Gooner Spice

Mikel Arteta has gone with a blend of consistency, experience, and youth today. I was expecting Lacazette to be dropped today but he has been given another chance to get his form back before the break. Mustafi starts along with Luiz in spite of Sokratis's return. It might just be cautionary as Sokratis just cam from an injury and he can properly recover in the international break. The big surprising change for me is Guendouzi partnering Xhaka in midfield. I am not sure about the Xhaka - Mateo partnership. They both like to carry the ball and if Mateo is starting that puts more defensive pressure on Xhaka's shoulders. In the past we have seen Torreira giving Xhaka proper freedom to roam around, carry the ball occasionally, play his passes risk-free and make defensive contributions when required. Torreira brings out the best in Xhaka's game and so I usually prefer that partnership. On the other hand, Mateo is a promising talent and needs game time so that might be the bigge...

Arsenal face Burnley FC at Turf Moor on Sunday, in a clash which Arsenal will hope to get all 3 points from if they are to keep their top 4 hopes alive. Though things got nervy towards the end, Arsenal won their last game against Bournemouth comfortably and would be hoping to bring that form to Turf Moor as well. On the other hand, Burnley had a pretty encouraging trip to Old Trafford in their last PL game, winning 2-0 against the Red Devils. Though Burnley have not won against the Gunners since March 2010, it will not be a walk-over for Arsenal. Arsenal are unbeaten in their last six Premier League away games, drawing each of the last four in a row. They've not drawn five consecutive away league games since August 1948. Maybe time to break that record? Mikel Arteta has been handed a strong boost ahead of the game with Aubameyang and Luiz back from their suspensions. Also, Mustafi and Kolasinac are back in full training. The latter duo might not feature on Sunday's starti...

On Monday Arsenal face Bournemouth at Dean Court, in the 4rth round of the FA Cup. This will be the first-ever meeting between Arsenal and Bournemouth FC in the FA Cup. Although The Cherries currently sit 18th in the table and are on a poor run, on their day they can cause trouble to many big of the big boys. Mikel Arteta's side went a man down in the last game against Chelsea and grabbed a 2-2 draw. Thou six days is enough time to recover, Arteta will have to rotate the squad considering David Luiz is also suspended now along with Aubameyang. Mustafi played well against Chelsea after his big error so he might keep his place and it would be the right call for his confidence. Other than that, since Mavropanos is on loan, Holding and Sokratis are the two options available. Holding started against Leeds in the last round after being sidelined for a long period and showed that he will need time to be back properly. Moving towards the midfielders and forwards, Willock or Mateo...

Arsenal have been in contact with Flamengo FC , one of the most notable South American clubs known for producing gems and once home to the likes of Adriano, Ronaldinho, and Romario, regarding the signing of their star defender Pablo Mari. In fact, according to the recent reports, he   was pictured at Rio de Janeiro airport with Edu on Friday evening and boarded a plane to London, touching down at Heathrow on Saturday lunchtime.  This means Arsenal have finally decided to spend money on a center-back.  Arsenal are believed to be paying around £7million to sign Mari, which represents a big profit on the £1m Flamengo paid Manchester City last summer. But the important question is, is he good enough for Arsenal? Or since any center-back is good enough for our team at the moment to be fully honest, the question is does he have what it takes to play in PL? Keeping in mind that he was once at Man City not so long ago but never made it to the playing squad. He has gone fr...

Welcome Gooners! I want to start my blog by writing about the recent big event that happened at the Emirates, the sacking of Unai Emery. Remember when Emery joined in the start of last season, our club legend had just left the club after going through the worst years of his tenure and the fans were shocked but hopeful about the future ahead. With a number of changes in the backroom and coaching department, we finally greeted the new season with open arms. Obviously things weren't going to get better right away after Arsene Wenger's departure since we had seen other clubs go through tough times whenever a long serving manager left (Manchester United most notably), but we were already going through tough times since the last 4-5 years at least so how bad can it be. Moreover, the preseason under Emery showed some positive signs. We finally bought a known CB (a bit late but still not that bad), the team showed renewed energy and most importantly, we got a DM who could actually ...