Arsenal5s

  1.        Changes What Changes? At this moment, our slim chance of winning the FA Cup quarter final is probably equally important as our slim chance of getting into Europe via the league. Arsenal made five changes, but it seemed both teams put out strongest teams except perhaps Bellarin and Aubameyang. Maybe they needed a rest. The games are coming thick and fast and rotation is inevitable. Despite the changes in personnel, it was nice to see 3-4-3 for the second game in a row. It might not be perfect, but at least the players get some familiarity and comfort in their position. Given our characteristically jittery defence, having a third centre back should make us more stable defensively.   2.          Right Side Playing Its Part Saka has felt like our best attacking outlet for most of our season. Which isn’t a bad thing, but it is a concern when not much is going on in other areas of the field. In some games, our right flank has felt like a passenger. For whatever reaso

  1.        So It Does Happen to Other Teams! If this was an Arsenal keeper, we’d be absolutely fuming.  It was a gift, but Eddie Nketiah worked for it. Pressuring defences won't always result in direct goals, but it's importance in the modern game is a given. Arteta will be delighted to see Eddie’s hard work rewarded.  There has been suggestions the lack of intensity created by the crowd can cause a lack of concentration from players. Surely this is one example. The Saints fans would have been screaming for their keeper to release the ball quicker. Under pressure from Eddie, their defender plays a back pass. The keeper receives it comfortably but is the miles too casual trying to pass the ball out. The striker intercepts the pass and kicks it into an empty net. 1-0.   2.        Are You Arsenal in Disguise? It doesn’t give me great joy, but it’s nice to write about someone else’s calamitous errors for a change. These kinds of mistakes have been far too frequent in

1. Team Selection Despite how poor Arsenal were versus Manchester City, most people were ready to put it to one side and get on with some more winnable games. Brighton should be one of those said games, but amazingly the gunners haven’t beaten them since 2017 and have lost three of the last five games against the potters. So are we the underdogs again? Arsenal’s second game in three days saw five changes. Two changes were made in the back line after we lost two centre backs on Wednesday night. Is it too many changes? Or acceptable in the circumstances. It’s arguably just the two changes that were not forced by injuries. But it would be nice to see some partnerships have time to form, such as the Martinelli-Saka partnership we got exciting glimpses of earlier in the season.   2. Leno's Injury Leno’s performances has been one of the real positives of this season. Which makes seeing him being stretcher off even more painful for fans. The keeper was injured in a needless challenge fr