Is today the last time we will see Declan Rice in a West Ham shirt (and will it be an Arsenal shirt next season?)

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Today we can not drop points.

It is going to be very tight at the top until the end of the season, and the league could end up being won on goal difference.

With tricky trips to Manchester City and Newcastle still to come, we need to ensure we win the other 6 games, starting today. That will take us to 91 points.

Quick maths would mean City have to win 7 from their last 8 to also finish on 91 points, and that would likely see them win the league on goal difference.

We need City to drop points in at least two of their remaining 8 games. If they only drop points in 1 game, we need to win at St James Park. Not an easy feat. That will take us to 94, exactly the same as the maximum points City can get. And that will again see them probably win on goal difference.

But all this means nothing if we do not get the 3 points at the London Olympic Stadium.

For once, we face a team who have had a mid-week European away game whilst we had a rest.

How often have we seen us struggle on a Sunday following a tough Thursday match on the continent? This time, it is our opponents who had that tough away game whilst we have had a clear week.

David Moyes did rest a few against Gent – Aaron Cresswell, Lucas Paqueta, Kurt Zouma, Michail Antonio and Tomas Soucek were all on the bench. But hopefully we should gain that advantage of having a week to focus on the game against West Ham who could only prepare for it on Friday.

As with all teams in Europe, they tend to start their next fixture a big sluggishly. We need to be quick out the blocks and hit them hard in the first 15 minutes.

It was gutting going 2-nil up to Liverpool only to draw 2-2. But West Ham are no Liverpool and the council house stadium is no Anfield. We go 2-nil up in the first 20 minutes, we will not be losing points.

We have been linked heavily with Declan Rice again mid-week. It is a deal that does not seem to go away. I think the West Ham man will be a superb signing.

Rice has the defensive attributes and awareness to compete with Thomas Partey as the sole defensive midfielder. He also has the ability to replace Granit Xhaka further forward.

With Champions League football next season, there will certainly be enough games to accomodate all 3.

We will play at 46 games in 2023/24 (38 PL, 6 CL, 1 FA Cup, 1 LC). It will probably end up being above 50 as we progress in domestic and European cup competitions.

Partey has not started more than 24 games in a single season since joining us, and we have been managing his injury issues this season. So straight off the bat that would be 26+ starts for Rice. By the time he plays a few further forward instead of Xhaka, you can easily picture him starting at least 35 games, and probably coming off the bench a dozen times.

Rice will also provide an option at centre back. We could potentially sign him, afford to sell Rob Holding, and then rely on Rice being Saliba’s cover. Although a lot of that could depend on how long-term Saliba’s back injury is.

Further up the pitch, Rice offers something different to what we have.

Xhaka and Martin Odegaard are very good on the ball. But neither drives forward from the middle of the park, breaking those lines.

Sometimes you need to use a battering ram rather than a locksmith to break down a door. And Rice is very good picking upo the ball and using his power to get through the lines.

Yaya Toure was brilliant at this. Getting the ball on the half way line and using pace and power to set up an attack. It is certainly something we miss.

Years ago Jose Mourinho spoke about wanting players who could transition the ball. Either from defence to midfield or midfield to attack. The quicker you do it, the quicker you get your opponents running backwards.

Someone like Cesc trasnsitioned the ball with his passing. Michael Essien would do it with his running.

If teams are playing a low block against us, you put Rice on and see if his direct playing style can break down the opponents. He will win free kicks, he will break the lines.

He is still just 24, but will bring experience and more leadership. He is the next England captain.

When next season kicks off, Xhaka and Partey will both be in their 30s. And both also have just 2 years left on their contracts.

Sign Rice this summer, he competes alonside the pair of them. Then in 2-years we could afford to let both leave for free and will only need to sign one replacement.

Today could be the last time we see Rice in a West Ham shirt against Arsenal. Next season he will hopefully be in the red and white, and getting booed by the West Ham neanderthal’s.

UTA.

Keenos

Back injury could end Saliba’s season

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Morning all. Although I have also just seen it is the afternoon.

Later than normal blog from me this morning. Sorry about that. Few house chores have gotten in the way.

Had new carpets laid in the office yesterday so this morning has been spent moving the furniture back in, putting the pictures back up on the wall and giving it a good hoover. Also smashed a goat curry in the slow cooker.

West Ham tomorrow, so once again we will know the result of the Manchester City game before we kick off. I can not see them dropping points at home to Leicester City.

Leicester show how quickly things can change for those “also rans” team. It was not too long ago they were Premier League champions, and more recently they won the FA Cup.

About 18 months ago, pundits were saying they now had to be considered a member of the top 6, with many writing Arsenal out of it. They will probably get relegated this season.

In Arsenal news, Eddie Nketiah is back fit, William Saliba is not.

The Saliba back injury is a concern. It feels like every week the update is the same – he is back in light training but not yet fully fit. It feels like one of these injuries that could drag on, and I would not be surprised if he ends up out for the rest of the season.

Anyone who has ever injured their back knows it can be potentially life changing, and many never recover.

Thierry Henry suffered from choronic back injuries throughout his career. He was able to play through them for much of the time but the issues certainly contributed to his drop off in his final season at Barcelona and decision to go play in the MLS at just 32.

Saliba is just 22-years-old, and the concern will be that this back injury could end up plaguing his career. He will always have to be managed carefully, not putting in 100% in training and so on.

So we continue with Rob Holding in defence at West Ham, and I am not worried.

Holding gets a lot of greif from some sections of fans. I have a theory that some non-English based fans attack him as a way of attacking match going fans.

Those that go week in week out love a working class English lad doing well. Someone like Holding is easy to relate too. It is no different to an African fan idolising African players.

But that leads to criticism of “you only rate him because he is English” and also fans dismissing him because he is white, working class. You see the same with Mason Mount at Chelsea – much of the criticism of Mount comes from foreign shores.

And it is beyond race. These same people were always putting down Bukayo Saka, demanding that Nicolas Pepe start ahead of him. They just take an instant dislike to “terrace heroes”. They would probably hate on Rocky, Tony, Wrighty and more.

And there is something special about seeing a boy living out his dream in front of your eyes. Especially if they are a local lad.

Anyway, I digress.

Tomorrow we have to beat West Ham. We have some tricky games coming up away to Manchester City and Newcastle. We can not afford to drop points at the London Olympic stadium.

For once we will have the “no Europe advantage”. Usually it would have been us playing on a Thursday and suffering playing on a Sunday whilst out opponents had a clear week. The Hammers played in Belgium Thursday. It was a tough game for them.

Win the game, get 3 points, then on to the next week.

Have a good rest of the day. Goat curry will be ready for around 6pm. Eating it will be the highlight of my day.

Keenos

Does anyone still not trust the process?

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Two years ago today, Arsenal were not in the top 10. Neither were Newcastle United.

Leicester City were 3rd, West Ham 4th, Everton 8th and Leeds United 9th. All 4 are now fighting relegation.

No one could have predicted that two years after our 8th place finish, we would be battling it out for the title.

Even we we were struggling last season, most sane fans could see that we were making progress, even if we were perhaps not quite getting the results.

We ended up disappointed with 5th last season, but for much of the year we had shown top 4 form. Let down by 4 periods of losing runs and players injured just at the wrong time.

Whilst there was perhaps not enough for us to dream of being title challengers, there was enough for many of us to say that we trust the process.

And 24 months after we were not in the top 10, the loyalty of the majority has been rewarded.

Regardless of whether we win the league or not this season, it should now be clear and obvious to everyone that we are on the right track. That the process is the correct one. And that our strategy is working.

I remember Gary Neville questioning our transfer policy in September 2021.

“I’m not sure what Arsenal’s transfer strategy is. It seems a bit over the place. Maybe there is one, but it’s not clear,” Neville said. “Sometimes you can see a left-field signing and think you can see where it comes from, but there’s quite a few of them at Arsenal.”

Neville could not work out the strategy of signing Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Taveras.

At the time, I scoffed at this opinion. It was clear that Arsenal were buying talented players under the age of 25.

And I guess Neville being unable to see the very obvious strategy is why he failed as a manager.

Mikel Arteta has transformed Arsenal during the last few years.

I do not think it can be understood how far we had fallen in those last years of Arsene Wenger. The club was failing, from senior team through to the academy. Leadership battles between Ivan Gazidis, Raul Sanlehi and Sven Mislintat were pulling the club apart post-Wenger.

In came Arteta, and alongside Edu, Per Mertesacker and others, the club was ripped up and started again. Transforming the club from top to bottom in the same way Wenger did in 1996.

The work behind the scenes that we do not see is now being seen on the pitch.

Top of the league, youth team into the FA Youth Cup final, the women’s team being a success again. The culture of the entire club has changed.

But still some moan.

I have seen some say “if Arsenal do not win the league, than Arteta is a failure. He would have failed to win any of the 4 tournaments we entered. He should be sacked”.

What. A. Take.

These same people said, in 2021, “I do not care he won the FA Cup. That means nothing. We should be challenging for the title”. Oh how the tune has changed.

So in 2021, they did not care about the FA Cup. It was all about challenging for the title. We were not challenging so they called for Arteta to be sacked. 2 years on we are challenging, and they are demanding he be sacked because we did not win the FA Cup.

It is almost like they change their narrative to fit an agenda.

If we win the league, they will probably say “won 1 trophy out of the last 12. That isn not good enough for Arsenal. We need to hold Arteta to a higher standard”.

The moving goal posts and false high standards must be tiring for them. You wonder what is going on in their real lives, away from social media. Do they hold themselves to this high standards? Do they see themselves as failures if they are not self-made billionaires?

These fellas should probably put the same effort into their own lives as they do slandattacking Arteta daily. That way the might begin climbing the ladder of life. Move out of their bedsits or mum’s houses. And make a success of themselves.

Most probably have a lifetime of failed jobs behind them. Probably ended up as door to door salesmen at 40 years old or something!

Luckily for us, these fans are in the minority. And they seem to keep themselves to their own little wierd eco-chamber of Twitter and YouTube. They are never seen at games.

What is clear to the majority is the progress we have made over the last two-years. And even if we do not win it this year, we will be back next.

UTA

Keenos