alexf

His run at the end whilst mightly impressive, I'd rather he didn't at 4:1 up with minutes remaining and 2 more games in quick succession to follow. Would rather he saved his legs as much as possible

Botman was struggling with injuries last season and Burn is currently in the form of his life. But the main reason for the gap between midfield and defence being better is Tonali, simple as that. Howe has always wanted his defenders to press high. Botman was the perfect example of that in 22/23. In fact it was noticeable how much we missed that whenever Burn used to fill in for him. Thankfully Burn has begun to get better at that aspect and also it helps prevent his lack of pace being exposed by trying to win the ball high rather than dropping deep.

Oh an hopefully we learn out lessons from the Bournemouth Fulham and play with a little more caution. We have the quality to get goals without needing to be all out high line. Conserve energy and dominate the midfield and give Isak something and he'll do business. Will be desperate for a goal after the last 2.

I know the Villa game is important but the head says this is the likely more winnable game. So if we go into the villa game with a 5 point cushion it takes the pressure off, whereas they will feel they can't afford not to beat us to have any hope.

This is a whoosh right? Botman practically set the blueprint to Burn how it should be done and does it infinitely better, or at least did before all the injuries. I think this is a welcome boost if he is truly fit and ready to play. Burn to me has looked pretty worn out last few games and Schar pulled up it looked like towards the end of the man u game, so if we can give them a few minutes rest here and there in this run-in, I think that will be helpful .

Always get the impression that Barnes is slightly pissed off that he hasn't played as much as he wanted this year. Looks like he feels he's finally getting a chance to prove what he can do but only thanks to the Gordon suspension and injury. But there's a danger we piss him off further if he gets shunted to the right now Gordon's back if they are on the pitch at the same time. Gordon gives us a lot obviously with his relentless pressing and generally possession. But there's no doubting Harvey is clearly the better finisher and more potent goal threat. But Murphy has been putting up the numbers as well this year so for now on current form it should be Gordon coming on for either and probably on the right if Barnes is still on the pitch. Be interesting to see what Howe does in the next few games.

Liked the way Tindall grabbed by the back of the neck and seemed to give him a bit of a reminder he's on 9 yellows. Well done Bruno aswell for dragging him off once his head went. Hope he can avoid that yellow on Wednesday as we'll need him against Villa.

Got Willock back and Gordon better for having a run out yesterday, as options available for this aswell so hopefully if anyone is tired we have good energy to bring on. Will likely be a tougher game than this weekend but feels like the lads of got the bit between their teeth and are fully focused on doing what needs to be done. Would be nice going into that Villa game with the pressure off and with a buffer between us.

game by game he is becoming the most likely player teams will try to take away from us. Absolutely outstanding and even when the ball was in the air you just knew he was slamming it home. Elite player.

As if Arsenal just unlocked another set piece cheat code

So he spells his own name Schaer?

I think he lacks the yard of pace needed to be an effective winger in this league. He's got great close control and dribbling ability but without that fear that a player is going to go past you, defenders can back off and defend you alot easier. It's why Saint Maximin didn't look anywhere near as dangerous once his injuries robbed him of that explosive speed. Same for any other aging players over the years once they lost a yard.

They were missing Fernandes last time, so he'll obviously improve them from the game at old trafford. But hopefully it's the sort of game the team can get up for and blow them away. Only bit of concern is the squad depth currently, there really isn't anything on the bench we can use to help change the game so we're relying on the same starting 11 to keep going. But so far they have been producing the goods so long may it continue. Could do with Gordon being back soon though to give us a boost of energy even if just from the bench.

Those two free kicks are unreal like. I did think earlier in the season when he was whipping those corners with such consistency why doesn't he take free kicks like that. Apparently he'd never scored a free kick in his career before this. Feel dirty though, can't stand Arteta or Arsenal fans generally and really don't want them or villa to win the CL. But fair play for two brilliant goals and Real were proper shite on the night and deserved what they got.

Vinicius hot garbage yet again. Feels like every time I see him play this season he's been total crap.

Longish

Didn't David Batty score from long range for us once?

Surely Rashford and Asensio are on huge wages? This PSR shit is absolute bollocks but I'm sure Villa knew they were taking a calculated gamble signing those two in the hopes they got them champions league football again, progress further in this year's competition and help win the fa cup. But if it comes back to bite them in terms of accounting then it's the risk they took. In the same way I was hoping we would speculate to accumulate in January in the hopes it would boost our chances of finishing top 5 and winning a cup. Now it looks like we're in with a chance thankfully without spending and have already secured a trophy.

Pundits don't seem to be noticing it do they but he's pretty much man of the match for us every game if we're honest. Lost count the number of fires he puts out. Just constant.

Hope Gordon is fit for Man Utd to give us more depth as that will be a harder game. However being at home and with 6 days rest hopefully we roll over them.

Something about left back seems to encourage him to run with the ball more. Which is his biggest strength. For some reason he was starting to go bit stale at RB for a few games and had actually dropped to the bench if I remember? Great assist for the first and solid performance all round. Slotted in for Hall brilliantly.

Bellamy's shoes looks hilarious

Or he scores against a shit Leicester and restarts the cycle of "should we keep him"

I was replying to Sibierski suggesting to play him RW until the end of the season. Forgot to quote.

Part of the issue with not finishing top 5 would mean that likely Chelsea or Villa got in instead. If we want to push on and establish we can't really afford to let either of those get the PSR boost over us. Villa already have made a killing in the champions league compared to what we earned last year + the Duran sale.