THESE ARE THE DAYS

EVERTON PREVIEW

How good is it to be an Arsenal fan right now? In a few hours, we go to battle with Everton to stretch our lead in the Premier League to 10 points.

Who knows how it will end… but always remember, 8 years ago, we were watching some of the worst football of The Emirates era, shooting copium in the bathrooms whilst tweeting that Nico Pepe was the next coming of Eden Hazard. We were fighting over Torreira getting games in our midfield. We had to watch Sokratis stink the club out. Sven Mislintat was MIA after his Dortmund rolodex ran dry. There were constant debates about how you could get the best out of a Mesut Ozil who just didn’t care…

… I would watch genuine top-class games with envy, knowing we’d never get back to the top.

Now look at us. Top of the league. In every competition with a shout. And it’s March 14th.

This is all I wanted. Arsenal to be competitive. To be considered amongst the elite of world football. To give me days of jeopardy like today.

If Arsenal can put a very good Everton to the sword, we could spend 90 minutes watching Man City crumble in their 3rd away game in a row.

This is why we do it friends… this is the best, whatever the outcome today (I’ll change my tune if it’s not the EXACT outcome I want).

I am interested to see what Arteta does with a basically fully fit squad. Everton are a good team, but they don’t have the power of yesteryear. Their threats on the wing are very real. Thierno Barry and Beto are two players to keep your eye on.

But one suspects the main battle Arsenal face today is in the final third. We’re just not clicking. My personal view is that a lot of the problems we have with our attacking play is because Gyokeres doesn’t make anyone better. Saka has no chemistry with him and he clearly doesn’t trust the Swedish striker. You can fight me on whether my longform prose on the matter is damaging a player who doesn’t read it… but I’m here to write my opinions, and my opinion is that today it would be lovely to see what Kai could do to the attack from the start.

Would I put my house on Kai to score a one vs one the same way I might with Gyokeres? No. But Gyokeres doesn’t get into those positions. He’s striking out with 0 shots in games at an incredible clip at the moment and at some point, Arteta is going to have to accept that change needs to happen and that change is Kai Havertz.

We need an aggressive person like Kai to lead the press, drop deep and connect, win the aerial duels, hold the ball up and connect the wingers… and be a f*cking menace beyond buzzing around.

I think we’ll see other changes today. Maybe Ben White is the missing link with Saka — not a bad shout with Timber looking sluggish. Could we see Calafiori in a game where lock unpicks are probably going to be quite valuable? Could this be a return to action for Trossard who is more trusted than Martinelli in blocked up games.

I know that floating mad ideas is easy for me… but come on, Max Dowman, with 25 minutes to go? Risky, but the kid has it all, and he creates moments. There’s risk, some of the hospital passes at Mansfield would have been punished. But there’s a bigger risk of having zero risk takers who want to be heroes.

This game will be tight. It’ll be turgid. It’ll have the weirdos who don’t like this type of winning crying online. But all that matters, with 8 games to go, is the points total at the end of the afternoon. This is a chance to deliver a psychological blow to a City low on confidence with a manager who was, once again, rattled in his presser.

Champions make moments like this count… there won’t be many better moments to force a slip in the title race.

This is jeopardy people. This next 10 days could see the title edge closer, a Champions League spot next to Bodø, and a trophy… or it could be much, much worse.

I have my eye on this being the best ten days of my life. Let’s see how frisky Lady Luck is feeling today, get that wand going my dear, there’s a part of North London that needs you!

Have fun at the game, sign up to the podcast, get the on-the-whistle loaded and ready to go later! x