Arsenal already knew they would be travelling to Leeds without Mohamed Elneny after the Egyptian tested positive for Covid-19 whilst on international duty.

It was also confirmed on Friday morning that Thomas Partey will be unavailable for the trip to Elland Road. He has not recovered from a thigh injury sustained in the Gunners’ last match before the international break, a 3-0 home defeat to Aston Villa.

Sunday’s game against Leeds is a must-win match for Mikel Arteta’s side. They have struggled for consistency in the Premier League so far this campaign, with four wins and four defeats from eight games. If Arteta is to guide Arsenal back to the promised land of the Champions League, his team must embark on a winning streak sooner rather than later.

Despite being a tricky one, the fixture against Leeds is an ideal place to start. Against a free-flowing team and the tactical nous of Marcelo Bielsa, who preaches an entertaining and expansive style, Arsenal can wreak havoc in attack if they play their cards right. The absences of Elneny and Partey, a duo who have shown themselves to be adept at breaking up opposition attacks, will be a big blow.

However, it might also result in a more adventurous approach from Arteta, the Spaniard favouring a counter-attacking style that prioritises pragmatism over attacking firepower.

Much has been made of Arsenal’s struggles in front of goal so far in 2020-21. They have scored just nine times in their first eight matches. A combination of the loss to Villa, as well as Partey and Elneny being sidelined, might have forced his hand into a more attacking game plan.

Arsenal’s shortage of midfield options mean Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos are likely to start. Arteta has made no secret of his desire to eventually switch a 4-3-3 and whether by coincidence or not, Joe Willock has excelled for Arsenal in the cup competitions. Whether Willock is ready for more minutes in the Premier League will only be known if he is given the chance.

Attacking duo Willian and Alexandre Lacazette have struggled for form recently and would be fortunate to see their names appear in the starting line-up on Sunday. Given Lacazette’s lack of goals, it seems like the perfect time to start Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has been isolated on the wide left, through the middle. Eddie Nketiah scored again for England U21 in the international break, so the Hale End graduate presents another alternative up front.

Approaching his first anniversary as Arsenal manager, Arteta has demonstrated his ability to improvise and innovate in an effort to get the best out of a squad that is far from complete. In particular, he has responded well to defeats that have raised questions about Arsenal’s ability to progress with him at the helm. Their previous game aside, Arsenal have become far more difficult to beat, conceding the second-fewest goals in the league to date.

The next challenge Arteta faces is how to get his team scoring goals on a regular basis. After drilling his players about the importance of their positioning off the ball, it is time for him to start placing more importance on what they do with it. Thanks to Leeds’ willingness to commit men forward, Arsenal could find they have plenty of space in behind the Whites’ defence. When presented with attacking opportunities against a side as good in the final third as Leeds, Arteta’s side must take advantage.   

Goalscoring comes as a result of ruthless finishing and efficient execution, qualities Arsenal have lacked so far this season. With some stagnant performances where they have flattered to deceive, the time has come to break the shackles.

Caution doesn’t necessarily have to be thrown to the wind, because individual discipline has served the Gunners well to this point. However, if this Arsenal side are to evolve into a top team, Arteta must not be afraid of going full steam ahead.

Zac Campbell

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Arsenal have announced they are joining with UN to tackle climate change.

What a load of bollocks.

I am not a climate change denier. It is real and we do need to do more. But Arsenal signing up to the Sports for Climate Action Framework is just virtue signalling.

Every season, every clubs takes its brand across the globe for pre-season friendlies.

Australia, America and Asia, clubs will spread across the globe, playing in multiple different countries. Some clubs will even fit in 2 pre-season tours to 2 different continents.

These pre-season tours involve multiple long and short haul flights to numerous different countries. All to make money.

If clubs wanted to tackle climate change, they would halt these pre-season tours immediately.

Prepare for the new season in Europe, which will mean a shorter flight and less carbon emissions. Or even better do not go abroad at all. Go Centre Parcs of or something.

There is not physical reason to have a pre season tour abroad. It is just financial.

A couple of years ago Arsenal played Chelsea in Ireland. This would have led to both teams flying across to Dublin, as well as many fans.

2 London clubs, jumping on planes to play a friendly in a different country.

Want to do something about climate change? Stop this nonsense.

Likewise clubs produce 3 kits a year, and multiple different training garments.

All of these involve a huge manufacturing process. And with the kits being made in China, Vietnam or some Asian industrial zone where cheap labour can be exploited, they need to be flown to the UK for sale.

Instead of developing multiple kits a year, why not return to 1 it every 2 years? Straight away that would reduce the carbon emissions produced from manufacturing the kits and exporting to them.

But of course, kits and pre-season tours are lucrative.

It is much easier for the club to sit there and lecture fans on how to behave and “be green” then actually take action themselves.

Remember a few years ago when the club flew from Luton to Norwich for a game?

Like many businesses across the country, Arsenal have transformed what they do in an attempt to help save the world:

• Became the UK’s first football club to install large-scale battery energy storage in 2018. The battery storage system can power Emirates Stadium for an entire match, or the equivalent of 2,700 homes for two hours 
• Since 1999, more than 29,000 trees have been planted at London Colney to create the Colney Wood
• Have installed a water recycling system at our training centre to reuse water that comes from the pitch – recycling more than 4.5 million litres of water a year
• Are the first Premier League club to switch to 100 per cent green electricity  
• The first Premier League club to trial the reusable cup scheme during the 2018/19 season. This scheme became fully integrated at the start of the 2019/20 season, saving the use of approximately 20,000 single use plastic cups per game when Emirates Stadium is full
• The  training centre is now 95 per cent single use plastic bottle-free
• Have introduced more water dispensers across all sites – saving 150,000 single-use plastic water bottles per year 
• Have reduced energy by installing automated LED lighting at all club sites

All of these actions should be commended.

But the carbon emissions from flying across the globe yearly for pre-season friendlies and manufacturing 3 it’s a year dwarfs the actions taken.

We recently saw a “European Super League” proposed once again. This would see clubs play more games abroad than in the current Champions League – which would lead to more flights for teams and players.

Likewise proposals to play domestic games abroad and not exactly environmentally friendly.

If Arsenal (or any other sports club) truly wanted to tackle climate change, they would look to reduce flights and reduce manufacturing.

But I am guessing they would not want to see their revenue drop as a result.

Profit is more important than tackling climate change.

Keenos

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Arsenal (0) 0 Aston Villa (1) 3

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Sunday, 8th November 2020. Kick-off time: 7.15pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney; Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny; Bukayo Saka, Willian Borges da Silva, Alexandre Lacazette; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Substitutes: Dani Ceballos, Alex Rúnarsson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Nicolas Pépé, David Luiz, Eddie Nketiah, Granit Xhaka,.

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 59%

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Assistant Referees: Constantine Hatzidakis, Nick Hopton

Fourth Official: Graham Scott

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR David Coote; AVAR Stephen Child

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

The good news about tonight’s match here at the Emirates, is that we have no immediate injury concerns, and everyone is fit, well and available for selection by Mikel Arteta. it is to be noted, however, that we have won our last three home league games against Aston Villa by an aggregate score of 12-2, and we have conceded merely seven goals in the Premiership this season. However, sadly, we have failed to keep a clean sheet in our last six home league games. Tonight’s match is an important one to win, as a victory will take us to fifth in the table, a solitary point behind fourth placed Southampton. Let’s go!

High drama within a minute of the start! Matt Targett plays in Jack Grealish down the left, who looked up, found John McGinn in open space. He simply controlled the ball with his right foot on the edge of our box and cracked the ball into the roof of the net with his left foot; fortunately for us, Martin Atkinson referred to the pitchside monitor, only to discover after five minutes, that. Ross Barkley was offside. He appeared to be interfering with play, as Bernd Leno could not see John McGinn’s shot, so thankfully the goal was disallowed. The denied Villa goal only served for both sides to attack each other’s goal in earnest, and a few minutes later, after Alexandre Lacazette was floored by a clumsy tackle by John McGinn, a solid gold goalscoring chance for Arsenal was blasted wastefully over the bar by Willian. The midfield started to get rather congested as both sides vigourously contested every ball looking for a break in play for an attack to take place, and sure enough, a couple of minutes later, Bukayo Saka collected the ball on the edge of the Villa penalty area, and his excellent shot went narrowly wide. After just twenty-four minutes, a Jack Grealish ball again found Matt Targett, who fired in a low cross into our penalty area, and after some indecisive defending, it was eventually bundled in by Trézéguet at the back post, via Bukayo Saka, who desperately tried to prevent the goal, only to no avail. The goal gave the visitors extra confidence now, and they started to cause our defenders problems. Willian crossed a high ball in from the left, but it was headed away by Tyrone Mings, and just before half time, a Kieran Tierney ball found Alexandre Lacazette, whose header from close range sailed over the bar and into the stand. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang won a corner, which was wasted, and as the first half was brought oa a close by referee Martin Atkinson, we can look back on this half as forty-five minutes of messy play at the back, and wasted chances up front. 

For the second half, Dani Ceballos replaced Thomas Partey, and almost immediately, the visitors put us under pressure with a quick shot from Trézéguet, which was pushed away by Bernd Leno at his near post. Soon after, Pierre-Emerick Aubayemang crossed the ball deep into Villa’s penalty area, and Douglas Luiz conveniently headed it straight onto the right foot of Willian; sadly his snap shot travelled wide of the mark. Soon afterwards, a Kieran Tierney pass found Dani Ceballos, whose weak shot was easily picked up by former Gunner Emiliano Martinez in the Villa goal. Meanwhile, the visitors came back at us again, and although they created some goalscoring chances, mercifully they all went wide of Bernd Leno’s goal. The match started to become an end-to-end game, and Rob Holding was unlucky not to score when his shot went just wide. Mikel Arteta substituted Willian and Alexandre Lacazette for Nicolas Pépé and Eddie Nketiah with twenty minutes of the match remaining, and as in all substitutions, it lifts the spirits of the team who remained on the pitch. A strong Mohamed Elneny shot cannoned off Eddie Nketiah and back into open play, and a superb curling Nicolas Pépé shot flew past the Villa far post. Then the unthinkable happened. From an Aston Villa corner, which we cleared, Douglas Luiz sprayed a long ball forward which Ross Barkley fired straight toward our six-yard box where Ollie Watkins found the back of our net with a diving header; three minutes later, Ollie Watkins scored his second of the night when he slotted the ball under Bernd Leno after collecting a pinpoint pass from Jack Grealish. Into the final ten minutes of the match, every time we came forward, Villa punished us on the counter-attack, time and time again, in which we were extremely firtunate not to cocede a fourth goal on the night. With a mere minute of normal time remaining, we were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the visitors’ penalty area; Nicolas Pépé did the honours and just like our performance tonight, it went absolutely nowhere. 

Truly, a night to forget. After the victory at Old Trafford last week, tonight’s match was embarrassing, to say the least. We were lacklustre, toothless, without inspiration nor creativity, and it has to be said that we can consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have lost this match by only three goals, when in essence it should have been at least two more. Our defence went to sleep, the midfield lacked creativity, which in turn affected the performance of the strikers, who had just two shots on target all night. Thankfully, we have the international break next week, which should give Mikel Arteta time to right some wrongs before the Leeds United match a fortnight today. Hopefully. 

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: Leeds United at Elland Road on Sunday, 22nd November at 4.30pm(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.