Yes, it’s a funny little typo, so I’m doing a bit of reverse superstition and throwing it right up there. Will he feature at all today? No idea. Emery’s usually pretty slow to work players in, so maybe Leon gets the nod and Malen gets some minutes at the end. Depending on how things are going.

And yes, another tough fixture after a couple ‘easier’ ones that helped Villa find their feet again. Is it asking too much for Villa to log a second away win in a week? Maybe so. But if Tielemans is any guide, the occasion might get the team’s attention from the off.

Naturally, Villa will travel to a side with title aspirations that find themselves, according to the papers at least, in a bit of a panic. Has Arteta’s Golden Era already gone wrong? They need to win 10 in a row! So many column-inches devoted to where Arsenal thought they might be versus where they are. Which, in the end, is just four points behind Liverpool, having played one more, and the second-best goal differential in the league.

Villa, on the other hand, find themselves needing to make up similar ground to get back in the Champions League conversation. Newcastle aren’t much of a surprise, but Forest and Bournemouth are the two sides looking to cock things up for us. At the same time, Villa, as wobbly as they’ve been at times, are just three points out of fourth as afternoon games get underway. We could use the points just as much as the Arse.

So, it’s well poised to be, well, significant in terms of both sides’ ambitions, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be an exciting match. And I’ve a feeling Villa will want an exciting one much less than Arsenal. This one begs for a calm, solid start, no early miscues to let Arsenal get up a head of steam, and then doing our thing at parity. We’re no longer a surprise, there’s actually a little history between the clubs now, and Villa need to play this like a CL match.

Starting lineups are still an hour away as I write, and I doubt Emery is going to swap Ollie and Jhon given he sat Duran the full 90 at Everton to make a point. However. You wouldn’t bet against the big guy being a hero at some point. Malen is interesting because a) no one can guess where he’ll end up playing, and b) because Bailey has been so unproductive and, indeed, a liability. With Philogene gone, Carlos sidelined pending a deal with Fenerbahce, and a very young Garcia only just signed, I’m guessing we’ll see Cash at RB, Konsa and Mings in the middle since we can’t really play with Konsa at RB to push Cash up. So, while we know that new signings don’t usually start for Emery straight away, today could be an exception. And with Malen perhaps having a small point to make, might not be the worst idea. He’s been playing, so he does have the minutes in his legs.

We’ll soon see. I’m not terribly optimistic today given our up-and-down form, but we do have less pressure on us than the Gunners. They’re in the spotlight, Arteta is somehow under some species of pressure (which is likely all media driven), and they’ll want to make up a little ground.

So again, frustrate, blunt their edge to start, then look to score from a solid platform. I was a bit surprised Emery left the starters on for virtually the entire 90 against Everton, so we’ll see what’s in the tank. The positioning of Youri and Rogers will be the primary point of tweaking. I’d imagine Bouba and Onana are paired up again, with Onana needing to be a little less reckless. Will be a big game for them both.

On the other side, Arteta’s got bigger problems than Barkley and McGinn being unavailable: Jesus, Saka, Nwaneri, White, Tomiyasu, and Calafiori are all out.

Apparently, Arsenal haven’t lost at home since we beat them 2-0 last season. Streaks are made to broken, and perhaps this is the right time to play them and pull another upset. You know Emery wouldn’t mind.

Over to you.

Comments 87

  1. Curious to see what Emery will do, either with players or a tweak.

    In the overall flow of the game, soft goal to concede. But Martinelli and Trossard have troubled both flanks.

  2. Great ball from Bogarde to digne
    Super cross from Digne (so that justifies the substitution)
    And really. . . .Tielemans witha headed goal??
    Just super

  3. Well played boys
    A super performance. A draw probably a fair result, and the way we played confirmed that we really can compete at the top end of the table

  4. Brilliant point ,great comeback
    Bogarde grew into game
    Kamara another super performance, great goal from ollie will build his confidence
    Now go out and get this centre half from Spain,mcginn should be back next week to

  5. There’s been talk on the Arsenal forums about Arteta just falling short of what they need.
    I do hope that we’ve helped ratchet up the doubts against the nasty little man/child a little more.

  6. My TV commentary was all about arse. The only function of the otherside, who ever they were, was to be dangerous like a rabid dog so the arse heros could vanquish them and look good.
    Good scrapping digging in performance by Villa who were only tenuously in the game. Bogarde looked competent in midfield and must never be put at right back again. Shout out to Cash who was up against one of our bogey players and then set up Ollie. Tieleman’s my POTM.

  7. It was a good point coming back from 0-2 down at arse in a ‘must-win’ for them. And they gave it everything.

    Me, I just hoped momentum had swung and they were ripe for a collapse from a Duran thunderstrike out of nowhere.

    But, a very good result. And could’ve been a much different game had Ollie scored from his throw-in and Youri hadn’t hit the post.

    Arsenal had all the initiative, to be sure, but we do have enough quality to make chances count. And that will be good for the side’s mentality.

  8. All about the Arse for me as well, jbd.

    Which I don’t mind in the end. What I don’t like is the injury narrative, etc, “the players Villa had to bring on” vs Arsenal, how they “changed the game”. How much the week would’ve taken out of Arsenal.

    Are you kidding me? Bogarde for Onana, enforced. Digne for Maatsen, Bailey for Ramsey, and Duran for Ollie. Only Duran would get into the Arsenal matchday squad, maybe Digne as well, injuries or no. And basically an unchanged squad from midweek and the Cup tie.

  9. Come on you Villa Boys!! Fabulous comeback from 2 goals down at the Arse. Made my weekend. I’m stoked. We might have been a tad lucky with VAR and the disallowed goal. I’m not convinced the ball hit his arm, it might have hit his hip. But no matter….if it serves to wind the Arse fans up then bring it on. I’ll be filling my boots at work on Monday.

  10. The ref was complete shit. He only saw a foul when the crowd screamed. He should be reprimanded and made to watch the game again by the authorities and asked to explain why this was so.

  11. The players who changed the game were all starters.

    What the game showed me is that we’re outclassed on the flanks. Digne, not so much. He’s very smart and probably playing at the top of his game. Even the foul on Sterling was probably better than letting him get away.

    All hail Matty for his second fabulous ball of the season, truly. That was class. But Trossard was eating his lunch the rest of the day, and that was where both goals came from. Martinelli was giving Maatsen more than he could handle. The trick is that neither is one to thunder across, get close, put in a tackle. They hold position, but inevitably allow the cross. I know their narrow starting positioning is by design.

    In front of them, Ramsey doesn’t do enough off the ball (and I know he’s only coming back and he has to be injury shy), and Bailey doesn’t either. I’d need to watch again to see if Rogers could’ve given more help further upfield to slow Trossard or keep the ball getting there.

  12. How many times have we said 2-0 is a dangerous score? I feel a bit cheated we didn’t win it. Maatsen and Ollie had great first half chances. But Tielemans header was sublime and Ollie’s was just as good. Crack, fizz, here’s to you Arteta.

  13. On the subject of subbing Maatsen at HT. I agree with the comments above. Maybe play him in Ramsay’s position with Digne at LB? He’s mobile and likely to contribute more than what JJ did today.

  14. And agreed, Bogarde didn’t do a lot wrong in that role.

    I’d mentioned before that I didn’t know it, but he is listed as a CB. So it was probably asking a lot of him to play RB at this level. He did look more comfortable filling in for Onana.

  15. Got to be happy with the result. Set’s us nicely for Tuesday in Monaco. I’d take another draw there right now. Might even get to see the Melon. Perhaps he’ll be juicier than his anagram.

  16. I was u der the impression that both Merson and Hendrie had played for Arsenal’s opponents in their careers. . . .I must have got that wrong

  17. R0bBo, Arteta knows he has no grounds to complain as his side benefitted 100% from all 50/50 decisions plus almost every other decision. The ref booked Rogers for calling his throw in decision “fucking shit”. Rogers was correct. What did the ref expect? Rogers to say “good shout old bean”?

  18. Apparently, in Ollie’s best year, where he scored 19 goals, he scored 10 of them in his first 22games. . . . exactly the same as this year.
    It seems he’s missed more ‘good chances’ this year than he should have done, but what striker doesn’t. Haaland is the prime example, who misses absolutely loads of really good chances. The point is, they’re both, instinctively there, in the right places when you need them.
    As so many commentators point out though, it’s not just about his goalscoring, he’s such an unselfish member of the team, creating openings and opportunities for others too.
    I suspect the only small chance we have of keeping both Ollie and Big Jhon in the squad is if we qualify for the Champion’s league again next season, otherwise, one of them is surely likely to want to join a team where they are the out and out number one.
    I thought it was very honest of Ollie to say that he’s perhaps better when he is operating instinctively, and doesn’t have to think about what he’s doing. I reckon that’s just a matter of confidence though, and if he’s about to click back into goalscoring mode (and 3 goals in the last 4 games isn’t a bad start), then I reckon he’ll start scoring any opportunity, including the one on ones where he has time to think. . . .we’ve certainly seen him doing that in the past

  19. The morning after. I’m still glowing. Forensic inspection shows that Havertz deflected the ball into the net with his arm. End of discussions. The ref Kavanagh is from Greater Manchester. Likely he doesn’t like the bin dippers. Might go some way towards explaining his outrageous bias against us. His booking of Unai for kicking the ball back onto the pitch so that a free kick could be taken was disgraceful. PGMOL should apologise immediately and the FA should rescind the yellow.

  20. The morning after, it feels like a win especially after early season collapses
    Players yes guilty of being hard on watkins but to achieve double figures goals in 5 consecutive seasons is some doing,he is a fantastic guy as well,
    Kamara needs a new contract immediately super player already my favourite midfielder of last 25 years
    Digne like a fine wine superb last year club and country
    Manager along with monchi and damian unbelievable, so good together brilliant for us and if anyone hasn’t watched our new signing MALEN video watch it ,

  21. As for ref ,English premium league have worst standard of officiating anywhere in world,I was in London for a day got to go watch chelsea v Bournemouth the ref that night was horrific, it was all about him,crazy simple decisions

  22. Can you imagine the abuse that Ollie, or would have received if hed missed either of the opportunities that have fallen to Son or Calvert Lewin in the past few minutes?
    It just emphasis the point I was trying to make earlier that all strikers are fallible, all strikers go through bad patches . . . . and probably all clubs have their clique of glass half empty, doomsayers.

  23. Plug, it’s so easy for us fans to believe we’re on the wrong side of refereeing decisions, but Kavanagh made it very easy for us to be critical of him yesterday. As you say, the Emery booking was a particularly bad example of his (unconscious?) bias

  24. JG, does feel more and more like a win. I know we keep doing this, but a couple years ago that’s a game we go on to lose 0-4 or 0-5.

    While I’ve been exasperated at times, it seems the ECL and CL refs have generally been more consistent, put up with less crap, and just get on with it. There’ve been a couple clangers, but overall at least you know what you’re getting.

    The Juventus farce does still sting, though. And I really dislike the little self-important ones from some uptight Swiss village or wherever strutting around like we’ve paid to see them.

  25. JG, that’s a really nice summary of some of the positives we’re seeing at the moment, and like you, I’m SO impressed by Kamara, and love that he’s one of those players that just gets on and does the job, in such an unassuming way.

  26. Haha JC. . .I love the image of some, uptight, Swiss, village referee. . . .because it just brings the image straight to mind.
    You’re right though, the European referees do seem to have been more prepared to let the game flow.

  27. Kamara has seemingly come back with better focus. Felt like he was drifting in and out at times before he got hurt. Seems much more dialed in.

    I really wish Onana could get fully fit. I’m sure he probably should’ve sat out longer (I guess yesterday was a 50/50 call), but I can’t help think we’d be further along if he and Bouba had played more than a couple games together and both were ever-present. The niggles are like dominoes and just keep happening.

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