Morning all.
It’s one other tough away journey in the present day, as we face Brighton simply three days after beating Brentford. In the present day’s opposition have had a few further days to relaxation and put together for this one, in order that’s one other difficult side of this encounter.
By way of the staff, we’re with out Jurrien Timber who picked up a suspension on Wednesday, so the apparent decide to interchange him is Thomas Partey. I don’t suppose there’s another resolution actually. I can’t see Mikel Arteta taking part in a left-footer on the precise, and with Declan Rice and Jorginho out there to come back into midfield, he’ll go along with the participant who has crammed in there loads of instances this season.
I do suppose that has a knock-on impact on our proper hand facet, however it’s the absence of Bukayo Saka that can affect that probably the most. Ethan Nwaneri was superb there towards Brentford and could possibly be known as up on once more, however in his press convention yesterday, the supervisor made it clear he’s going to should rotate with some frequency throughout this hectic month:
There’s not one participant that’s going to play 9 video games in a row in that place, it’s unimaginable. So, once we have a look at that and we have a look at the opposition as properly, particularly the best way they defend, the best way they occupy areas, someday a pure or inverted footed, could be extra helpful.
With Kai Havertz again from sickness for in the present day’s recreation, there may be scope for Mikel Arteta to do one thing a bit completely different together with his ahead line. Maybe shifting Gabriel Martinelli over to the precise with Leandro Trossard on the left? That mentioned, together with his present type, you in all probability need to maintain Gabriel Jesus within the staff too. What I might say is that with a cup semi-final on Tuesday, and so many video games in January, there are going to be some staff alternatives that look a bit odd, and I do surprise if in the present day is perhaps a kind of.
In midfield, assuming health isn’t a problem, I believe we’ll see Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino (about whom I wrote yesterday), with the supervisor backing the summer season signing to ship extra:
We anticipated a really quick integration as a result of he’s performed within the league, he’s such an clever and skilled participant and he suits very properly. He had an harm and one other little niggle, and he had no pre-season as a result of he performed for Spain as properly and it took him only a whereas to begin to get set, however now you may see the affect he has within the staff, his intelligence and the aim risk that he presents to the staff. Then, increasingly will come as a result of he’s a pure chief as properly. As he grows within the function, I believe we’ll see way more from him.
It’d be an excellent recreation too for the captain to supply some finish product. I don’t suppose he’s been fairly proper of late, maybe that ankle continues to be a problem after the harm and the current arrival to the family is perhaps taking part in a component, however he’s been rather less impactful than you’ll anticipate. It looks like he may gain advantage from a aim and/or an help (or two, three – I’m not grasping).
I’m additionally curious to see how we strategy this recreation. In opposition to Brighton final season we performed a really courageous/dangerous recreation, urgent them excessive up the pitch which left some house in midfield, however it labored out properly with a 3-0 win. Whether or not Arteta sees that as the best way to go towards this present iteration of Brighton stays to be seen although. They’ve loads of attacking expertise to be cautious of if we give them an excessive amount of room.
Lastly, I believe there must be a little bit of ‘further’ for our gamers going into this one after what occurred within the house recreation. The Rice purple card was a real shame, and I believe it value us two factors that day. The Brighton supervisor’s feedback afterwards have been very annoying too (though I believe that comes very naturally to him), so if there’s some extra motivation due to what occurred again in September, let’s lean into that. Each little counts and so on and so on. A Rice winner could be a little bit of justice.
Proper, I’m gonna depart it there for now. Now we have a preview podcast out there proper now on Patreon. Be a part of us later for stay weblog protection, plus you’ll get the match report, aim clips, response, participant rankings and way more over on Arseblog Information.
Till then!
