Legend
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Arteta doesnt seem to be too worried about trying things out, scoring seems to be an issue at the moment, two 1-0 victories doesnt scream a heap of goals in the prem league. Against sturdier defenses we could struggle. Still two wins, two clean sheets makes me happy and should instill some confidence in our back 4 and keeper. Midfield and up front need a bit of time to combine and create more chances.
Might see Laca start if we dont hit the target more against Spurs.
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Against a team that play like Burnley we were actually very successful at finding space and creating overloads. It was poor touches that let us down so often. Pepe, Saka and ESR were all guilty of a heavy touch or the wrong pass when we had space and numbers. Very frustrating. 
Overall I was really happy with that performance though. For us, against a team like that, away, it was an excellent showing in my eyes. 
Gabriel was immense. But I'm surprised no one has mentioned Ramsdale! What a performance from him! He did things Leno is completely incapable of. Obviously the commanding of the area and getting up to take the ball on set pieces, but what about the distribution?!?!?! It was amazing, he's got it all. From the long strafing goal kicks to find forwards to calmness on the ball under pressure and playing out, instead of panic lumping. And I love the passion and desire, he f*cking loved that clean sheet at the end there. This is my keeper, I'm completely sold on him after that game. 
White had a bit of a shocker with Barnes, he's not great in the duel on that evidence, but you could see the value he brings with his feet. A very classy distributor. For the first time this season, despite only winning 1-0 and scoring it from a free kick, I really thought we saw in parts how this is all supposed to work. The way we played out from the back, the skill sets of Ramsdale, White and Tomiyasu, I was seeing the vision of how this could all go when we've got the first choice team on the pitch, fit and firing. 
The next game is going to be huge. If we could play well and win this one in front of the home crowd it would kickstart the season.
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theprof
Arteta doesnt seem to be too worried about trying things out, scoring seems to be an issue at the moment, two 1-0 victories doesnt scream a heap of goals in the prem league. Against sturdier defenses we could struggle. Still two wins, two clean sheets makes me happy and should instill some confidence in our back 4 and keeper. Midfield and up front need a bit of time to combine and create more chances.
Might see Laca start if we dont hit the target more against Spurs.


Hopefully fluidity and goals will come in time. At the moment i think 6 points from the last two games (and hopefully 3 more next week) is the most important thing. Given the start we had, confidence would have been very low within the squad. We absolutely needed these two wins to get us going. A win against Spurs would be incredible, and probably inject a bit more "swagger" throughout the side.
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Totally agree with both of your comments. 6 points from the last two after that horror start is amazing and the confidence at the back is growing (Ramsdale has helped here immensely). For mine nothing needs t change against spurs and if we come away with the win then we can start talking about future plans.
Legend
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I would change ESR out for Lokonga, or Xhaka (if he's available?) for Spurs. Preferably Lokonga though, I like this kid, and I feel his style really complements Partey well. No other changes for me. 
Legend
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kwlap

Arteta wants to play a 433. So I imagine that partley will be the anchor with ordegaard and ESR playing in front of him. With auba flanked by pepe and saka up top. 
Agree on Tomi, I was soo iffy on him. but after watching how he worked on the weekend (and if he had scored that volley chance, my word) and reading about him a bit, I very excited by what he can bring to the team

I did not agree with you on this, but boy you were spot on for the Burnley game!
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White had a bit of a shocker in terms of personal mistakes on the weekend. But the difference for him is he has the quality around him to make up for it. That’s a key change from last season where individual errors seemed to always be capitalised on.
I think this is super important because the team is full of blokes who will have an off day, and making sure when that happens the others around them can cover will be the difference.
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3-0 win over Wimbledon this morning. I see kiwi Nik Tzanev was in goal for Wimbledon and it was refereed by Jared Gillett
Legend
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pity there was no coverage on Bein sports
Legend
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Yea I was annoyed, was all ready to go on the train, no coverage. Bugger. 
There is some comfort to take from our second string being able to dominate and dispatch lower sides comfortably so far in the league cup. 
At the end of Emery's reign we were even struggling for possession in those types of games. 
Legend
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Leeds at home for the next leg
Starting XI
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Must be the first Arsenal game for many years to not be broadcast anywhere globally. Not even a Chinese stream. It's what happens when you're not relevant anymore.
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Interesting to hear there were 50,000 people at the game. 
Performances in recent seasons may have rendered us irrelevant in competition but its nice to see the supporter base remains. 
Brumbys what was the game like?
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I wrote you a really long debrief only to have it not save 🤦🏻‍♂️ take 2…

1) Lacazette is the solution to our attack, his link up play brings together wide forwards & midfield in a way Auba doesn’t. Saka should head out to make way so Saka can get a breather.

2) Matcheday experience was really shark with poor crowd management cost us the first 30 minutes and finding ourselves penned in like sheep which they closed off the concourse with no announcements.

3) New boys look bigger, stronger, and faster in real life.

4) Martinelli is a shadow of the kid he burst through 2 years ago.

5) Nketiah had a blinder and should be heir to Lacazettes thrown, sign him up! His finish for the third was one of the best I’ve seen live.

6) AFCW were kept at arms bay all game  and never really threatened. Our attack wasn’t fast or direct enough until Saka & ESR came on.

7) Still can’t believe they didn’t show that anywhere, surely the club should at least have had the ability to share directly with fans?
Starting XI
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I think I saw on another forum that arsenal.com had audio commentary but silly they couldn't show the game in this case. They won't have the rights but a shame something couldn't have been sorted out if it wasn't being broadcast anywhere. 
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There were clearly cameras as I've watched highlights. Quite bizarre that it wasnt televised anywhere. 
Perhaps that helped with the attendance figure. So good to see a big crowd for a game like that, and the players were pretty pumped. 
Interesting insights there brumbys, awesome to hear about Nketiah, and Lacazette. I've felt the same about Martinelli since he came back from his injury, he hasn't regained that spark just yet. 
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I don’t know if it made the highlights but Nketiah smashed one into the post on a tight angle off his forehead after a beautiful cross. Art’s match report in The Athletic outlined Nketiah’s key improvements in first touch and decision making during pre-season. The decision making regressed a bit on Wednesday but that’s probably a lack of match fitness.

Based on what I saw and Arteta’s comments it sounds like Nketiah’s put his head down and done a lot of work, and it would be a real shame to lose him. The Balogun success/step up will be putting pressure on him and he’s responding well.
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Get in! Great first half so far! Cmon you gunners!
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Lads! Lads!!

What a fudgeing half of football!!!

Let’s put the foot down and get 6 now!

COYG!!!
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Stoked to have that result to complete the run of 3 in the league. actually looked like the lads were working for each other.
Odegaard, ESR and Saka all doing their bit to overrun a very uninterested Spurs midfield.
Look out brighton!
Legend
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Sharke second half but no bother. That first half was something else.

Hard to pick a MoM. Thought Odegaard absolutely ran the show in the first half. Saka and Smith Rowe were both excellent as well. Ramsdale looked quality yet again.

Above Spurs. North London is red. Roll on next week!
Legend
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Second half was to be expected after grabbing 3 in 33 minutes.
Spurs would have been given a massive bullet at half time and Arteta would have been asking his lads not to button off (impossible to do).
Conceding one was annoying but overall it was a decent game, Odegaard involved in most plays, Tomiyasu played well, Tierney a little quieter than he has been but I think that is more because the ball was able to be played down the right with Tomiyasu there, Gabriel and White played perfectly.
Thought the ref did a good job too, didnt think either pen shout was worth anything. There's was probably more chance of being given, but on replay it was a little nibble and as always Kane went down waaaay to easy.
Marquee
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North London is red.

“You should have gone to City” was the chant that was missing today.

So*rs fans leaving before half time.

What a game.

Glad to see Artetaball click and the new boys perform so well.

Ramsdale in goal is bloody brilliant.

Expensive money for a back up keeper but looks a good buy for our new #1.

Bloke in the pub we were watching in said ESR’s Dad is a massive spurs fan and called him to rub in his own sons goal! No idea if it’s some bloke talking shark but hilarious if true!
Starting XI
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That was awesome. After those first 3 games when we were everyone's meme and laughing stock and they were talking about winning the league and North London is white etc it feels a little unfathomable that 3 games later we're above them in the league. "Mind the gap."
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Got so much to say about that but before anything else its worth mentioning arsenal women battered man city (who finished above us last season) 5-0 and are top of the league.
What a day for gooners
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That was so good.
Ramsdale: Love this guy. Everything we want in a keeper.
Tomiyasu: Out of nowhere we've got ourselves a fantastic right back who suits the particular role Arteta wants on that side so well. 
Loving the White/Gabriel combo. Squad looks so much stronger when we have Holding/Chambers/Mari as our back ups to these two. 
Add Tierney to the above, and Partey in front, and I absolutely love the defensive unit that Arteta has put together. 
I really liked the structure of the forwards this morning. Spurs were probably expecting Saka left and Pepe right again, this would have been a shock to their system. Although they swapped about frequently, I really liked the two little combos we had going a lot of the time - ESR combining with Auba on the left, Odegaard combining with Saka on the right. It gave us so many options. The way we progressed the ball up the pitch so smoothly and quickly for all the goals was so good. Wengerball back on the carpet. 
It's a cliched term and I've said it several times before, but Partey really is the absolute definition of a "rolls royce" midfielder. I could watch that guy play all day. 
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Henry.jpg 344.18 KB
After seeing the highlights, I'm so glad that I ordered the new home shirt with Saka 7 on it. Did everyone see Auba do Henry's sliding knee celebration as well? Did he know that Henry was watching in the crowd? 
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Gooner 4 Life
After seeing the highlights, I'm so glad that I ordered the new home shirt with Saka 7 on it. Did everyone see Auba do Henry's sliding knee celebration as well? Did he know that Henry was watching in the crowd? 

Did you see who he was sitting next to? It was that Spotify guy...

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Cracking first 60mins or so. We were the only team in it. I love Kane's assist for our third. Just magic. 
Still unconvinced about White. Again he looked iffy here today and I think it was a pen his tackle on Kane. But it is still early days. 
Tomi and Ramsdale, I mean, I had no idea they would be this good so soon. I cant wait for more from them. 

I know it is only one result of that setup, but I wonder if having 3 players of ESR, MO and saka buzzing around Auba is our new front formation in big games. It is balanced, creative and a keen attack formation. And in a way, it is a very Pep formation. 

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Just rewatched the highlights.
1. The fact that Boyhood Arsenal Fan Harry Kane got an assist for Saka is a magical story of not forgetting the little boy inside you and that makes me smile.

2. When Moura got tackled into Xhaka and injured him he spent a respectable amount of time checking on Xhaka. A surprisingly classy act from someone losing badly in the derby.
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Legend
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Hahahahaha some great posts above lads. 
I saw the spotify guy too. They have not given up on that whole thing it seems. I hope they keep at it. 
Auba must have practiced that celebration to get the pose just right, the angle of his head, his arms, everything about it was perfectly in sync with the original. Love it. 
Kwlap I know what you mean about White. Sometimes he's a bit weak in the duels, but to be fair he did quite well against Kane who is very good in the duels usually. White's passing range is excellent though. He's very accurate in the short passing, and he has an amazing range of long balls, he gets different shapes on them and is very accurate. I saw this on youtube after we signed him, and have now seen several examples in play for us. Just needs to get that upper body in the gym and I'm sure he'll work out great. 
Brumbys I feel this formation might be our future as well. Saka looks at home on the right, and ESR at home on the left. Odegaard is good wherever he pops up. It's a shame for Pepe, he shows moments of class but hasn't been doing it for us game in game out. Hopefully he can become our impact player off the bench, if Arteta can keep his head in the game. 

Legend
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Also brumbys, regarding the moura comment, completely agree. He was a notable personality in the spurs all or nothing documentary actually. I was impressed by the attitude and personality of him, Son and Sissoko in particular during that series. All very professional, and excellent desire and commitment for the cause. 
I really wish Arsenal were not doing this series this season, but I will be extremely interested to see what the different player attitudes and personalities are like. 
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I would have loved to have Moura, thought he could have been Sánchez 2.0 for us.
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With Xhaka out for awhile I think we’ll either see Lokonga in as the double pivot, or what we saw at Burnley with the 4-3-3.

Hard to know about which he’ll select but if the 4-3-3 worked away to Burnley I’d hope to see it away to Brighton too.
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Lucky to get a point there. 
Most of our team looked awful, apart from ESR, Ramsdale, Gabriel, and Saka.

Auba had a blinder with his link up play last weekend, but looked like he’s rather not be out there today. Laca changed the dynamic well.

Given the weather and brightons press we struggled. But surely we have the better passing team to play through a press, therefore why we didn’t get in their faces from the off was beyond me. 

I’ll take the point, but another international window leaves Arteta with some work to do.
Legend
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During the first half, after Auba's 3rd or 4thh loose touch in a row, I said out loud this is a game for lacazette, get him on. 
Sometimes you can just tell that its the right kind of game where laca would make a difference. Arteta seems reluctant to yank Auba, and yes he is the captain, but it just wasn't his type of game. 
Good resilience at the back, and Brighton are in form and playing well in front of their home crowd, but it's a pity we couldn't nab a goal or two. I thought maybe we were going to pop up and grab something like at Burnley. 
Oh well, at least we didn't concede. 
Xhaka is going to be a miss, but having said that I coulda seen him getting a red in that game as well!
Marquee
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These international windows are sharke.

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