Morning!

FA Cup final weekend and I do not think I have ever been so disinterested in one.

Usually, I would be buzzing for the biggest day in the English footballing calendar. Today I will not even watch it. Instead I will be in a garden centre in Harlow.

A bit of Arsenal chatter today about ceilings and floors.

Players that raise the ceiling are those that make the top end of the team better, and therefore raise the ceiling of the team. Think Declan Rice.

Meanwhile, players that raise the floor are those that come in at the bottom end of the squad, improving on those firing players. You can also raise the floor by signing “raise the ceiling” players, demoting a current starter to a back-up dancer and letting go the current squad player.

An example of this was seen last season when we signed Declan Rice. That one player raised both the ceiling and floor.

Rice was better than anything we had in midfield. But his recruitment also meant that Thomas Partey became 2nd choice, Jorginho 3rd choice and Mohamed Elneny a fringe player.

Jorginho as 3rd choice is a huge upgrade on Elneny who was previously 3rd choice. We also saw Albert Sambi Lokonga depart on loan.

If you raise the floor and ceiling at the same time, you are both improving the starting XI and improving the squad depth.

Talk is that Arsenal are looking to recruit one “ceiling” player. My bet is it will be that striker. The club will then look for 2-3 players that will raise the floor. I would imagine that will be a central midfielder and maybe another centre back.

This really shows how clear Arsenal, Edu and Mikel Arteta are thinking right now.

No longer does it feel like we are working without a plan, waiting to see who becomes available or is offered to us. We are determining our targets and going out and getting them.

Of course, it could be all for nothing as once against Manchester City will be outspending everyone.

There is already talk that they are looking to dump Matheus Nunes this summer. The former-Wolves midfielder was signed for £53m when they failed to secure Declan Rice. The fact the can discard £50m+ players like they are Uno cards highlights their financial doping.

We do not beat Manchester City by outspending them. We beat them through smarter recruitment.

Raising the ceiling and floor is good recruitment.

In other news, I see Lucas Paqueta could be in deep trouble having been charged with getting booked deliberately for “the improper purpose of affecting the betting market”. Could not happen to a nicer player at a nicer club.

West Ham got a little too big for their boots after a couple of seasons of finishing top 7, and then winning the Intertwobob Conference League thing. They then celebrated last year as they “did Arsenal out of £100m” whilst ceiling the only player that made them relevant.

Having pushed David Moyes out, they have recruited a Wolves reject. Their star midfielder is looking at a long, long ban and, with no Europe, the likes of Jarod Bowen and Mohamed Kudos might not be around much longer. I would take both at Arsenal as cover for Bukayo Saka. Their ceiling players are our raise the floor ones.

I would not be surprised if in 12-months time we are sitting here and West Ham and their god awful stadium have been relegated to the Championship.

But hey, you will always have that day you sold your star to Mikel Arteta.

Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend.

Keenos