Stottie

What a fucking donkey

Fantastic advert for VAR this!

Need to win a pen.

I'm not in the North East but am coming off Covid, so am well ready to believe stories about others being ill. Dubravka has been welcomed back and thrown him straight back in the team despite half the fanbase writing him off as being a petulant wanker and/or afraid of competition. This suggests Howe and his staff are more pragmatic than we fans are.

I think he's noticably changed in the last four-five cameos he's had, and seems to be constantly looking to pass it. For that reason, I am hesitant to believe any "oh he's just a selfish bastard who won't buy into Howe ball" type stories people come up with. His appearances on the pitch make it look like he's buying into it. I suspect the main injury he's had this season was caused by him running back 80 yards for that disallowed Wolves goal where play should have stopped with the blatant push. Running back the length of the pitch is also "buying into it". I would also expect Howe to have the personal skills to explain to ASM why he wasn't first sub on at Arsenal, a game where we were clearly set up not to lose. ASM may not be part of the system Howe ultimately wants to impose, but for the time being, I still think he has a big role to play.

I think we'll sign a center mid as cover/rotation. I see it as a need.

We're playing 4-3-3 with four fit midfielders and about to sell Joelinton, the one who also covers LW, aye, what complete bollocks! With Shelvey out long term and Anderson (not Top 4 PL ready) going out on loan, and us challenging on three fronts, we need to buy a mid with some urgency. Tielemans would do, but the time to sign him is Jan 31 when the price hits rock bottom. We do have some leverage in Dubs, who Leicester need.

We chalk up 3 xG against Leeds, fail to score, and our fans bemoan our squads' limitations. Arsenal's team chalks up barely 1.1 xG against us, fail to score, and their fans claim it must be a refereeing conspiracy or they were somehow robbed. Create more chances you stupid fuckers!

City H, Man U A, Brighton A, Arsenal A = good draws Bournemouth, Wolves - off days, not at the races. However, both cases of rescuing a points. Bournemouth pen was very jammy. Palace - robbed Leeds - created enough, but not our day, terrible conditions Palace is the vexing one.

The supercomputer has raised Liverpool's estimated point total by one to 69 after our draw at the Emirates. So we are still behind them. Their defence is "0.6", despite conceding twice as many goals as our "0.5" one. It's like when the BBC extended their top half table to 11th position.

I think that's now thirteen competitive games since a team has scored a go-ahead goal or equalizer against us. The last one was Billing for Bournemouth on September 17.

What a bunch of whingy diving entitled cunts. Great to see us ferk them up. Would've like to see more Maxi (or Isak) but their time will come.

I'm pretty confident about our chances. Peeking over the fence, but if I were Arteta, I would be happy with a draw and not going gung-ho if it exposes them to a counter. They have Spurs away next then Man U again. That's three potential defeats in a row and "Bottled it!" headlines just waiting to be written if their lead were to evaporate. Never mind going ten points clear, their aim today should be to not lose and consolidate their position at the top. Arsenal still have to play City twice, so there is a long way to go.

10 straight wins at home for them, but only one clean sheet in there. If there are going to let us score, they'll need two to win, something only Man City and Liverpool (98 minutes) have managed going back a long time. The team tonight will feature Botman, Trippier and Pope, and therefore be better than the one that beat them 2-0 at SJP. I'm quite confident, but ultimately think its a free hit and would caution against over enthusiasm. My main concern is someone getting worked up and sent off by a homer ref, which will affect us for other, more winnable games to come.

My favourite DMs are ones capable of playing 8 so Tielemans would tick that box. I think our midfield is pretty good,so I don't see DM a must-spend-big transformative position and the priority is replacing injured Shelvey. If there is money, I think it needs to go towards getting more goals in the team.

Chelsea setting themselves up to lose another Salah and KDB through kneejerk recruitment.

In a soaking wet game that is going affect all our your finesse play, a big-man striker should really be putting himself about to help make something happen. Despite his size, Wood offers much less in physicality than Wilson. He's been disappointing in that regard.

Played them off the park seven months ago, so I'm confident we'll get something. Just no Chris Wood please. Even ASM in the middle would be better. I've only seen the Arsenal highlights from yesterday, but that has to be the worst Brighton have defended all season. But for VAR though, they would have scored three themselves. The Saliba mistake was was like Titus Bramble.

ASM is definitely looking to pass it more now. He set up Joelinton with a great opportunity, but it was skied like the others. We had an intense spell of pressure before the subs came on, so I wouldn't blame Howe for the timing of the ASM/Wilson introduction. The question mark is whether Wood should have started. Wood is bigger than Wilson, but Wilson is more physical.

I don't think you can expect the same quality of delivery when it is pissing down with rain. In the rain, the usual thing is to get your shots on target (ahem), so the keeper spills them.

2.5 xG so we did enough to win. Just didn't take the chances. Ref should have got the cards out earlier for persistent fouling, but we still had the chances to do it without them.

Yes, the table is from Soccerstats. Click on a club name and that table will come up for them. More fun with stats says that in the 10 game form table, we are top on points, we are top scorers, and we've conceded the fewest, in games that featured Spurs, Man U, and Leicester away and Chelsea home. Soccerstats doesn't do xG, but it also looks like we are top 2 for most xG for and fewest xG against in that 10 game period. Sven Botman is also yet to lose a match for us. In gripe mode, the Palace VAR fiasco denied us two points. Liverpool's winner at Anfield only cost one point.

Look at who we have left to play home and away. Especially home. Howe's home record in 2022. P17 W12 D4 L1 F30 A10 Pts 40 Keep that up and given who we can take points off at home, Top 4 looks likely.

50% clean sheets now. Five Thirty Eight puts us our CL chances at 50% as well. Liverpool's game in hand fixture is Chelsea away.

Peak Wenger-era Arsenal goal. Completely clinical.