Match Reaction v Sheffield United (away)

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Easy win, for once.

And a clean sheet.

[Gooner23]

Decent win. Sheffield are dreadful mind.

Hope Saka is fit for Thursday, otherwise it's Willian pulling the strings

[Letters]

Probably the worst side we will play this season but I’ll take it.
Bit of a confidence boost for Thursday, hopefully.

[Marc Overmars]

Just do the same on Thursday now you shit kickers.

[Bumble]

Good first goal but sheff utd are hopeless.

[WGC Goon]

A good win against the worst team in the PL is what we would and should expect, hopefully a good omen for Thursday as Slavia are pretty poor as well.

[IBK]

Nice to get a routine win with a clean sheet. The problem with where we have got to for me however is that is by no means a given that we take this small momentum into Thursday. I worry that Arteta will disrupt the team by making too many changes (and of course Willian will be one of them - I hope not for an injured Saka ) - and we will be back to being timid and defensive for a 'big game'...I hope not, but hopes have been dashed too many times this season.

[Mac76]

Nice to get a routine win with a clean sheet. The problem with where we have got to for me however is that is by no means a given that we take this small momentum into Thursday. I worry that Arteta will disrupt the team by making too many changes (and of course Willian will be one of them - I hope not for an injured Saka ) - and we will be back to being timid and defensive for a 'big game'...I hope not, but hopes have been dashed too many times this season.

well said, will Arteta ever learn that with a team like this with some really positive players you just need to let them get on with going forward, not ban them from crossing the halfway line

[WGC Goon]

Nice to get a routine win with a clean sheet. The problem with where we have got to for me however is that is by no means a given that we take this small momentum into Thursday. I worry that Arteta will disrupt the team by making too many changes (and of course Willian will be one of them - I hope not for an injured Saka ) - and we will be back to being timid and defensive for a 'big game'...I hope not, but hopes have been dashed too many times this season.

Well we can't afford to be timid Thursday, go for the win or go home

[IBK]

Well we can't afford to be timid Thursday, go for the win or go home

Yes we have to go all out for that away goal from the get go. Once we get that we can be more tactical because the stakes are then higher for them. They will be doing everything they can to contain us (and drawing on their home record), so they will be defending deep and looking if anything to play on the counter. In this respect Sheffield United weren't a bad warm up - albeit that Slavia are more dangerous...

My concern is that Willian is a guaranteed starter - and I worry that we will see Ceballos in MF and Xhaka at LB again - which is an experiment that could go badly wrong against a better team. Auba will replace Laca up front even though Laca is better against the deep defence - which would be a mistake, IMO (I would leave Auba on the bench unless the game starts to get streached and Slavia have to play higher up the pitch. Arteta doesn't seem to learn his lessons and I do worry that we will see a similar approach to that we saw last week - with the manager hoping to convert a chance and prevent them scoring...