So it’s the last international break of 2017 and the second to the last in the 2017-2018 campaign, and clubs are already looking towards enforcement in January to cover up loopholes in their squad or better still get stronger for the remainder of the season.
Today’s speculation coming out of North London is linking Wilfred Zaha of Crystal Palace to Arsenal in a 35 million Pounds move, as they look to replace Alexis Sanchez with the Ivorian – though there’re speculations also linking PSG’s Julian Draxler to the Emirates, and Sanchez going the opposite direction.
Personally, the latter speculation favours all entities involved, as Draxler would seem a worthy replacement for Sanchez and Draxler is much younger than Alexis.
It’s been a roller coaster ride thus far for the Gunners, though it’s only November and already Gooners across the globe are exhausted with the shenanigans associated with the club – including myself, as it feels like the same old story over and over again.
Now in the league, we’ve been terrible at it with only 11 games played but in other competitions, we’re currently active in, we are doing well in them.
Europa League
Arsenal is touted as one of the favourites for this competition and qualifying top of their group shouldn’t be a thing to panic over, as they’ve fared in recent time in the Champions League. Tied against Red Star Belgrade, Bate and FC Koln, the Gunners have won three games out of four and drew once in their last fixture in this competition against Red Star Belgrade at the Emirates, which ended in a goalless draw.
The Gunners kicked off their campaign in this competition with a home fixture against German opposition FC Koln, coming out of the match with a 3-1 over the opposition as the second half goals from Sead Kolasinac, A beauty from Alexis, and one from pretty boy Bellerin eased the tension of going one-nil down at halftime.
Up next was an away fixture to Bate which the Gunners won the game in a resounding 4-2 victory against their host, as Theo Walcott grabbed a brace in this match, and a first Arsenal goal for Rob Holding which he was delighted about and Giroud rounding off the scoring from the spot kick.
The third fixture was away to Red Star Belgrade and the Gunners displayed an awful performance and had to leave it very late in the match to win this, courtesy of an overhead kick goal by Olivier Giroud, days he claimed the Puskas award for his scorpion kick goal.
The return fixture ended in a goalless draw as the Gunners gained qualification to the next phase of the completion, where we expect, Borrusia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid to join in.
The Gunners affair in this competition has been mixed with experienced players and youth players edging towards the first team, and it’s been a worthwhile experience thus far for the likes of Ainsley Maitland-Miles, Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock.
Carabao Cup
The Gunners are in the quarter final of this competition, thanks to a home debut brace from Eddie Nketiah against Norwich City, as the Gunners host London rivals West Ham at the Emirates in the next round, next month.
The Arsenal started their campaign in this competition against Doncaster Rovers, with the matching ending in a one-goal win for the Arsenal and Theo Walcott grabbing the only goal of the match as the Gunners brushed aside their opponent in terms of performance.
Then came the Round of 16, with Norwich City visiting the Emirates; little did 18-year-old Eddie Nketiah know he’d make the headlines of the Sports news column the next day as he needed less than 15 seconds of coming on as a second-half substitute to make an impact in the match.
He came in very handy for the Gunners who couldn’t find access to a brick wall Norwich defence, as his goal sent the tie into extra-time – which he eventually gave the Gunners their ticket to the quarter-final as he rose highest to head in from a corner.
Premier League
Thus far, the Premier League hasn’t been good to the Gunners as their away record this campaign has been abysmal – claiming just four points in six away games. A victory against Everton and a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge, which we could’ve won, are the only positives from our away fixture, losing the other four games with the most recent, which was against Manchester City; as the Arsenal were brushed aside by the master class performance of Pep and his team, ending in a 3-1 loss for the Arsenal.
Our home record has been great, as we’ve raked in most of our League points from the Emirates – getting maximum points from the 5 home fixtures we’ve played as we anticipate six in six when we host North London rivals Tottenham this Saturday at the Emirates.
A win would keep us in sight of our local rivals as we edge to close the gap between leaders Manchester City who are the team to beat in this campaign as they’re yet to lose a game in the Premier League.
I’m hoping Wenger doesn’t gamble this match and he picks out a strong determined starting XI that’d be more than able to deal with the advances of Spurs.
For us fans we’d be hoping we smash the spuds at the Emirates, yearning to see a great result over our neighbours as we’ve always gotten in times past, singing “What do we think of Tottenham? Sh!t, what do we think of sh!t? Tottenham… Thank You!”.
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