Bournemouth away.

The injuries are piling up for The Arsenal with Thomas Partey, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Fabio Vieira and Jurrien Timber all missing training this week due to issues.

Eight players injured is a concern this early in the season, and questions have been asked of our conditioning. But Arsenal are not the only ones with a bit of an injury crisis.

There are 127 players currently listed as injured, an average of 6.35 players per club. So our 8 players out is only a smidgen above the average.

I do wonder why there are so many injuries so early in the season.

Is it the American pitches that many clubs did pre-season on? Is it the shorter summer break due to last winters World Cup and the very late international fixtures that saw players still playing in mid June? Is it the extra injury time players are now playing? Or is it jusr a coincidence? I am sure the Twitter experts amongst you will have your opinion.

Bournemouth have 6 players out, so for me, injuries is not really an excuse if we fail to win today.

Our injuries do give Mikel Arteta a headache as to who starts today.

To build our expected starting XI, you are best off starting with those regulars that are fully fit: David Raya, Ben White, Gabriel, Olexsandr Zinchenko, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Jesus. Those 6 will be joined by Eddie Nketiah and Kai Havertz.

Some of Arteta’s problems might be solved if Vieira and Saliba shake off their knocks.

On the pair, Arteta said yesterday:  ‘William had a knock, and Fabio (Vieira) wasn’t involved in the last game, so we have to assess them today to see how they are.’

If both pass the fitness test, then I would expect to see:

Raya
White Saliba Gabriel Zinchenko
Jorginho
Vieira Odegaard Havertz Jesus
Nketiah

If they are both ruled out, that is when the headaches begin for Arteta.

Starting with Saliba, Arteta’s best option may be to move Ben White into centre back and play Takehiro Tomiyasu at right back. I am sure this would have been the plan pre-season when we opted not to sign another central defender.

I have just remembered White was wide and Tomi central mid-week against Bournemouth so Arteta will probably opt for that.

If Vieira is out injured, it will probably be either Reiss Nelson or Emile Smith Rowe that comes in. Both played v Brentford and the current injury issues shows how important it is to give these fringe players game time in England’s 3rd competition.

Another concern for Arteta is what game changers he has on the bench. He has recently spoken about having “game finishers” on the bench – players held back who can come on with 30 minutes to go and make a difference whether we are attacking or defending a lead.

Arteta might opt to leave Nketiah on the bench and play Jesus through the middle. The wingers then being both Smith Rowe and Nelson.

There is also a crazy thought that Jakub Kiwior might go into left back, Zinchenko into midfield and Havertz on the bench. That will allow Arteta to call on both Havertz and Nketiah for that final 30 minutes.

I am a rugby man, so I get the finishers ideology made famous by Eddie Jones. But I would be concerned if keeping a couple of players back weakens us too much. With so many injuries, we are best off playing our strongest XI and going hard and fast. Try and win the game inside 60 minutes and then we can make some subs to protect players for Tuesday.

Predicted starting XI:

Raya
White Tomiyasu Gabriel Zinchenko
Jorginho
Nelson Odegaard Havertz Jesus
Nketiah

Up The Arsenal

Keenos

https://twitter.com/SheWore/status/1708004347966091576

Over the weekend, a question was posed in a WhatsApp group I am in: By asking to sign David Raya, has Mikel Arteta created a problem we did not need?

Before I share my opinion, spend a couple of minutes listening to what Thierry Henry has to say on the matter. You will struggle to disagree with the great man…

Spot on from Thierry pic.twitter.com/f1p1Mx05Bf

— 🎗 ///SHE WORE/// 🎗 (@SheWore) September 23, 2023

Henry is absolutely spot on with his assessment. So if you want, stop reading the blog now and just share that tweet. But I thought I would add my add my tuppence worth…

History repeating itself

We signed Aaron Ramsdale in August 2021. Many expected him to be 2nd choice keeper behind Bernd Leno following Emiliano Martinez’s departure.

Ramsdale would sit on the bench for 2 games before making his club debut in the League Cup. Following the first international break of the season, the Englishman would become Arsenal’s number one. By the end of the season Leno would depart for Fulham.

David Raya would spend the first 3 games of his Arsenal career warming the bench and then, following the first internal break of the season, would take the number one shirt from Ramsdale.

Mikel Arteta felt that Ramsdale was better suited to the way he wanted to play than Leno, and was proved correct. If he now thinks that Raya is a level above Ramsdale, that is something we should support.

Manchester City

Sometimes it feels like we are imitating Manchester City. Pep Guardiola makes a move, and then Arteta replicates it.

Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City in the summer of 2016. One of his first moves was to replace popular keeper Joe Hart with Barcelona number one Claudio Bravo – the Chilean cost City £17m.

The feeling was the Hart’s strength was not with the ball at his feet and he was not suited to the sweeper-keeper role that Guardiola liked to use – his keepers at Barcelona and Bayern Munich had been Victor Valdes and Manuel Nueur.

Guardiola considered Bravo to be more suitable to his preferred style of play in the same way that Arteta looked to upgrade Leno with Ramsdale.

One year after signing Bravo, Guardiola bought in Ederson.

The Brazilian was 24-years-old and had just a handful of seasons playing in the Portuguese Primeira Liga. He had only established himself as Benfica’s number one the previous year. Ederson had not yet been capped for Brazil when he joined City.

Guardiola almost immediately made Ederson hus number one, with the more experienced Bravo becoming number two.

City had finished the 2016 season in 3rd. Guardiola clearly felt that Ederson could take his team from all-rans to Champions. They won the 2017/18 Premier League title.

As Henry says, if Arteta believes that Raya takes us to the enxt level, than that is a decision we should support.

It worked for City, will it work for Arsenal?

Ramsdale is likeable

One of the issues is that Aaron Ramsdale is a likeable character.

Those who think Arteta has created a problem often give “Ramsdale does not deserve to be second choice”. They do not want to see him relegated to 2nd choice or depart at the end of the season.

What I would say is the ball is now in Ramsdale’s court as to where his career goes from here.

Henry talks about Jamie Carragher, and that everytime Liverpool bought a new centre back in it was a threat to Carra’s position. Each time, Carragher worked hard in training, improved, and retained or regained his place.

Ramsdale will have to work very hard in training and, when given the opportunity he will have to take it with both hands.

The alternative is Ramsdale does what Martinez did. He sulks and makes it clear that if he is not the first choice keeper he wants out. His departure from Arsenal will be his choice and his choice only.

The final option is that he decides he would rather be at a top club as second choice, then follow in Martinez’s footsteps and take a step down to a lower level to play regular football.

When Ederson came in, Bravo remained as 2nd choice for 3 seasons, playing 31 games. He won more than he would have had he departed.

But Bravo was 33-years-old at that point. Ramsdale is just 25.

Ramsdale will remain at Arsenal as 2nd choice for this season. It will then be down to him next summer whether he wants to stay as 2nd choice, fight for his place or seek first team football elsewhere.

Are goalkeepers different?

Any other position is fine but for me goalkeepers are different was the response when I pointed out that these questions are not asked elsewhre in the pitch.

As Henry said in the above video, you bring in a better striker than what you have, everyone embraces the competition rather than calls it out as a problem.

I remember when we signed Ian Wright whilst had Kevin Campbell coming through at the club. It was seen as a great move.

We signed Thierry himself when we already had Kanu and Dennis Bergkamp at the club, and that day before Henry signed we had recruited World Cup top scorer Davor Suker. Why recruit a failed French winger strugglng in Italy?

A year later, we added Ligue 1 top scorer Sylvain Wiltord to the ranks. Henry, Bergkamp, Kanu, Wiltord. 4 top strikers for 2 positions. No one complained then about Wenger creating a problem for himself.

Likewise, this summer we signed Declan Rice.

Thomas Partey was one of the best defensive midfielders in the league last season, but that did not stop the club spending £105m on Declan Rice.

When we signed Rice, no one saw it as causing a problem, or felt sorry for Partey. It was seen as signing a player better than what we had, and if Partey wanted to play he had to sort out his fitness and fight for his spot. The competition was considered a good thing.

Yes, I get the goalkeepers tend not to be rotated. They rarely need need to rested and it is highly unlikely they will be substituted after 60 minutes and a game won (Arteta’s quotes on this will be addressed another day!)

Like Henry, I do not think Raya has been signed to be rotated with Ramsdale. I think he is now our first choice keeper.

When did buying better than what you have create a problem? It is how you make your team better, stronger.

Final thoughts

In 1990, George Graham signed David Andrew Seaman from Queens Park Rangers. The highly popular Anfield hero John Lukic departed for Leeds United.

At the time, Graham was heavily criticised by fans for letting Lukic go – Seaman had been Lukic’s understudy at Leeds in his much younger days before being sold to fourth tier Peterborough United.

In an interview, Graham said: “I still think John Lukic is one of the best keepers in the country; I just think David Seaman is the best.”

Arsenal would go on to win the title in Seaman’s first season for the club, with Big Dave playing all 38 games. We would lose just once and concede a record low 18 league goals.

Seaman would go on to be Arsenal and England’s number one for the next decade, playing 564 times for us. George Graham would be proved right.

Keenos

We continue to grow our Arsenal inspired shin pads collection…

On the store are some fantastic bespoke artwork shin pads, as well as personalisable kit shin pads

NINE designs now available!! These come in 4 sizes so perfect for children and adults!https://t.co/K0MAsBNbcj pic.twitter.com/ahkJ81wdnf

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) September 22, 2023

Brentford (0) 0 Arsenal (1) 1

Carabao Cup (EFL Cup) Third Round

GTech Community Stadium, 166 Lionel Road South, Brentford TW8 0RU

Wednesday, 27th September 2023. Kick-off time: 7.45pm

(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Magalhães, Ben White, Jakob Kiwior; Kai Havertz, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho (c), Emile Smith-Rowe; Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Charles Sagoe Jr.

Substitutes: Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Jesus, Cédric Soares, Mohamed Elneny, Karl Hein, Oleksandr Zinchenko, James Lannin-Sweet, Amario Cozier-Duberry, Reuell Walters.

Scorers: Reiss Nelson (8 mins)

Yellow Cards: Ben White, Eddie Nketiah

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 60%

Referee: Peter Bankes

Assistant Referees: Harry Lennard, Nick Hopton

Fourth Official: John Busby

Attendance: 16,688

In our team tonight, Aaron Ramsdale has returned in goal, and it is heartening to see Emile Smith-Rowe getting a place in the starting eleven as well, which is his first game since since May 2022. There is also a debut for 19-year-old forward Charles Sagoe Jr. too. For this evening’s match, only Ben White, Gabriel and Eddie Nketiah retain their places in the team from the last Sunday’s two-all draw with Tottenham Hotspur. Of the others that played in the local derby match, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leonardo Trossard are all rested for this match. By the way, there is no VAR in use for Carabao Cup matches until the semi-finals.

Within a minute of the start, Reiss Nelson won a free-kick for a foul in our half, and after a very dull start, it only took eight minutes for us to take the lead from Reiss Nelson, with a superb right-footed shot from the centre of the penalty area to the bottom right corner after some bad mistakes by the Brentford defenders. We then started to take the game to the home side, putting pressure on their defence, trying to grab a second goal as soon as we can.

The home side tried to catch us on the break, but our defenders were too quick for their strikers, catching Yoane Wissa offside. We have the majority of possession at this point in the game, and although we are very confident on the ball, Brentford will have their moments and are dangerous.

On the twenty-fourth minute, Emile Smith-Rowe was desperately unlucky not to score, when his left-footed shot from the centre of the penalty area was blocked by a Bees’ defender. The home side had a chance to score when Bryan Mbeumo crossed the ball for Yoane Wissa to head the ball goalbound, but it was successfully blocked.

Just after the half hour mark, Emile Smith-Rowe almost doubled our lead after moving unmarked into the Brentford penalty area, but goalie Mark Flekken stuck out his foot to save what should have been a certain goal.

The home side tried to get through our defence with a Christian Nørgaard through ball to Yoane Wissa but it went wide of Aaron Ramsdale’s goal, and at the other end a minute or so later, Reiss Nelson provided Kai Havertz with a fabulous chance to score, but his right-footed shot was blocked by a Brentford defender, running back to cover his goalkeeper. Ben White received the first yellow card of the night for a silly incident, and as the half wound down towards the break, we are in complete control overall. 

The second half got underway, and although Kai Havertz gave away a free-kick a minute or so after the restart, it was a fairly sluggish start from both teams. However, it was the home side who had the early chances to score through Yoane Wissa again, but he was caught offside, fortunately.

A few minutes later, following a superb Jakub Kiwior pass, Eddie Nketiah almost scored our second goal with a superb right-footed shot from outside the penalty area, that went just wide of the Brentford post. Ten minutes after the restart, Eddie Nketiah received our second yellow card of the evening for a badly timed foul, and the home side managed to get through our defence a few minutes later when Christian Nørgaard placed the ball into the path of Frank Onyeka, whose strong shot went thankfully wide of Aaron Ramsdale’s post.

On the hour, Ben White did some sterling work in order to place the ball into the path of Eddie Nketiah, whose left-footed shot from just outside the penalty area was somehow blocked by a Brentford defender.

The home side were desperate to grab an equaliser with some efforts from Aaron Hickey and Yoane Wissa whose effort was pushed onto the post by Aaron Ramsdale, and went back out into play, which was a close shave for us.

With twenty minutes of the match remaining, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko replaced young Charles Sagoe Jr. and Ben White to bring fresh legs onto the pitch, and just a minute later, Kai Havertz passed a superb ball to Reiss Nelson, whose left-footed shot from outside the penalty area hit the post and went behind for a goal-kick. So close.

Gabriel Jesus then unselfishingly placed a beautiful through ball to Eddie Nketiah, whose shot was easily picked up in the centre of the penalty area by the goalkeeper.

The home side somehow started to bring the play to us, and had several good chances to score, but all of them were saved by Aaron Ramsdale, who has saved us tonight at times. With eight minutes remaining, Mikel Arteta made two more substitutions, when Martin Ødegaard and Mohamed Elneny replaced Emile Smith-Rowe and Reiss Nelson to try and stabilise things.

Mathias Jorgensen did get the ball into our net, but thankfully the goal was cancelled out due to offside; this merely spurred the home side onwards, when they had several attempts to score, the best of them coming from Keane Lewis-Potter, but their efforts were saved by Aaron Ramsdale.

Four minutes from the end of the game, Oleksandr Zinchenko passed the ball to Mohamed Elneny, but his shot went wide of the post. Cédric Soares replaced Eddie Nketiah with three minutes of the game remaining, and in injury time, a Martin Ødegaard shot was blocked easily by the Brentford defence.

Despite some more attempts by both teams, we ran out one-nil winners on the night. All in all, we did enough to win this match tonight. Aaron Ramsdale was superb in goal for us, saving a certain goal on several occasions.

It was very much a game of two halves; we were dominant in the first half, whilst the home side were much improved in the second half, but not enough to grab an equaliser against us. A good night all round, chaps.

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: AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, 30th September at 3.00pm (Premier 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

We continue to grow our Arsenal inspired shin pads collection…

On the store are some fantastic bespoke artwork shin pads, as well as personalisable kit shin pads

NINE designs now available!! These come in 4 sizes so perfect for children and adults!https://t.co/K0MAsBNbcj pic.twitter.com/ahkJ81wdnf

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) September 22, 2023