Stats

Chilwell shaked his head. He wanted to continue, however felt discomfort and when he was walking off you could see him saying he was unable to continue. Hopefully not. I remember Hazard had a back issue couple years back and he missed a week and a few days but was back within a fortnight. Hopefully it is just that. I would be more concerned if it was a lower body injury though, so hopefully he is back for weekend.

Same thing happened with Vida for Croatia, albeit he played less minutes. Ireland have said the rest of squad will still travel for the Uefa Nations games, so should not affect any England players at all.

You give me a heart attack. Any time I see something posted on one of our players on international duty, I dread it may be an injury. Whew.

Yep, so did 19 other teams also, however we bought so many new players who have never played before so it was not surprising that the team looked a bit lost, the first few games. We bought more players than most teams so to get that understanding was going to take time, due to lack of pre-season.

Yeah, agreed tbh. I am not really a fan of Lacazatte. He has dropped off hugely, however he scored like what 3 league games in a row for them and then was suddenly benched against Sheffield United in the league and did not even come on. Also apart from Fulham and United, their other 2 wins in the league, they have been so unconvincing. West Ham should have got something out that game and Sheffield United arguably should have too. Saliba was bought for £27m and has not even been given a chance. Imagine if this was Emery, the stick he would be getting... Sometimes sticking to a winning team can be good, but sometimes it can work the complete opposite and when I saw they put the same team they played against United against Villa, I was already licking my lips. There was no creativity and it was the wrong move. It is almost like they paid Villa too much respect. Auba scored many goals from the wing last season but apart from the second half where he puts Auba up front, he never starts Auba from the beginning up front and it baffles me. Nkeitah and Lacazette are just not good enough to be starting as their main CF and Auba needs to be given a run of games there. I still wouldnt be surprised if he ends up around 20 goals or so come end of season. Martinez, is not a bad sell tbh. I know a lot of fans maybe would have said keep Martinez instead of Leno but with them looking to generate funds, it made no sense having a keeper who they could get that amount of money for on the bench, if they could invest in other areas of the team but for me Martinez looks more complete than Leno, but I understand why they sold him for money they received. I remember when Emery first came and there was so much hype about him, then suddenly hype goes off and flaws are recognized. Seems a story of de-ja-vu albeit Arteta is getting a lot more patience than Emery and been forgiven for some ludicrous decisions.

That Arsenal fan was being sarcastic btw.

I mean let's face it if he had any ambition, he would not have signed that contract, but money speaks, I can't see how Auba is content to play LW every game. This season he just looks like, 'fuck it, I got my paycheck, why bother'. Today is not the only game he has been limited to no shots on goal.

Nope. They have always more or less played with Aubemyang left wing and Lacazette up front. Initial stages of last season yes, but 3/4 of last season, Aubemeyang has usually started primarily on the LW.

Strangely enough, he has been playing there for Arsenal for majority of the time since he arrived. He managed to score an abundance from that position last season but this season just not up to it. Lacazzette is regressing badly and I think they need to go with Aubameyang up front more.

Been brilliant today and couldnt of come against a more convenient team

He has been hauled off again today and seems a lot of their fans are getting really frustrated with him. Although I always liked him, it seems a bit of de-ja-vu of lack of end product.

I was always a fan of Willian despite his lack of goals/assists, however what frustrated me was that after that 1 game he had against Fulham (worst team in the league at the time) where he made 2 assists, all pundits were stating what were we thinking letting him go. Since that he has not produced 1 goal or 1 assist and his performances have been absolute shit. I think pundits are forgetting that if we kept him, we would have had to offer him a three year deal. Actually Souness and others were saying we should have. I don't know what planet they are on but giving a 32 year old a three year contract where he would of wanted huge wages, is just not feasible. Who is he getting ahead of? Pulisic, Havertz, Ziyech? None of them. I would love to see their angle on this now.

Ouch

Yeah, tbh if he flouted rules, surely he would have been left out the squad entirely? Saying that, it is odd he did not come on today. Was his birthday, we wrapped up the game and you would think Lamps would give him some minutes.

Yep, part of reason why I thought Ziyech would adjust quicker. I think he went underappreciated tbh. I have seen him for Ajax against top teams and thought wow. Eredivisie or not but topping assists charts for 4 seasons is magnificent.

I know Havertz is starting to look really good, but it is interesting, I was having a chat with friends and I said despite more hype around Havertz, I reckon Ziyech will adjust quicker and I said people are not going to know what hit them and early days but he looks sensational. His left food is something else. He will be challenging KDB for assists I reckon. Really and truly the best assist of the match which will never be, beause Werner hit it wide was the lofted pass that Ziyech did for him. That deserved a goal and another assist for Ziyech. Top player. £32m or £33m, around there. Call that bargain of the season.

I still feel despite him getting POTY and Lamps getting best out of him, he still is under-appreciated by majority of people. I still think he is our best midfielder. I am sure as time goes on though, we will see him get more minutes and his quality will shine through.

This made me laugh

I stand by what I said. I am not expecting him to perform miracles for Villa every game, however it feels right now that the same midfield options are being played every game and there is games, week in week out. Would I have liked Barkley to be used as rotation option from time to time? Yes. The fixture schedule is completely cramped together. Kante fortunately has not struggled with injuries so far but last 2 seasons he has. Gilmour is recovering from an injury and needs time to fully settle in. Jorginho is regularly battered from fans here. So do I think we should have kept him on? Yes I do.

The game should have ended 0-1 to us, if also we were awarded a penalty which was incorrectly, not given. But Arsenal dominated from the first minute. We have better creativity than they too, so we couild have carved them open but oh well, still will take the point. They tend to do better away from home plus also Everton look so vulnerable without Richarlison and James Rodriguez both not playing. But hopefully James is back for that. But the way the league works is so weird. Arsenal look clueless against a depleted Leicester team and lose 1-0 and then go on to win against United. United battered Leipzig in the week and then lose to Arsenal LOL. This league comes up with so many disproportionate results.

They have got some of the hardest away fixtures out the way though, City, Liverpool and United. Thanks God they lost to Leicester otherwise their fans would be too high on their pedestal. Although it is not a bad point, you just see the way away teams have attacked United and we paid them way too much respect.

Another underrated part of his game is the ability to draw fouls in the penalty area too. He has won us 3 penalties already IIRC. Very clever footwork.

To be honest, Lamps has not overused Mount for him to be fatigued. When we beat Palace last month, he was an unused sub and also the last 2 games we played before Burnley, against United and Krasnador, he was a sub and entered both games around the 72nd minute.

Just pure class. Defensively a beast, offensively a beast. He puts in so many good crosses that go unanswered. Only 20 and almost the complete RB already. Literally getting better game by game.

Bossing it. Reece James looks brilliant once again. Mount looking really good too. His runs from midfield is what he does best and we need him to play here more.