Arsenal v AFC Bournemouth

billythekid

billythekid

UTC Legend
AFCB Visit Top Of The Table Arsenal

From playing the sides in 4th and 2nd places at home recently and coming out of those two games with 1 point, our team now travel to London to play the team top of the Premier League, Arsenal at the normal time of 3 pm on Saturday. In our previous five visits to the Emirates Stadium, AFCB have never come away with any points and it will be a real surprise and bonus if they pick up any points on Saturday.

The Gunners have had a very good season so far under the guidance of manager Mikel Arteta, being top of the table every week bar one, where Manchester City had a better GD. If they finish in top spot, it will be the first time since the 2003-04 season they would have won the title when Arsene Wenger was the manager. Under Wenger they won the title three times, 2003-04, 2001-02 and 1997-98.

They have won 9 of their twelve home games. Arsenal won their first seven home games, six before the World Cup break. First was 4-2 against Leicester City, then they had two, 2-1 wins against Fulham and Aston Villa. This was followed by 3-1 against Spurs, 3-2 with Liverpool and the last home game before the break for the World Cup was a 5-0 thrashing of Nottingham Forest.

The first game back after the break was the seventh win of that home run, 3-1 against West Ham. The next home win was 3-2 against Manchester United, which came after a 0-0 draw with Newcastle United. They also drew 1-1 against Brentford. Only one defeat and that was the game mentioned earlier against Manchester City 1-3. The most recent game was Wednesday night against Everton which they won 4-0.

Away from home they have won ten out of thirteen games. They were against Crystal Palace, AFCB, Brentford, Leeds United, Chelsea, Wolves, Brighton, Spurs, Aston Villa and their last away game against Leicester City. They have drawn one with Southampton and lost against Manchester United and Everton.

The last time AFCB played Arsenal away, was October 2019, a ninth minute David Luiz goal decided the match.

In all our Premier League games away against Arsenal, AFCB have W 0, D 0, L 5.
All competitions, AFCB have W 1, D 2, L 10.

Arsenal Team News
In January they signed forward Leandro Trossard from Brighton for £27 million, defender Jakub Kiwior from Spezia for £20 million and midfielder Jorginho from Chelsea for £12 million. Injury wise they have two players out with knee injuries, Gabriel Jesus and Mohamed Elneny.

Arsenal Player To Watch
Two in form players are Bukayo Saka on the right wing with 10 goals and leads with 9 assists. On the left wing Gabriel Martinelli has scored 11 goals with 2 assists. Then their captain Martin Odegaard who scored two goals against us earlier this season and has scored 9 goals with 6 assists.

AFCB Team News
Marcus Tavernier hamstring and Matias Vina knee both missed last Saturday’s game, also missing through illness was Antoine Semenyo. Otherwise it’s the same ones missing.

AFCB Player To Watch
The two players that caught the eye against Manchester City, Hamed Traore and Jordan Zemura, when he was attacking down the left. We need Dominic Solanke to find the net again, his last league goal was away at Leeds and he hasn’t scored in seven league games since, though he did assist the winning goal against Wolves.

The Referee
Chris Kavanagh is the man in charge, the last time we had him was away at Middlesbrough last season.
 
In most senses we have nothing to lose in this one, and most games against the top 6. Why not just go for it like it is a cup game (I mean how most underdog teams go for it). GD is not really going to be a factor at the end of the season, but a point or two here and there will make the difference. Arsenal will very much be a similar set up to Man City so we've had a good look last week.
 
I switched on for the last 20 minutes of the Arsenal march v Everton last night. They absolutely tore the Toffees apart, could easily have scored another two or three. We need to learn from whatever Everton did and do the opposite.
 
Don't risk anyone who isn't 100%, save them.
Go with a back 4, with players in their most comfortable positions as far as possible.
Direct counter attack when possible.
Accept that we'll need some top performances, and some luck.
See what happens.
 
Not looking forward to this run of games, starting with city last week.

Yes we have a chance of course, but similar to the run under Parker after the 1st game versus Villa, I'm struggling to have any/much enthusiasm tbh. Much prefer playing the mid table sides and lower, at least seems like we have a better chance/probabilityof getting something... particularly depressing due to how o Neil and Parker seem to like lining up for these games.
 
People harping on about 'not being Everton' as if somehow thats a magic trick to beat Arsenal?

What did they do? Five at the back?
 
MB1980 said:
Not looking forward to this run of games, starting with city last week.

Yes we have a chance of course, but similar to the run under Parker after the 1st game versus Villa, I'm struggling to have any/much enthusiasm tbh. Much prefer playing the mid table sides and lower, at least seems like we have a better chance/probability of getting something... particularly depressing due to how o Neil and Parker seem to like lining up for these games.
Click to expand...
It's a tough stretch, but I think we have to maintain our enthusiasm and look past it to the 12-game run in starting March 18. We might pick up a point from Arsenal or Liverpool - who knows. I doubt that we will be adrift by then, maybe a couple of points below the line. But after that, there is nothing overwhelming if we keep everyone healthy and get some luck (and the right set-up). Every team has six-pointers, so there will be points dropped - as long as we keep up our end of the bargain, we can get there (just).
 
I’ve looked at the last 4 league games for Arsenal. These were against Man City and Everton at home and A Villa and Leicester away. They picked up 9 points from these games (3 wins), with xG suggesting that this, or 10 points may have been a better reflection. So, Arsenal are in form. In these games Arsenal have scored 10 goals and conceded 5, whereas xG predicted 8.23 and 3.50. Notable is how toothless Leicester were at home, with an xG of 0.02 although they did stifle the game with Arsenal having their lowest xG. FWIW, Leicester did this lining up in a 5-4-1 formation.

GoalsxG.JPG

The average position of the starting line-up shows that in the last three games Arsenal have been aggressive with the majority of players in the opposition half, despite two of these games being away. There appears to be more play down the right-hand side where Saka has been playing well. It is hard to judge any game against Man City, but Arsenal were not overly pinned back.

Av Pos.JPG

The 10 goals have been dominated by Martinella (4) and Saka (3) who play respectively on the left and right flanks. The assists have been spread throughout the team with only Nketia and Trossard having more than 1. The team is largely settled with 9 players starting all 4 games.

Arsenal have created 40 chances and 12 big chances in these games with the majority of chances created from within the width of the penalty area. For reference, we have created 31 chances and 3 big chances, so a point would be a good return. Arsenal concede slightly more chances down their right flank far more than through the centre with the majority of the goals scored from their right too.
 
RobTrent said:
People harping on about 'not being Everton' as if somehow thats a magic trick to beat Arsenal?

What did they do? Five at the back?
Click to expand...

Losing the will to live in a Zoom meeting, so decided to answer your possible hypothetical question. It was more of a 4-5-1 (see graphic). Whatever we do, on their day, Arsenal are very good.

Capture.JPG
 
In the 20 minutes I saw, I would describe their formation as 'a mess'. Very un-Dyche like.

To be fair, I was only watching with one eye as I was reading at the same time but they were being carved open repeatedly and looked all over the place.
 
kirsikka said:
In the 20 minutes I saw, I would describe their formation as 'a mess'. Very un-Dyche like.

To be fair, I was only watching with one eye as I was reading at the same time but they were being carved open repeatedly and looked all over the place.
Click to expand...
Impressive ;-)
 
Scroll down to the article after the opening Q & A.


While they may occupy 19th position in the Premier League table and have conceded more goals than any team in the division this term, a host of January recruits has boosted Gary O'Neil’s side and brought about improved performances.

That has seen them claim their first away win of the campaign against Wolves a fortnight ago, having also held Newcastle United to a draw at the Vitality Stadium the game before. Those results, plus impressive displays at Brighton and Manchester City have caught Mikel’s eye, and he is expecting a challenge from his opposite number at Emirates Stadium.

“I’m really impressed by what they are doing,” he said. “They are really aggressive, they haven’t conceded many in those [previous four] games and they could have had different results in two of those. Against Man City, [City] showed some quality when they opened up, when finishing the actions to make the score really big, but it was a really competitive match again.

https://www.arsenal.com/news/every-word-mikels-pre-bournemouth-presser-0
 
Cook back !.....oh my Christ...that should pep up the attacking options....Ye Gods !
...hey...I'm a rubber duck.gimme some bath water ! !

Jesus Christ Almighty
 
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