Morning all.
Three games to go and one of those is today, away to West Ham. An interesting development in recent weeks is that it has become more difficult to predict Mikel Arteta’s team selection. There are gonna be some sure things, obviously, but beyond that the choice he has available and some of the decisions he’s made make it hard to say with certainty how we’ll line up today.
Will Myles Lewis-Skelly keep his place in midfield, or will Martin Zubimendi come back in? Will it be Martin Odegaard or Eberechi Eze, or perhaps Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze? Viktor Gyokeres is in good form, and I don’t expect a change up front today, but the manager has Kai Havertz available to him, and there’s the potential for change in the full-back positions, particularly on the left. I like that little bit vagueness, I have to say, and perhaps it’s introduced a late season dynamic which has been useful after a period when results weren’t quite optimal.
It’s impossible to overlook the return of Bukayo Saka as a key factor as well, and while he’s clearly not 100% – as his minutes over the last few games have demonstrated – his contributions against Fulham and Atletico Madrid were pivotal. The winner on Tuesday to send us to the Champions League final, plus a goal and an assist for Gyokeres last weekend. I don’t think we’re a one man team, or anything like it, but when you do have one man who is a bit special, your chances of winning games are increased, and that’s been plain to see. I have him as our key man today, and without wanting to scratch at old wounds, he might feel there’s some unfinished business for him at this ground after what happened a couple of seasons ago.
We know that today is going to be difficult, above and beyond any game away from home in the Premier League, because West Ham are fighting relegation and will be scrapping for their lives. There are two sides to that coin. One is that the desire to avoid the humiliation of going down is a powerful motivator, the other is that there’s a reason they’re down there in the first place. Results and performances haven’t been good enough, although under Nuno Espirito Santo they have been better and more consistent. They took points off Man City a few weeks ago in a game in which they were completely dominated, so we have to expect this to be hard work today.
There’s also the Declan Rice dynamic too, an inevitable talking point ahead of a game like this where he returns to his former club. I don’t think it will faze him at all, his focus will about helping Arsenal win and if a consequence of that is damaging to West Ham, then so be it. They’ve had 35 games to get to this point, and today won’t seal their fate anyway, although obviously three points for us would make things a lot more complicated.
Mikel Arteta says of today:
For both clubs, it’s huge, obviously. We know the importance of it, we know what we want, and what we have to do to win the game.
What Man City did yesterday is basically irrelevant because right now it’s in our hands. The job is clear, go out there and win, take three points back to North London, and then focus on the next game – which doesn’t take place until tomorrow week. Despite the inconvenience of that fixture being moved, a gap like that feels almost luxurious at this point of the season. It’s a chance to recharge some batteries a bit as he head towards the finish line, so we’ve got to give a big push today to get the result we need.
If we play like we did against Fulham or Atletico, then I think we’ll have too much for West Ham, but anything less than that and we invite trouble. The manager and the players know what’s at stake today, and hopefully we see a performance that demonstrates that fully.
Right, let’s leave it there this morning. As ever, we’ll have live blog coverage for you, all the post-game stuff on Arseblog News, and there’s a preview podcast on Patreon if you need something to listen to in the meantime.
For now, have a good one, and I’ll catch you later. Come on you reds!