Good morning to everybody.
We played Man Utd on Sunday at home, but they were in midweek action last night against Crystal Palace. Since we have an ‘off’ week and they played more than 90 minutes, that’s helpful for us. As well as the yellow card in minute 80 to Casemiro for which he will be sanctioned for the match. The former Real Madrid player has been very good for them this season, and while he brings control, craftsmanship, quality and experience, his likely replacement, Scott McTominay, brings kicks to people with impunity. Lots of kicks. So much kick. So, so many kicks and leg kicks.
How many times will he foul before the ref bothers to notice? I estimate, and this is based on past history, around 634 fouls until the ref says ‘Hey, I’ve got you in the eye. Another 12 fouls and I might think to warn you before I let you commit another 60 brutal assaults on someone’s ankle, at which point I’ll have no choice but to do the adding gesture, after which there’s no doubt a card will be issued. yellow. after another 6 fouls, including a knee-high lunge that puts an opponent in intensive care.’
It’s swings and roundabouts, right? David de Gea is upset by the Brazil international’s suspension, saying: “I don’t understand why Arsenal don’t play as we have to play in the same week and they don’t. Now we are missing one of our best players. I don’t understand.”
To be honest, I don’t get it either. The Everton game has yet to be rescheduled and this would have been a good time to play it, but for some reason it wasn’t. I suspect Mr de Gea needs to discuss this with the people at Sky Sports and BT Sports who ultimately decide when these games take place. Squeezing it out later in the season when the stakes are higher and the pressure is mounting even more is probably a good streaming decision and decent ratings, but that’s not up to us. I think if you had asked Mikel Arteta if he would have liked a midweek game against an Everton team that is so bad its fans have been forced to make protest banners that read like kindergarten poetry, it would have been fine for you. that.
As for last night’s result, it must be said that it is decent. United looked set to take all three points before Michael Olise’s ridiculously good free-kick gave Palace a point in the kill. How long before we get the ‘Olise to Arsenal’ stuff on social media etc? Don’t get me wrong, he’s a very good player and I think he would actually give us some genuine depth, but I think we’re at a point now where anybody who does anything good and looks remotely like they’d fit in is going to be talked about as a possible transfer target. How realistic is Olise? With just over 10 days to go, realism begins to merge with a bit of panic, but I’d say ‘Not much’. Is this a reverse hex? Absolutely not.
Speaking of which, Man City take on Spurs at the Etihad tonight, and after what happened in the derby with that absurd offside goal, they’ll be out for revenge. Not to mention the fact that Spurs beat them twice last season, so you can basically bet your house that City will destroy them tonight. At the end of this game, Erling Haaland will stand over the barely breathing half-corpses of Eric Dier, Lenglet and Romero, laughing at their pathetic attempts to suck air into his lungs as he enjoys the spoils of his four-goal haul.
“HA HA!”, he will think to himself (which in Norwegian means “HAHA!”), and then, having started from being the only one in front of the cameras after a bad result, Antonio Conte will drag Daniel Levy by the shoulders Listen to his postgame press conference and say, “Now explain why we’re so bad. Cazzo fai, sfigato?!”
That will mean our lead will be reduced before Sunday’s game against United, but as we have shown more than once this season, when the pressure is on, we can respond. Of course, there will be plenty of time to look forward to that game in the days to come. For now, I’m going to walk dogs.
Have a good time friends, we’ll be back tomorrow with more and a new Arsecast.
