Thursday’s match takes on increased importance after poor back-to-back performances by Arsenal

Tomorrow’s match at Molde FK takes on increased importance for several reasons.

Reason #1 – The Gunners can secure a spot in the Europa League’s Round of 32 with a win in Norway.

Reason #2 – The Gunners need to regroup and put on a solid performance in order to build momentum before returning to league play on Sunday v Wolves.

Reason #3 – Mikel Arteta needs to get his squad back on track in order to relieve some of the pressure he is feeling from supporters, the press and Arsenal brass.

Reason #4 – Many, if not all of the squad’s players are under performing this season. It’s time to step up their games, and perform to meet expectations.

I could probably go on, but I think those are enough reasons for the Gunners to provide a good performance on the pitch tomorrow.

Molde FK will be no push over, so a poor showing, a lack of goals and senseless mistakes can no longer be tolerated.

Arteta had this to say to Arsenal.com about the Molde FK match, “They are very dominant in the league obviously and are so used to winning football matches. I expect them to have a real go tomorrow. They were aggressive when they played against us in certain phases of our play. They were organised and good on the the counter attack and set pieces as well. We want to be there, win the game and we know that will give us the qualification.”

Not to be overly dramatic, but we are facing a turning point in the season. It’s either time to begin to winning matches and accumulating points, or it’s time to pack our bags and accept another below average season.

Now, I think it’s too early to scream “Arteta Out,” however, results need to start rolling in or the trust Arteta has worked so hard to build with the fan base will begin to fall apart just like it did for Unai Emery last year.

With that said, here’s my predicted line-up v Molde FK…

[4-3-3]

Nelson, Nketiah, Pepe

Xhaka, Ceballos, Willock

Maitland-Niles, Luiz, Holding, Cedric

Runarsson

Predicted final score…

Molde FK 1 – Arsenal 2

COYG!

Cheers.

Gunner1953