Whadup people, top of the day to you wherever you plugged in to us
live and direct. Its still early days but after two games we were top of the
league briefly eeeh, go Arsenal…loll. It’s
a BIG BIG one for us today, with the top two a huge 3 points to play for at Anfield,
knowing how the Gunners last visit to Liverpool panned out, you can’t blame me
for being scared already. Ok let’s pause on that, while we quickly talk about
the last game vs Burnley.
The gunners gave a much improved all-round performance against the
clarets. Lacazette opened his goal account for the season with a particularly
get it over the line, however, you can goal. Strength determination awareness
and a little beat of luck, he squirmed it through the legs of Burnley keeper Pope.
1-0 to the Arsenal!! Well, it didn't stay so for the rest of the half as the gunners
were caught napping following a swift counter, that was turned around by Burnley
into another counter. Arsenal broke with some quick passing in the 42nd
minute with Guendouzi’s shot being saved by Pope’s legs, Burnley broke with
pace and 4 passes after it was 1-1. That was typical arsenal, poor positioning
by David Luiz and Socratis which allowed Barnes to drift into the pocket of
space between them. Guendouzi tried to nick the ball but alas it was too late. Being
pegged back is always disappointing but being pegged back just before half time
is even more so. Arsenal tried to make amends with another goal just at the
death of first half but VAR was there to rightfully rule it for offside on
Monreal, close but no Cigar.
The gunners began the second half with more urgency, Dani Ceballos running
the show from midfield, he came close to scoring one or two times, the loanee
from Madrid weaved, pirouetted, dribbled, passed and harried nonstop. It was
his pinch that got Aubamayang off to score the winner for the gunners. After seeing
his attempted pass deflected into a claret’s path, he immediately pounced back
getting a nick of the ball which rolled into Auba’s path, the rest was Auba
running into space cut inside slam bam thank you ma’am. Arsenal 2 Burnley 1. Ceballos
rightfully was awarded man the match for his performance. Other debutants did
well too. David Luiz (whom I am no fan of) did okay in defence, with his range
of passing. Pepe showed flashes of brilliance, Unai Emery is taking it slow
with him, but I will give him a start at Anfield though. His pace and trickery
should hopefully be able to keep Liverpool’s full-backs at bay. The younguns,
Nielson and Willock also did okayish, they do need the game time to attain their
immense potential. I like Willock, cool calm and deceptively strong on the
ball.
Hey, it won’t be Arsenal Fc
we talking about without some nervy moments, will it? Leno didn’t particularly have
a stellar game as Burnley got a whiff of his frailty with balls in the air and
they targeted him. He floundered a few times missing the ball completely, not
good when you play against physical teams like Burnley still, we survived all
they threw at him. Let's keep the positive perspective by saying while still
early days yet its two wins, 6 points in 2 games, can we make it 3 wins in a
row?
As much as my heart says yeah, it’s possible, my brain says winning
at Liverpool is next to impossible. Liverpool is on a different level compared
to Burnley and the magpies, so forgive me if I am such a pessimist. Far from
it, I am only being unbiasedly honest in my assessment. The KOP is never an easy
ground to go get a win at, we all know that, plus last season’s 5-1 thrashing may
have scared the Arsenal players internally. See a lot of psychology comes into
play here and the only way the gunners can go to Anfield and win is to forget
last season (which isn’t easy), get their head in the game by watching them
against Southhampton last week where Salah and the boiz had to win Ugly. I also
believe, Adrian in goal gives us a chance, he is definitely no Becker that’s for
sure. Our front line is one of the sharpest, it’s the midfield that is key, I hope
Ceballos has another blinder today especially with his dynamic range of passing
and work ethic. Throw in Lucas and Guendouzi or Willock for the midfield trio. The
defence is the greatest worry, hence the midfield needs to be up top in terms
of work rate. Liverpool has legs in their midfield, less creativity but loads
of work rate, match them there and half the job is done, the other half involves
taking our chances when they come, as they will definitely come.
Fine margins none the less, arsenal can spring an unexpected pleasant
surprise today…. touch wood. That being said, our defence needs to sit
positionally, I mean real discipline SIT, no going all-out gung-ho only to get
caught on one of those blitz Liverpool counter attacks. All that being said,
it's still anybody’s game so here’s my team sheet below:
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