Morning all.

Tonight is an annoyingly tricky game. Like a fly that will not go through the open window and continues to buzz around at 2am in the morning.

It all could have been put to bed last week, but Arsenal’s defeat to PSV in Eindhoven means we go into game week 6 of the Europa League needin a win to top the table.

For those who have been living under a rock for the last month or so, the Europa League schedule has changed making it more important than ever to finish top.

Those that win their group go stragith into the last 16, and can ignore European football until March.

Finish 2nd and you go into a play-off against a Champions League 3rd place team. Those games take place in February.

With the likes of Barcelona, Juventus, Sevilla, Ajax, Leverkusen and Sporting Lisbon, it is a tough double header we could do without.

The game against Zurich is even more annoying following their result last week.

They came from behind to beat Bodo/Glimt 2-1 in the 94th minute. The result means they no longer have nil poi and could finish 3rd in the group – and “win” a place in the Conference league.

So instead of us facing a bunch of limp fish with nothing to play for, we will be up against a highly motivated group of Swissmen looking to continue their European adventure.

Annoying.

Throughout the campaign, Mikel Arteta has played a 50/50 team – half first team and half second. The hope was by playing a stronger than normal side, we would have top spot secured ahead of the big game against Chelsea.

The goal was always to be able to rest as many players as possibile ahead of this Sunday’s trip to Stamford Bridge. But the defeat to PSV (and Zurich’s win) means that Arteta will have to play a stronger team than he wanted.

Will he role the dice, stick to his original plan, and play a full reserve side? Resting everyone for Chelsea and risking finishing 2nd? Or will he follow what he has done in the previous 5 games and play a 50/50?

My bet is the latter. He will play half first team, half second string, and hope to be in a position to take most of that first string off before 60 minutes.

Matt Turner missed then PSV game due to a groin injury. He was also not on the bench Sunday against Nottingham Forest.

I would expect Aaron Ramsdale to cintinue in goal – with the World Cup on the horizon, Arsenal will not want to aggrevate Turner’s injury if not 100% heeled.

Cedric Soares will be in line to start his first game of the season – the Portuguese full back came on for Takehiro Tomiyasu against Nottingham Forest.

In defence, Rob Holding will continue as an ever present. He will be partnered by William Saliba.

So far Saliba has started 2 Europa League games, Gabriel 3. Does not take a genius to work out it is Saliba’s turn.

At left back it will be Kieran Tierney.

Two more ever presents will start in midfield – Albert Sambi Lokonga and Fabio Vieira. The final midfield place is not as clear.

Granit Xhaka is suspended and Thomas Partey has yet to start a Europa League game. Mohamed Elneny is close to returning from injury, and Arsenal might use the game as a “friendly” for him as he continues his recovery.

I can definitely the Egyptian getting 45 minutes tonight’s, and then maybe 60 against Brighton in the League Cup next week.

Alex Zinchenko is also returning from injury.

Zinchenko was not fit to be on the bench against Forest, so I would be surprised if he is straight into the starting XI tonight. Expect a 20 minute cameo off the bench for the Ukranian.

Will Arteta go for Partey? Or will he start Martin Odegaard, leaving Lokonga deeper?

Alternatively he could look to the academy – both Bradley Ibrahim and Cătălin Cîrjan were on the bench against PSV.

I think he will opt to go with Odegaard, hope the game is dead and burried after an hour and then bring him off.

Up top, Arteta will not want to risk Gabriel Martinelli or Jesus, especially following Bukayo Saka’s knock.

Reiss Nelson will start following his brace against Forest, with Marquinhos on the other side. Eddie Nketiah down the middle.

If the game is tied up quickly, expect the likes of Tierney, Odegaard and Saliba to be substituted. Whoever also goes off between Vieira, Nelson and Marquinhos will also be a sign of who is in line to play ahead of Saka.

Predicted line-up:

Ramsdale
Cedric Saliba Holding Tierney
Lokonga
Vieira Odergaard
Marquinhos Nketiah Nelson

Keenos

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“Mikel Arteta lined up by Barcelona”
“Real Madrid to launch fresh transfer bid for Arsenal star Jesus”
“Man City ‘monitoring’ Arsenal star Bukayo Saka”
“Liverpool send Gabriel Martinelli transfer message”
“Paris Saint-Germain ‘keeping an eye on Arsenal’s William Saliba'”

It is a testiment to Arsenal’s return as a force in England that our top players are getting linked to Europe’s elite and rich.

Arsenal are a 2nd tier club when it comes to the transfer food chain. Always have done, always will be.

Top tier are the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, juventus, Bayern Munich, Manchester United Manchester City and Chelsea. The latter two due to their financial power.

We sit in the 2nd Tier alongside Liverpool,Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and PSG (who have the money but do not really have the pull).

Below us in Tier 3 is the likes of Napoli, Tottenham, RB Liepzig, Sevilla, Ajax, Newcastle (with their new found riches), Roma, and whoever else is top 4 or 6 in Spain at the time.

Whether you like it or not, we have never really “eaten from the top table”.

Those in the top tier tend to be able to attract players from every tier below them. Tier 2 get the scraps who Tier 1 no longer want (think Gabriel Jesus, Alexis SAnchez, Mesut Ozil), and buy the best from below them.

Tier 3 buy the tier 2 “rejects” and the best from those below, and so on.

Even when Arsenal were invincible, winning league titles for fun and making Champions League semi-finals and finals, our players were still linked with moves away.

Thierry Henry (to Barcelona) and Patrick Vieira (to Real Madrid) were two transfer sagas that occured every summer for 4 or 5 years during the early 00s.

And topping the league did not stop Real Madrid coming in for Nicolas Anelka and Barcelona signing Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit.

As we fell off our perch, players were picked off left right and centre from those above and around us.

Ashley Cole went to Chelsea, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and Kolo Toure to Man City. Cesc Fabregas, Alex Hleb and Alex Song went Barcelona whilst Robin van Persie went to Manchester United.

These were players we did not want to sell, but those clubs from the top table manufactured moves to buy.

In exchange, we got William Gallas, Mikel Silvestre, Danny Welbeck, Petr Cech, David Luiz, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Willian.

The top tier buy who they want, when they want, and cast off their rejects to clubs below them.

Yes, we signed Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona and Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid, but both of these were deemed surplus to requirements. It is the same for Martin Odergaard, Gabriel Jesus and Alex Zinchenko.

When Barcelona sold us Sanchez, they had just signed Luis Suarez to go with Lionel Messi and Neymar. The Chilean was 2nd string.

And when Manchester United came in for Sanchez, they got their man despite us not wanting to sell. And in exchange we got Henrikh Mkhitaryan, a player they no longer wanted to keep.

Likewise Real Madrid decided Ozil was expandable having signed Isco and Gareth Bale.

Through in Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel di Maria and Luca Modric, Madrid no longer needed Ozil.

But for a while, our players have not been linked with these “big moves” top Europe’s Elite.

In fact, for many of our players, we struggled to find a buyer.

The likes of Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis were paid to leave. Whilst Alexandre Lacazette, Hector Bellerin, Luiz, Willian, Sead Kolasinac, Calum Chambers and Welbeck left for nothing.

And when we did get a fee, it was not really anything to shout about. We were just glad to get the likes of Matteo Guendouzi, Davis Ospina, Laurent Koscielny, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Lucas TorreiraCarl Jenkinson, Joel Campbell and Lucas Perez off the books.

Finding someone willing to spend any sort of money was hard enough – let alone big money.

It was only really with Joe Willock, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Iwobi and Emiliano Martinez that we were in a strong negotiating position with.

Decent players who were no longer needed by us, but were could enough to command a decent fee.

So I am delighted when I see our players linked with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juvenus. Or Manchester City and Manchester United again.

And it is not because I want to sell them.

It shows that we have players that would interest other top teams. Whom they would pay big money to secure.

Whilst they are at Arsenal, they are putting in fantastic performances that our rivals take note.

And if (and more likely when) they do leave, we can command top dollar for them to re-invest.

And as the saying goes, a rising lifts all boats.

If your top end players are garnering interest (and big money) from rivals, than those at the next level also see their price naturally rise.

We saw that with Liverpool when they got decent transfer fees for average players just because they were seen at the time as being a successful club.

I do not fear losing the players we have.

We are now in a similar situation as 2007-ish where we have some exciting young talent. It is now important that we continue to build on them so that they can win the trophies they desire whilst in North London.

If we do not win trophies, then it is only natural that they seek success (and huge contracts) elsewhere.

In the late 00s & early 10s, the likes of Clichy, Song, Fabregas, van Persie and more left and became key components to title winning teams. Had they stayed at Arsenal another couple of years they might have led us to glory. But our board (and mangement) at the time were unable to match their ambition.

You match the ambition of Saliba, Saka & Martinelli, they will not join PSG, Man City or Real Madrid. You fail to match their ambition and they will be out the door.

Our players being linked away is just another sign that we are back!

Keenos

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