oishiiniku_uk

Not too keen on Leeds either, to be fair.

Don Goodman says this isn't the game he was expecting for about the ninth time...

I think we should start this game with a lot of confidence and be able to dictate the play. Yes, Chelsea won 3-1 at Villa Park earlier in the season but significantly neither Pau or Konsa played in that game and I'm not sure how seriously we've taken either domestic cup this season (see also the meek loss to Everton in the Carabao). Atmosphere should be raucous and I think that could make a collection of young Chelsea players, that was seemingly assembled mostly on 'underlying data and potential saleability', to shrink further into their shells. It's kind of amazing to see how the two clubs' fortunes have inverted since Gerrard's infamous 'Chelsea should be coming to Villa Park and wiping the floor with us' quote. They were at the start of a brave new era under 'the next elite manager' in Graham Potter and we were hoping that Stevie would get the chop ASAP. Who could have predicted that things would work out this way? I'm just so grateful that we got smart, savvy owners who are building things in a structured (but still ambitious) way rather than 'disruptors' who assumed they could breeze in to football and succeed despite going against most of the prevailing logic and evidence.

Finished sixth (although only because Brighton started that season so well under Potter). Brighton place second in the Possession League every year which is apparently great even if you're 11th in the actual table. They also qualify for the Champions League through their xg numbers regularly. Oh wait...

Is De Zerbi still being linked with the top jobs in European club football?

They're looking truly formidable tonight!

Over the last 10 games they are 7th (16pts) and we are fourth (20pts). I'm not saying it will be an easy game, just questioning why it would be a 'surprise' if we won given that we've already beaten them (and much better teams) this season.

You think it's a surprise if the team in fourth with the joint 3rd best home record beats a midtable side who are joint 10th in the away table? Everton result aside (and the toffees didn't even try to compete in that game) have they convinced in any recent performance? They managed to draw with both Burnley and Sheff Utd and were 2 minutes away from losing to an awful Man Utd.

Agreed. If it's given by the ref then no way is that getting overturned. PGMOL directive must be to avoid any potentially controversial decision by doing nothing.

We've reached a point where refs are scared to give a decision in the moment and VAR don't want to contradict their mates.

Does Ashley Young have some kind of Penalty Immunity or something? Could have given away three by now!

Given how Unai has improved pretty much every player in the squad significantly, I'm sure Buendia would have progressed similarly this season. Although, I remember in the early games under Emery that Unai spent most of his time on the side line shouting 'EMI! EMI! EMI!' over and over and gesturing where he wanted him to be!

They've looked completely out of gas in the second half both against us and Bayern. They definitely could have gone easier on some of their key players, especially in games where they were comfortably in front at half time. Saka for instance looks knackered and has played 30 games/2492 minutes in the Premier League (average of 83 minutes per game). Bailey, by comparison has played 31 games/1728 mins (avg 56 minutes) and even when you factor in Leon not starting all the games at the beginning of the season, he's still been rotated/subbed quite a bit even since his form picked up. Arsenal's remaining fixtures are tough (perhaps with the exception of Everton on the final day) and very close together and I'm not sure they can re-energize things (esp. when Arteta doesn't seem to trust the squad depth). I could see them finishing 8-10 points behind City.

Saka feigns an injury so Arteta can have a tactics talk with his team and Bayern try and restart while Arsenal are still in a huddle on the sideline!

It seems like the 777 takeover could be the only thing that would stop them falling into administration, but looking at the other clubs they've acquired, that could end up being an even worse situation than Everton find themselves in currently with Moshiri. 777 have no money of their own (have leveraged the value of the assets they've bought to get further and further into debt far as I can tell) and are having to get an extension on a loan of money owed to other parties connected to Everton in order to even be able to fund the purchase of the club. IF the deal goes through and they stay up, I can still see Everton either going into administration v. quickly or the new owners will have to sell the stadium to generate funds (which is really the only good thing that the club potentially has going for it, assuming they can afford to finish building it). A complete and total mess and I'm so glad we got the owners that we did rather than a clueless puppet who was really just a front for a shady oligarch.