Arsenal v Manchester United, 17:30 GMT (30/01, SS Main Event)

[McNamara That Ghost...]

:sick:

Partey, Tierney and ESR all were in training, thank fuck.

[Marc Overmars]

Should be a good game. Arteta has beaten Ole twice and I expect them to come out fighting after their terrible defeat the other night.

As long as we have our big hitters fit and firing then no reason why we can’t beat them.

[Mac76]

Yeah we should be able to give them a game

Still, I wouldn't be me if I didn't say ...

0-3 Fernandes hatter :lol:

[Niall_Quinn]

Certain loss. We've been on a fairly decent run in the league so it's high time we fucked it up as usual.

Don't even hope I'm wrong. Don't care either way. If we win, who cares? If we lose, who cares? I mean who actually cares about wet blankets passing sideways and falling over to the sound of canned cheers because the crowd is stuck at home? Football? Technically. Football? No. Not even close.

Wake me up when the lunatic era has ended.

Btw - we still have those racist BLM banners in every corer of the stadium. Shameful in any other age, but not in this day and age.

[I am invisible]

Bellerin or Cedric at RB?

Pepe or Martinelli on LW (I’m assuming Auba is still out)?

Who partners Holding?

Who partners Partey?

Does Ødegaard at least make the bench?

[Gooner23]

I'd like to see Gabriel back. Luiz is a mistake waiting to happen at the best of times, let alone against United's quick forwards. Hopefully Odegaard makes the bench.

[Mac76]

Bellerin or Cedric at RB?

Pepe or Martinelli on LW (I’m assuming Auba is still out)?

Who partners Holding?

Who partners Partey?

Does Ødegaard at least make the bench?

Cedric (unless he still needs to cover at LB)

Pepe to start, Martinelli to come off the bench

Gabriel

Ceballos

Yes of course

[Letters]

Actually strangely confident about this one.
Which probably means we’ll lose :lol:

[I am invisible]

Cedric (unless he still needs to cover at LB)

Pepe to start, Martinelli to come off the bench

Gabriel

Ceballos

Yes of course
Yeah, that’s about where I’m at, although I’m not sure we’ll go with Ceballos (is he back now)? Think it will be Xhaka or Mo alongside Partey.

Pepe probably deserves another chance to show what he can do with our best players around him - he’s fought for his place these last couple of games, and it gives us a chance to ease Martinelli back in after that injury scare. My only slight reservation is I’m not sure if he’ll get in Tierney’s way if we play him down the left again. A left-footer on the LW will probably hug the line a little more, and that’s where we need Tierney to be.

I like the idea of bringing Martinelli on with Ødegaard - might be too soon, but I can see their respective skill sets really complimenting each other.

[Mac76]

It'll be Xhaka for sure, i assumed you were asking what we would do

Admittedly i don't mind as much as i have done about Xhaka playing on the back of his recent performances, but i still don't really like him or see him as the future and while Ceballos might not be the future either i prefer watching him and think he's a good lively presence

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Ceballos is out, so is Auba.

Tierney being assessed late on.

[Slacker]

Luiz and Xhaka will start. Tierney won't. Solskjaer's bounce back will be gifted by the imposter who a lot of people think is a good manager. I'm with NQ on the couldn't give a fuckness about all this. Not sure about Odegaard. Not sure why we need him. All we really need is a replacement for Xhaka, Luiz out of the first team squad and a manager who can see the obvious. So difficult for the Arsenal Board for some reason.

[Letters]

Ceballos is out, so is Auba.

Tierney being assessed late on.
Piss. Auba hasn’t had a good season but he does tend to turn up in big games.

[I am invisible]

It'll be Xhaka for sure, i assumed you were asking what we would do

Admittedly i don't mind as much as i have done about Xhaka playing on the back of his recent performances, but i still don't really like him or see him as the future and while Ceballos might not be the future either i prefer watching him and think he's a good lively presence
What you’d do / what Arteta will do - either is good. I just didn’t think it would be Ceballos because I thought he was still out.

As you say, it will probably be Xhaka, although I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Mo got the nod again - depends whether we’re willing to sacrifice a player purely to stay on Fernandes all game, or whether we want every creative passing outlet possible out there?

[GP]

3-0

[Gooner23]

Tierney and Saka both injured, that's us fucked then

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, David Luiz, Cedric, Partey, Xhaka, Pepe, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Lacazette.
Subs: Runarsson, Gabriel, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Willock, Odegaard, Willian, Nketiah.

Man Utd: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Fred, Pogba, Fernandes, Rashford, Cavani.
Subs: Henderson, Bailly, Martial, James, Telles, Matic, Van de Beek, Tuanzebe, Greenwood.

---------

No Saka at all. :rose:

[I am invisible]

Fuuuuuuu... what’s happened to Saka?

[dazthegooner]

Rested we have a big game againt Villa on Tuesday :unsure:

[Globalgunner]

Time for Pepe to step up and show what he's made of. Get the better of tubby Luke Shaw

[I am invisible]

Straight up fight between Pepe and Martinelli - who wants it more?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Rested we have a big game againt Villa on Tuesday :unsure:

Wolves.

[dazthegooner]

Wolves.

Guess that was why I was unsure. :(

[Gooner23]

Saka is such a big loss, along with Tierney our two best players this season. I don't have much faith in Pepe to deliver but hope to be wrong. Shame Odegaard isn't ready to start yet.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Norwegian Messi to save us. :bow:

[I am invisible]

Partey’s still in there - this is the time for him to show us those extra gears.

[Globalgunner]

Why is Runnarsson still on the bench. Is the new chap unavailable? I'd rather have Pepe in goal than that guy

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Come on Arsenal. :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Hoof it out of play. :bow:

[Gooner23]

Martinelli starting on the left, him and Cedric need to work better than they did in the FA Cup game

[McNamara That Ghost...]

4th round is the first hurdle of the FA Cup is it Tyler? :doh:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Get up Rashford. :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fernandes diving.

[Globalgunner]

Diving is United's greatest threat as always.

[Mac76]

Fuuuuuuu... what’s happened to Saka?

the website says "Bukayo Saka has been left out as a precaution due to a sore hip"

[McNamara That Ghost...]

David Luiz. :haha:

Awful shot.

Awful attempt at skill from Martinelli just before that too.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Cedric booked.

[Gooner23]

Cedric on a yellow against Rashford, could be in trouble.

We've started ok but Utd are just waiting to hit us on the counter.

[Mac76]

Cedric booked.

was pretty clumsy and if you hit someone in the head that's what happens - or it does if you're an Arsenal player

[Globalgunner]

Michael Oliver showing his hand early
Blatant foul.by Fernandes. Ref selectively blind

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lacazette shoots, right at De Gea.

[Gooner23]

Fernandes gets away with a deliberate stamp on Xhaka

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bad from ESR.

Partey covers the square ball.

[Globalgunner]

Xhaka put us in an awful pickle there. Just clumsy.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Great save from Leno.

[Mac76]

really low quality passing so far

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Pepe, what was that? :lol:

[Letters]

Great save.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

McTominay needs a shit I think.

[Mac76]

lovely touch from Pepe there

[Letters]

really low quality passing so far

:good: It’s a pretty poor quality league these days

[Mac76]

McTominay needs a shit I think.

'needs' or 'is'? :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Partey. :haha:

Awful shot from a great run.

[Mac76]

Partey. :haha:

Awful shot from a great run.

awful :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Xhaka header, easy for De Gea.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Pepe doing well, ish.

[Mac76]

what's with all these shots from outside the box all of a sudden?

[Mac76]

tame header from Xhaka

[Globalgunner]

All Oliver's yellows have Arsenal written on them

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Good ball from Martinelli, bit slow from Laca.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Martinelli. :bow:

[Gooner23]

Need to score whilst we're on top. You just know United are waiting to pick our pocket.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Unlucky Pepe.

[Mac76]

martinelli :bow:

[Globalgunner]

Unlucky Pepe.

Doing the Cronaldo shuffle

[McNamara That Ghost...]

AWB heads wide.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fernandes. :lol:

What a miss.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Not Partey's best. :haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

McTominay off for his shit, Martial on.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Tyler wants to strike up a conversation about Saka, Neville replies talking about Pogba. :lol:

[Mac76]

i'm not convinced ESR is fully fit, he's not been in the game much

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Why didn't Rashford hit it first time? :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bruno Fernandes freekick deflects over.

[Globalgunner]

Creating our own problems now

[McNamara That Ghost...]

0-0 HT.

Man Utd coming in to it at the end.

Overall a bit shit.

[Gooner23]

Fernandes is a cheating cunt

[Mac76]

0-0 HT.

Man Utd coming in to it at the end.

Overall a bit shit.

fair summary

[Letters]

And these are two of the better sides in the PL, are they?

:doh:

[Letters]

Why didn't Rashford hit it first time? :lol:

First touch of a Bendtner

[Mac76]

i reckon we should bring Odegaard on at about 60 mins, see what he can do

other than that there's no-one on the bench who's going to change the game

[Gooner23]

And these are two of the better sides in the PL, are they?

:doh:

To be fair we're mid table. United have been scrapping wins all season though, can't help feel they'll do the same here.

We haven't really looked like scoring despite some decent spells. Really missing the compusre of Saka in the final 3rd, maybe Odegaard can come on and provide that?

[Globalgunner]

And these are two of the better sides in the PL, are they?

:doh:

We certainly aren't. United cant win a game without a dive or a pen or a ref assist

[Letters]

That Leno save really was exceptional.
Leno :bow:

[Letters]

To be fair we're mid table

At the moment but I don’t actually think we are a mid table side.
But Utd were champions elect a week ago. They’re not all that.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Come on Arsenal. :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Kane's music playing. :haha:

Martinelli off, Willian on. :rose:

[Marc Overmars]

Kane’s music being played :bow:

Willian on :unsure:

[Letters]

Willian :lol:

ffs

[Mac76]

Willian coming on :ilt:

[Mac76]

is Martinelli the new Wilshire...?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Willian smash it FFS!

[Marc Overmars]

Tame as fuck.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Against my better judgement, I’m tuning in for the second half.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Slabhead blocks from Pepe.

[Mac76]

lame shot from Willian

[Mac76]

lame corner from Willian

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Wan-Bissaka booked. Run at him!

[Globalgunner]

If Arteta was into betting. He would play the same lottery numbers every day for 30 years. Willian.is.a bust
Now he's injured

[Gooner23]

Xhaka trying to get Willian subbed off :haha:

[Mac76]

If Arteta was into betting. He would play the same lottery numbers every day for 30 years.

that's actually the best approach

[Letters]

If Arteta was into betting. He would play the same lottery numbers every day for 30 years.
Now he's injured
Which would make complete sense as in a lottery every combination of numbers is equally likely ;)

Our “breaking with pace” really is poor.
Although at least they’re trying to.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Cedric got to that? :wacko:

[Letters]

that's actually the best approach

:lol:

There is no best approach really. :d

[Mac76]

how did they get a corner then?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

David Luiz. :haha:

[Letters]

David Luiz. :haha:

“Leaning back”

[Gooner23]

how did they get a corner then?

Absolute sitter of a miss by Cavani

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Freekick to us, dangerous area.

:popcorn:

[Mac76]

pepe should have looked for Laca then

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lacazette hits the bar!

[Slacker]

how did they get a corner then?

Give it until seconds to go and they'll probably get a free pelanty.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

De Gea saves from ESR.

[Mac76]

macguire's so full of sh*t

[Mac76]

great effort from laca

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Cavani. :haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Time for the Norwegian Messi. :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Pogba booked.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Woeful freekick.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Slabhead booked now.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Stop indulging David Luiz on freekicks!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Partey has had a bit of a shocker in this half.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Rashford off, Greenwood on.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Pepe so close.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Here comes Messi. :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

ESR off, Odegaard on.

[Letters]

Pepe so close.

Decent effort.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

How has Cavani missed? :haha:

[Letters]

Shit! :sick:

That was close.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Three added minutes. :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Nketiah on to dazzle us for two minutes. :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

0-0 FT.

Roy Keane for all the shit he was saying at half time. :haha:

[Globalgunner]

We huffed and puffed like a team of asthmatics. So did United

[Letters]

We huffed and puffed like a team of asthmatics. So did United

:lol: Pretty much. Not a good game.