Morning all. Games are certainly coming thick and fast right now.

I have a few opinion pieces in the drafts, but there just isn’t the time or space to post them.

With two games every seven days, by the time we discuss the game ahead, have a match report and discuss the last game, it only leaves us with a one blog a week that is not about a game.

I am not complaining. Lots of football makes it easy to decide what we blog about.

We are not ones to write a blog for the sake of it, or to join the transfer speculation train. So when we have so many games, at least we have natural, consistent, regular content.

The opinion pieces will probably stay in the drafts until the World Cup.

So 13 wins from 14 games as Mikel Arteta’s Big Red and White Machine roles on.

The run means Arteta now has the best win ratio of any permanent Arsenal manager, and justifies the board sticking by him when the going got tough 12 months ago.

The game against PSV taught us a few things.

The first is that we need some extra strength in depth out wide – one of the draft blogs outlines some options.

Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have been fantastic this season, but they can not be expected to keep going.

With Emile Smith Rowe out injured, it leaves us with Marquinhos, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah.

Marquinhos is still young and will run hot and cold. We should not really expect too much from him and he should be, at best, the 4th choice wide man.

The club have been publicly positive about Nelson in recent weeks. I think this is an attempt to build his confidence in the hope he might get his career back on track. But every time we have seen him this season he has looked below the standard required.

As for Nketiah, he showed against PSV that he is ineffectual out wide.

If Arteta has Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus in the same team, it surely has to be the Brazilian out wide and Englishman in the middle.

Don’t be surprised to see us recruit a winger on January to freshen us up.

We also learned that Albert Sambi Lokonga is no Thomas Partey – but then who is?

I still question whether Lokonga is a deep lying, defensive midfielder or whether he would be better suited playing further forward.

With Mohamed Elneny out injured, we do not really have another option for when we want to rest Partey, so Lokonga will have to play there.

He is playing solid, if unexceptional.

Lokonga can certainly do a job there against weaker sides, but I doubt he has it in him to become long term competition for Partey i the future.

We still need to sign cover for Partey and that will allow Lokonga to play in a more advanced position.

So Southampton away today.

Like Leeds United, these little away games are always tricky, especially after a European tie.

I can’t see Manchester City losing any of their 4 league games between now and the World Cup, so to stay ahead of them going into the break we need to keep winning.

We have that tricky trip to Chelsea on the horizon, so can not really afford to drop points against Southampton, Nottingham Forest or Wolves if we want to go into the WC top.

I feel if we are top of the league, momentum will keep us there. But if Man City overtake us, they could run away with it.

We are the only team to win away to Leeds and Brentford this season, so we can go into today’s game confident of our away form.

UTA.

Keenos

https://twitter.com/shewore/status/1583718559519494144?s=46&t=qPmgt-el2N7smVfZVzgtSQ

It does not seem too long ago that social media was awash with debate.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær at Manchester United
Frank Lampard at Chelsea
Mikel Arteta at Arsenal

With 13 wins in his first 14 games, Arteta now has the highest win ratio of any permanent Arsenal manager.

He already has an FA Cup winners medal in his cabinet and his side top the league.

Lampard meanwhile was sacked at Chelsea and is now at struggling Everton, whilst Solskjær was sacked by Manchester United and has not been seen or heard of since.

Arteta won the debate.

It was also not too long ago that people were talking about Lampard and Steven Gerrard as the “new breed” of “special managers”, whilst Arteta was hanging onto his job by a thread.

With Garrard sacked by Aston Villa, it means Arteta has now outlasted both England “legends”.

Another debate won by Arteta.

And it is not only Arteta that is winning the argument, it is Arsenal.

Our downfall was being predicted left, right and centre 18 months ago.

Pundits were predicting that Leciester City would usurp as as a Premier League powerhouse.

Arsenal sit top, Leicester City sit second bottom.

Leicester had a good run, financed by far-Eastern duty free, but Covid19 has killed their owners finances and they will likely soon join Blackburn Rovers as foremer Premier League winners in the Championship.

Form is temporary, class is permanent.

And back to Steven Gerrard’s former club.

Summer of 2021, Villa fans were getting above themselves after finishing 11th the previous season.

They had already taken our best keeper Emiliano “15 appearances in 10 years” Martinez the previous summer, and were on the verge of poaching our highest rated youngster, Emile Smith Rowe.

With their owners amongst the richest in the Premier League, they were a club moving forward whilst we were in a downward spiral.

The “Villa project” was clearly a more attractive one than Arteta’s process at Arsenal (despite us having just won the FA Cup). And it was proven in the fact they were poaching our top players at will, whilst rejecting Manchester City’s pursuit of Jack Grealish.

Not to mention they had beaten us to the signing of Emi Beendia and signed long term Arsenal target Leon Bailey (who we were linked with about 5 years previous).

In the end, Smith Rowe stayed and Grealish left.

The recruitment of Steven Gerrard meant that they have the manager who could pull in the big players – highlighted by the recruitment of Coutinho in January. The only way was up for them.

11 months on from Gerrard’s appointment, they sit just outside the relegation zone.

Bailey has shown why no top team wanted him Buendia why he has been relegated twice with Norwich, and Coutinho remains the most overatted player of the last 10-years.

17th in the table, Gerrard sacked, whilst Arsenal lead the way.

Like Leicester, I guess we can put the Arsenal v Aston Villa debate to bed – I am still unsure why there ever was one?

Finally, back to Arteta.

He dumped Mesut Ozil. He dumped Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Ozil is now warming the bench of some random Turkish team, barely getting a game due to his dicky back and lack of fitness, whilst Aubameyang was quickly dumped by Barcelona and his Chelsea career will go the same way this summer.

Whilst the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odergaard have provided us with the intensity that has driven us to the top of the league.

Like with Erik ten Hag and Cristiano Ronaldo, Mikel Arteta made it clear he wants players that will listen to him, learn from him, follow their instruction.

You often can not teach an old dog new tricks.

Ronaldo does not want to listen to ten Hag, Aubameyang and Ozil did not want to listen to Arteta.

It does not matter what you have achieved in the past, it is all about there here and now. And all 3 are dinosaurs of the modern game which is increasling becoming about team work ethic over individual brilliance.

Arteta has clearly won the debate over whether he was right or wrong to dump Aubameyang and Ozil.

W after W for Arteta, both literally and figuratively

We continue to move forward, whilst Solskjær, Lampard, Gerrard, Leicester City, Aston Villa, Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are being left behind, a distant blur in the wing mirrors.

UTA.

Keenos

https://twitter.com/shewore/status/1583718559519494144?s=46&t=qPmgt-el2N7smVfZVzgtSQ

Arsenal (0) 1 PSV Eindhoven (0) 0

Europa League, Group Stage Matchday 4 of 6

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Thursday, 20th October 2022. Kick-off time: 6.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Matt Turner; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney; Albert Sambi Lokonga, Granit Xhaka(c); Bukayo Saka, Fabio Vieira, Eddie Nketiah; Gabriel Jesus.

Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Thomas Partey, Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, William Saliba, Reiss Nelson, (Marcus Vinicius Oliveira Alencar) Marquinhos, Karl Hein, Catalin Cirjan, Khayon Edwards.

Scorers: Granit Xhaka (70 mins)

Yellow Cards: Kieran Tierney, Granit Xhaka, Martin Ødegaard

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 62%

Referee: Alejandro José Hernández Hernández (Spain)

Assistant Referees: José Naranjo (Spain), Diego Sanchez Rojo (Spain)

Fourth Official: Muñiz Ruiz (Spain)

UEFA Referee Observer: Kristinn Jakobsson (Iceland)

UEFA Delegate: Miroslaw Ryszka (Poland)

VAR Team at UEFA HQ, Nyon, Switzerland: VAR Juan Martínez Munuera (Spain); AVAR Ricardo De Burgos (Spain)

Attendance: circa 50,000

Tonight’s match at the Emirates is of course, the rescheduled second game from a month ago, and quite frankly, it is one that we need to win in order to continue our one hundred per cent record in Group A of this season’s Europa League. Our opponents are currently in second place in the table, and it is also interesting to note that the PSV Eindhoven coach is the former Manchester United player Ruud van Nistelrooy; if his team is as competitive as he was, then we should certainly see an interesting match tonight.

Within minutes of the kick-off, Eddie Nketiah’s right footed shot from outside the box missed to the right of the PSV Eindhoven goal, which led to the next ten minutes or so of pressure on the visitors’ goal with Kieran Tierney, Granit Xhaka and Eddie Nketiah getting very close to opening the scoring with superb shots on the PSV goal from open play. The match rocked backwards and forwards but overall at this point in the game, we were the dominant team, although when PSV Eindhoven came forward, they did threaten us although they were caught offside on several occasions, the most dangerous one being when Guus Til tried a through ball, but Xavi Simons was caught offside, thankfully. Nine minutes before the half-time break, Bukayo Saka crossed the ball (following a corner) into the visitors’ penalty area, finding Gabriel, who had an attempt to score from a very close range, but narrowly missed the goal unfortunately. With five minutes left before the break, Graniti Xhaka won a free kick in the PSV half, and although his through ball found Fabio Vieira, his left-footed shot went agonisingly wide. In injury time, Granit Xhaka was booked for a petulant tackle on an opponent, which was a shame really; it also meant that we went into the break honours even.

The second half started rather sluggishly, but livened up seven minutes into the half when Bukayo Saka set up Gabriel Jesus, whose strong left-footed shot from the centre of the box was saved in the centre of the goal. The visitors came back at us, with an excellent Xavi Simons effort from the centre of the box which went high and wide to the right, and almost immediately from Matt Turner’s goal kick, Gabriel Jesus grabbed the ball, and got it to Bukayo Saka, but the goalie managed to get his hand to the effort somehow. PSV Eindhoven started to get frustrated, so much so that Érick Gutiérrez was booked for a nasty challenge, which merely served our desire to win this match. Granit Xhaka, Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus were lining up to take pot shots by this time, and although the visitors tried to hold us up by committing fouls, it seemed inevitable that we would score, and score soon as well. Mikel Arteta made a double substitution with Thomas Partey and Martin Ødegaard replacing Fábio Vieira and Albert Sambi Lokonga in order to push forward and get a goal, and sure enough with twenty minutes of the match remaining, utilising a pass from Takehiro Tomiyasu, Granit Xhaka’s right-footed shot from the centre of the box beat the goalkeeper and ended up in the bottom left corner of the net to give us the lead in this match at last. In order to consolidate our lead, two more substitutions were made when Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Jesus were replaced by Ben White and Gabriel Martinelli to add yet more spark to the side. Martin Ødegaard and Gabriel Martinelli linked up well, with the latter being unlucky to score with eleven minutes of the game remaining, and both Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah were desperately unlucky not to score as the match entered its last five minutes. Reiss Nelson replaceds Bukayo Saka, and a couple of minutes later, both Martin Ødegaard and Kieran Tierney were given yellow cards for fouls which were borne out of frustration more than anything else. After an excellent Eddie Nketiah shot from the centre of the box which was blocked by a PSV defender, the whistle blew for the end of the match, and our unbeaten record remained intact.

It was not one of the great matches, but we kept our record, and if we get a point from next week’s return leg in Eindhoven, then we proceed to the last sixteen of this competition as group winners which is the most important thing of all. It is to be recalled, with regards to this match that Eddie Nketiah had six of our twenty-five efforts on goal, failing to hit the target once, whilst Granit Xhaka missed a certain goal on his favoured left foot from an arguably easier position in the first half than the chance he scored with in the second half. Bukayo Saka saw two powerful efforts superbly repelled by the PSV goalkeeper, whilst Gabriel Jesus was particularly unlucky in his pursuit of a goal. But the bottom line of it all, is that we won, and we proceed in this competition.

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: Southampton at St. Mary’s Stadum on Sunday, 23rd October at 2.00pm (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

Have you checked out our #Arsenal bar paraphernalia area yet? #AFC #arspsvhttps://t.co/lBkFuWS5xa pic.twitter.com/FNKkutVQJ6

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) October 20, 2022