AGM Thoughts & Swansea Preview

Image Credit: The Uk Guardian

Interesting times we have at the grove, what with the Arsenal AGM throwing us a few unexpected expectations or is it expect the unexpected?? I mean we all knew how this show of routine “nothing is new but let’s just do it like we care” pantomime would go. Gazidis comes up with the PR spin as always, however bull crap it is. Arsene does his bit, how passionate he is about the classy Arsenal Fc and of course silent Stan Kroenke is himself by being…silent. That’s what we’ve come to expect just maybe juggle the name sequence a bit and there you have it. This year had a bit of drama to it though further letting everyone know that all isn’t well at the grove and if the Arsenal Board were half as smart as they know it all claim to be, they should be listening. When minority members of the board insist on putting Sir Chips Keswick and Kroenke Jnr’s vetoed appointments to the test that tells you a different story. Gazidis and Keswick endured a bit of an embarrassing scrutiny from the Arsenal Trust and Minority members but on the flip side, can you blame those demanding an overhaul of the Arsenal Board. When Gazidis made his myopic comment on how well Arsenal had been performing in the transfer market and on the pitch he was met with hostile hecklers across the room who responded saying losing 10-2 to Bayern in the UCL, you call that successful? The Kroenkes Gazidis and Keswick may have had their play but the push is coming more to shove, who knows how long more before things change? Its clear that the board and the fans are pols apart as regards AMBITION, lets just hope it won’t be as bad as we all think.......I wish

Now to football proper, the Carabao cup round of 16 came and the gunners scrapped into the quaterefinals by a slime great escape 2-1 win over Norwich, the canaries were all set to create an upset up until the 85^th minute when along came an Eddie Nketiah to spoil their party. It was a lucky one for the gunners, and if I was a Norwich fan I would feel hard done by the profligate finishing and the questionable decisions by the referee on the night. Credit to them, they gave the gunners a go on their own turf but for lady luck that night. As for the gunners, well a win is a win but the questions still come up about our defensive organisation, the pass leading to the Norwich goal after we lost the ball casually in midfield was good but we fluffed our lines terribly. On a positive note, Nketiah’s stock is on the rise, as he continues to bang in goals even for his pint size. At just 18 years of age, all the accolades and adulation can get into his head so I hope he stays grounded and focused. Side note, as much as I hate to say it…..he isn’t up there with Rashford yet , let’s not even start to compare….moving on.

The draws for the quarter finals pitches us against the Hammers, Slaven Bilic’s boyz showed grit as they came back from a two-goal deficit to win 2-3 at Spurs. Other fixtures are

Bristol Vs Man Utd, Leicester Vs Man City, Chelsea Vs Bournemouth. I don’t know what to think about this cup, Wenger has never won it, Arsenal has won it only twice in the clubs entire history……you fill in the blanks okay?

Unto the EPL, the gunners have a rare Saturday lunch time date with the swans if you know what I mean. We have been banished to playing a lot of super and not so super Sunday clashes by virtue of our spursday, I mean Thursday commitments in the Europa League, so when we get to play on a Saturday one can’t help noticing it feels different. After Winning away at for the first time this season in the league at Goodison park last week, one hopes the gunners can continue with that verve and panache shown at Everton. Add the fact that we have a 100% home record this season in all competitions, it would be nice to show that again against Swansea this weekend. The Swans can be a tough nut to crack on their day but they are in a not so good form currently with just a win in their last games, losing Fernando Lloriente to Spurs and then Sigurdsson to Everton is proving to be a difficult one to adjust to as they sit in lower half of the lower half of the table, yeah…. the lower half of the lower half.  They still have some potency in Abraham, Ayew and Britton who can hurt you on the counter with their speed and canny abilities. Having said that, the onus is on the gunners to keep it tight in the middle and blitz the Swans with quick passing, slick movement and killer finishing. Will the gunners be able to do that? 90+ minutes will tell, but there is no doubt who the better team is on paper even though we know names don’t win you games. It all depends on the team that wants it more, as Mourinho found out last week. With a very fresh first eleven my predicted line up will be as below.

 Subs: Macey, Niles, Giroud, Walcott, Chambers, Wilshere, Elneny, Coquelin

Image Credit: The Uk Guardian

Aiite there you have it, lets hope the boyz can get the job done with 3-points and a clean sheet to boot. Don’t forget to like us on our FB page here and leave us your comments/feedback. Do enjoy the game wherever you are…….Ciaoo