KAIRAT | PLAY THE KIDS

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL GAME, NO ONE CARES ABOUT RECORD, JUST FRESH LEGS FOR LEEDS

Just a quick one today because I am very behind after feeling the full force of cost for ‘private’ dental procedures. Honestly, I’m surprised so many Americans can afford a full mouth of blistering white teeth. I’m remortgaging my house and one of my kids can’t go to college now because I replaced a tooth I had removed when I was 20.

You know what won’t feel like pulling teeth or selling off your kids’ future? Arsenal this evening. Our final home game of the Champions League is against Kairat, the lowest-placed team in the Super League phase of the competition.

What is a Kairat, you ask? They’re a club based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. This game shouldn’t be a problem for Arteta this evening unless he loses his mind and picks a first-team squad as punishment for the dropped point at the weekend.

For me, there’s quite a lot of interest in the team he rolls with. We have to be explosive against Leeds; there’s no reason to play first-teamers in this game unless they need fitness minutes. So my suspicion is that we’re at least going to find out who isn’t starting at the weekend.

What happens in that 9 role is, of course, the most important thing in my life. One would hope Kai could be rolled out for some minutes. His recovery has truly blown my mind. It’s so upsetting that we’ve been two weeks away from a return for about 2 months now. Can he not get a little 60 in this evening? PLEASE.

Maybe we’ll see Calafiori and Mosquera as centre-backs, Benny Blanco and Myles as the full-backs.

Arteta should be putting Norgaard in the midfield with Merino. I’m guessing it’ll be Eze in the hole. The wingers should be Max Dowman on the right, and Martinelli on the left.

Then let’s keep it easy with the first-team subs and have a damn fine time.

You know my main gripe with Arteta is always one thing… how he treats player fitness. You remember I also told you that there is on-going friction at clubs between medical staff and coaching staff on player returns. There’s an art and science to player returns, but when the artist can lose his studio and paint brushes when it comes to decisions… things can get quite pressured.

So, have you ever wondered why Mikel is such a macho man when it comes to injuries? Well, I have the source… this was Pep G on injuries.

“We have incredible doctors, incredible physios, [working] 24 hours [a day]. I believe Johan Cruyff - my mentor, my idol, my everything. When he said to me ‘when a player doesn’t [want to] be injured, they will not be injured’.

There are situations [where they are] unlucky, but when you are incredible [in shape] and you don’t want to be injured, you will not be injured. Unfortunately we have a lot, that is the problem that we have right now.”

Well, would you look at that… ‘man up’ ideology is hereditary and it started with Johan Cruyff!

I absolutely believe that there is an element of injury that is in the head. If you break a wrist taking a picture in Albuquerque on a shoot, they tell you to put pressure on it when it heals, and warn you it will hurt. If you bust your ACL, your body will not want you doing hard turns when you return, and you’ll have to battle pain ghosts. Mind over matter is a story as old as humanity, but an MRI scan will tell you when your hamstring is hanging off your leg.

If you mind over matter for too long, you can cause irreversible damage and cut a career short. There are enough stories of legendary players, like Ian Wright, who can’t do a kick about now because joints seize up. A career is short, but life is long; hobbling for the rest of your life because you took injections is something many athletes don’t want to do.

But, as with anything, there’s a balance… striking it in football with fitness is always going to be a drunken dance.

The balance on fitness tonight? Don’t take any chances. Let’s have a fun evening. Sign up to the On The Whistle so you can get a hit of members’ goodness below! xx