Did you know that teams receive around £2.4million for every Champions League game they win? Or in European terms, €2.8m per win. And that is what is on the line tonight.
Following our exploits this season, we have already guaranteed ourselves over €76 million, broken down as:
Tonights game is a dead rubber for both teams, with Arsenal guaranteed to go through top and our opponents PSV Eindhoven guaranteed 2nd place. It is very rare in Champions League football where neither team has nothing to play for. Nothing except money.
An additional €2.8m is not to be sniffed at. And due to the group situation I very much doubt that Mikel Arteta will “put out the kids” as some are requesting. But that also does not mean we will play our strongest possible XI.
Arteta will look to get the balance right in playing a strong enough team to win the game, but without risking his biggest stars. He will not see today as a complete write off due to the money that is on the line.
You also have to factor in that this is not the 2000’s any more when our “2nd string” was up and coming youngsters. Our squad is now filled with 25 internationals and it is more important that we give those squad players game time to keep them match ready.
That will mean we will probably see Mohamed Elneny and Jorginho in midfield rather than Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri.
I imagine Aaron Ramsdale will be given a chance in goal, even though his old man (up to his old trickets at Aston Villa again), has risks souring his time at the club.
The defence is an interesting one as we only have 5 fit defenders – Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwor and Cedric Soares.
With both Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu out for the forseeable, I think Arteta will go with Soares and Kiwor at full back with Saliba and Gabriel in the middle.
Elneny and Jorginho will be joined in midfield by Kai Havertz.
Fábio Vieira and Thomas Partey are both out until 2024, and Emile Smith Rowe is only just back in full training. With an eye on Brighton (Brighton’s Europa League group is still live), Martin Odegaard might be given a little break.
If Odegaard does play, expect it to be for Elneny.
The front 3 will probably be Leandro Trossard, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson, although do I have a feeling he might start Gabriel Jesus on the left.
So whilst it will not be our strongest XI, it will still be a team full of experience, talent and international caps.
Youngsters who might have travelled will be hoping Arsenal are 4-0 up on 60 minutes and then they will get some game time.
With PSV guaranteed that second spot and unable to get any better, I expect them to do similar to us and put out a fairly strong team, mixed in with 2nd string players.
At the final whistle, the winners should be presented with one of those big fake cheques, as that is all we are playing for tonight.
I usually love a Brum away day. An hour and 20 on the train and a few decent boozers in and around the stadium. I do not even mind then having to get another train to the slums that Villa, WBA or Birmingham reside in. It is always a decent trip.
The writing was on the wall before we even left Euston as they train we were on got cancelled. A complete lack of communication from West Midlands Railway meant no-one knew what was going on.
It was only 20 minutes after our scheduled departure that we heard from the train driver as they announced the train was cancelled and what platform the next one was leaving from. And then that train was delayed…
The last time I had suffered such a bad departure from Euston was a few years back when we played Manchester City. All trains were cancelled due to something at Watford and then, just as we were about to go to the Royal George, the line re-opened. We arrived into the ground 10-minutes late and were 4-0 down at half time.
Back to Saturday…
As we approached Northampton, we were informed that we would have to change trains to another that was awaiting our arrival. A train full of passengers were then met with an already packed train waiting for us due to the previous Northampton to Birmingham train being cancelled. And things only got busy as we went through Coventry and beyond and discovered more trains ahead of us had been cancelled.
Eventually we got into Birmingham for a quick couple of pints before heading to Witton.
What then followed was a fairly average Arsenal performance against a fairly unimpressive Aston Villa.
They are brilliant at home, and Villa Park is certainly a lot louder now than it was a few years back when they were battling relegation playing in front of a stadium that was 20% empty.
Like many clubs, there recent “success” has seen a return of fans that abondoned them during the dark days. The breed of fan that sing about winning a European Cup when things are good, and then go to the Christmas market instead when things turn.
And things will turn at Villa.
It will not take too much for someone like Emi Martinez to go from cult hero to hated. His constant desire to time waste at every opportunity will soon grate for Villa fans. Likewise, their fickle fans will soon turn on Unai Emery the moment they go on a bad run. I would not be surprised if Graham Potter or Eddie Howe is managing them in 18-months time.
They are very much like Newcastle. A good few months has gone to their heads and now they think they are a top club again. Newcastle were great season. This seaosn they are 7th (at the time of writing), and fans are beginning to call for Eddie Howe’s head and demanding an upgrade on “best in the world” Nick Pope. Villa will be the same in a year.
So we lost the game, and once again the refereeing performance has proved Mikel Arteta and Arsenal right. Officiating in this country is not good enoug,
The elbow on Eddie Nketiah, the clear and obvious penalty, and the wrongly disallowed goal. Arteta was sitting in the stands after recieiving 3-yellow cards, and has basically been silences by the Premier League and PGMOL who have made it very clear that their officials are above criticism.
So we head home feeling a little down, but at least we will be back in London by midnight. Or so we thought.
In a repeat of what happened on the way to the game, the train we were on was cancelled 45 minutes after its scheduled departure. Again, West Midlands Railway failed to let anyone know anything until the decision was made to cancel the train. Apparantly it was due to a lack of guards…
Those that managed to get on the (very, very busy) train before us ended up having to change 4 times, turning a 2 hour return journey into a 3 and a half hour hell ride. But they were the lucky ones.
With our train cancelled and no more leaving for London, the train company had to put on cabs and coaches to get us home. It is a 10pm on Saturday night in Birmingham. Not an easy task.
The first cabs started arriving at around 11:30, but it was ones and twos, not a fleet. And no sign of a coach. A quick shout out to the New Street concourse staff who were all polite and did a great job letting us know what they knew. All apologetic on how long things were taking.
One single coach then arrived at shortly after midnight that 50 folks then jumped onto, still leaving loads of us left. Luckily it was not too cold or wet.
Being the gentleman I am, I was at the back of the queue. Happy to let others got first. Eventually I got one of the last taxis at around 2.30am, getting back into Euston at 4.30 on Sunday morning.
Getting to Euston would not be the end of my journey. It would be another hour, two more trains and taxi before I would walk through my door in Loughton.
Despite the travels and tribulations, I finally got into my bed at around 5.30m in the morning. Tired, defeated, but at least I did not live in Birmingham!
Saturday was just our 2nd defeat of the season. Newcastle (oddly enough, Newcastle also had huge train issues!) and Aston Villa are not easy to go. And made tougher when we face such poor referee’s. 2nd in the league. We are in this title race.
Saturday, 9th December 2023. Kick-off time: 5.30pm
(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli.
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Michael Salisbury; AVAR Scott Ledger
Attendance: c.42,000
Mikel Arteta has picked up his third booking of the season celebrating Declan Rice’s winner at Kenilworth Road last Tuesday and will have to watch today’s match against Aston Villa from the stands, which is ridiculous. On the other hand, our captain Martin Ødegaard is set to make his one hundredth Premier League appearance at Villa Park. There is only one change from the Tuesday match against Luton Town, and that is Oleksandr Zinchenko, who is preferred at left-back with Jakub Kiwior dropping to the substitute’s bench.
Straight from the kick-off, the home side came right out of the blocks at us, and although we seemed to barely get out of our half, we did manage to break out with Gabriel Martinelli running down the left wing and crossing the ball for Bukayo Saka, but he was just unable to connect with the ball. However, after just seven minutes, we were a goal down when Villa captain John McGinn turned and shot the ball past David Raya to open the scoring, so early in the match. The goal certainly unbalanced us, with the home side getting the bit between their teeth and pressurising us back into our own half, actively looking for that elusive second goal of the game. Just after a quarter of an hour, Kai Havertz dispossessed Boubacar Kamara, slotted the ball towards Bukayo Saka, whose left-footed shot was blocked by the Villa defence. Shortly afterwards, Bukayo Saka perfectly timed his run to beat the Aston Villa offside trap to go around former Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, but the angle was far too tight and the home side defenders cleared his attempted pullback, which was a shame, as it was a great effort. Oleksandr Zinchenko received a yellow card for pulling the shirt of Youri Tielemans, and we started to play with purpose and desire in the Villa half looking for that elusive equaliser. Declan Rice grabbed the ball from John McGinn, passed the ball neatly to Bukayo Saka, but his curling effort was athletically pushed away by the Villa goalie. Ten minutes before the break, Martin Ødegaard let a beautiful ball from Bukayo Saka run across him, he took a delicate touch to balance himself and hit a low, strong shot which went inches past the Villa post, and then Gabriel Martinelli deftly beat the Villa offside trap, and neatly chipped the ball over Emiliano Martinez but Diego Carlos managed to run back and clear the danger. So close. We were closing in hard on the Villa defence, as a lovely touch from Gabriel Jesus set up Martin Ødegaard, who pushed the ball into space before shooting low and hard towards the bottom corner of the net, but the Villa goalie was there on hand to stop a possible equaliser. A couple of minutes before half-time, a quick shot from Gabriel Jesus brought out a reflex save from Emiliano Martinez. During the two minutes injury time, Gabriel Martinelli hit a shot over the Villa crossbar, and despite some great chances, we went into the hiatus a goal down.
The home side started the second half proceedings, and almost immediately we had a penalty appeal turned down by both the referee and VAR officials when Gabriel Jesus went to ground after a poor tackle. We were applying pressure to the Villa defence, and were pinning Villa down in their own half. They could not get out, and we could not score at that present moment in time. Stalemate. However, we won a free-kick in a promising position on the right wing when Lucas Digne pulled Bukayo Saka back by his shorts, but the subsequent set-piece went nowhere. After a lovely movement, our captain had a good chance to score, but his attempt went wide of the mark, sadly. Lucas Digne smacked a sweet low strike at the Arsenal goal, drawing a good save from David Raya. Bukayo Saka got the ball into the net just after the hour, but it was cancelled out for an offside infringement. We were dominating the second half, but just could not find the right comnination to undo the Villa defence, although we had to be careful as we almost got caught by a “smash’n’grab” movement by the home side when Moussa Diaby found a lot of space out on the right and picked out Ollie Watkins in the middle of the pitch, but fortunately his weak shot was easily gathered up by David Raya. Leandro Trossard replaced Gabriel Martinelli with twenty minutes of the match remaining, and after John McGinn received a yellow card for an appalling tackle on our captain, Declan Rice received our second yellow card of the game for a silly tackle. Eddie Nketiah replaced Gabriel Jesus as the match entered the last ten minutes of the contest, and then Leandro Trossard went down to the floor after a tussle with Matty Cash, but was soon able to return to action shortly afterwards. After a clash between Diego Carlos and Eddie Nketiah, literally on the ninetieth minute, Kai Havertz got the ball in the Villa net, but after a consultation with the VAR officials, the goal was cancelled out, sadly. In the first minute of injury time, Oleksandr Zinchenko was replaced by Reiss Nelson, and almost immediately we were put under pressure by the Villa forwards, but thankfully we managed to keep the ball away from David Raya. We continued to put pressure on the home side, but unfortunately, it was not to be our day in Birmingham.
Okay, there were times when we were not firing on all cylinders in the first half, but after half-time, we surely did enough to grab a draw at Villa Park, despite a hotly disputed penalty appeal and incredibly, a poor decision by the match officials in denying us an equaliser on the ninetieth minute. One of those days, sadly, on another day we would have done enough to draw, or even win, but it was not to be, unfortunately. But we are still in second place behind current leaders Liverpool with just a mere point separating the two clubs.
Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: PSV Eindhoven at Phillips Stadion on Tuesday, 12th December at 5.45pm(Champions League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon
Loads of Arsenal Christmas present ideas on the store!
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 