The short turnaround doesn’t help us, but we’ll just have to pull through.
Arsenal will scarcely have the time to reflect on the draw against Atalanta in midweek, due the fact that we have a very small matter of a visit to arguably the best club in the world at the weekend to attend to.
Indeed Mikel Arteta will have to galvanize his troops to face Manchester City tomorrow but the short turnaround we have to prepare for the game might make it an even harder task for us to get something out of the game, even harder considering we’ll have to do more defending than usual.
Injuries are plaguing our squad, and this will only potentially add to that growing list due to fatigue, however we should just dig deep and pull through at the weekend.
This will be an encounter of the league’s best attack and best defence. With City dominating in the attacking phase of play this season having scored a league high 11 goals in the first four games of the new season, with Erling Haaland scoring 9 out of those, that’s frightening!
He’ll be coming up against the best defense in the division though, and given how well marshalled he was last season; I suspect he’ll be out to prove a point. However, the partnership of Saliba and Gabriel are still his toughest opponents in the league, and I hope they both can shut him down for large parts of the game on Sunday!
We’ve frustrated them before; we can still do that again, with an even stronger will to win regardless of the absentees. With that said, however, in hindsight a draw would be a really good result considering the short turnaround time, the travelling factor (City played at home on Weds), and the key absence of our most creative outlet Martin Ødegaard. A draw would represent a good sequence in the league as well, given we won our last game away to Spurs last weekend.
In what might be a title decider (this early!) we’ll have to show that we want it more than them and that we’re mentally ready for the battle despite the above factors which all seem to lean in City’s favour….
Will that extra day of rest for the City give them a significant advantage on Sunday!?
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
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The Citizens have a slight advantage due to a massive squad and yes they may have rested a little longer.
But Arsenal have youth in our favor and may just be a little more hungrier, that could prove the difference when the dust settles.
Professional footballers are highly trained. Surely, they should be able to cope with an occasional short turnaround.
I think the outcome of the game will be determined by tactics, the skill of the players selected, the match officials and, possibly, luck – good or bad – at some time across the 90 minutes or so.
@Bertie
Real talk. Plain and simple..:
The odds are heavily stacked against Arsenal: the unfavourable fixtures, shorts turnaround, injuries and what have you.
But we must prove our mettle by living up to the old saying that “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”
COYG!
Well said. I thought – only for a brief moment though – that you were already rehearsing “reasons for defeat”.
Of course, you’re absolutely right that Arsenal must get on with it. If we are going to win the 2024-25 title as we all hope, it will be because the coach/squad has worked their [insert your own word] off over the 38 games, regardless of factors like the ones you’ve mentioned.
It won’t be because, as I’ve read, we’ve got everything else in place so it’s almost pre-determined, or that we’ve “earned the right” coming close recently, or somehow “it’s our turn now” because City has been there for so long.
Hard work, consistently over many months, is the only way.
It’s early in the season and they are professional athletes, so I don’t see the problem. If anything the Atalanta game should have been an advantage in terms of getting prepared and gaining momentum for the season.