Arsenal

Kimmich is a far better footballer than both Jorginho and Partey. On a free would be some bit of business.

I'd be a little dissappointed to see Partey go, he's been ok for a good part of the season, except when played at RB. But if it's unavoidable then getting Kimmich and removing Jorginho  from the squad as well then I'd be happy with that.

I prefer Jorginho to Partey these days. He might not have the pace but he is secure in possession and can pick a pass from deep against the low block.  Partey gives the ball away in dangerous positions 2-3 times each game.

brumbys

I prefer Jorginho to Partey these days. He might not have the pace but he is secure in possession and can pick a pass from deep against the low block.  Partey gives the ball away in dangerous positions 2-3 times each game.

I would have said the same about Jorginho. When he is on our midfield looks porous and destined to make mistakes or give away cheap fouls.

theprof

brumbys

I prefer Jorginho to Partey these days. He might not have the pace but he is secure in possession and can pick a pass from deep against the low block.  Partey gives the ball away in dangerous positions 2-3 times each game.

I would have said the same about Jorginho. When he is on our midfield looks porous and destined to make mistakes or give away cheap fouls.

I like the calmness and consistency that jorghino brings to the middle. But he's never likely to win us a match, but he'll control it so we don't lose it either. While partey is more up and down, and has that potential to grab us something. 
Also for someone who is definitely not a RB, he has done a serviceable job there. 

Either way, I'd love kimmich. 

In light of our goalscoring form I would be inclined to start Trossard as a false 9, and Merino at Left 8 with a mandate to alternate with Trossard and make late runs. Put Dec at the base of the midfield. I’d start MLS at left back, and pick an academy lad at LW with Nwaneri on the right. Anything to keep Sterling out of the starting 11 and giving the youth a shot.

Yea not sure why we didn't cancel Sterling's loan in the Jan window and look to bring someone else in his spot. Another odd choice for us. 

Anyway, merino in the middle and flanked by trossard and Nwaneri is the make up this morning. I wish I could watch it but I'm in the office today. I'll be following via fotmop 

Wow. Anyone watching this? Stuck at work and barely able to see any of it so far.

An hour in to the tie and we're almost as good as in the quarters. Interested to know how well we have performed because i wasn't expecting this at all.

It’s been a mad game. Absolute baller performance from us, so confident. PSV also woeful, they can’t handle our press and we have a lot of room in midfield. MLS just about got sent off so took an early sub - smart from Arteta.

It’s so odd to be 5-1 up by 50 minutes.

7?!?!

7-1. Jesus Christ.

Hope we rotate a fair bit in the second leg.

Nice to have that kind of performance after the disappointments in the league.

I imagine you could have got very high odds on us scoring 7! Memories of 5-1 at Inter Milan, a similarly unlikely scoreline when we needed to win to go through. No team in the league will give us a much space as PSV did but this should bring a lot of confidence. 

Very easy match in the end. PSV's defending was terrible, just giving far too much space and time.

MLS was lucky to stay on, but even with 10 it would've still been a win.

Can now rotate the squad for the next leg and instead focus on Man Utd this weekend

Yeah I'd love us to pump them at Old Trafford.

Title race might be done but we need to put them back in their box after that shark FA Cup exit to them.

Looks like we were lucky to come away with the drawn, Raya saving our bacon again.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360608347/manchester-united-draw-arsenal-after-brilliant-late-save-denies-bruno-fernandes
2nd again, 15 points off Liverpool. Forest only 4 points behind us, they'll be chasing hard.

Yeah David Raya made a lot of great vital saves - the double save late in stoppage time the best of them all. The one mark against Raya all game was that he was too far off to one side for Fernandes' free kick goal which really gave himself no chance of saving it.

Felt like they had more, better chances than us - so in the end the draw did feel a bit lucky

I'm so torn about Raya because it was a MOTM performance, but as with all goalies it's the one you let in you should have done better with that'll haunt you. Now Martinelli is back I wonder if we'll see Trossard back to the 9 position which might make our forward line a bit better? Hard to say, we're just bereft of creativity when facing a low block.

I find it so interesting how the narrative changes depending on the team involved. The other day Allison was "heroic" and "best in the world" and greatest of all time and all that against PSG. A couple of days later it's "embarrassing" if your keeper is MOM. 

Who has said it’s embarrassing?

Nothing wrong with a keeper winning you points with a blinder. That’s their job.

Absolutely. Just various posts I've seen about it being embarrassing. There's just a very weird agenda with Arsenal. "Stagnating in 2nd" is another one I've seen. Obviously a trophy is now needed for this period to be a success but I suspect 90 of the other 91 teams in the English football league would still swap their current seasons despite how much they might laugh and say second is embarrassing. 

Absolutely supporting Athleti this morning. They taken the lead in the game, hope they can grab another for the tie. 

Real Madrid then.

Damn.

Ah shark

Any of the likely options were pretty tough to be fair. Aston Villa the only team in the quarters we could expect to be beating.

That penalty decision is just unfathomable. Can't be seen on the replay, in fact there looks like daylight between the left foot and the ball. How does VAR take half an hour to decide everything else but makes that call in 5 seconds? Maybe I'm too cynical but do we really think that decision would have happened the other way if it was a Real penalty? In the unlikely event our tie is close they'll definitely find some way to fudge us.

Anyway, looking forward to it. They are at least a club we've knocked out in living memory instead of having to play Bayern again like every other time we get this far. We were possibly even bigger underdogs that time too, although when you had Henry there was always a chance. They were also the opposition for my first (and only) game at Highbury - Lee Dixon's testimonial in 1999. Have we ever played them in a real game in other time?

ajc28

That penalty decision is just unfathomable. Can't be seen on the replay, in fact there looks like daylight between the left foot and the ball. How does VAR take half an hour to decide everything else but makes that call in 5 seconds? Maybe I'm too cynical but do we really think that decision would have happened the other way if it was a Real penalty? In the unlikely event our tie is close they'll definitely find some way to fudge us.

Hardly surprising given over half of their European titles are massively tainted.

Anyway fudge these lot. Rice, Gabriel and Saliba to mark their national team counterparts out the tie and send us through.

Best attacking line up in Europe vs one of the best defensive units in Europe. Just hope Saka can make it back in time to give us an x-factor up front. 

I expect us to be competitive, none of this being thrashed by Bayern nonsense.

Great to see MLS get the England call up. Given we have plenty of LB cover I think it’s a great experience for him.

With Martinelli back I'd like to see this against Chelsea:

   Martinelli Trossard Nwaneri
           Merino Odegaard
                      Rice
 Calafiori Gabriel Saliba Timber
                       Raya

I think in this shape you can let Trossard and Merino alternate when the long ball is coming in, while Merino's late runs from left 8 open up the crossing angle more. Trossard's touch and turn in tight spaces is key to playing more of a false 9 to slip Martinelli in too...

Anyone watching live? We’re 1-0 up and playing with the hurry and nerves as if it was the other way around. Lads just need to take a breath, hold the ball, and get the clean sheet.

You’d think our title chances are all but gone. Still, this result does a lot for firming up our grip on second.

Too early on a monday to get up for this, pleased we got the win though. 1st is gone, gotta stay in the battle for 2nd.

I'm wondering if Liverpools collapse in the CL, FA cup, and now losing the league cup final might dent them for the PL run in. I'm sure they'll get it done, but if we can keep grinding away with 1-0 wins we'll be there if they slip.

Yea, gap seems too big, but it's a shame, Liverpool are wobbling and also having their own issues with injury and fatigue. 
Out of all the injuries, Odegaard early on, then Saka, then Havertz, have probably hurt the most. Probably 3-5 points lost for each of those that would've made all the difference. 

Regardless of catching Liverpool it would be nice to put a run of form together in time for Real Madrid.

This (https://arseblog.com/2025/03/andrea-bertas-to-do-list/) was a good write up about the summer ahead, but his thoughts on Hein retuning to take up the back up GK position from Neto makes a lot of sense.

So far Hein has 28 starts in La Liga for Real Vallodolid, and 6 starts for Estonia men’s team. He’s kept 10 clean sheets in La Liga, and given his team is sitting on 16 points at the bottom of the table that is somewhat impressive. Saves us some pennies too, keeps the funds for midfield and forwards. 

MLS youngest player to score for England on debut and Man of the Match.

MLS is outrageous. Nwaneri scored a gem for the U21's. Highlights of that game made me really think Delap, assuming Ipswich is relegated, could be one to go for on the cheap to go alongside a Sesko type signing. As much as I want Isak, I can't see the money making sense.