Morning all.
We’re in Champions League action this evening, taking on Bayer Leverkusen away from home in the first Round of 16 game game. The team news from Mikel Arteta was generally positive, with Gabriel, William Saliba, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi all available (which wasn’t unexpected really). There’s a chance for Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori to be involved after they came off against Mansfield Town, but Martin Odegaard remains absent.
I don’t think you need a masters degree in Arsenal to more or less predict tonight’s line-up. The big boys will return at the back and in midfield, and perhaps the only decision is about who plays on the left. Gabriel Martinelli is the obvious choice if Trossard’s fitness is in doubt, and he’s been most effective in the Champions League this season with 6 goals and an assist in 7 appearances. There is the also the option of playing Noni Madueke out there, but it’s one that the manager doesn’t seem particularly inclined to use after some early season forays there for the England international.
This is much changed Leverkusen side from the one that went through a Bundesliga season unbeaten under Xabi Alonso, but one which will is still capable of causing Arsenal some problems. The quality of Alejandro Grimaldo will give Jurrien Timber plenty to think about, for example, but typically this season the European games have kind of suited us better than domestic ones. In the Premier League, teams are more liable to sit deep in a well-organised low block, and that hasn’t really been in the case in the Champions League. It’s not to take anything for granted, but 8 wins from 8 in the league phase tells you something in that regard.
Speaking about the challenge tonight, Mikel Arteta said:
The only thing you can take is game by game and try tomorrow to be better than the opposition and earn the right to win. We always talk about that. Obviously we play so many games in different competitions – in the next three games we’re going to play in three different competitions, against completely different opponents. You have to adapt to that. You have to, very early in the match, understand what the game is going to require, adapt to it and be better than them.
For more on the opposition, we delve into that in some detail in our preview podcast on Patreon which is available now, but hopefully this is a game which leaves us in a good position going into the second leg next week. With the Carabao Cup final the following Sunday, the ideal scenario would be the ability to ease our way through, but that’s something we’re going to have to work hard to earn.
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Elsewhere in the Champions League last night, there were extraordinary scenes in Madrid as Sp*rs took off their goalkeeper after just 13 minutes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before. Yes, he made a couple of terrible mistakes, but he could have made even more, what a spoilsport this Igor Tudor is. On a serious note though, it was St Totteringham’s Day last weekend, and on the Arsecast we have a competition still running to win a copy of the wonderful artwork you see below from Arsenal fan Mark Bullen.
The competition is very easy to enter (winners are announced on tomorrow’s show), you can find details around 53′ into episode 866, just before the chat with Ian Wright. And if you simply want to get one, Mark has very kindly provided a 15% discount on prints and posters, you just need to use the code SPURSY at check-out. Link here.
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Right, I’ll leave it there for now. Don’t forget we’re the early kick off today, you can follow the game on the live blog, and we’ll have all the post-game stuff on Arseblog News.
Catch you later.
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