Could lack of “old man strength” be a problem for Zinchenko and Jesus?

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What a long old, strange week. But finally the weekend is here.

We start off with the news that Mikel Arteta was named Premier League Manager of the Month for August.

Not a huge surprised considering we are top of the league – although I do think Graham Potter would have deserved it were he still at Brighton.

It is unbelievable that there are still those out their that spread negativity around Arteta and Arsenal despite us being top of the league.

All clubs suffer from these sort of fans that think it is “cool” to be ultra-negative. You have to feel sorry for them.

Oleksandr Zinchenko has been ruled out for a couple of weeks with a calf problem. This could be a blessing in disguise as it will mean he misses Ukraine’s pointless international games.

I was a little concerned over the long-term fitness of both Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus when they signed.

Neither has really played a full seasons of senior top flight football despite both being 25-years-old.

Zinchenko has never made more than 15 starts across a Premier League season, whilst Jesus has never started more than 22 league games in a single season since moving from Brazil.

I think it is legitimate to question whether they have built the “old man strength” you gain from playing week in, week out in your early 20s to play consistently without picking up niggling injuries.

Their lack of football over the years can really be highlighted when compared to Bukayo Saka’s career.

Now I know some will make the argument that Saka has been over played in his youth – and he probably has. But Jesus and Zinchenko have clearly been underplayed (and this is a key reason they both left Manchester City.

At just-turned-21-years-old, 2 of Saka’s 3 seasons have accumlated the more minutes than either Jesus or Zinchenko despite the former-City pair being 4 years older.

In fact, Saka has played more Premier League minutes in his last two seasons than Zinchenko has during his ENTIRE time in England.

The above also highlights my concern over Jesus.

Over the last 3 seasons he has averaged around the 2,000 minutes mark. Has he accumalted the old-man strength and staminia to play closer to 3,000 minutes this season? And how fit and sharp will he be towards the business end of the season?

Arteta expects his front line to play a high energy game. Lots of closing down and pressing. They also need to be sharp and dynamic when the ball is turned over.

We saw last season Saka suffer towards the end of the season as he ran on empty. I expect him to be better this season having experienced 3,000 minutes last. But Jesus has not done that.

It is one to keep an eye on, but do not be surprised if Zinchnko and Jesus pick up a few injuries throughout this season.

Whilst I am on injuries, Emile Smith Rowe remains out due to ongoing groun problems associated with “growing pains”.

The club have confirmed it is the same injury that saw his loan spell at RB Leipzig last just 3 games back in 2019.

I would be concerned that something which occured 3 seasons ago is still being “managed” by the club. Especially with one so young.

My gut is this groin problem will follow him throughout his career which is why I floated the idea of cashing in on him next summer.

if in 10 months he is still suffering from the recurring problems, Arsenal management should recognise they have a bit of a sick note on their hands and look to maximise the price.

That will result in a sale next summer as other clubs would look to spend big money on an English a 23-year-old despite his injury record. Arsenal could then move on and sign someone without the long-term issues.

I feel if Arsenal leave it an extra year, his value will plummet.

Disclaimer: I am not advocating selling him now, I am saying if he continues to show a lack of fitness then it is something that should be on the agenda.

Last bit of Arsenal news is that Ben White was not selected for England. I am not too disappointed.

I discussed this previously in a blog where I discussed the fall-out of our 3 Gabi’s not being picked for Brazil.

Whilst I want to see England win the World Cup, I also think the top sides that have the least players out in Qatar could see huge benefits as the season comes to its conclusion.

It is only natural that those players that get a 6-ish week winter break will be fitter come Apil / May than those who have played a full 9 month season.

Tomorrow itr is Brentwood. An early kick off so no blog from me.

Keenos

Arsenal fans Guide to Bodø/Glimt

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Away guide Bodø/Glimt – Arsenal 13/10.

Except for the small amount of tickets, Bodø is the perfect away-trip as absolutely everything is within walking distance.

The easiest way to get to Bodø is of course by flight. From the airport there is a 15 minute walk down to the city center where you will find hotels, restaurants, grocerys, bars etc. Are you heading straight to the Aspmyra Stadium it is only a 10 minute walk.

There is no Uber service in Bodø but it is a taxi rank right outside the airport if you prefer the easy way downtown. All the busses from the airport passes both the stadium and the city centre.

Another route to Bodø is by train from Trondheim. The trainstation is located in the city centre and you can walk from here to any hotel and the stadium.

Hotels:

More or less all hotels in Bodø have a good standard, and they are all located in the city centre and by walking distance. Prices is around £100 a night. The newest hotels in the city are Comfort Hotel, Quality Ramsalt and Smarthotel Bodø which opnened in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Arsenal will probably stay at Scandic Havet.

The cheapest option is the Hostel in the trainstation, but not really recommended as its almost the same price as the hotels, and not really good there.

My best recommendation is Quality Ramsalt, new and modern hotel and not too expensive.

As already mentioned all hotels are close to both the stadium and the airpot so you can walk there.

Small amount of AirBnb available, but you wont save much so hotels still recommended.

Restaurants:

To be a small city with only 50k people there are a lot of restaurants options in the city centre. A minus is of course that in Norway the prices are really high. So a dinner at a restaurant easly ends up well over £50 per person. You do have the cheaper options with fast food chains such as Burger King, Peppes Pizza and Subway, and if you want a good burger i can recommend the local fastfood place Annas Gatekjøkken. We got finer restaurants such as the Italian restaurant Bjørk located in the city shoppingcenter «Glasshuset» and Bryggerikaia with a lot of local food near the harbour. «Egon» is a big chain of restaurants in Norway and is located in the same building as Thon Hotel Nordlys. «Delicatessen» and «Bølgen» both fine restaurants is located with the Quality Ramsalt Hotel.

«Orion» (Italian/turkish) is a cheap alternative where you get both good food and a lot of food for the small price.

There is a sporsbar were you can combind sports, beer and food downtown called «Sportsbaren».

If you want to try traditional norwegian food stop by «Løvold Kafeteria» downtown.

There is a lot more restaurants in the city centre and you get something for every taste. There is sushi, turkish, burger, tapas and much more.

Bars:

Bars as well as restaurants have that problem it’s ridiculously expensive. A pint here in Norway is never under £10 and often as expensive as £12-15. This is due to the very high fees and alocoholtaxes in Norway.

On the matchday «Norlænningen» is the away friendly pub. Its a brown pub in the city centre right outside the shopping centre. You can walk straight from here up to the away entrance on the stadium on a 10 minute walk.

Other places to get a beer is the already mentioned «Sportsbaren», here there will be a lot of home supporters on the match day. But there is no hooliganism or ultras supporters in Bodø so it wont be a problem to take a beer at the same place as home supporters. Every supporter here is friendly and will probably enjoy a good chat about football if you meet some.

«Hundholmen» is the largest bar/restaurant in the city, here it can be nice to take a drink in the evening. «Dama di» is also more of a party place and so is «Lucero» in the shopping centre. Though there is not much nightlife in Bodø on a mid week day.

«Landlov» in Sjøgata is where the active home supporters gather on matchday and is to be avoided by away supporters. Not because there can be trouble, as said all supporters here are friendly, but that bar is for home supporters only on matchday.

Other than that Arsenal supporters are welcome everywhere.

Should there be any other questions will i be happy to answer @benna94 on twitter.

Enjoy Bodø, bring a lot of clothes as its freezing cold here, and have a good game!

Ben

Brentford, Chelsea and Wolves moved – whilst Man City might be postponed

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Morning all.

As you would have noticed there have been a lot less blogs since the sad passing of Her Majesty the Queen last Thursday.

We have reduced our output out of respect, whilst also taking the decision to only write a blog if there was something meaningful for say.

The blog about Marquinhos will have to wait!

Arsenal releated news mainly revolves around games being moved.

The home match against PSV tomorrow has been postponed. I do not really understand that.

As someone who has done plenty of Euro away trips, I feel for the PSV fans who would have splashed out hundreds on flights and hotels only for the game to be cancelled. It really should have gone ahead and would’ve given us the opportunity to pay our respects in the ground.

Moving the weekend game against Brentford does however make sense.

Monday will be “all hands on deck” for the Queens funeral. All police leave will be cancelled.

Police Regulations set out that Officers are entitled to a period of at least 11 hours between rostered shifts.

Moving the game back to 12noon ensures the police working the Brentford game will get their 11 hours rest.

With it being a local-ish derby, it will not cause many problems for fans. Most will be travelling in from in or around London.

The only frustration – from a selfish point of view – is that unless I want to get to the pub at 10am, there will be no pints before the game.

It isn’t great that is has been moved, but is understandable.

The other big game moved is our fixture against Chelsea in November – also moved to 12noon.

This game has been moved to 12noon for TV reasons and shows once more that TV companies do not care about match going fans.

A few beers before and after a game are a big part of the game – it is not just the 90 minutes.

Noon kick offs are awful.

Everyone is barely awake, the atmosphere usually subdued. It just is not the same.

There is also talk that the Manchester City mid-week fixture will be postponed from Wednesday 19th October to accomodate the Europa League game against PSV.

Again, this shows that UEFA do not really care about the fans.

The Mancs would have already splashed out on train tickets (currently £98.10) as well as hotels for an overnight stay.

It all shows once more that the comments from UEFA and the media after the European Super League was hot air.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

Keenos