Pizy

All of our top 4 rivals have very tough matches this weekend. This one is massive for us to put pressure on all of them playing after us. PLEEEEEEASE get all 3 points here! Can give ourselves a giant cushion that can afford us a slip up or two later in the season. I haven't wanted us to win as desperately in a while!

Haven't they already struggled with the farmers in these early rounds? Nah, can't see them sticking with him if they lose this weekend. They risk the fans creating a toxic atmosphere again. Be very interesting to see what they do to replace him.

Haven't they already struggled with the farmers in these early rounds? Nah, can't see them sticking with him if they lose this weekend. They risk the fans creating a toxic atmosphere again. Be very interesting to see what they do to replace him.

Hope so. Emery is done if so. Their fight for top 4 is done already if they fall 9 points behind. After the amount they spent in the summer it would be inexcusable to be 9 points off the pace in early November.

If I recall correctly, in this fixture last season we almost totally shut Zaha down by swarming him with multiple players just about every time he touched the ball. I still stick with my point the other day that 3-4-3 would be ideal here. Have Reece in there so he can match up with Zaha better and Azpi in the back 3. Huge, huge game this. I fully expect Leicester will get at least a point against Arse. I care much less about the gap between us and City and much more about the gap between us and Arse/Spuds/United. All 3 points here and we can kick our feet up, chill, and hope for some nice chaos throughout the rest of the weekend.

I could see a rare 3-4-3 appearence here. Or a formation change of some sort. Being without both Jorginho and surely Mount who are so crucial to the way we play is gutting. Palace are a real stubborn side so far this season and they always cause us a headache in one way or another. I feel like we absolutely need the 3 points here with City away up after that. Let's be honest, the way we defended today City are likely to tear us apart. We risk letting our rivals right back on to us if we lose both of these next 2. As was mentioned above, Palace are a side that will let us have the bulk of possession and play quite defensively. For that reason it may be wise to play 3-4-3 so we can attack them better from wide areas to stretch them. Get Reece and Emerson/Alonso overlapping and bombing forward to support our attack. Just overload them.

Just can't get over this new handball rule, man. That's never, ever, EVER a handball before this season. Arm down by his side, not moving it towards the ball, not even looking at it! Infuriating.

Utterly dominating the start to the half and then boom, game over.

Everyone is slating Alonso but Azpi has been far worse. Since he offers fuck all going forward, his defending needs to be top notch in order to justify his place in our best XI (like he was against Ajax away). He's getting abused defensively here. Not for the first time this season.

We're easily getting into good positions attacking, too. It's not like they're playing brilliantly defensively. Our defense on the other hand have been shambolic. Pulisic and Kovacic are running through them at will. There are definitely more goals in this for us. Unfortunately, there surely are for them as wel.

THIS REFEREE, OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!! Hes giving them everything here. The tiniest contact and they get free kicks over and over and over again!

Ajax have great pace from wide areas and will likely come at us much more aggressively than they did last time. For that reason, I don't like Alonso back in.

I actually expect Kante to come straight in for Kova who will be rested for the weekend. No changes other than that I'd guess.

Seems like I'm the only Zaha fan here. I'd love him in Chelsea blue. He'd be super motivated after a big move and will actually have players around him at or above his talent level so he doesn't have to shoulder as much responsibility as he does at Palace. Watching him against Leicester the other day and saw him rage at his teammates about 4 different times because their lack of quality couldn't get him the ball. You can tell he's hungry and aggressive which would suit us well. He's direct as hell and skips past players at will. I'll take him in a heartbeat as a long term Pedro and eventually Willian replacement. If not Zaha, the Sancho rumor sounds nice. Maybe we could offer Dortmund a similar deal as we did with Pulisic. Buy him in Jan, let them keep him til the summer, and then he moves here. Win for all parties. Can't believe I'm saying this after being terrified of how we'd do this season back in the summer, but I'm not sure we even need any January signings otherwise. We're well stocked in all areas. We're at least 2 deep in every position when everyone is fit. Makes more sense to buy next summer when Giroud, Pedro, maybe Alonso and Willian are gone than to buy for the sake of it in January.

I could see him wanting to go there (still lives in London, they have a decent group that could be made into a contender with the right coach and a couple of CB's) but I can't see Arse's ownership or fans going for him. Just the opposite of their club ethos.

True. And Mou could indeed build a monster there if given the funds. Just an odd match considering they've always appointed classy, progressive, attack minded managers. Going for the opposite of that is weird but I suppose they'd take the gamble to get back to the top.

Much like Mourinho to Arsenal, Bayern and Mou seems like such an odd match. Unlike Arsenal, Bayern aren't a club that have been out of contention for ages and desperate for any success they can get. Bayern will almost have their pick of any number of promising attacking managers. Not sure they'll want him.

Imagine if you told us before the season started that in early November we'd be miles ahead of United and Spuds and fairly comfortably ahead of Arse as well. I truly can't determine who's worse between United and Spuds. I suppose it's probably United because they look like they don't have a clue what they're doing going forward.

Iwobi couldn't overcome the Arsenal running through his veins there. Fucking pathetic. Spuds have been utterly trash here and will now win because Everton are even worse.

His aggression and directness cause teams huge problems. Whilst attackers like Willian and CHO like standing up their defender first and trying to do a trick, Pulisic just receives the bal and charges forward. Puts tremendous pressure on a defense. And he actually looks even more dangerous when he plays narrow in the center of the pitch than he does out wide which I didn't expect heading into the season. Lots of growth to look forward to.

Penalty nearly fucked us over. Other than that it was a nearly spotless 2nd half. Jorginho and Kovacic are simply sensational. No bottom half club can handle the both of them. Sucks that Jorginho will be suspended for Palace. That's the exact sort of side we need him against so hopefully Kante is back fit in time for that one. As for out attack today, we could've scored 5. Keeper having a worldie. Just millimeters away on so many occasions.

Need to regain calm possession in midfield. We were dominating them by keeping it with Jorginho & Kova in the middle, drawing them in, and then breaking the lines. Allowed them back into the game by being too careless in midfield. That being said, any other day we'd be up 3-0 with those chances we had. Foster playing a ridiculous blinder.

Not the first time Foster has played his best game of the season against us...

Really allowed Watforrd to get a foothold in this match after a great start. And it's all down to sloppy passes from midfield. Again and again.

When you look at that Watford XI they have several nice players. Some that are very dangerous on their day. Can't underestimate them.