Finish 7th in the league or win the FA Cup? There is only one correct answer…

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Tuesday’s defeat was predictable.

From the highs of Manchester City, it was always going to be tough to get the lads back up for another big game.

Arsenal looked like a team that was mentally and physically drained.

It is interesting that of the 4 FA Cup semi-finalists, just one side won – Manchester City.

Arsenal lost away to Aston Villa, Chelsea away to Liverpool and Manchester United drew at home to West Ham.

Looking specifically at Aston Villa, they last played last Thursday, so had 4 clear days between their draw against Everton and the match against Arsenal.

Arsenal meanwhile played that FA Cup semi-final Saturday evening, leaving just 2 days recovery between the two games.

Tuesday was Arsenal’s 11th game in 35 days.

Due to the postponed fixture against Manchester City prior to the suspension of football, and Arsenal’s success in the FA Cup, only Man City have played the same amount of games as Arsenal during that period.

Manchester United and Chelsea have both played 1 less game. Whilst every other team has played 2-3 games last. That is the difference between playing once every 3 days and once every 4 days.

People might say “they are professional athletes, they should be able to play every 3 days”. And you are right. But only right if playing every 3 days is over a short period – not over a 5 week period.

The body takes a while to recover from physical activity. Anyone that has ever been to the gym for the first time in a while we know that for the next few days your body is wrecked. You might not be able to lift your arms over the hand.

Of course, professional athletes will recover a lot quicker. But that does not mean they will recover to 100%.

Lets say they played the first game at 100%. With a short time between games, they had only recovered to 95%. By the 3rd game it was 90% and so on. Eventually the cumulative fatigue of playing every 3 days catches up with you. Mental fatigue is also a huge factor.

So Arsenal now have no chance of top 7. Qualification of Europe through the league. The FA Cup is now more important than the weekends game against Watford.

Following a cool down session tomorrow, the club should send the majority of the first team squad away for 2 or 3 days. To turn off physically and mentally.

Other than those who not physiotherapy, senior players should not be seen at London Colney today, Friday or Saturday. They should return on Sunday for a light training session before preparation for the FA Cup Finals.

Against Watford, play Cedric, play Sokratis, play Dan Ballard, Joe Willock, Lucas Torreira, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah. Those players who have not played much recently.

Give Matt Macey a run out, Matt Smith. It might be worthwhile give Bukayo Saka a run out. The teenager has not played much recently. Was Tuesday poor performance due to fatigue or a lack of sharpness?

If we win the FA Cup, no one will really remember us finishing 10th in the league.

Ultimately there is little difference between being 10th in the league – 43 points off top, and 6th, 37 points off top. You are still a long way off of top.

Winning the FA Cup will be another trophy in the bag. Our 4th FA Cup in 6 years. Give me trophies over league position other than 1st any day of the week.

OK, so Spurs have finished above us for the 4th time in a row. There fans are celebrating. Bloggers are trying to come up with names for their own St Totteringham’s Day.

4 in a row, fair play to them. But they have some way to go for 21 in a row.

In the last 29 years, Spurs have finished above Arsenal 6 times. Each time they finished above Arsenal, Arsenal made a final:

1993: FA Cup & League Cup
1995: ECWC
2017: FA Cup
2018: League Cup
2019: Europa League
2020: FA Cup

In 1993 and 2019, Tottenham finished less than 3 points ahead of Arsenal. Had we not rested played for club finals, it is likely we would have finished above them.

Likewise this season, with the 3 extra games we have played than Spurs, chances are we would have finished above Spurs.

The defeat against Brighton came a couple of days after the opening game post-suspension against Manchester City.

Brighton had been able to concentrate since the return on Arsenal. Arsenal were distracted.

Likewise the game against Villa. Arsenal would have likely won had they not been in the FA Cup semi-final.

Competing in the FA Cup often does affect league form, and vice versa. It is tough to be competitive in both, which is highlighted by just how few teams win the double.

Especially as the season turns to March, games come thick and fast. It is hard to get the team ready for a game every 3 days. Eventually the fatigue will hit and you will fall away in one or two competitions.

This season is actually similar to last.

We sacrificed a top 4 finish last season resting players for the Europe League final against Chelsea. The result was Arsenal just missed out on top 4, and lost the Europa League final.

This season we have sacrificed a top 7 finish resting players for the FA Cup. We play Chelsea in the final. The result is Arsenal have just missed out on top 7. Hopefully this time round we lift the trophy, which clinches our place in Europe and potentially leaves Tottenham with nothing (if they finish 7th).

So let’s play the youth against Watford. Concentrate on the FA Cup. And create a memory.

Keenos

Match Report: Aston Villa 1 – 0 Arsenal

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Aston Villa (1) 1 Arsenal (0) 0

Premier League

Villa Park, Trinity Road, Aston, Birmingham B6 6HE

Tuesday, 21st July 2020. Kick-off time: 8.15pm

(4-2-3-1) Emiliano Martínez; Rob Holding, David Luiz, Sead Kolašinac, Cédric Soares; Dani Ceballos, Lucas Torreira; Bukayo Saka, Alexandre Lacazette, Eddie Nketiah; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Substitutes: Hector Bellerin, Kieran Tierney, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Nicolas Pépé, Joe Willock, Matt Macey, Granit Xhaka, Matt Smith. 

Yellow Cards: Lucas Torreira, Alexandre Lacazette, Sead Kolašinac, Joe Willock

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 69%

Referee: Chris Kavanagh

Attendance: A maximum of 300 attendees due to UK government coronavirus restructions

After the superb victory in the FA Cup semi-final by our chaps on Saturday evening, we are now back to our bread-and-butter matches in the Premiership, of which there are only a brace left for us to play this season, starting with Aston Villa tonight, who currently reside at the wrong end of the Premiership table. That of course, is somehow incidential; we have to keep on winning right up to the very last moment on the very last day, as we need to accrue as many points as humanly possible in order for us to stand a chance to play in European competition (via our final Premiership position) next year.

The first half started at quite a fast pace for an end-of-season match, and it was great to see that our desire to win the game was paramount in these opening stages. Our passing was strong and accurate, with our players finding each other with ease. The running off the ball by Bukayo Saka was superb and although the home side tried to break up our play, they were unable to do so, and therefore we started to dominate in most areas of the pitch. As the match wore on, we exploited the gaps that the Villa defence was leaving for us extremely well, but after the drinks break, the match turned against us; we somehow went to sleep and the home side took the lead after a corner which was we poorly defended. A strong strike by Trézéguet from just inside our penalty area flew into the back of our net to give them the lead after twenty-seven minutes. The goal certainly sparked life into the game, and heavy tackles were committed by both sides in their desire to win the match. Our midfield play was very good, but we were unable to get the ball up to the strikers, and as such, we allowed the home side to take advantage of the situation to pressurise our defence in the latter stages of the first half. A strong move by Eddie Nketiah led to a corner which came to nothing, and in the resulting Aston Villa break, we very nearly conceded a second goal just before half-time.

For the second half, Granit Xhaka came on for Lucas Torreira to tighten up the midfield and within a minute of the restart we were put under pressure by the home side. Somehow, under this pressure, we managed to break out and Dani Ceballos was unlucky not to be able to turn and shoot after some clever play in the Villa penalty area; the sheer weight of defensive numbers prevented our man from scoring the equaliser on this occasion. We started to find our way through the Villa defence, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was unlucky not to score when his shot was blocked by the horizontal body of Ezri Konsa, which was unfortunate. Kieran Tierney and Nicolas Pépé replaced David Luiz and Bukayo Saka, which meant that we changed to a more defensive shape for the remaining half hour of the game. With the substitutions in place, we started to play a better game with good passing techniques, but we were still having trouble breaking down the Villa defence. Cédric Soares, Nicolas Pépé and Kieran Tierney were supplying Eddie Nketiah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with quality balls, but the home side defence were sitting very deep and we were finding it tough to break through and create chances. With fifteen minutes left, we were extremely fortunate not to concede a second goal when Keinan Davis thankfully slotted the ball past the post when on a one-to-one with Emiliano Martínez; a minute later we should scored ourselves when a header from Eddie Nketiah came off the inside of the post to fall into Pepe Reina’s arms. Joe Willock came on for an exhausted Cédric Soares with eleven minutes of the game remaining, which meant that with our attacking options, we could push up and press their defence. In the final stages of the match, it was becoming clear that it could literally go either way now, and with three minutes of normal time remaining, a dangerous Nicolas Pépé free-kick came close to us equalising, and by now we were throwing everything we possible could at the Villa defence. Time and time again we were firing balls into their penalty area, but to no avail, sadly.

Overall, it was an extremely disappointing performance; although we had sixty-nine per cent possession, our players did not get one shot on target throughout the whole match, and we are now guaranteed to have our worst Premier League finish since 1995. We know what we have to do to get into Europe next year, and ultimately our season now rests on ninety minutes at Wembley Stadium on 1st August. 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: Watford at Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU on Sunday 26th July at 4.00pm (Premier League). 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.

Arteta needs to to motivate Arsenal otherwise our league season ends tonight

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Aston Villa tonight as games continue to come thick and fast.

Mikel Arteta would have had to have shown his worth on the training ground over the last couple of days.

From the high of Saturday, Arteta needed to have got the squad bought down a peg or two and refocused for tonight’s game. A quick turnaround.

Whilst Arsenal played FA Cup football at the weekend, the Premier League continued, and results went against us.

Both Wolves and Tottenham won, leaving Arsenal 5 points off Tottenham in 7th with a game in hand.

Failure to beat Aston Villa tonight will mean Arsenal will not finish top 7, nor will they finish above Tottenham.

Not only do Arsenal have to win tonight, they have to win big.

Top 7 could come down to goal difference, and at 8, we are currently 5 behind Wolves (13) and 6 behind Tottenham (14).

Looking forward to next weekend, Wolves travel to Chelsea, whilst Tottenham are away to Crystal Palace. Meanwhile Arsenal are at home to Watford.

In theory, Arsenal have the easiest tie; however we would berelying on either  n Tottenham or Wolves to drop points.

A defeat would Wolves would mean we have to make up the 5 goal difference. A draw for Wolves would see them finish above us.

Defeat for Tottenham would see Arsenal finish ahead of them. A draw would see it again go down to goal difference.

Of course, this is all looking a long way ahead. We still have to beat Aston Villa tonight.

Like last season, Arsenal only really have themselves to blame for being in the position they are.

In 2018/19, we finished 1 point behind 4th placed Tottenham and 2 points behind Chelsea in 3rd.

That missed penalty by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. 1 win from the last 5 games. Losing at home to Crystal Palace. Drawing at home to Brighton.

3 points in any of those games would have seen Arsenal finish 4th; and maybe in 3rd on goal difference.

It is the same situation this year, albeit we are battling for 6th and 7th rather than 3rd and 4th.

That 95th minute winner Brighton scored against us cost us 1 point. We led in that game so it was actually 3 points dropped.

2 points dropped against Leicester after an 84th minute Jamie Vardy goal. Another 2 points dropped.

And against Tottenham Toby Alderweild scored in the 81st minute to give that lot a win.

5 points dropped in the last 10 minutes of the game. Shot ourselves in the foot.

That 5 points would have seen Arsenal move into 7th place. A win tonight would have taken us to 61 points; a single point off Manchester United in 5th and Leicester City in 4th

This blog would then have been about how we might have a chance of Champions League football qualification on the last day of the season, rather than scrapping 7th place.

Frustrating.

So hopefully tonight we get the first leg done.

Beat Aston Villa and try and halve that difference in GD, then it is on.

Failure to win tonight, we might as well pack up the first team and send them to Marbella for a week of warm weather training before the FA Cup final.

Keenos