Pizy

Unless we are completely shit and hand them loads of chances on a plate early in the game I just don't think they have enough quality to either score multiple goals against us or prevent us from doing so.

Expect Rondon to make his first start here which means their biggest danger will be Shelvey pinging quick long passes up to him and hoping he can bully Rüdiger or Luiz. If we can dominate the ball (no reason we shouldn't since we just did so to possession kings Arsenal) then they really shouldn't have a chance. I suppose if we allow them lots of setpieces in poor areas or corners they can trouble us. They'll park Rondon right near Kepa who he'll tower over physically. They were unbelievably awful over the weekend against in my opinion the worst side in the league in Cardiff. This gives me belief that we'll break this spell of Newcastle being a bogey side.

So, looking forward at least in the short term, Pedro has pulled ahead of Willian for a place in the first XI surely. He's our best finisher and unlike Willian he actually seems eager to press all the time. Willian did it sometimes but got pretty lazy as the game went on. He was also partially at fault for one of their goals.

Jorginho was excellent again but I do see people here and there having a pop at him for his defending. You have to remember that in this system he's basically by himself on an island in midfield. When the ball turns over quickly that's when he's vulnerable because Kante will be up high pressing. Just something we have to work on.

If you'd have asked me before the season started whether it would take longer for us to look solid defensively or silky going forward I would have said the latter. I thought it would take us months to look like a free-flowing attacking side. But fuck me, we look amazing going forward compared to years past. We totally controlled an excellent footballing side in Arsenal in that second half and if not for Cech having a 10/10 performance could've scored 6. If we can settle ourselves at the back and our midfielders know when and where to be to help out, we can make a real push for that 3rd spot.

What a fucking difference Kovacic made when he came on! Instant, telepathic link up with Hazard and Jorginho. He's so good on the ball.

We really have to hope half time settles the players' heads. They looked shell shocked. How we can go from bossing it (while admittedly still conceding chances) to looking like scared dogs is mad. Like getting kicked in the teeth. It was as if we expected Arse to surrender.

It seems like when our midfielders retreat back to defend in our box, they go way too deep. The cut backs are being played with Kante facing our goal! Most worrying this seeing Alonso and Azpi just allowing Iwobi and Bellerin acres of space to run into. You have to engage them tighter. Letting them just build up a head of steam and run. Recipe for disaster.

LOOK AT THIS!!!! ALONSO GETTING DESTROYED! There are multiple players just standing wide open on our penalty spot! WTF!?

We are shockingly terrible at the back. Every single time they get it wide and cut it back we look like conceding. Better finishing and we'd have conceded 4-5 by now.

If Alonso gets roasted today hopefully it'll get Sarri to consider Emerson against these bigger teams. Alonso can start against the Huddersfield's of the league.

It is a pretty bad look, isn't it? Especially when you see all the French players that were in the final like Kante, Pogba, Lloris etc all starting games already. Think he obviously could've started here but wouldn't last too long. Better to not risk anything.

Neither side able to field their strongest XI yet, then. Both have key players on their benches. Expect us to struggle going forward with this XI.

Arsenal fans seem pretty confident from what I've seen. Unless we come out completely flat like we did against Huddersfield while Arse blitz us and score early I really don't think we'll lose this. I think the mentality of the team now under Sarri is far different than it was under Conte last season. The lads will now be instructed to start on the front foot and go after Arsenal rather than trying to simply contain them and counter attack. Their entire back 4 is frankly shit defensively and Cech is very uncomfortable with the ball at his feet when he's under pressure. If our attack is fluid and keeps the ball moving quickly I don't see how they keep us from scoring. Conversely, we have 2 areas in our back 4 that are very susceptible to pace and a new keeper making only his second appearence in a new league. So there are certainly areas they can exploit as well. I'm confident that we'll win this but would be very confident had this fixture been a few weeks from now instead so Hazard and Kovacic were fully caught up and match fit.

So it sounds like we'll use the same XI that started against Huddersfield with Hazard and Kova coming on in the second half.

Think this'll be a very open, back and forth match. Both teams under new managers that like to press high. We saw last weekend that Cech looked super nervy under heavy pressing so hopefully we can do the same as City did and force him to make mistakes. I worry about Luiz and Alonso against Özil, Lacazette, Auba, and Mkitaryan. Lots of quick movement and pace which both of them struggle against. If Eden starts I'll be very confident, if not I think we'll struggle going forward.

Hopefully the strict diet still applies to Eden! 😂 Looking pretty chunky after the WC.

His distribution was woeful and he nearly scored an own goal playing a pass across his net. He gifted City numerous possessions in dangers areas trying to play out from the back. It's like they were trying to turn Petr into a ball playing sweeper keeper which isn't his forte at all.

I expect they'll be significantly better next weekend than they were this. Torreira and Lacazette will probably start and they may also bench Cech who looked terrible today. They'll also be in somewhat of a "desperation" mode knowing that they can be 6 points behind their rivals and under pressure already. Their fans have all been preaching about patience and giving Emery loads of time to change things, but if they lose their first two against top 4 rivals to open the season they may go into meltdown within the first two weeks. I wonder if Kovacic will be good to go for this. Unfortunately he probably won't.

Hopefully he kills it in Milan so we can wash our hands of him.

The bald head makes him look more intimidating!

Yeah, it's really weird seeing a smaller keeper in our net after watching Courtois for so long. I take comfort in the fact that DDG and Lloris have become world class in the PL despite being very slight. Kepa looks much more muscular than either of those two so I think he'll be fine. Might run into trouble against a side like United who have lots of giants. Can definitely see Mourinho starting Fellaini against us to stand right next to Kepa on every set piece.

I thought he was alright. Not great, not poor. He didn't actively make us worse like he often did last season.

Imagine how demoralizing it must be as an opposition player seeing Hazard come on when you're tired having chased us around all second half. 😂😂😂

Complete control in the second half. They could barely get a touch. Notice how Luiz and Alonso looked completely different players in the second half when we held onto the ball? That's how it'll continue to be I think. They'll look super vulnerable when we don't have control. I thought Morata did everything but score today. He was very good overall. Good hold up play, decent when receiving it from a Kepa long ball, few nice runs with the ball, and pressed all day long. Pedro was good, Willian decent but understandably rusty. Barkley better second half. Hazard dribbled their entire team effortlessly when he came on. 😂