Morning!

Today Arsenal look to make it 3 wins from 3 with a trip to Bournemouth.

Whilst we have had a favourable start, it can not be ignored that two of our first three fixtures would have been away.

You can only beat what is in-front of you and our Champions League chasing competitors will drop points to the likes of Leicester City and Crystal Palace this season – Liverpool have already dropped to Palace and Fulham, Manchester United to Brentford and Brighton.

A bit of a horrible trip for away fans today. Bournemouth is not one of the most pleasant places to go.

The ground is not actually in Bournemouth but in the next hamlet over. that means (like Brighton) you have to get the train into Bournemouth before getting either another train, bus or cab to the ground.

And that is if the trains are running – which this Saturday they are not due to train strikers.

Sorting transport for away days is a real headache these days.

I would expect us to put out that same starting XI as the opening two games of the season.

We are currently playing just once a week so there is no need to change a winning formula.

At some point, Mikel Arteta will have to decide when to re-intergrate Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu back into the starting XI. But as it stands Ben White and Olexsandr Zinchenko do not deserve to lose their places.

Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira continued their comebacks from injury with 45 minutes against Swansea for the youth team at the weekend. Both looked good and sharp – I expect them both to be on the bench today.

Cedric Soares also played well in the youth game.

He was clearly there to try and offer Vieira support. He did his job professionally.

On Soares, by now many of you would have seen every episode of All or Nothing.

He was involved in a flash point with Alexander Lacazette, taking a dislike to the Frenchman taking his frustrations out on a youth team player.

Sometimes it is not just what a player offers on the pitch that is important to a squad but also what they offer away from it.

Cedric is clearly a well liked, morally grounded, humble player. He is clearly one of the leaders off the pitch, even if he is not a regulary starter on.

The last bit of Arsenal news floating around right now is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The former Arsenal player looks to be set to join Chelsea in a big money move.

This has led to the usual boo boys complaining that we let him go for free.

It ignores the fact that in January, no-one but Barcelona was in for a player that we were desperate to get rid of. That gives us a weak negoatiating position.

Chelsea are desperate for a striker and their transfer policy this summer has been to just ‘pay the asking price’. Whilst some might commend that policy, not negotiating will hurt you further down the line.

Due to this strategy, it has led Leicester City to ask for crazy money for Wesley Fofana. Chelsea will eventually pay the money.

They are overpaying for a lot of players and it will damage both their finances and reputation in the future. It is what happens when the man running your transfers (Todd Boehly) has no idea about football.

Chelsea are quickly becoming one of the worst run clubs in England. It will not be long until they are in a similar situation as Manchester United – too many ageing, underperforming, overpaid players on their books.

Enjoy your Saturday.

Keenos

Our 2nd Arsenal set of beer mats! Anyone who bought the 1st set, these make another great additionhttps://t.co/9VMCO5tLP8 pic.twitter.com/p9jdZMUbc5

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) August 18, 2022

Yesterday I thought I would sort out my train tickets for Leeds United and Southampton.

Normally train tickets go on sale 3 months before a game, and as long as you buy around 2 months ahead you can take advantage of Advanced ticket prices. This can save a home and awya footbal lfan like myself hundreds over the course of the season.

But when I was searching the journeys on National Rail I was not met with positive news. Train tickets were still no on sale.

For Leeds, National Rail was showing tickets released up to and including the first week of October.

Further investigation showed that due to the ongoing train strikes across the network, many train companies are not putting out their timetable 3 months ahead of schedule. Some are releasing train times (and ticket costs) just a week ahead of schedule.

A pal of mine, needing to go up North for a meeting next week, is still waiting for the timetable to be announced so that he can purchase the train tickets.

And you can bet that the Advanced tickets will not be available due to how close it is to departure date – even though he was unable to buy earlier.

Away travel can already be a headache.

We have to wait before Sky / BT Sports decide what fixutres they want to move before we can purchase our tickets. This can often lead us to miss out on the Advanced tickets.

And when the TV companies do make this decision, they do not care about the match going fans.

Games will be re-arranged to Sunday’s when engineering works are scheduled (and therefore replacement bus services). Or to late Saturday kick-offs with no chances of trains home.

The move of the Sunday 4pm KO to 4:30 showed that the TV companies (nor Premier League who agreed the deal) actually care about match going fans. All the stuff post Super League was just PR.

It might only seem like half an hour, but for some games (Liverpool away, I am looking at you) that half an hour can be the difference between getting the last train home and there being no train home.

The change was made for the TV audiences. so that they can watch post-reaction and interviews from the 2pm KO ahead of the next game. Those of us at the game really do not care what Graeme Souness has to say.

In recent years, we have also had a few games moved at very, very late notice making pre-bought train tickets redundant.

And I am one of the luck ones.

Being a former away scheme member, I know I am gauranteed a ticket for every away day meaning that I can buy ahead of time.

For those on less credits, they take a huge risk buying train tickets with no gaurantee of a match ticket. This drives the cost up even more.

Sometimes organising an away day feels like a military exercise.

And the lack of advanced timetables is now just further adding to our headaches.

I sometimes wonder why I still do it – and I have already cut back from going every game home and away since Covid.

Life is easy for fans who just roll over in bed, turn their lap top on, watch the game and then go back to sleep.

Keenos

Our new Gabriel Jesus mug #Arsenal #ArsenalFC #AFChttps://t.co/Fq8rpqMpCz pic.twitter.com/jCpSwyFhUL

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) August 15, 2022

Callum Hudson-Odoi

It was 3 and a half years ago that Callum Hudson-Odoi was subject of a huge bid from Bayern Munich.

CHO was one of the hottest properties in Europe and, following Munich’s very public pursuit, he handed in a transfer request.

Munich returned in the summer of 2019 with more bids but eventually CHO signed a new mamouth contract reportedly in excess of £100k a week.

The figures being floated about were huge considering that in the summer of 2019, CHO was 18-years-old and had started just 4 Premier League games.

Despite the next season Chelsea having a transfer embargo, CHO failed to make the impact that either Reece James or Mason Mount did – just 7 Premier League starts and 852 minutes played.

Since then his career has stuttered.

Thomas Tuchel clearly does not fancy him, having tried and failed to convert him into a right wing back. Whilst a run of injuries have also affected his progress.

Still just 21-years-old, Arsenal have recently been linked with move for him. Is it one that we should make?

I have two concerns about us recruiting CHO.

The first is the nature of the deal – Chelsea seem to prefer a loan deal.

Whilst cover and competition for Bukayo Saka is something we need to get in before the end of the season, a loan for CHO would merely be short term cover.

He fails to live up to his early hype, we have a player that is not good enough. He does fulfil that potential then all we have succeeded in doing is being a finishing school for Chelsea players.

Secondly, those injuries – and specifically the Achilles problems – are a cause of concern.

He reptured his Achilles back in 2019 which kept him on the sidelines for 6 months. Then back end of last season more problems arose which led him to miss another 14 games.

Have those problems robbed him of his explosive pace? Is he still the same player as he was those years ago?

Or will he end up another Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain? A clearly talented player that will forever be returning from his latest injury.

I would not want a loan deal, and I would not want us to be tying up big money in a player with such a poor injury record.

We have worked hard to get rid of a lot of players in recent transfer windows. To then give a 5-year deal to someone with such a questionable record would be poor management.

For me, Callum Hudson-Odoi should be someone we should avoid.

Moises Caicedo

The second player we have been linked with this summer is Brighton’s Moises Caicedo.

Caicedo was signed by the South-coast team 18 months ago. He spent the last season on loan in Belgium.

Just 20-years-old, the Ecuadorian is rated highly – he already has 23 caps for his country.

Brighton clearly see Caicedo as a big part of the forthcoming season following the sale of Yves Bissouma this summer. He has started both Premier League games this season.

A very tidy, all action central midfielder, he would be a brilliant long-term replacement for Thomas Partey. but there are plenty of obstacles.

The first is Brighton.

Will they let Caicedo go having already sold Bissouma? And we have seen with Ben white and Marc Cucurella that they are happy holding out for top dollar for players.

And Arsenal are probably not in a position to risk paying dop dollar on such a raw diamond.

We are in no rush to replace Partey, who is just 29. And if we did replace him tomorrow it would be with someone who is already at the top of their game, not a youngster with heaps of potentialy.

With Mohamed Elneny agreeing a one year extension, it does kick the can down the road in terms of buying cover (and a future replacement) for Partey.

Could Arsenal potentailly get Caicedo a bit cheaper if we agreed to leave him on loan at Brighton for the rest of the season – not too disimilar to the original William Saliba deal.

We will then be securing one of the brightest young midfielders in world football, whilst Brighton would be able to keep hold of the youngster for another season.

Then in a years time Caicedo would join up with Arsenal to play second fiddle to Partey.

If we are then looking at his development path, after a year with Brighton and a year as cover, he would then be 22 (soon to be 23) and ready to play week in week out for a top club.

By the time summer 2024 comes around, Partey will be 31-years-old and with a year left on his contract. We would then increase Caicedo’s playing time whilst reducing Partey’s. We would also not worry about the Ghanian’s contract expiring in 2025 as his replacement will already be with the club.

A slight concern is that he has also been linked to Manchester United this week – that makes me think his agents are making noise to try and manufacture a move for him.

Do not be surprised to see Arsenal splash some cash on Caicedo this summer, but him not join until next.

Nicolas Pepe

It looks like Pepe’s nightmare time with Arsenal could be coming to a close – on a temporary basis at least.

His agent was pictured in Nice at the weekend – who recently signed Kasper Schmeichel – and he is apparently open to a move back to France.

A loan deal seems most likely at the moment – and Arsenal will be hoping that if he puts in some good performances we might get a decent transfer fee for him next summer (despite having just a year left on his contract).

Whatever happens, I wish Pepe well.

His big career move has not worked out for a variety of reasons, but he has never complained or caused issues.

Charlie Patino

At the time of writing we were still waiting for the results of Charlie Patino’s scan following his ankle issue on Tuesday.

It was a bit of a horror one as he lost his footing and his angle ended up at an angle it should not have.

He played on following the issue and the only hope is that this was due to it not being bar rather than negligence.

If he was allowed to play on by Blackpool despite suffering a bad injury, questions need to be asked.

Hopefully he is back playing soon as he could be a big player for us,

Enjoy your Thursday.

Keenos

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