Since Arsenal’s next game is just three days away, I’m not going to waste a lot of time discussing the 3-2 loss at Man United. It sucked, it hurt and it blew the Gunners chance of being in the top four!
Gabrielle Martinelli looked very good, and so did Emile Smith Rowe. Martin Odegaard ruined a good performance with a stupid penalty allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to score the winning goal from the penalty spot.
So, following five matches this season v the Prem’s “Big Five,” Arsenal stands 1 win, 0 draws and 4 defeats against Man United, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham.
Since Arsenal can not seem to conquer the big dogs, let’s get ready to face Everton, currently 14th in the Premier League.
On paper, this looks like it should be a win for the Gunners, however, I’m concerned the lads will be down from Thursday’s defeat and will not be prepared to put their best foot forward. This is a time when Mikel Arteta and his senior players need to step up and make sure a letdown does not happen. Arteta was quoted as saying yesterday, “The senior players need to lead and the young players need to follow.” In my opinion, it seems the opposite has been true for most of this season.
This has been another strange season for Arsenal. The highs are high, and the lows are low. As a fan, it’s disappointing we couldn’t take advantage of opportunities like Thursday to win the match and climb into 4th. It seems something or someone always gets in the way. Yesterday, it was our own silly miscues, our own sloppy passing, some questionable refereeing, plus Ronaldo and United.
It’s now time for Thomas Partey to get his game together. It’s now time for Arteta to get Kieran Tierney back into the line-up, and it’s time for Martinelli to team up with Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe on the front line.
The matches come thick and fast through December, so the Gunners need to quickly regroup to avoid more points slipping through their fingers and put the club in a big hole as we make the turn to the season’s back nine.
COYG!
Gunner1953
Mikel Arteta said on Friday Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber are all in contention to be in the squad for Saturday’s match.
According to Graeme Bailey of TEAMtalk, Arsenal has intensified their interest in Athletic Bilbao star Nico Williams as a top summer priority. 
Fabrizio Romano is reporting Calum McFarlane will be the Chelsea interim manager until the end of this season.
Arsenal Women have confirmed Manu Zinsberger will leave the club at the end of this season. The Austrian goalkeeper has totaled 51 cleans sheets in 143 appearances for the Gunners.
Stat of the Day: David Rays has made 53 saves and had 15 cleans sheets in 33 appearances this season for Arsenal.
American movie star Anne Hathaway on the Gunners title chances, “They better. I believe in Arsenal.”
Gabriel Magalhaes, “We need to be strong on Sunday, We are at this club to play these kind of games.”
Ten Premier League managers have been sacked this season, including three at Nottingham Forest, and two each at Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
One takeaway from the game is that Arteta needs to make substitutions sooner. 10-15 minutes from full time is not sufficient time to counter nor does it give replaced players much less game time and thus fatigue. Replacements are used for injury, not playing well, and to provide fresh players
Over the next few weeks I would like to see two subs at the 60 minute mark. We have the depth in defence and midfield to do that.
Striker wise we have a problem.