Rival Lines
Match Preview: Arsenal v AFCB
Blogger Interview: Daily Cannon
Twitter: @HLeeHurley
This week I spoke to Lee at the Daily Cannon. Arsenal have been chasing a top four finish, but the run of Man Utd has put them under increasing pressure and perhaps we are about to see how Unai Emery does under intense pressure. Arsenal's home record is good, especially against lower placed teams so Bournemouth will need to improve a lot on their own recent away performances to make a game of this match.
CC: How confident are you that Arsenal can finish in the top four this season - tell me who you think the top six will finish?
Match Preview: Arsenal v AFCB
Blogger Interview: Daily Cannon
Twitter: @HLeeHurley
This week I spoke to Lee at the Daily Cannon. Arsenal have been chasing a top four finish, but the run of Man Utd has put them under increasing pressure and perhaps we are about to see how Unai Emery does under intense pressure. Arsenal's home record is good, especially against lower placed teams so Bournemouth will need to improve a lot on their own recent away performances to make a game of this match.CC: How confident are you that Arsenal can finish in the top four this season - tell me who you think the top six will finish?
DC: I can’t say that I’m confident at all. We need Chelsea and Manchester United to drop points and while it’s now back in our own hands, it’s doubtful we will be able to keep it that way.
I see City winning the league with Liverpool finishing as runners-up and being hailed as Champions. As much as it pains me, Spurs will finish third, United fourth and then it’s between Arsenal and Chelsea for fifth and sixth. That will all depend on who can be less crap.
CC: In past seasons it's the FA Cup that Arsenal have seemed to do well in, but doing you think it's a help to go out of this competition earlier on to concentrate on the Premier and Uefa competitions?
DC: Arsenal have won more FA Cups than any other side in the country so it’s a competition that has always been good to us. A club of Arsenal’s size should not be looking to exit cup competitions to help in other areas and it would have been good to see the fringe players get more game time.
CC: Arsenal have let in 37 goals in the Premier League more than any of the other top six sides. So what is most needed to reduce the goals against column - is one player letting you down?
DC: The quick answer is ‘better defenders’.
Arsenal have been hit hard with injuries at the back. Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding, both starters, are out with cruciate injuries, Nacho Monreal has struggled with his fitness too while Laurent Koscielny, the club captain, only returned midway through the season after his Achilles injury that kept him from winning the World Cup.
But it would be too simple to blame injuries. The players we have fielded are better than they’ve been performing but that doesn’t really say much.
If you had to pick out one player back there to blame it would be Mustafi who is a disaster of a player, but Arsenal’s defence has been so bad for so long it can’t be blamed on one player or one thing. It’s an institutional problem.
CC: Is Ozil's time at Arsenal up, or do you think he can get back into the starting line up?
DC: I’d hate to see Ozil leave, as would most Arsenal fans. There are two Mesut Ozil’s – the one you read about in the papers and the one Arsenal fans watch play.
Quite simply, Arsenal are better when he is in the side.
It’s hard to know what’s been going on behind the scenes between him and Unai Emery – and it is clear something is going on – but I’d like to think he will force his way back into the starting lineup. He probably won’t start against Bournemouth however as Emery doesn’t trust him away from home.
CC: What do you make of Unai Emery's tactics for games this season - is he using subs well, setting up well when playing the other top six teams, or has he made mistakes?
DC: Emery started well and Arsenal’s 22 unbeaten run was promising, but it was also misleading. We were playing some woeful football and got lucky during that run.
Emery’s tactics and subs have been all over the place and it’s hard to nail down what he is trying to do other than get it to a full-back and pull the ball back.
There have been flashes of brilliant, expansive and exciting football, but that’s all they’ve been – glimpses.
CC: Who has been Arsenal's surprise player of the season?
DC: I’d have to say it was Rob Holding before he got injured. He had made himself a starter and Arsenal’s defence has suffered terribly since he was sidelined.
After that, it must be Matteo Guendouzi who came to the club as a teenager in the summer. Fans expected him to be ‘one for the future’ but he’s a first-team regular and doesn’t look out of place.
CC: Is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang going to be as prolific as Thierry Henry was for Arsenal?
DC: I wouldn’t think so, but that’s simply down to his age. Had he arrived a number of years ago then there is every chance he could have become the club’s top goalscorer.
CC: Have Arsenal got many injuries at present - what players are likely to miss the Bournemouth game?
DC: Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Danny Welbeck are all out for the season. Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been ill, Stephan Lichtsteiner has a back problem and Mesut Ozil is still getting back to match fitness after missing a lot of the season while Laurent Koscielny keeps picking up little niggles following his lengthy lay-off.
Of those players, the biggest misses are Bellerin and Holding who would improve our backline 100%.
CC: How do you expect Arsenal to set up against Bournemouth?
DC: Defensively with two holding midfielders.
CC: Let's have a score prediction, please?
DC: I genuinely have no clue how this will go. We are still awful away from home and struggle against sides like Bournemouth. I want to say 2-1 Arsenal but that’s a guess more than anything else.
I see City winning the league with Liverpool finishing as runners-up and being hailed as Champions. As much as it pains me, Spurs will finish third, United fourth and then it’s between Arsenal and Chelsea for fifth and sixth. That will all depend on who can be less crap.
CC: In past seasons it's the FA Cup that Arsenal have seemed to do well in, but doing you think it's a help to go out of this competition earlier on to concentrate on the Premier and Uefa competitions?
DC: Arsenal have won more FA Cups than any other side in the country so it’s a competition that has always been good to us. A club of Arsenal’s size should not be looking to exit cup competitions to help in other areas and it would have been good to see the fringe players get more game time.
CC: Arsenal have let in 37 goals in the Premier League more than any of the other top six sides. So what is most needed to reduce the goals against column - is one player letting you down?
DC: The quick answer is ‘better defenders’.
Arsenal have been hit hard with injuries at the back. Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding, both starters, are out with cruciate injuries, Nacho Monreal has struggled with his fitness too while Laurent Koscielny, the club captain, only returned midway through the season after his Achilles injury that kept him from winning the World Cup.
But it would be too simple to blame injuries. The players we have fielded are better than they’ve been performing but that doesn’t really say much.
If you had to pick out one player back there to blame it would be Mustafi who is a disaster of a player, but Arsenal’s defence has been so bad for so long it can’t be blamed on one player or one thing. It’s an institutional problem.
CC: Is Ozil's time at Arsenal up, or do you think he can get back into the starting line up?
DC: I’d hate to see Ozil leave, as would most Arsenal fans. There are two Mesut Ozil’s – the one you read about in the papers and the one Arsenal fans watch play.
Quite simply, Arsenal are better when he is in the side.
It’s hard to know what’s been going on behind the scenes between him and Unai Emery – and it is clear something is going on – but I’d like to think he will force his way back into the starting lineup. He probably won’t start against Bournemouth however as Emery doesn’t trust him away from home.
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CC: What do you make of Unai Emery's tactics for games this season - is he using subs well, setting up well when playing the other top six teams, or has he made mistakes?
DC: Emery started well and Arsenal’s 22 unbeaten run was promising, but it was also misleading. We were playing some woeful football and got lucky during that run.
Emery’s tactics and subs have been all over the place and it’s hard to nail down what he is trying to do other than get it to a full-back and pull the ball back.
There have been flashes of brilliant, expansive and exciting football, but that’s all they’ve been – glimpses.
CC: Who has been Arsenal's surprise player of the season?
DC: I’d have to say it was Rob Holding before he got injured. He had made himself a starter and Arsenal’s defence has suffered terribly since he was sidelined.
After that, it must be Matteo Guendouzi who came to the club as a teenager in the summer. Fans expected him to be ‘one for the future’ but he’s a first-team regular and doesn’t look out of place.
CC: Is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang going to be as prolific as Thierry Henry was for Arsenal?
DC: I wouldn’t think so, but that’s simply down to his age. Had he arrived a number of years ago then there is every chance he could have become the club’s top goalscorer.
CC: Have Arsenal got many injuries at present - what players are likely to miss the Bournemouth game?
DC: Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Danny Welbeck are all out for the season. Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been ill, Stephan Lichtsteiner has a back problem and Mesut Ozil is still getting back to match fitness after missing a lot of the season while Laurent Koscielny keeps picking up little niggles following his lengthy lay-off.
Of those players, the biggest misses are Bellerin and Holding who would improve our backline 100%.
CC: How do you expect Arsenal to set up against Bournemouth?
DC: Defensively with two holding midfielders.
CC: Let's have a score prediction, please?
DC: I genuinely have no clue how this will go. We are still awful away from home and struggle against sides like Bournemouth. I want to say 2-1 Arsenal but that’s a guess more than anything else.
CC: Thanks to Lee for his insight into life at Arsenal. You can see more of his latest articles on the Daily Cannon website. It is good to see that even fans of top four sides are not always certain how their team will perform and you never know when a strange result is coming. I say that because it would be a bit of an upset for AFCB to beat Arsenal away, but one day it is likely to happen and we'll have our fingers crossed that this could be one of those occasions.
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