121 Comments

Martinelli having a good game.

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Havertz ain't having dat...

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Umm Nigel guess who’s starting at left back ?

It ain’t Kiwior .//

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People saying we aren't at our attacking best haven't considered that we probably had one of the hardest starts to the season of any team. We are doing well considering the circumstances with injuries and the level of opposition we have had every week. Only Wolves were the midtable team we have faced so far.

If we get a draw today, we set ourselves up for a good season coming out of our hardest run in unscathed with players returning after that. If we get to January and we aren't back to playing sensational football, I will be concerned.

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Our schedule hasn't been very forgiving. We are doing ok results wise so far

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Nigel Tufnel

12 hrs ago

“Tom doubts I have a friend who is a Crystal Palace ultra. Not really important either way. But I know he likes to stalk and study every comment I post.“

Yes, study, of course.

Imagine bragging Bowen (the Hammers top performer three seasons running) to Arsenal as an outside of the box innovative thinking when Pedro and half a dozen others, myself included, have said in the past he’d be perfect in Arteta’s system, except they’d never sell him for less than north of £70m.

Anyone else Nigel?

How about Pool’s Diaz, I’m sure no ones mentioned him before.

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He lives in your head. Rent free, yes?

(Try starting a rooftop garden, perhaps?)

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He lives in his mom’s basement rent free.

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I had it in mind that Dekkers was also suspended for this game for some reason.

I still think that their woukd be nothing wrong with getting a draw today.

But getting a win is not impossible either. I really want to see Sterling play today. I know it won't happen and that Jesus will be selected and played up top, but it is a sub I would be happy to see happen in the 2nd half. A front 3 of Martinelli, Sterling and Saka could be interesting as they could definitely stretch out Cheaty's defence.

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Would a MF like this be robust enough vs City?

Rice. Havertz

Jorginho

Timber. CBx2 White

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Rice is suspended for this game.

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He served his suspension against the spuds.

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Ok my apologies. Yes it was a one match suspension. For some reason I was thinking that he was also suspended for this game.

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Straight red is two matches,two yellows is a one match ban.

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Might as well drive the coach that takes our players to Etihad and park it in the 18 yard box!

I'd be ecstatic to seeing us draw (or win😅) today however dirtiy and ugly. ... we owe City and it's about time

Watched a CL match analysis (espn?) and a pundit ex player reckoned the like of Odegarrd , Saka and Martinelli are not ruthless and until they do wouldn't win us trophies etc.

Ummm... well, i recall people/pundits talking about Saka not going down after bumped by a Brighton defender when he tried to score the rebound from Havertz's 1v1... at least he'd have put da ref (&Var) to work.... Thoughts?

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I wouldn't listen to anyone criticizing Saka (B).

- Performed in a bad team (dragging us to results when were finishing 8th two seasons in a row) and won Arsenal POTS 2020 / 2021.

- Come back from adversity (missing Pens in the Euro finals) and won PFA Young Player of the Season 2022 / 23.

- Always available (230 appearances for Arsenal) and delivers consistently (74 G/A in his last 3 seasons).

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This narrative that Arsenal are poorly funded poverty club compared to City is laughable. Arteta has spent close to £650m+ (not including wages) since being appointed. Declan Rice is the British transfer record, and we've spent £200m on fullbacks in 3 years (Calafiori, Timber, Zinchencko, Tomiyasu, White).

The fact is we are in 4 competitions and this manager has to win a trophy this season or it's an abject failure. Please do not suggest he's not been backed to the hilt. We have the data!

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Oh. Fuck. Right. Off.

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Ballpark 100m could be considered write-offs as he (&Edu) learned to pick talent... we have done better last few TWs incl January. Hopefully hit rate would get better, though that will likely come from buying experiences vs 20yo punts.

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'Abject failure' - nonsense!

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Like I said earlier, It will be difficult to get a win tomorrow and it should be. At no point do we expect to go to City and play them off the ball park. No team can do that, ever. For that reason, a draw would suffice but we have to play.

Fine margins, cancellation football where we come out as equals or tactical monsters is good. Backs to the wall defense with the opponents peppering our goal post with shots even if we end up not losing cos of GK heroics is unacceptable

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'Unacceptable' - what a load of entitled nonsense. A back to the walls draw will be unhesitatingly acceptable!

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It's acceptable to have different standards Bob.

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I completely accept you have a different view and I'm sure you'd accept it's reasonable for me to pick you up on it!

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Of course. You already did and didn't get a retributal

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I just read Pedro's article, I am glad to learn, that he is as positive as I am about our chance to win the league, not in the future but at the end of current season. What a time to be a Gunner, if it did not materialize, as our delusion led as to a false Ecstasy, Now Today is a real ecstasy and no one can take that away from me !!

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Tom doubts I have a friend who is a Crystal Palace ultra. Not really important either way. But I know he likes to stalk and study every comment I post.

Must've been sad for a couple weeks recently.

I doubt Tom has any friends, and i also believe that he follows basketball more than football.

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Mystic

Really? Øde is equally as important as Rice is to our setup.

The fact that we don't have Rice and Øde is very problematic when we are up against a cheating, well drilled juggernaut that Cheaty are. It's very concerning.

The fact that we already knew that Rice was not available for 2 games and we let Øde go off play for a meaningless International game and get a far more serious injury than he initially had, is pure negligence.

As I mentioned above, this is a real test for Arteta tomorrow.

Getting a draw is what I am hoping for.

PGMOL have been paid off to give Pep his last hurrah before he leaves.

It's up to The Arsenal to foil that plan and show a team with no fucking history what a team with a history can do.

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Is Rice out tomorrow too?

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I get that you think Odegaard is important tomorrow. On paper, he is. He's our best attacking midfielder. But practically, he's not important. Hasn't been in this fixture ever. Not sure it was ever going to change tomorrow.

Reason? We wont have space to play, won't play on the front foot and most likely wouldn't make many chances, with or without Ode.

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Just out of curiosity, who does pgmol work for? Who paid them off? Were they paid directly or to their bosses? If the latter, who indicted City and is looking to throw the book at them that gives some fans great hope of a city relegation? These things are a bit murky for me...

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You must wonder why it is that they get such lenient refereeing sometimes. We seem to get yellow cards for a first time foul when they can get away with similar fouls (although to be fair, any team we play against all seem to get that treatment as well).

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Sep 21
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I'm still waiting for that answer. Safe to say it ain't coming

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Because of nerves and the fear of a 1-4 loss against City, I'm more interested in watching the Milan derby tomorrow. Back in the days, it's been the match no one wanted to miss. Probably the most anticipated derby.

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You definitely would be the type of cunt that would cuntishly mention a backwards scoreline like this the day prior and in the horrible case it actually does happen you’d cunt your way back here and say “oh man that sucked, but I did call score didn’t I oh welp 🥴”

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I'll be frank, I am a bit worried about tomorrow. Ødegaard is so integral to our setup.

I really want to see us win tomorrow but it will be tough.

If we manage to grind out a draw, it will be a massive achievement from us.

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Ode is not really important to the way we play away at City. Virtually has no impact in the games up there. Doesn't mean I wouldn't rather him playing tomorrow but let's not make it seem like we lose tomorrow because he's not there.

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"Glasner playing Sarr central and Nketiah wide is the kind of thing you do on fifa by mistake and wait until the ball goes out of play to press pause and fix it"

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Or it’s the type of thing you do trying to find an identity post transfer reshuffle.

We lose Ode and the whole offense needs a rethink, apparently.

Why wouldn’t the same apply to other teams?

Personally, no idea why Eddie was played out of position and withdrawn early.

Maybe Nigel’s fake Palace mate has an answer.

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