An annoying late defeat to Porto. Memories of a frustrating night at St James’ Park in November. A gap to close on title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool. A first home game in three weeks.
Arsenal have a bevvy of reasons to be motivated for tomorrow night’s clash with Newcastle United as they look to keep up their good form in the Premier League in the quest for a first league title in 20 years.
“I think we are in a really good position and we are what we want to be,” said manager Mikel Arteta ahead of the game.
“We can be better, the most important thing is that we continue to believe and to perform at the level that we are doing and that we have the squad available. If we have those two things, we’re going to give it a real go.”
Arsenal came within 30 seconds of a creditable away draw on Wednesday night only to pay the price for late defensive sloppiness. The players were clearly annoyed with the way they let down their guard and Arteta senses they are keen to put things right at the first opportunity.
He said: “I could sense in the dressing room straight away that we wanted to play, the next day, if possible. And after that defeat, that’s the feeling that you get. I’m sure when they come back in an hour or two, I’m going to be seeing that desire again.
“What happened in the competition is there. You cannot deny what is in your tummy after a defeat and we have to use it in a really powerful way to do even better.”
He added: “Porto is gone. We discussed it, we know the things that we did very well, the things that we have to improve.
“It tells you again about the small margins in the Champions League because we have one of the biggest chances in the 91st minute with Gabi [Magalhaes]. If he scores that goal, we have won it and it’s [seen as] a fantastic, mature, disciplined performance in the Champions League.
“You lose it in the last seconds and it’s something else. And that’s clear, but we cannot lose sight of where we are, what we are doing and the importance of the match tomorrow and the full energy and focus is there.”
The last time Arsenal lost in the Champions League – a 2-1 defeat at Lens in October – they bounced back with a fine 1-0 win over Manchester City at the Emirates. The boss is hoping for a similar reaction from his players and for a helping hand from the home crowd.
“That’s the reaction that we need and we want to create atmosphere in the stadium from the beginning,” he said.
“I ask everybody to go there tomorrow night with full energy because the team is going to need it. We are in a really good moment in the Premier League and we want to continue to be there.”
He added: “It feels like a long time [ago], that Liverpool game. It’s been a while and we love playing at home and tomorrow is a fantastic game.”
Arteta took centre stage in the aftermath of Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Newcastle, calling out the standard of the officiating after the home side’s controversial winner was allowed to stand. His comments landed him in hot water with the FA who slapped him with a misconduct charge. While he later cleared his name, you sense he has unfinished business with the Geordies.
“With every club there is always a history, there is always what happened before, what is going to happen next. We know the importance of the game and we just focus on what we have to do.
“They are a really good team,” he added. “They are very well coached, they are fantastic players, they have great spirit within the team and they are difficult to beat for us and for many, many opponents.”
Feel like there’s an alcoholic beverage missing from that training pic….. 😂
Geordie Shore Dry Gin
Yes, some “bevvy” or other.
Tomorrow MAY likely be a tough one. Same starting 11 played on Tuesday with barely any changes (hence, players were knackered at the end), Newcastle well-rested, and Eddie Howe watching the Porto antics (would have learned a thing or two).
The key is to get an early goal so the game opens up. Otherwise, could be another long evening against the annoying magpies.
Newcastle are going to be SO dirty and infuriating tomorrow. We really need to thump them good and proper!
To quote Eddie Howe, let’s fucking give it to em!
I would love to see his sourpuss face after we’ve given it to them today. He has a real sourpuss face when things don’t go his way.
At the moment the first 11 more or less picks itself. The injuries have left the cupboard bare.
Newcastle are ravaged with injuries themselves and are there for the taking. They will park the bus like they did last season, but we should eventually break them down.
It’s squeaky-bum time. We need to win this game and then keep winning.
2-0 to the Arsenal
Seems like an ideal game for ESR to start over Martinelli (with Trossard switching to LW)
Actually, I’d like to see Jorginho in the midfield and Havertz as a false 9 (or dual 10 with Ödegaard, as Klopp described it). Otherwise, without Zinchenko, Ödegaard needs to drop further back and we lose some of his attacking creativity. Another advantage is it lets Trossard (or, alternatively, Martinelli) come off the bench and give the defenders new problems to deal with after they are mentally and physically worn out.
I would perhaps bring Martinelli off the bench here at 60mins, Tross wide left, probably jorgs on midfield – would love that so much to be partey, maybe he gets 30mins in place of jorgs at the end when it’s already 3-0.
Other than headers by Gab 06, we do not have a lot of assets to break down a team that really parks the bus. Deflected shots if we’re lucky and slalom dribbling by Trossard to create something for a poacher (who?).
100% cannot afford any slip ups at this point, Liverpool players are gonna be pumped to let klopp lift his last PL trophy.
I don’t think it obviously picks itself cuz Jorginho could start as he did against Man City, Liverpool…
shite should have read the other comments first 😀
I hope that cheating slimy weasel Guimares gets sent off
Games like this I wish we still had Xhaka. The perfect wind up merchant for that scum.
Slight change of subject. Granted we played poorly against Porto but why is nobody in the media brave enough to say “yes Arsenal played poorly however as the Porto players spent the entire match diving and cheating to con the ref and break up the game, well most teams would have struggled with that”!
Whatever gets the clicks
One yellow card awarded after diving in own penalty area and they are funked.
F*ck Magpies forever.
You reckon the Geordie magpies are bad, you should see the fuckers down under. They literally try and take your head off often drawing blood. I wonder if the FA would rule them to have not “used their
elbowbeak as a weapon”?