Tuesday’s Champions League win was pedestrian at best for the Gunners

The Gunners are now twelve matches into the 2024/2025 season. Mikel Arteta said earlier that by the time the club plays Liverpool the team would “be flying.” Unfortunately for the boss, “flying” would be an overstatement at this time.

Of course, there is a long list of injuries that has hampered the club, including Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori, Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu.  Odegaard, Timber and Tomiyasu will definitely miss the Liverpool game, and those are key players to have sidelined.

Yes, all of that was missing, however, Arsenal did not put on the performance v Shakhtar Donetsk that we had hoped for. Overall, the play was sloppy, uninspiring and pedestrian at best.  Passing was poor, scoring opportunities were missed, and the missed Leandro Trossard penalty also stands out as a weak moment for the team’s overall production on Tuesday. Coming off the weekend disaster v Bournemouth our expectations were much higher. Even the faithful in Emirates Stadium had a poor showing with less than an inspiring performance as well.

Beside the negatives, the one bright spot was Gabriel Martinelli. The young Brazilian played like the Martinelli of old. Hustling, pushing, creating scoring opportunities, including his goal that was later declared an own goal. Nevertheless, he was indeed the Man of the Match for everyone who witnessed this game. Let’s hope that level of play continues throughout the season from #11.

And, of course, let’s not forget the contributions of David Raya who made several impressive saves between the posts. Often overlooked by the press, Raya is never taken for granted by Gooner Nation.

Next up, Liverpool, the league leaders. This is a critical match for both clubs. Arsenal currently trail the Reds by four points on the league table, so a win would be a huge investment for Arteta and his hopes of winning the Premier League title. Hopefully, Saka, Calafiori and Ben White will all be fit and ready to go, otherwise the Gunners could face a long day on the home pitch, and, let’s not forget William Saliba will miss the game as well due to his red card suspension.

Many critics and supporters are screaming for Ethan Nwaneri to get a start on Sunday. Personally, I don’t see Arteta making this move in such an important game, even though I, as well, think it might be a good idea to give the youngster a run out v Liverpool.

With that said, there could be two different line-ups on Sunday depending on fitness. Let’s assume Saka, Calafiori and White are fit, then the line-up could like something this…Raya, Calafiori, Gabriel, Kiwior, White, Rice, Jorginho, Partey, Martinelli, Havertz, Jesus.

If all three are not ready to go the line-up could look like…Raya, Zinchenko, Gabriel, Kiwior, Partey, Rice, Jorginho, Merino or Nwaneri, Martinelli, Havertz, Jesus.

It’s really anyone’s guess at this point depending on player availability, but let’s hope for the best.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the week.

Whoever plays, Sunday needs to be a big improvement over what we saw on Saturday and Tuesday.

Cheers.

Gunner1953

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