Episode 856 - Ben's back

0:24Hello and welcome to a brand new Arseblog Arsecast right here on Arseblog.com. How are you? Hope you're well. Thank you very much indeed, as always, for being here. It all feels a bit sort of breathless and non-stop at the moment, doesn't it? And that is because, there's a very simple explanation for that, it's because it is breathless and non-stop. Game after game after game, barely any time to recover in between. You play on a Sunday, then a Wednesday, then we're playing again on Saturday morning. There's a lot going on. And what went on last night was a 2-0 win for Arsenal over Brentford to extend or re-establish the lead at the top of the Premier League to five points after Manchester City had won the night before.

1:09So we're going to delve into all of that. As well as that, because of the way the schedule is, normally after every round of Premier League games, we do a podcast for our Patreon members called The 30. it's just really difficult to fit that episode into the schedule today. So what we're going to do is obviously talk about the Arsenal game, but myself and Phil Costa, who does the 30 with me over on Patreon, we're going to talk about some of the Premier League games. Some very interesting results this week. Liverpool held to a draw at home by Sunderland. Chelsea, well, we were told they were title contenders.

1:43They might well be, but after a point against Arsenal, everyone was talking about Chelsea, Chelsea. Oh, look how good Chelsea are. And then they went to Leeds and lost last night, 3-1. So there's plenty to get into in this particular episode. Before we start, I just want to say thank you to everybody who has sent me, in all ways possible, every form of communication. I've got them on Instagram and Blue Sky and email. I've got a couple of telexes. There was a telegram. There was even a guy from Pony Express. He sort of knocked on the door and said, I have a message for you. People sending in their Spotify wrapped where it tells you what you've been listening to for the year on Spotify.

2:27And many of you use that to listen to the Arsecast thousands and thousands of minutes. So I do want to say thank you to all of you who listen and thank you to all of you for sending those things in. But I don't want to discriminate because there are other podcast apps out there. I don't want anyone to feel bad if you use Apple Podcasts or Pocket Casts or CastBox or PodSplat or CastDemon, AudioCrunk, PodcastSloth, PodPlopper, whatever it is you listen to the ArseCast and the ArseCastExter and the Arsenal Women ArseCast and all our Patreon podcasts. We thank you and we appreciate it very, very much indeed.

3:05That's part of why this week we won Best Fan Media, the FSA Awards. and I know many of you listening to this took the time to vote for Arseblog and that is hugely appreciated as well. We're very proud to have won that award, particularly when you look at the level of competition. Some of the other nominees are really, really top class. So for us to come out on top in that category was very, very special and again, I just want to say thank you to all of you for taking the time to vote for Arseblog. From me and from all the team, a big thank you very much. I also wanted to just play this bit because it made me laugh a lot.

3:45If you look at the Men in Blazers YouTube channel, there's an interview there between Raj, who's been on this pod a few times, good friend of the show, and he's talking to William Saliba. It's quite an interesting conversation with William Saliba, but he poses one particular question in classic Raj Bennett style to William Saliba, which I thought was very, very funny. I was just trying to imagine, you know, Saliba trying to process this question, you know, and it's a second language and you're trying to figure out what exactly is this guy asking me here? And it's about Eberache, Eze. How would you describe almost the wizard filth that Ebs brings to this team?

4:21To be fair, the answer he gives is very interesting because he talks about playing against him and how he's much happier now that Eze is on our team. But I was just like, what's the French for wizard filth? Is there even a direct translation? I feel like French is sort of too beautiful a language to have a phrase like wizard filth. Anyway, go watch the interview. I'll put a link to it in the show notes. Good stuff between Rog and William Saliba. Right, let's get on with it. Let's first talk about Arsenal and the 2-0 win over Brentford. Then some of the other Premier League games. And with me to do that is Phil Costa.

4:52Good morning, Phil. Good morning, Andrew. How are we doing? We're doing okay. Got the vocal cords warmed up because we've got a lot to get into, obviously, with Arsenal winning last night. and then lots going on in the Premier League as well. But we should start with the 2-0 win over Brentford. After Man City won on Tuesday night, there was just that little bit of pressure for Arsenal to respond and to re-establish that five-point lead at the top of the table. It was done. It wasn't plain sailing, I think it's fair to say. But again, it wasn't a game in which we were massively under threat from the opposition.

5:28So quite a bit to get into. So we'll do that. Let's start maybe with team selection. And the question beforehand was about how much was Mikel Arteta going to rotate? How much could he rotate given the fact that the first choice central defensive pairing are out? You're facing a team who have a lot of threat from set pieces and long throws. Do you need to keep some sections of your team the same rather than ring all the changes? He did make three, I think, from the starting lineup. Ben White in for Jurian Timber. Martin Odegaard came in to midfield ahead of Eberache Eze. And Nadiemadueke started on the right-hand side.

6:09So not wholesale rotation, but just sufficient change to add some fresh legs to the team. Yeah, I was happy with our changes and thought we made the right amount without causing too much disruption. Obviously, we look at Saka, we look at Jurian Timber. Eza has played a lot of football recently. So if I was looking at three of the major candidates for a rest, it would have been those three. So I was more than happy to see White come into the team. Erdegaard needed a run or to get back into the team, let alone have a run of minutes. And then obviously Madueke, this is why we signed him, right, is to sit Saka down occasionally.

6:45so completely happy with that. Rice, Declan Rice was my only concern because I would have loved him to maybe sit down. I wanted him fresh going into Saturday, but taking him out of the midfield on top of the other changes wasn't really an option for me. Maybe we saw the consequences of that later on, but it would have caused too much initial disruption in my mind and we needed his presence on the pitch with other key players missing. So I think in terms of changes, rotation, Mikel got it spot on and the game itself I wouldn't say I was worried going into this one but there was definitely a feeling in the back of my mind that knew this wasn't going to be easy Brentford haven't traveled particularly well this season and they actually rested three of their best players in Igor Thiago, Mikel Damsgaard and Nathan Collins so absolutely happy about that but they're no mugs right and even without Thiago playing as their sort of focal point they had Kevin Charder, Dango Wattara up front, whose sole intention was to test us in behind, look to run the channels.

7:50So this was going to be a challenge either way. And I think where we are at the moment with our squad, with our injuries, with people coming back from injury, you know, I wasn't really expecting a 100 % fluid Arsenal. But yeah, I think this was just about getting over the line, getting three points and then seeing how we get on on the weekend so yeah yeah happy with the changes but um i knew there was going to be a few issues in the game that we'd have to deal with okay i'll come back to declan rice obviously because there is that little bit of worry after he went off late in the game but i think the the presence that you mentioned was important we needed height because of their long throw and set piece delivery we also needed good set piece delivery ourselves and i think we saw for example a bit of a contrast he didn't have too many corners but from the other side noni madweke his corner delivery was not at the level that you would expect from Bakayo Saka or even Martin Odegaard or Declan Rice.

8:42So you can understand why he kept him in, but maybe there's consequences to that. But we'll come back around to that. Where I think it's really interesting is, you know, he made those changes on the right-hand side. Saka out and Timber out. Timber in particular, I think, has been one of our best players this season. Certainly somebody who's played a lot of minutes and has brought like real attacking threat to this team. So I thought it was quite interesting how effectively Ben White and Nani Matueke operated together on that right-hand side. So you might, if you're Brentford, be thinking, great, no Saka, no Timber.

9:19This is good news for us because these guys are, you know, the top guys. And then Ars will bring in Ben White and Matueke. Ben White looked like a man who wanted to sort of remind people, hey, listen, I'm still here. He did an interview on Sky afterwards and he was asked about, you know, not playing. And he said, look, it's a combination of, you know, having this injury or having these injury issues. And then Jurian Timber gets in the team and he's so good that it's very difficult to win your place back. But I think if you are Ben White, you want to go out there and you want to show people, hey, don't forget, you know, what I've done for this football club.

9:55And don't forget what I can still do for this football club. And that seemed really, really evident from very early on, that willingness to just get up and down the line, to overlap, to make these runs, to cause disruption at the very least in the opposition defense. And, you know, we'll come to the goal, obviously, but it was great to see him back in the starting lineup, but play with that intent. And also over the course of the 90 minutes, which I'm not sure would have been the plan for him. I think maybe the plan for him might have been like 60 minutes, 70. We can bring Timber on for the last 20.

10:32It didn't work out that way because of the Mosquera situation. But to do it over the course of 90 minutes, maybe the man of the match thing was a little generous because Marino got a goal and an assist, but you wouldn't begrudge Ben White that at all. And I think it was fantastic to see him back. Yeah, I really enjoyed his performance last night. And just watching him surge forward on the overlap gave me feelings xandrew my heart was full again i was taken back to a simpler time and um actually completely agree with what you said his relationship with noni madueke down that right hand side looked surprisingly smooth is that the first time they've played together maybe yeah i think so um or started together anyway but the opening day of the season did they play together i think they might have played the opening day of the season because ben white started ben white start he did start that game.

11:23I don't know if, I can't remember exactly if Saka did, he might have done. But I thought they had a really good understanding with each other and the assist for the opening goal was great. You know, those smooth interchanges and the involvements in the final third were back. But what I really noted was how much sharper he looked defensively. And I was doing some digging on some post-match stats. He won more duels and made more tackles than any other player against Brentford so 10 jewels six tackles he also made more clearances than any of his teammates with six and obviously provided the assist for the opening goal so that's a that's an involved performance and I think where you know it's been quite obvious to see how much of a difficult year it has been for Ben White I mean obviously we know the reasons why he's been feeling the effects of playing way more than he should have been playing with Timber Tomiasu and others unavailable but we could see for a long time that he wasn't fit or at the very least carrying something because we know what a fit ben white looks like and he wasn't that he's such a smooth athlete and technician at full pelt but it was so great to see him come in i think he offers us something slightly different to timber in the way that he's not so intense and full pelt he feels a lot more measured that he times his actions quite well and i think there's a nice balance to how he can sometimes tuck in alongside Christian Mascara whereas Timber's like boom head down I'm gonna run everybody and everything on this pitch with full intensity um so yeah it's just been really nice to have him back because there were a few concerns uh I was concerned about him I think other people have been concerned about him maybe we haven't seen him enough um recently with Timber playing a lot of football but look it's extremely difficult to push in ahead of him the improvement and the consistency in during Timber's game has been quite astounding.

13:17And I know we tried to rest him last night, but we couldn't because of the injury that happened to Mosquera, which I'm sure we'll get onto. But it was great to know that White can and hopefully should be used slightly more going forward. It was definitely a big night for him. Yeah, there was a lovely combo with Madueke at one point, which didn't come to anything. He tried to cut the ball back. It was intercepted by a Brentford defender, but then he gets behind the defence. Lovely flick from Madueke. Ben White puts in a cross and who is there? It is only... Mikel Goliador Merino. Mikel Goliador Merino.

13:53I mean, the movement, the finish, you know, really smart header down into the ground. And, you know, I'm sort of, I don't know where we can take a discussion about Mikel Moreno that hasn't already been part of the discourse, because what he's doing and what he's done in this year in particular is quite astounding. It's remarkable, really, you know, pressed into action as a makeshift center forward. I think it's unfair to categorize him as a makeshift center forward these days. like Victor Jokreis is on the bench, Gabriel Jesus is on the bench, but Mikel Moreno is a real and viable option for Mikel Arteta when he's thinking about how does he select his team and how does he use his centre forward to cause problems for the other team, which I think is a really interesting aspect of this.

14:50I was doing the digging on his goal scoring, right? You've seen the stats, I'm sure. In 2025, as well as having nine assists, he's also scored 21 goals for club and country. I went back to look and try to put that in the context of his career. Since his top flight debut or top flight start in the 2016-17 season, for club and country, Mikel Moreno, over the course of the next six years, whatever, seven years, scored 27 goals for Newcastle, for Real Sociedad. Don't think he really got on the score sheet when he was at Borussia Dortmund because his time there was very limited. For Spain, 27 goals.

15:40In this calendar year, 21 goals for club and country. I don't really know how to explain it other than it's a sort of beautiful cocktail of necessity serendipity in that he's had the opportunity to play there and his own i think michael arteta said last night a curiosity and a will to learn that that he's at a point in his career where he's sort of okay i'm well established as a central midfield player what's a challenge i can have what's a challenge i can rise to as a footballer well it's you know they need me to do this job okay i'll i'll do it to the best of my ability but then you discover actually i'm pretty fucking good at this it is amazing isn't it it is incredible and if you look at the goal in isolation it's such a good header the way he gets across ethan pinnock there's alertness there's attentiveness there's a real desire to score and the way he heads it into the ground, that's textbook centre-forward play.

16:47You know, that's a centre-forward's goal. And I think when you have to analyse Mourinho at centre-forward, I mean, obviously another unbelievable performance from the big man, another goal, another assist. Like you said, 30 goal contributions this year for club and country. I think it's time to have a conversation because in my mind, he's one of the best centre-forwards in the Premier League at this moment in time. and there was always, when he was playing there before, there was always this caveat. You know, oh, we're playing a midfielder at striker. We're playing Mikel Moreno as a centre forward when really he's a midfielder.

17:21Now I think that caveat's gone because I really believe that his transformation from February onwards will go down as one of Arteta's great successes because this isn't just making the best of a bad situation anymore. You could argue he's our best option there. You know, at this moment in time, I'm not saying there won't be a purple patch where Jokeres scores five goals in five games and we still got Kai Havertz to come back. Can we use Jesus? But at the moment, he is our best option there. And when we signed him, we knew about the duels. We knew about the aerial duels. He was a big physical presence coming into a team that was already dominating physically.

18:01And his profile as a kind of box crasher really suited us. but you don't play in La Liga for six years and get into the Spanish national team without being really technically competent. The issue was with him, I think his lack of speed maybe was exposed in English football, just the speed at which he needed to do things in close quarters, whether he needed to turn away from people or bop it off quickly. I think that was a bit of a shock to his system. But in this sort of false nine centre forward role, whatever it is, where exploiting his goal scoring instincts, how strong he is in the air, his physicality, his engine, while reaping the rewards of someone who is still a midfielder with midfield instincts at heart, which is where you see the link up play, the combinations, the eye for a pass.

18:51Genuinely, I've been so impressed. And more importantly for him, this switch has given him a fresh sense of importance in the team because he was very much a squad guy before. he's now showing how and why he can be considered a key cog which I think is part of the story here you said it before he's not just being a guy who's coming in and helping us out he's he's offering real value and this transformation has genuinely left me so impressed I've been you know I can't speak highly enough of him no it's it's fantastic and it's been it's been really important for Arsenal because even though we went out and spent big money on a centre-forward this summer, he's been absent for some games.

19:34And to have that as a fallback or a safety net or whatever you want to call it, I agree with you. I think at this point, it does him a disservice to cast him as plan C. All right, well, if Jacarese and Havertz or Jesus aren't there, well, I suppose we'll use Marino. If you're picking a team for Saturday, you could make a good case for Jacarese that maybe it's a game for him against a high line against Aston Villa, but you've got to equally say, well, look, look at the four Marino was in in the last four games. I think it's three assists and two goals. Why would you take that guy out of your team?

20:09Let others do the running beyond him. We've got players with legs who can cause the Villa defence problems. So, listen, it's a great problem for Mikel Arteta to have. He was talking about it last night in his post-game press conference. Let me see if I can just get the quotes up. Yeah, he said, in the summer, I was thinking, if we bring in a nine, what's going to happen to Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz? I have a lot of nines and I like them all a lot. What are we going to do? How are we going to handle it? And he said, so far, I haven't had that problem because they've all been injured. So live in the present, live the moment and deal with the situation.

20:43The awesome mantra. Yeah, exactly. They've all been injured. So you've got to live in the present. So look, a great way to start the game. I think, you know, particularly after the Chelsea game and the draw, scoring early was really important. Brentford looked like they were going to play with a back five. They didn't really play with a back five per se. But getting off the mark, I think, was really important quite early in the game. And I think there were moments, weren't there, in the second half where the second goal maybe might have come a couple of chances for Mattaweke. Mattaweke, I think you've got to give Brentford some real credit for good, sharp defending in the box to snuff out those particular chances.

21:22So, yeah, it was a good foundation or a good platform to build a game on. Yeah, there was actually a surprisingly quick pace to the game in the first half. And I liked how even though Brentford came here to set up in a back five, they weren't really in a deep block the whole time. And they actually showed some adventure when it came to pushing forward and pressing. They had Coyote on one side, had Rico Henry on the other side. So it was surprisingly open and I didn't expect that. So there were opportunities for Arsenal. Like you said, Madueke would have scored at the back post if there wasn't that crucial last minute intervention from Rico Henry.

21:59There was another moment where he was played through by Mouskera of all people and he just delayed a little bit to let the defender come back in and get him. But again, Madueke looked sharp, I thought, in the first half. He was very involved. He had the beating of Rico Henry for most of the first half 1v1. And you could feel his nervousness whenever Madueke had the ball. I think Martinelli had a good chance, but fired over after, I think it was Ben White combined well with Calafiore, who found himself as the centre forward momentarily in the deepest corner of our penalty area. So there were chances, even if it wasn't like fluid, 100 % at their best arsenal.

22:39I think we created enough to feel confident about our chances of winning this game. But we, bloody hell, we needed David Raya at his best to keep the score level. Boy, oh boy. I mean, listen, a lot has been said about the absence of Gabriel and Saliba and what they bring in terms of presence and security at the back. And I think Mosquera and Incappier have done very well. and Timber when he came in just sort of slotted in no fuss because of the high quality player that he is. But you very, very rarely see the opposition get those kinds of chances from set pieces. You know, that close range header that Kevin Shada put on target.

23:16At first, when I saw it in real time, I was like, oh my God, got away with one there. He's hit the bar with a crashing header. And then, then you see the replay. this you might see more spectacular saves in the premier league this season but i would argue you'll it'll have to be something very very special for the save to be better than this one because of a how close range it was b the connection that shada gets on the header like he really does connect sometimes you see though they'll come off the shoulder or they you know but he really powered this header and the reaction time of David Raya to sort of get up off the ground, gauge the flight of the ball and just sort of push it onto the crossbar.

24:04Unbelievable save from Raya. Like if it's not up there with save of the season, I'll be absolutely staggered. And it'll mean we've all seen some very special saves as well in the meantime, if that's not a contender. It was incredible. I was certain that they would equalize. I was certain that he'd score from there because, you know, we can talk about the save. Slightly concerning that Kevin Chard has got a free header from six yards out, but that is close proximity, right? So you think about cat-like reflexes. He's got split seconds to react there. I think technically as well, I'm no goalkeeping expert, but if you look at how he pushes the weight upwards from the ground, his whole body's in the air, the speed to get your hand up, like you said, to gauge the ball, it's unbelievable.

24:50it's come at him from close quarters and there's so much power on that header so to be able to flick it onto the bar in a matter of milliseconds is outstanding you know I thought he was fairly steady on the night some long distribution it was difficult against Brentford's back three we had to aim for Marino there was one moment where he almost sold Zubimendi short as well but you know he claimed a couple of crosses well long throws but this was by far his his outstanding moment of the night. And let's be honest, if Brentford score there, things can get a little bit nervy. I know there's still a lot of time to play left in the game.

25:26That might've been what, 25 minutes into the game. So yeah, there's still plenty of time for Arsenal to get a second goal, a third goal, whatever, but it just puts a little bit of a nervousness and anxiety into the stadium. Do Arsenal get a little bit desperate on the pitch, looking to force things when they don't need to. So yeah, obviously the save itself was incredible, but I think in the context of the game as well, it was so important because it kept us ahead and maybe kept our nerves a bit straight, if that makes sense. Yeah, 21 minutes in when he made that save. So like a really, really important time and it could have changed the trajectory of the game and certainly would have made our lives a lot more difficult if he hadn't made that save.

26:09It was maybe the only thing, not the only thing he had to do, but we'll come to the second half in a moment. The end of the first half, though, there's an injury, another injury to Christian Mosquera, and it feels relentless at this moment in time. I don't know what kind of hex has been put on us. He's playing very well, looks very accomplished, very assured alongside. Incapier goes up for a header, I think, and just sort of lands slightly straight-legged and the knee jarred a bit. I've got no info. At this point in time, I have zero info about anything but when I saw the replay of that, I was like, don't like that.

26:51Don't like that. It's one of those. It's one of those that looks sort of vaguely innocuous and you're like, could that be a bad one? I keep everything cross that it's not, but he tried to play on, obviously couldn't. It just feels like it'll never end when it comes to the injuries, you know, Saliba, Trossard this week, and now Mosquera, you know, it's great that we have Ben White back and Ben White might be needed for a few games at right back if Shuri and Timber has to play a couple of games at centre-half. We don't know what the story is for this weekend with Saliba, etc., etc., but it's just really disappointing, isn't it?

27:27And disappointing for a guy, you know, he played 100-something games in a row for Valencia, never missed a game, and then, listen, people will say, why, why, why, why, why are we getting all these injuries? You know, if any one person had the answer to that, I think, you know, they would be a billionaire now because Arsenal would pay them that much money to sort it all out. There are all kinds of factors, as we know. But I just don't think you can legislate for a slightly awkward landing. It's sort of split-second stuff. And it's just one of the occupational hazards, I guess, with football. But the fact that it's come on top of everything else that we've had this season just makes it feel a bit more acute.

28:08it always feels like where we're taking one step forward and then two steps back when it comes to injuries and they always seem to be cluster injuries as well it's all the center forwards it's all the center backs this is arsenal heritage of course because we'd have the annual left back crisis and then we'd have all the defensive midfielders out i mean of course mosquera got injured because why wouldn't he we're already already missing two center backs taking one more out of the equation just makes total sense you know and it happened so innocuously like you said He just landed awkwardly after that header.

28:39You know, we were all William Saliba in that moment when it cut to him shaking his head on the bench, thinking, Jesus Christ. I mean, I get the frustration. I really, really do, because we never feel like we're at our best or at our full potential. But we're in such muddy waters with this injury discourse because naturally everyone looks at the medical team. We need to sack every doctor at the club. We need to overhaul the medical department. There needs to be an in-depth review into how we're managing injuries. Is Arteta causing these injuries? But the truth is, we have no idea. You know, all the data and information they have on these guys would blow our minds.

29:17So I think it's a bit ridiculous for us to come for the medical team every time when we've got absolutely no clue about what's happening behind the scenes. We've got no information on these players. And to kind of play devil's advocate here, there were definitely times where I thought Last season, we invited certain injuries, like what happened to Saka, who was being used like a bar of soap for club and country. Havertz was literally collapsing through exhaustion away at Wolves and got injured about two weeks later. But sometimes things can just be bad luck. You know, Saliba getting a knock in training, Mosquera landing awkwardly in game, Odegaard falling onto the same shoulder twice before doing his MCL in a nothing challenge.

30:00I don't see how you can point fingers there and whatever it is, whether it's the schedule, whether it's the increased intensity of the games, whether we're not managing or preparing these players correctly, whether or not Emirates Stadium is built on some kind of ancient burial ground, this needs to stop. I mean, if you ask me right now, what I'm most worried about this season, it's injuries. I'm more worried about injuries derailing our season than anything else. And I don't even want to put this into existence. But if we do fall short again this season, it will be because of that and nothing else.

30:34No, I agree. I agree. I think, you know, what we all want for Christmas is a clean bill of health. Fuck damn kids. Ask Santa for that. You know? But dad, I want a PlayStation. No, son, you're going to ask Santa for like a clean bill of health. Where's your commitment to the cause, Charlie? Yeah, exactly. But look, I think the other thing, you can look at it in two ways. And one, obviously, it's disappointing and it's frustrating. And I do, you know, share your worry because, you know, there is only so far that you can go with an injury record like this before it really, really starts to have an impact on you.

31:13the flip side of that though Phil is that we're sitting top of the Premier League with a five point lead having dealt with you know all of these injuries the ones you mentioned then there was Madueke who was out for a few weeks Saka was out for a few weeks Gabrielle's been out Ben White was out for for quite a bit of the start of the season you know having hurt himself in the opening day um you know Jokerez Jokerez again you know all of these injuries would be enough I think to derail any team as Arsenal fans we feel that very you know it's close to home right because we're living it every single day and we're worried about it and I'm not saying we should get any kind of award or reward about it but I am a little bit surprised that in the discussion about how this season is going so far it isn't a bigger would you say a it's hard to call it a plus point but i think if you were objectively analyzing arsenal from the outside and you were saying yeah well i know good one i know thanks i try and uh try and line them up but i think it would be an important thing to say that that for arsenal to be top of the table without all of these players for so many games and so many minutes if being objective you would say if they get those players back oh the rest of the premier league has got a real job on its hands i know it's not exactly that it's not that simple and it's not a guarantee of anything that if all of a sudden we get everybody back you know we're just going to go on and sweep the board but you know if you were looking at it from the outside and saying are there positives to what Arsenal are doing with these injury issues, then I think you have to say that, yes, there are.

33:05And whether it's resilience or character or a big squad or just the desire of the players to get this over the line this year, whether Arteta deserves some credit for the way he manages games, pre-game, in-game, tactically, his preparation, as we heard about after the derby, they're prepared for Bayern, and all these things having to contend with that many injuries. You know, I think there is something really positive in that aspect of it. You know, obviously the injuries themselves are not a positive. Yeah, I think it's quite strange. We, or injuries, when it comes to Arsenal, it's often seen as a sort of beating stick.

33:50You know, when we had that first title charge in the first real year and then Saliba went down and everything fell apart. Naturally, a lot of us looked at that injury and said, hmm, that might have been a problem for us. People don't care. Then it happened again to Bukayo Saka last season. We missed him for three months or even Gabriel Jesus the year before. You know, we're always having to deal with big injuries that seem to derail our season. Even last season, it was just some of the luck we had was ridiculous. Saka out, Havertz out, Martinelli out. we were playing Premier League games with Trossard, Sterling and Ethel Nenari up front.

34:28So we're having to truck along. We're having to win games. We're short on resources. We're short on pacing behind. We're short on the ability to change games during games. We can't power up from the bench and we're just having to truck along and take whatever it is that's thrown at us because we're not good enough and we don't have the mentality to do it. something that was very telling for me this week was the reaction to Rhys James's performance in the Chelsea game and how almost every outlet in England the next day wrote an article about him and how his absence was crucial for Chelsea not being able to match what they'd hoped to achieve and you know whether it was at right back or in central midfield he'd been the big miss to to kind of cut all their hopes that's one player that's one player and i know everybody's dealing with injuries at the moment chelsea city united spurs you can go across the division and look at any team right we're all suffering injuries because we're forcing these players into the ground and nothing's nothing's doing it you know um but i i just love that little bit of discourse because we don't get any acknowledgement or consideration for missing 10 players at a time, you know, six of which are all playing in the same position.

35:45And then Rhys James has one good game in midfield against Arsenal and he's like the savior for all their hopes and dreams, you know? So I think there's a real hesitancy to praise Arsenal too much. And actually this season, I think there has been a fair amount of praise when it comes to Arsenal. But for some reason, the injuries just get overlooked as part of the process. When this is not normal. This is not normal. We missed Jocharez, Havertz, Martinelli and Madueke for the whole month of October, basically. Or was it November last month? I don't know. How are you supposed to do anything with that?

36:22You know, it's just... Well, you do what Mikel Arteta did and do what those other players did. And you rise to the occasion, you rise to the challenge and everything else. I do wonder if sort of people just look at Arsenal and go, yeah, they've got injuries because Arsenal always have injuries. That's their fault. They don't deserve any credit for dealing with them. But I don't know. It's a tricky one, obviously. We'll wait and see what happens with Christian Mosquera. See if Arteta knows anything by tomorrow's press conference. And we'll see what he says about it as well. Rice will come to. Second half, though, I thought it was a bit of a struggle for Arsenal.

36:58but I also thought that Brentford upped their game after the break. I thought the intensity of their press was very impressive. It was well-organized. It was a good collective effort. They made it difficult for us to find any kind of fluency on the ball. And while they didn't necessarily threaten too much, though it wasn't like we were on the ropes or anything, The 1-0 scoreline obviously makes you feel like the game is on a knife edge because all it takes is one long throw from Michael Coyote to undo everything. And then it's 1-1 and then you're scrabbling and everything else. So it was about finding that sort of balance between, oh God, listen, can we get another goal here and just make the game, give ourselves a little bit of a cushion.

37:46but at the same time acknowledging that if not sort of keeping Brentford at arm's length and they didn't let us play, we didn't let them threaten us, you know, from open play. Particularly, there were a couple of set pieces where the ball came in, we had to get rid and defend. But that was really it. They didn't have a shot on target in the second half. Yeah, I think analysing the second half last night and analysing the second half this morning are two very different things. Obviously, we all felt very nervous because one goal margins, sorry, can be so fragile, especially when you're flagging a bit physically, which I think is what happened in the second half.

38:26Again, like you said, all they need is one chance, one long throw, one deflection, and that's your night ruined with the gap produced again. So credit to Brentford. They came out well and we couldn't really get on the ball enough to slow things down. Bigger gaps were appearing on the pitch than anyone would have liked. And I wasn't surprised to see Madweke and Martinelli come off, not only because we're managing their minutes after injury, but also because their replacements in Bakayo Saka and Aburechi Eza just help us exert a bit more technical control on the game. You know, when I look at Madueke, when I look at Martinelli, they're more effective in a chaotic game state where they can run at people or into space, whereas Saka and Eze can get their foot on the ball.

39:08They're happy to drift inside and combine with others. And I think we definitely needed those qualities to help close out the game last night. And even just to bring a bit more control to things because everything was becoming all a bit basketball. and as we know Arteta doesn't like that especially when you're at home so I didn't find it surprising at all to see those those guys come on and also Keith Andrews made his changes as well triple sub Nathan Collins, Damsgaard, Thiago all on so it was quite clear to me that on the hour mark or maybe just before both managers identified issues or positives in the game that they needed to exploit so yeah.

39:46No I think I think Saka and Eze did make a bit of a difference without it being like, without it completely turning the tide, I think it did have an impact on the game. There were moments, chances, you know, there was Marino, I think it was a Declan Rice shot that Kelleher saved and Marino just sort of at the back post couldn't get his foot around it, kind of slipped. There was another one where, I can't remember who took the shot. Califuri. Was it the Califuri one where Kelleher said that Marino was no well that was yeah that was late on that was the Saka one where he just didn't make good contact at the back post you expect him to score that every day of the week but there was another one where there was a shot Kelleher saved and Marino sort of left his leg in to try and win a penalty I think it might have been Califuri again again well I mean it doesn't surprise me at all just because of like with his right foot yeah yeah let me see yeah it was a Califuri shot I just went back to live I'm like, that guy, I fucking love him.

40:48I absolutely love him. He was brilliant again last night, by the way. He's just sort of this low-key. Actually, what I like about him is that he's improved a lot defensively this year. You feel a lot more secure within there. Yeah, he's just sort of, he's fun to watch. So there were those moments, I think, for Arsenal, which didn't quite materialise. We couldn't find the finish, couldn't find the second goal. It came very, very late, a couple of minutes after Saka had missed that chance. Nice ball from Marino. Kelleher stops it, makes a save. It goes up over and, you know, he can't quite claw it out of the net in time.

41:27It's 2-0. And that sort of settled the nerves and made everybody just relax for the last four or five minutes of injury time. I'm not saying it's a goal we absolutely deserved. but I was very, very grateful for it because I did not want to be in the last sort of two, three minutes and corner Brentford or throw Brentford in. You're just like, oh no, we've suffered enough. Those are the moments that reduce your life expectancy. It's just not a pleasant experience to be defending your goal when Michael Coyote is launching throw-ins into the six-yard box and Christopher Ayers there and Ethan Pinnock's there and they've got Kevin Sharder there and Igor Tiago in there.

42:14Yeah, one goal margins, they're horrible, but you could feel the collective from every single person in that ground through the TV. You know, it's just absolutely necessary to get that second goal. I'm amazed it didn't come earlier, to be honest. The Marino one, I could sort of understand a little bit because it's difficult to sort your feet when you're sort of looking to chase up a rebound and the ball's coming out to you and you don't know where it's going when you're right foot or your left foot. So that one I could understand. The Saka one needs to be a goal. I don't know how he's not scored there.

42:50He's completely in control of the ball. It's on his left foot. It's not coming at him quickly, but he falls over. And at that point, I had my laptop in my lap. I was writing the match report and I literally put it on my sofa and I was like, what? I got up from my TV. I was like, how has he not scored there? So just the general nervousness, the anxiety was building. But yeah, once that goal goes in, it's actually a really smart run from Saka because he's sort of drifting out to the right-hand side with an open body. I think it might be Keane Lewis Potter who's out there. He follows in with a closed body shape and then all of a sudden, bang, the dart inside.

43:28He's left him for dead. Cuts inside. I mean, maybe Cuevin Kelleher can do a little bit more with that. but I think it's a smart run, a smart pass. And yeah, we just needed that to settle the nerves. And, you know, this was a tricky one. I know everyone spoke about the week previous with Spurs buying in Chelsea, but you've also got to come down from that a little bit. And when you make changes, when there's people flagging in the second half, it's not easy to get over the line. Brentford didn't really have anything to lose and they were playing with a lot of energy. So yeah, just super relieved to get the win, to get the three points, Obviously, the five-point gap is back at where it was.

44:06And yeah, the games keep coming, man. The games keep coming. They really do. I mean, we go to Aston Villa 12.30 on Saturday. Mikel Arterra, it was quite interesting. I looked at the transcript of the press conference on the Arsenal website, and they didn't put this bit in. But he said, now we play Wednesday night. We have to play Saturday morning as well. We can play minutes, but if they could please just give us a little more time to recover and make the well-being of these players a little easier, that would be great. Now, it's probably informed by the fact that Mosquera went off, that Declan Rice went off.

44:49But you can see his point and you can see the scheduling the way it is. And listen, we'd be wrong to discuss this and say that it is something that just affects Arsenal. It affects the top clubs more than others because they have to deal with European competition. They've got to play those games, do the travel. That's why you're rich and that's why you build a big squad. But you can understand why he might be a little attuned to the demands that are being placed on these players. And it's his job, obviously, to rotate and to ensure that he gets results, but also keep some of these players fresh.

45:25and Rice went off. I think it was about 10 minutes to go. He's holding his calf. We've seen this before, to be fair, from Declan Rice. We have. We have seen it before. So I'm not too anxious at this moment in time. But they said on Sky, I didn't see it, but they sort of referenced a pre-game interview with Declan Rice where he's saying, I love it at the moment. I want to play every game. I want to play every minute of every game. We're playing every three or four days. I went looking for that interview. I couldn't find it, but that's what they said he said before the game. There was a point about an hour in where he made a run forward and maybe he got tackled.

46:06I can't remember exactly what happened, but probably for the first time this season, I saw Declan Rice react and the reaction wasn't an immediate turnaround and get back and run and do his job. His sort of hands went on his knees a little bit. was like, okay, now I'll go. And you could just see in that moment he was a little bit tired. But game state and all the rest, you understand why Mikel Arteta would be reluctant to change a player like Declan Rice because of just how important they are, or he is. But we'll wait and see. Obviously, it will be a blow if there was any big injury, but it's in the lap of the gods now, I guess.

46:54absolutely yeah i mean uh obviously when when someone goes on pre-match and says says something like that in an interview just waiting for the curb your enthusiasm music to come on and just you know him on crutches coming out of the stadium but obviously it's concerning to see him go down and point to the calf we could all see it on camera but you're you're right he looked so heavy-legged in that second half there was some runs forward some runs back a real puff of the chest to try and ingest as much air as possible um it wouldn't surprise me at all if this was cramp or some kind of kick that's what i'm hoping for anyway but it's quite clear to me that we need to find a way to sit him down at some point and i'm looking at our fixtures next week with club rouge wolves at home surely that's our window because of with a mad christmas schedule around the corner.

47:47We can't afford to have him in the red zone. And I wanted to ask you about Christian Norgard because I'm a little bit surprised we haven't seen a bit more of him because in my mind, these are the exact situations we bought him for. I mean, he was never going to challenge Rice or Zubimendi for those midfield roles and nobody expects him to start 30 games a season. But he's more than competent enough to play 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there. And those games next week, or at least one of them, I'm looking at Club Bruges, looks like a good opportunity to get him involved. Because Rice is just treading on very thin ice here and I'm waiting for the hamstring to go pop or a calf to go bang.

48:33And, you know, we can't live like this. We can't live like this, Andrew. Tell me it's going to be all right. I wish I could, Phil. I'd love to. I mean, I do think Game State has played a little bit of a part in the last week anyway. You know, yesterday, could Norgard have come on, but it's 1-0. And Rice just has that little extra sauce, doesn't he? You know, he has that. Chelsea, is Christian Norgard the sub you make when you're trying to win a game? No. You know, you're trying to do things differently from the bench. Where I might have looked at things a little bit was, let's say, the Northland and Derby.

49:10When you're 4-1 up with 15 minutes to go, can you take those minutes off Declan Rice in that moment? I think you can, particularly as we only made four subs in that game. Bayern Munich, again, it's 3-1. We did make all five changes, but we did make two changes. Ben White and Martin Odegaard came on in the 81st minute. That meant Rice had to do the 90 again. I'm with you. I think next week, you know, I think what we have to do this weekend is ask Declan Rice to, if he's available and if he's capable and if he's fit enough to dig as deep as possible into that massive engine that he has because Villa Park is going to be a very difficult game.

49:51And then you say, right, you're going to sit for a week. We're going to take you out of the Club Bruges game. That's one where Norgard could start. And you've also got in midfield, you're looking at having Marino available if you want to play Jokeres up front. You've got Eze, you've got Odegaard, you've got Zubin Mendy, you've got Ethan Winery. you know you have those options in midfield with all due respect to club rouge to be able to rest declan rice for that game similarly wolves who've been in terrible form again you take nothing for granted he's on the bench if you need him but does he need to start that particular game then in essence you're giving him like how long 10 days off before the next game and that could be really important um you know it's a trip well it's more than that like if you if you sit him down after the Villa game which is the 6th of December you might then be able to rest him until the 20th so like two weeks when you take a trip to Everton then there's an EFL Cup game which you probably won't start him in anyway then it's about how do they view Declan Rice's what's the word that they use the periodization like you know if you're if you're used to playing all the time and then you stop are you more likely to pick up an injury but i think what we've seen with rice you know in this game is that if you play him into the ground if he plays all the minutes all the time then that's going to have a consequence too so i think maybe the safer option is to look at those games and say this is an opportunity to give declan rice a sort of mid-season break without you know sending him away to tennery for a week you know yeah or to the Sun Lounge are in Dubai.

51:36I think we have to. I think it's imperative, especially the game in Europe. For me, if Declan Rice is even on the plane, let alone starting that game, I'll be very annoyed. So yeah, I'm quite happy for him to sit that one out. And I think Wolves at home is another kind fixture for us to maybe experiment with the team, see who we can get on the pitch, see who we can get on the bench. Because don't forget, we still need to get Jokores up to speed again we're still getting Martinelli and Madueke up to speed again could we have Trossard back could we have Saliba as well yeah there's a lot of juggling for us to be able to do here so hopefully um like you said we can just get him going at Aston Villa give us everything and then we won't see you until Everton so um yeah yeah I'm just I was really worried about it yesterday I have to have to be honest um well let's keep everything cross for him and for Christian Mosquera and for Saliba and Trossard, who Arteta said the other day would be a matter of days.

52:34So, yeah, 365 days in a year. I was literally going to say that. There's 365 days in a year, Mikel. We won't go there. Listen, a very good win for Arsenal last night. An important win. Got that lead back to five points at the top of the table. Job done after a difficult week in that game against Chelsea. so I don't think we can have too many complaints and like I said, we'll just keep the fingers crossed when it comes to injuries. Right, I'm going to stick in a little ad break here for the people who aren't Patreon members because if you're a Patreon member, you get ad-free podcasts so that's a little advantage for you.

53:16We will come back and talk about the other games in the Premier League this week, right after this.

53:24So as I said at the start, One of the things we do also on Patreon is a Premier League roundup. Every week we do a podcast called The 30, myself and Phil, and we look at all the weekend's Premier League action for you. There is a midweek Premier League round of games, which we can't really fit into a separate podcast, so we're going to add it on to this. So it's a bonus for you if you're not already a Patreon member. If you'd like to be, you can sign up at patreon.com forward slash arseblog. We'll start with last night, Phil, and Chelsea bolstered, boosted, talked up by the world and its mother after a 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Sunday.

54:02Went to Elland Road, leads without a win in, I think, four defeats in a row they'd had. Not favourites by any means to get anything from this game. And yet, football has a way of bringing us joy. and that was very much the case last night. A really big win, a very important win for Leeds as well. They needed this. And Daniel Farker needed this as well because there were some reports earlier this week that this week was going to be the deciding week against Chelsea and Liverpool, both at home. But can we just have a moment of silence, Andrew, for Chelsea's title challenge, which sadly passed away last night at just three days old?

54:43Here's my moment of silence for Chelsea's title race. go fuck yourselves, Chelsea. That's no age to go. I mean, it's hard to believe that just a few short days ago, they beat Arsenal 1-1 and took the we played well against Arsenal trophy out of Manchester United's hands after their opening day heroics. But, you know, life comes at you fast in this league. Yeah. And when you put everything into a game, there can be an emotional hangover that hurts you afterwards. And fair play to them. Leeds were up for it. Leeds were up for it. They were steaming into challenges. They were all running about like maniacs.

55:20And, you know, like you said, they needed this result and Daniel Falken needed this result. So, yeah, very funny. Could they go one further and beat Liverpool on Saturday? I mean, it's not impossible the way Liverpool are playing at this moment in time. I mean, the goals are very good from Leeds. The opening goal, the header is absolutely fantastic. And it's a great goal from Tanaka from the edge of the box to make it 2-0. But, you know, Leeds had lots of chances in this game. And when you look at the stats, it's sort of remarkable. 29 % possession leads in this game, yet they had 17 shots and mustered 2.79 xG to Chelsea's 0.96 over the course of the game.

56:00So they did a lot with the little of the ball that they had. I don't know what that says about Chelsea defensively. Clearly, there are some questions to be asked about the way they conceded one or two of those goals. but a really big effort from Leeds. Yeah, the shin kicker wasn't in midfield to be able to kick shin. So there was a massive gap in there with Andre Santos alongside Enzo Fernandes. And I think it was Enzo who lost the ball in midfield. I mean, his head must have been all over the place because there weren't any former teammates on the pitch to kick and intimidate. So, you know, these results can happen.

56:39If you catch a relegation battling side on a good night for them and it's a bad night for you, this can happen. But Chelsea were very sterile. There was no consistency in how they were building pressure or chances. I mean, obviously they did get back into the game with Pedro Neto at the back post. But I never really felt, I never really felt that they were going to come back. And I know there was a chance for Cole Palmer that he probably should have done better with. It looked like his bread and butter, to be honest, those kind of cutbacks that he sweeps into the corner. But Leeds were full value for their win.

57:13the the third goal i mean top marks 10 out of 10 no notes from me for tossing who gave his goalkeeper one of the worst hospital passes i've ever seen i think it's just a miskick i don't think he's even trying to play i think he just completely miskicks it you know oh that is shockingly bad and and again credit to leeds okafor nips in the ball rebounds beautifully to Calvert-Lewin, who just taps into an empty net. They were good on the night. They were good on the night. Chelsea were not good on the night. But I think the speed at which their confidence has drained after the, we can mix and match it with Arsenal and we're up there and this club are back where they belong to being how many points behind us now again.

58:01It's just, yeah, very amusing. But, you know, that's why you can't run your mouths off without having anything to show for it because this can happen. That's it. And, you know, if there's any club in the world that deserves all the bad things to happen to it all the time, whatever you think of our other rivalries or other clubs, nobody can argue against Chelsea. Like all of football would come together and agree that, yes, bad things should happen to Chelsea all the time. And that was certainly the case last night. Liverpool, meanwhile, having gotten back to winning ways, were held 1-1 by Sunderland.

58:39And Sunderland weren't too far away from winning this game. And it was only an unfortunate own goal that got Liverpool back into it. It looked for a while like Florian Wurtz might have scored his first goal for Liverpool, but his shot was going wide. It deflected off. Aiming for the corner flag. Yeah, yeah. It went in off Mukiali. You know what I was thinking about the Sunderland goal and the defending from Virgil van Dijk? You know, in The Simpsons, when Flanders goes skiing and Homer gets, yeah, he gets, well, Flanders is, you know, muscular guy. And he's wearing a skin tight ski suit. And he says something like, it's like, I'm wearing nothing at all.

59:24And he's sort of sticking his arse out and wiggling it a little bit. That is what Virgil van Dijk did when he gave the ball away and then allowed the shot to come in. It's not the first time this season that he's tried to defend in that way. Both times it's ended pretty badly for him. And last night that really could have been a disaster for Liverpool. Father time. He's a ruthless bastard. Yeah, I mean, trying to defend with his aura again, it's not working. you know I think Virgil van Dijk has probably been the best centre-back the Premier League has seen but watching him last night and watching how that goal went in I got flashbacks of David Luiz backing off into the car park because he just didn't trust himself physically you know there's no urgency there's no bravery in that action he almost reminded me of Dwayne The Rock johnson just putting his hand out saying stop stop me immortal um but that era of invincibility around him is gone or it's going um and of course the deflection is a little bit lucky but when you invite people to shoot like that sometimes shit happens sometimes they sink into your far corner or your bottom corner or they loop over the goalkeeper and it was just so bad i think canate has been more culpable than most this season, but he can certainly look at his defensive partner there and say, what the hell are you doing, mate?

1:00:52Because Talby has, what, three seconds to line up that shot? No. No. Not for me, Clive. Liverpool fans, you know, not happy with Arna Slott. He's got to go. He's got to go. So, you know, it's funny how things change, isn't it? You know, this guy last year, and understandably so, was lauded from all angles. He won the league in his first season with Liverpool. But there's no patience for this guy, it seems, in certain sections of the fan base. Obviously, those guys who do the YouTube stuff don't speak for everybody. But he's got big problems to sort out, and he's struggling to find a way to do that.

1:01:37Mo Salah not in the starting lineup again. He's going to be going to AFCON, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing for Liverpool. Your mileage may vary, but it is certainly a difficult patch for Arna Slott and for Liverpool. Yes, the slot machine has malfunctioned. And it turns out that beating a horrible West Ham away from home might not have been the springboard many imagined it would be. I mean, we know all about Sunderland, and this is not me taking any credit away from them. they make things really difficult they're very organized they're committed they like to break quickly I did have a little feeling about them in this game purely because the vibes at Anfield are so dodgy at the moment but I look at Liverpool they've got Florian Wirtz in the team they've got Isak in the team Ekotike is there Salah's on the bench they're just trying a lot of different stuff and nothing seems to be working regardless of who's coming in at fullback regardless of what attacking combination they've got up front I mean the goal looked incredible on first viewing but when you actually see it that ball is going so far wide and it's a huge deflection that takes it beyond Robin Roof's in goal but there was what still 10 minutes more or less to go at that point I thought they'd get a winner the fact that Sunderland nearly won it at the end oh my goodness when Isidore goes through I saw Robin Roof's winding up for that goal kick and I was a bit confused because i thought sunderland had everybody in their own box defending that last corner when the camera panned to isidor running through one-on-one i thought oh my god surely not surely not and it's unfortunately it's really good tracking from from frederico chiesa because it's great to find i don't think it's i don't think isidor does a huge amount wrong in that situation he goes around alison the shots going in if he's not there but that would have been absolutely hilarious if he scored.

1:03:31And Anfield might have spontaneously combusted just from the sheer decibels of the screeching in those stands. But yeah, they managed to get away with it. But flat attacking performance. They're not finding the balance that they had last year. Van Dijk looks vulnerable. Salah's not involved. Isak hasn't kicked on. It's pretty grim. Yeah, yeah. It's pretty grim. And you said that people don't have much patience, but there's a lot of red Ls on that form sheet, Andrew. So I can understand a few people being a bit pissed off with that. Whether or not they're going to sack him, I don't know. It doesn't feel like they will unless things get really terminal, but I don't see where they're going to go from here.

1:04:14They need a big run of results. And I haven't looked at their fixture list, but starting at Ellen Road on Saturday, they're going straight into the lion's den there. It doesn't get any easier. Let's have a quick look at their fixture list while we're just referencing it. They play Leeds, then Inter, then they're at home to Brighton, then they're away to Liverpool, home to Wolves, then they've got Leeds again at home, Fulham, and then Arsenal away, actually, on the 8th of January. So hopefully... Away to Spurs, not away to Liverpool. Away to Spurs, sorry, yeah. Hopefully we can make that decline terminal.

1:04:55in January. Brighton 3, Aston Villa 4. Interesting game because obviously we're playing Villa on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Saturday lunchtime, 12.30 kickoff there. Brighton were 2-0 up in this game, but Villa worked very hard and did very well to turn it around. It's one of those where I don't quite know how Brighton didn't get a goal towards the end. And why is Marco Bizot playing and not Emi Martinez? Is there an injury there? He got injured in the warm-up, so he had to sit this one out. Well, let's see if he's ready for Saturday. He might be. He'll make himself ready even if he's not ready.

1:05:39He'll be ready for Arsenal. He's got that same chip on his shoulder as Unai, that they're just ready to do their best. I hope he's not ready, but because it's Arsenal, he says he's ready and then puts in a stinker of a performance. That would be good. But Oli Watkins on the score sheet again for Villa, having gone a while without some goals. And clearly they're a team that are going to be very difficult to beat, you know, at Villa Park. Good technical players, some pace. They run hard even with that high line. So it's going to be a real challenge for Arsenal. And last night, maybe a demonstration that they've got goals, goals but also you know a weakness at the back and considering they conceded three and it could have been more for sure yeah they made a few changes uh going into this one obviously emmy martinez was out pre-match but they brought ian martin into the team at left back evan gesson played on the right so they did rotate a few players um but their high line was was more than exposed in that opening stage i mean the second goal in particular how hinchelwood can just break free there is is quite amateurish to be honest but they do have a lot of talent in the team uh Morgan Rogers was excellent on the night Yuri Tielemans is there knitting everything together Ollie Watkins second goal was brilliant I mean he's he's somehow been allowed to run clear in injury time so from a Brighton perspective yes it's it's very avoidable but he goes through there it's an amazing finish it's a really really good finish he's got three bright and defenders around him he catches it so sweetly on the half volley um so obviously all of a sudden two nil becomes two two you've got the momentum going in at half time onana scoring at the back post marlon scoring with his first touch after coming on so this was this was pretty mad um and on paper this was a tasty one because brighton were unbeaten in in their last 10 games with a very good home record Villa had won seven of their last eight.

1:07:38So two evenly matched teams. I am looking at those three goals and thinking, is there a way for Arsenal to sort of play against them? Can we exploit this high line? Can we get runners in behind? I don't think they'll sit in a deep block by any means, not at home. But it just always feels like we play Villa when they're flying. And Unai definitely brings his A game for us because he feels like he has a point to prove, which again, entirely fair. Saturday lunchtime the whole country is going to be watching Villa are on a roll got a few injuries maybe to deal with it the ingredients are there you know but I still back this Arsenal team in in adversity because we're very strong as we spoke about earlier and without jinxing too much this does feel a little bit like an Emery style run in that Villa are overperforming xg both for and against quite considerably.

1:08:32So let's see how we get on. Let's see. I'm not saying they fluked this run, but there's a few cracks. Sure. Well, hopefully we can expose those. I mean, it's first against third. You know, Villa on 27 points. We're on 33. So it's one of those where, you know, we can extend the gap quite well, but also that gap could get closed if we can't find the performance and find the results. So a big, big game. One we'll talk about in more detail tomorrow Borrow over on Patreon when we do our Premier League preview podcast, as always. Speaking of mad games, Phil, let's go back to Tuesday night. Manchester City are 5-1 up over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

1:09:14And then Chukwase does things and Iwobi scores the most Iwobi goal you will ever see where it came to... When he scored that, I thought of you. and it's just so his his aversion to using the laces on his football boots is is incredible the commitment to this bit is i can only applaud it it's amazing because it came out to him and i was like he is actually going to put his foot through this ball but it's a classic it will be side foot plenty of pace it went in the net it's a good goal good finish by the way what a header from Emile Smith-Rowe in the first half. Oh, wow. That was amazing. That's an unbelievable goal.

1:09:54Unbelievable goal. If you haven't seen it, go look it up. It's just, I haven't really seen a header like that too often in the Premier League. It's sort of the kind of goal that maybe Luis Suarez might have scored in his block. Yeah, that's a really good comparison. You know, how has he headed it in from there? Like the cross is okay. hey, he's like 14, 15 yards out, and he just sort of twists his body to head into the far corner of the net. But City hanging on right at the end as well. You know, four goals conceded. They scored five, which of course won them the game. But, you know, will people be looking at this Man City team and saying, okay, they've got goals in them, but defensively, there are some big questions to be answered here.

1:10:44For sure. For sure. I mean, City were absolutely wobbling in those final stages as anybody would. But I said it the other day, them winning in these circumstances is obviously frustrating. But if you're thinking about sustainability over a long, hard season, there will be a day where their soft centre catches them out. You know, I don't trust their fullbacks. I think Guardiola and Diaz seem to have contracted the Romero virus and charge out way more than they used to. um donnarumma gets rattled if you put him under pressure their attack is obviously unbelievable right harlan speaks for himself quickest player to reach 100 goals in the premier league now foden has found his shooting boots again you've got doku in good form as well even though i think his shot was going miles wide as well before it was deflected in but i don't know am i am i crazy for thinking this i don't feel them stepping on our necks like they used to i don't feel that like terminator-esque you know behind you that used to be so terrifying at any points dropped um an incredible game i mean my analysis for this game is just football bloody hell um fulham haven't beaten city in any competition since april 2009 we were so close to greatness so close um but again why bother dangling a result in front of us if you're not going to follow through i feel like i'm being edged by the football gods you know um but yeah some incredible goals in this one i mean harland how he how we only scored one in this game i'll never know here at the post twice can we stop letting foden shoot from 20 yards unchallenged that might be a nice we keep talking psa for the rest of the league yeah yeah yeah like goes back to the whole like why don't people just mark erling haaland why don't people just stop phil foden from shooting maybe we're doing Foden a disservice.

1:12:35He lays it on the plate for himself, Phil, you know? He's not just doing it for Eberachie Heze. He's doing it for himself, so. Unique talent. I mean, fair play to Fulham, though, because when you're 5-1 down at home, most people would have gone into a deep block and you want to see things through without any further embarrassment. But Marco Silva made four changes in this game and they were Kevin, Chukwese, Josh King and Jonah Kusiyasare, four attackers. so sometimes you get a reward for for going ultra attacking he spanned the d-pad to the right yeah um and everyone pushed forward so fair play i thought it could have been six or seven when they went five one down but to manage to get it back and make city really sweat by the way because josh king nearly scored at the end um and they maybe could have had a penalty as well or i don't know yeah i looked at it and was like um i'm not sure about that one yeah it would have been nice But, you know, it added to the occasion.

1:13:32Yeah. And look, you know, if it sort of undermines any little bit of confidence that Man City have defensively, you know, then I'm all for it. They struggled to beat Leeds and they were almost pegged back by Fulham having been 5-1 up. So plenty for them to think about. At St. James' Park, this was one of those games where, you know, I don't ever like seeing Tottenham score. That's just one of the worst things that can ever happen in football. But in this circumstance, it was sort of like, okay, I can live with it because they don't get to win a game and Newcastle don't get to win a game. And, you know, it all kind of happened quite late, didn't it, in terms of the goals and everything else.

1:14:14But yeah, how did you view this one? Newcastle at home held 2-2, Spurs with Christian Romero doing, I don't know if you would call it Christian Romero things. I saw a headline the other day which made me laugh, but I can't remember what it is now by Christian Romero. So I don't even know why I've brought it up. Yeah, I can't remember. Anyway, it doesn't really matter. It's Cristian Romero and it's Spurs. Let's not worry about it too much. But Newcastle, I guess, will be slightly disappointed given how late the goals, certainly the second equaliser was. No, more than disappointed. I don't know how Newcastle didn't win this game.

1:14:57They were better than Spurs in every statistic and dominant on the pitch. I mean, even though they didn't create a huge amount, there was that chance for Walter Marder when he headed over. Lewis Miley shot from the edge of the box. Walter Marder had one cleared off the line. This time, Kevin Danso did track back. Joe Ellington hit the post from a tight angle. You know, they had more than enough to kill Spurs in that first half. There were more second half chances. So yeah, Thomas Frank obviously lives to see another day in terms of a result. Spurs will take this point at St. James' Park every day of the week.

1:15:33But the performance, again, didn't really do much to deter or convince the Frank skeptics that there will be any kind of change or progress under his management anytime soon. I did enjoy the little petty beef between Bruno Gimaraes and Christian Romero with him copying the celebration, because both of them are just jumped up twats, aren't they? He's looking for a fight. Although he took his goal extremely well, Bruno Gimaraes. I thought that was an excellent finish into the far corner, almost like a David Luiz-style technique, kind of with the instep. I mean, the first Romero goal is a good goal as well.

1:16:11Oh, yeah, that's a great header. The second one, I have questions. I do have questions about... The penalty as well. What did you make of the penalty? I can sort of understand it because Ben Tankour is essentially not paying any attention to the ball and has got his arms wrapped around him and is impeding him. But it's one of those where they start giving those. You open a Pandora's box to five, six penalties a game. If that's the threshold, I think this one is maybe a bit more egregious, but you know what I was thinking when I saw this and I saw them give the penalty? What Ben Tankour does there is what Martin Odegaard does for Arsenal in the penalty box at times.

1:17:02You see him with his back to the ball, and his job is to be sort of a blocker, like put your arms in front of him and block that guy off. I see Odegaard do that a few times and I worried a little bit about the possible consequences in general. Yeah, I mean, I can see why it's given us a penalty, but then there's a lot that goes on in the penalty box that could also be a penalty. So it's, did it just cross the line? I don't know. What did you make of it? I thought it was a little bit harsh. In my mind, there's a very clear difference between a defender holding or obstructing an attacking player from set pieces and whatever was going on between Byrne and Ben Tankour here didn't really feel like that to me.

1:17:45And also, big damn Byrne's got him in a headlock, you know, and he's pushing Ben Tankour back, trying to gain some ground. I don't know. I think I would have been quite happy to let that one go, although I do think it's a little bit silly from Ben Tankour. But Spurs kind of got their justice, if that makes sense. If they felt they were done an injustice. They got their justice in the end. I know it looks spectacular from Romero, but this is a stinker of a goal. It's terrible. It's a shin for a start. It's not, you know, it doesn't count. It's an overhead shinner. And the ball sort of bobbles between a whole load of defenders.

1:18:23And Aaron Ramsdale, listen, I love Aaron as much as the next guy, but I think you might ask questions of the reaction time. Is he unsighted? I don't know. But when a ball goes like plop, plop, plop, plop over the line, I'm not happy with my goalkeeper. Yeah, I don't think Malik Chow does him a big favour in front because he goes for a swing and a big old miss. But the ball is not travelling towards goal with any kind of ferocity or pace or venom. And the fact that it's the manner of the goal again where I'm not expecting him to save it. but he's just got this weird quality where things look saveable.

1:19:08I don't know. I feel bad for bringing it up all the time, but, you know, I think he is due a run in the team because Nick Pope has had a few clangers and I don't know if he'll stick with him for the next game, but ultimately it was a funny result because Newcastle aren't happy, Spurs aren't happy. And, you know, if I'm Eddie Howe the next morning, that's clip number one in the video review session. So, yeah, happy days. All right. Also, the other night, Bournemouth beaten by Everton. Slightly fortuitous goal for Jack Grealish. It deflected in. Four defeats in the last five. One draw in the middle of those for Bournemouth, who were going really well.

1:19:47And Donnie Araiola was given a lot of credit, rightly so. But they're struggling at the moment to get the results. Yeah, they've had an awful few weeks. I mean, that's four defeats and one draw in their last five, like you said, after starting the season really well, losing just one of their first nine. So they've hit a little bit of a wall. Maybe they've been figured out a little bit. Is it a physical thing that they're not able to match their usually excellent pressing numbers? I don't know. But I thought Everton were quite decent in this game, actually, especially in the second half. They came out, they were looking to break.

1:20:19They scored, they had a couple of warnings with Cerno Barry, who's just desperate for that first goal. We can't get it. Grealish eventually got the winner with a deflected shot that flew into the far corner. Again, messy goal, but the game was not great and it felt like a goal that should have decided a game of this quality. So yeah, worrying times for Bournemouth, but I think they'll eventually put things back together and start winning again. Worrying as well for Burnley and for Wolves. Wolves beaten at home by Nottingham Forest. Yeah, just can't get a result. Burnley beaten at home by Crystal Palace.

1:20:56Two 1-0 wins there for the away teams. Yeah, I mean, I looked at the table this morning and I saw Palace in fifth. I don't know why that surprised me. I feel like their form hasn't been that great recently, but they're very much in that cluster between third and eighth. We're only, let me have a look, five points separates Liverpool and Aston Villa. So there's a lot going on in that little cluster beneath us, which is always good to be away from. Daniel Munoz, an important goal, good header at the back post. Burnley just for me Wolves vibes they're gonna try hard they don't have enough quality I don't think either end defensively or or to score the goals Wolves they're done start planning for the championship like yeah um it's one of those seasons where you just take stock 15 games in and you start to look at contract situations you start to look at behind the scenes appointments You try to shake up your scouting network.

1:21:52How do we rebuild? Because it would be a miracle if they stayed up. Now, I just don't see it. Forest were good value for the win. Igor Jesus was a good header after the goalkeeper got caught out. Those two are looking pretty done already, unfortunately. So West Ham still in and around there. But I think they have quality to maybe turn things around, whereas Burnley and Wolves don't. West Ham in action tonight against Manchester United. That is the final game of this midweek round of Premier League fixtures. We might as well do it because we do it every week on the 30 where we pick our goal of the weekend.

1:22:32But our goal of midweek, who are you going to go for? I'm going to go for the Smith-Rowe header. God damn it. You always do this. That's my plan every time, just to choose your favourite goal. I don't know. It's just, I think Smith Rowe has always had a knack for goals, but him scoring headers, looping headers over Gigi Donnarumma is not what I ever imagined him to do. And just the uniqueness, if that's a word, of the motion, the way he's sort of diving into the cross, the fact that it goes into the far corner. I thought it was amazing. I love this goal. and I'm glad that he had a moment because it's been tough going for him at Fulham.

1:23:17Yeah, it has to be sure. That's my favourite one. I will also go for a header. I do love a good thumping header and Leeds opening goal against Chelsea from Bijol. Is that how you pronounce his name? I don't know. Maybe. Bijol, Bijol. Bijol. Jakob Bijol. He's from Slovenia. So if any Slovenian listeners want to correct me on my pronunciation, I'm very open to that, but what a great header. Got across the near post and it was one of those where you can, you know, you talk about the neck muscles when a guy puts home a header like that. So the fact that it was against Chelsea too. They said he was the fourth Slovenian scorer in Premier League history.

1:23:56Oh God, don't ask. You're going to quiz me now, aren't you? nobody sprung to mind for me. I think obviously Benjamin Seshko is one but the rest, I've got no idea. Me either. Again, maybe some of our Slovenian listeners, if we have any, could fill us in there. I hate when they do that, where they go like, he's only the fourth Slovenian to ever score in the Premier League. It's like, well, who are they? Tell us who. Yeah, tell us who they are. You know, if you've got that information, you must have it on a stat sheet somewhere. So give us the rest of it. Anyway, that's how they tease us. Right. We'll leave it there.

1:24:33Phil, as ever, thank you very much indeed. And we'll catch up with you next week for another episode of the 30 over on Patreon. Definitely. Yeah. It's heavy going. So rest up. We'll need you for Saturday, but yeah, always enjoy these. Thank you very much indeed to Phil. You can find him on blue sky. He is at phil Costa dot BSky dot social at phil Costa dot BSky dot social. Look, I'm going to leave it there because I've got to get this podcast out. It's quite a long one as it is. There will be a premier league preview podcast looking ahead to our game against Aston Villa tomorrow over on Patreon, patreon.com forward slash arseblog.

1:25:10You can join myself and Luis Ambrose for that. We'll talk about whatever happens in Mikel Arteta's press conference, injury updates, et cetera, et cetera. And of course, some opposition analysis, as well as a look ahead to all the other games in the Premier League at the weekend. So that's over on Patreon. I'm going to leave it there. There is no end bit at the end of this particular podcast. There's just too much going on. I don't have the time. I've got to get this out. I want you to have something to listen to. So that is that for this one. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening as always.

1:25:39We all really do appreciate it. Hope you enjoyed the show and we will catch you on the next one. Until then, cheers. Bye-bye.

1:26:28UFC 3 vs. The Fan