Morning from Suffolk! Spring is in the air as I write this with a coffee overlooking some brilliant gardens near Sudbury.
It feels like the calm before the storm of Munich away, but before then we have Aston Villa tomorrow.
For once, we go into a post-European mid week game with the advantage.
We played Tuesday against Bayern Munich, whilst a full strength Aston Villa face Lille in a tough game on Thursday.
It will be interesting to see what Villa team is put out today. Will Unai Emery “throw” the game by making lots of changes like he did against Manchester City? Or will he put out his strongest XI in the hope of showing up his former club.
As always, if we focus on ourselves, on our own game, we should win. but that does not mean we will.
Ahead of the game, Mikel Arteta said: “We will know the results but we’ll still have our duty to win our game which is the only thing that we can control.
“That’s happened a few times already and it’s going to happen again in the next few weeks, so we’ll just focus on what we can do, what we can control and make sure that we perform like we have to do against a really good side to try to beat them.”
When talking about the past, Arteta said: “Reflection done, Bayern gone. Now it’s Aston Villa – we’re only focusing on Aston Villa.”
When it comes to injuries, just Jurrien Timber is out. No one else is injured or suspended, although Arteta does his normal cagey answers insinuating some are struggling to make it. The fitness of our squad in the run-in has allowed Arteta to rest and rotate to keep everyone as fresh as possible.
On Timber, I would be surprised if we see him this season.
Our defence is in a good place, and replacements are also playing well. It does not make sense to bring him back. Better to allow him to continue his rehabilitation, play some U21 games, get a rest then a full pre-season before next year.
Manchester City and Liverpool also both play at home this weekend against Luton Town and Crystal Palace respectively. I do not expect either to drop points.
Tomorrows blog will be written from the train as I return from Suffolk to Islington. I apologise in advance for any spelling errors! UTA.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 