…a stroll in the park comes to mind!!!!
Still, lovely sunshine, ine and fish platters…come on you Gunners!!!
Sounds like you’re having a lovely time, Ken!
I got back last night, had a nice time, except for being surrounded by scousers & paddies (which essentially are scousers) Bloody Liverpool fans and merch everywhere! Only saw 1 gooner and that was at the airport ☹
Enjoy the rest of your holiday & let’s hope we don’t get thrashed tomorrow.. although one thing’s for sure – Martinelli to score!
I liked the post until you talked about the weather 🙂
Changing the team between competitions gives us an advantage on energy levels, but rhythm and teamplay suffers because these players need more time together, we don’t look like a team which has played often together. I think other managers would rest some players but players who need more time together, would play as often as possible. Arsene knew all about chemistry and confidence, he would lean towards that – over any extra energy levels. We need to get four defenders who play both comps, we need a midfield working better with one another, and our forwards need to put the work in elsewhere because goals should not mean job done. No1 keeper should be no1 in both contests. Chopping and changing doesn’t help us here, also Torreira, Ozil, Tierney, Bellerin, Holding, Ceballos, Pepe, Saka, Willock ..these players need gametime, because by the time we slowly build up to it we could be fighting an uphill battle.
Emery out….
He has been at arsenal over a year still doesn’t have style of play, changes formations every game and don’t know his best 11…time to walk..
Looking at the list of players left at home I think he intend to play Luis,Auba,Xhaka,Ozil and Chambers next Saturday and try his last card to get into top 4;a bad result in Portugal can be recovered;a defeat next Saturday should be the end of Emery.
I expect Arsenal to beat Vitoria, considering the firepower we have up front, unless Emery blows it away.