morning.
The visit to West Ham later this afternoon is their sixth away game in their last seven games. Last time it went pretty well, so hopefully we can get close to that level of performance again today.
There was no actual team news from Mikel Arteta at yesterday’s press conference. “Wait” was his response to Gabriel going out against Sporting, and that’s what we have to do. If he doesn’t succeed, the manager could keep Riccardo Calafiori at left-back and bring in Jakub Kiwior alongside William Saliba, or move the Italian to left-back and make a change. It could be a Kiwi, it could be Oleksandr Zinchenko, it could even be Kieran Tierney, but considering how little experience he has playing, it could be it.
I wonder how this game will be viewed after that. On paper, last weekend’s game against Nottingham Forest was easier than the away trip to Sporting and he made a few changes. On paper, I think the trip to West Ham in midweek is a bit easier than Manchester United, so I wonder if he’ll mix things up a bit. There were one or two changes in the Portuguese game, not many. It’s not something to take for granted, but it would make some sense if there was more use of ‘squad players’ during this busy period where we’re playing consistently every three or four days.
Where I can’t imagine any changes are Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka. Their qualities and influence make them unstoppable. Or, to put it another way, it is unstable. The possibility of taking a ‘break’ depends entirely on the state of the game. If we win well in the second half, they might pull out and not play the full 90 minutes, but they have to start the game for us. There is absolutely no need to explain why.
Arteta is keen to keep the momentum going after two very good performances and said:
Those were two big wins for us and now it’s about consistency. It’s about trying to replicate that performance to get the momentum we have and go even further tomorrow against a really good opponent and win the game.
And regarding today’s objections:
They are really physical, good at playing directly and attacking the second ball which should dominate the game. Otherwise, when they have space, they are a really dangerous team. Front players with set pieces and individual quality can create problems at any moment. They are really well coached.
It’s fair to say they’ve been inconsistent and questionable defensively at times this season. So that’s something we really need to try and leverage today. Playing the way they did against Sporting will cause all sorts of problems, especially in central defensive areas. But they have players who can hurt you. They come into this game after a fine win against Newcastle on Monday night, and nothing can be taken for granted in the Premier League.
But it’s a must-win game as we chase Liverpool, who have been very impressive this season, and face Manchester City, who look downright unsettled at the moment. It’s important to maintain today’s level and get all three points as it would be difficult to do anything other than win at home at Anfield. Fingers crossed.
Okay, I’ll leave it there for now. Here are the preview podcasts: Available now on Patreon. join us later Real-time blog coverageYou’ll also get match reports, goal clips, reactions, player ratings and more. Arceblog News.
Until then.
