The Big Title Clash

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

With the players missing for Spurs, the last minute goal at Bournemouth, the players missing for City, it really feels like things are falling nicely for us atm.

Now we know that little weasel Arteta wont be able to influence the referee on Saturday, that again feels like another stroke of good fortune. Cant stand him on the touchline, totally insufferable.

Hard game but we’ll have all the confidence in the world after dominating the domestic and European champions like we did. Emery doesn’t need any extra motivation for this fixture so we know he’ll be cooking up something extra special for this one.

I cannot wait. Villa Park under the lights again for a top of the table showdown. Unbelievable times we’re living in

[Kiwivillan]

I wonder if Emery wants to beat Arsenal...hmmm

[Vive_La_Villa]

The players put a hell of a lot in to that game yesterday so he may freshen things up. Amazing we have players like Cash, Moreno, Diaby and Ramsey that can step in. 
 

Want us to beat Arsenal so bad. Some of their fans are saying they would take a point.

[ender4]

I feel like we are going to be a little drained for the Arsenal game. We gave every ounce of blood and sweat in the Man City game, it's very very difficult to do that 2 games in a row.

[John]

Had a little look on "Goonersworld" this morning to see how they are feeling about the game:

"This will be a different game altogether, if we get a point from this it will be a good result, the Don will be looking for payback."

"This is going to be tough. Let’s hope Villa empty their tank smashing City before our game."

 "A draw will be good."

Posts made after last night's win (the posts after the first one below, are responses to it):

"Jesus, Martinelli, Saka, Odegaard, rice, Gabriel, saliba, white; when these 8 core players are fit，Villa will be lucky to get a draw against us even if they are playing at home. We are that strong."

"The way Villa played against City and the way we played against Luton, we would be lucky to get a draw."

"That is like the kiss of death lol we will be the ones lucky to get a draw out of this IF we are lucky."

"We will need to turn up more than we did at Luton, Can't see us scoring 4 at villa."

"Delete this!"

Nice to see that 99% of Gooners understand that this might not be quite a walk in the park for them now. 

Link: https://www.goonersworld.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=146562&start=15

[ChicagoVillan1983]

Coming into these 3 fixtures (B/ M/ A) my baseline for good was 4 points. Now I fully expected the 3 would come from Bournemouth and we'd sneak a point from one of the others.

A draw or better is in the great category for me - and we should walk the rest of our fixtures for the year.

Beat Arsenal and I genuinely believe we'll be top at Christmas.

[HKP90]

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

The players put a hell of a lot in to that game yesterday so he may freshen things up. Amazing we have players like Cash, Moreno, Diaby and Ramsey that can step in. 
 

Want us to beat Arsenal so bad. Some of their fans are saying they would take a point.

[rubberman]

1 hour ago, ender4 said:

I feel like we are going to be a little drained for the Arsenal game. We gave every ounce of blood and sweat in the Man City game, it's very very difficult to do that 2 games in a row.

Agree. But they also had a pretty draining game and we have fresh legs to change things up if Unai sees fit. I fancy we'll see a different approach vs Arsenal - they have proper midfielders so we won't have quite the run of the game there. Can't help but be confident that we can get another result here.

[romavillan]

41 minutes ago, rubberman said:

Agree. But they also had a pretty draining game and we have fresh legs to change things up if Unai sees fit. I fancy we'll see a different approach vs Arsenal - they have proper midfielders so we won't have quite the run of the game there. Can't help but be confident that we can get another result here.

We might need to be more patient, but I still think we'll try to go back to front as quickly as possible. I bet we'll still be trying to compress the game as much as possible, win it back and get to goal as quick as possible. I can't see us having a very different approach, I don't think we'll be trying a low block or anything.

I think this is probably a harder game to get a result in than City.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

People saying we were drained from the performance but Villa could also be galvanised; one last push and then we can change things around.

Also the luxury of Ramsey, Diaby and Moreno raring to go.

I thought for long periods of the game against man s***** Villa were looking to control the game, especially as the match got into the last ten minutes.

Pretty sure Unai will want to keep a settled team but he can change it too.

[ChicagoVillan1983]

16 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

People saying we were drained from the performance but Villa could also be galvanised; one last push and then we can change things around.

Also the luxury of Ramsey, Diaby and Moreno raring to go.

I thought for long periods of the game against man s***** Villa were looking to control the game, especially as the match got into the last ten minutes.

Pretty sure Unai will want to keep a settled team but he can change it too.

Who'd have thought at the start of the season that Bailey would be unstoppable.

See how he holds up though - he looked the most gassed out of the lot. Partly because he's been only used to playing half a game and partly because of the style of his play - so high energy.

We'd have beaten Argentina in the World Cup final yesterday. Albeit it would have been weird to see Emi running from goal to goal to stop shots at both ends.

[PaulC]

It will be tougher than man city. They are on a good run but their goalkeeping situation isn't good. As Jesus us a different type of center forward I wonder whether Konsa will move back into the center of defence. 

Cant afford to get carried away by the performance and result against Man City. We have to produce the sand level of performance against Arsenal. Im sure Emery will keep their feet firmly on the ground.

[The Fun Factory]

17 minutes ago, PaulC said:

It will be tougher than man city. They are on a good run but their goalkeeping situation isn't good. As Jesus us a different type of center forward I wonder whether Konsa will move back into the center of defence. 

Cant afford to get carried away by the performance and result against Man City. We have to produce the sand level of performance against Arsenal. Im sure Emery will keep their feet firmly on the ground.

Of course, we can get away by the performance. Until the last 12 months, we have been mediocre at best for a generation and it's only 6 years ago we were a mid table championship club. Bask in the glory and enjoy the title push.

[Pongo Waring]

3-0 Villa

Another day at the office.

[DJBOB]

As good as we were against City, some of the limited availability mean that Pep started 4 CB's and 2 FB's - and two wingers who aren't that fast.

No matter how well coached they are, those skills don't match for beating our press.

Arsenal are a different beast and are relatively healthy.

But their keeper is shit so we really have to keep hitting shots.

[MWARLEY2]

36 minutes ago, jayEm said:

Makes me wonder how he's planning to take on Arsenal. Players will be shattered after last night, but you'd also be reluctant to change that winning team!

I don't know. Will we be shattered? Our previous games we had taken it so easy. Newcastle play at that intensity every single game. We have played like that maybe twice this season . Everyone seems so fit and full of energy  . We should also not dismiss what our support did last night. That level of backing gave them so much adrenaline i reckon. 

[Giro]

15 hours ago, Pongo Waring said:

We dont need a team talk. Just show the players this:
 

 

 

Can’t stand that little dweeb 

[NoelVilla]

I don't know a single Man City fan. I know some Arsenal fans. So can we please repeat yesterdays game and maybe even score a few more.

[MWARLEY2]

Far harder game than last night. I doubt Lego Pep will tinker with his midfield like bald pep did. Rice and Odegaard will try to control the game and play in their rapid attackers  . Will need some real steel again to swarm over them.  Looking forward to it though. 

[DJBOB]

11 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Far harder game than last night. I doubt Lego Pep will tinker with his midfield like bald pep did. Rice and Odegaard will try to control the game and play in their rapid attackers  . Will need some real steel again to swarm over them.  Looking forward to it though. 

I'm already in fear of the high line we will play.

The difference between City and Arsenal is that Arsenal will have plenty of passers (Odegaard, Rice, Saliba, Zenchenko) to hit their runners in behind whereas City was trying to use Akanji and Stones with no runners except for Haaland in behind.