Match Preview: Bournemouth vs Arsenal

My apologies for having been away for some time as I have been caught up with work for the past two months. I am writing this while on a flight as we speak. So much has gone on in the past two months with the Xhaka incident, Emery getting sacked and with the Mikel Arteta appointment. Rest assured I am now back.

Arsenal take on Bournemouth at Dean Court with both sides not in the greatest of forms. Bournemouth have one win in seven and Arsenal are looking for a bounce with the arrival of new head coach Mikel Arteta. I have been really impressed with the things Arteta has said to the media along with what he has done in training. He seems to have this no-nonsense approach which we have been missing for some time now and I absolutely love it. Having learned his trade under Pep Guardiola for three years, you would think that some of that Guardiola magic would have rubbed off on him. I am really excited for this game as its a fresh start for us at Arsenal.

Bournemouth have not been doing well in the past couple of games apart from beating Chelsea, they have lost their previous six games. They will be looking to step up their game especially against us since we have never traveled well. I would love to see us play with an identity and be defensively solid. However, I dont expect Arteta to turn things around having only gotten a few training sessions under his belt. What I do expect is to see some fight, passion and pride from the players. We've lacked that for most of the season.

This is my predicted XI: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Sokratis, Saka, Torreira, Xhaka, Ozil, Pepe, Martinelli, Aubameyang.

Maitland-Niles played well against Everton and with Bellerin just returning from injury I would expect the youngster to be given the nod ahead of him. In the left back position, with both Kolasinac and Tierney out on the sidelines, we do not have a recognized left back that is fit and I would expect Saka to deputize in that position once again, he really impressed in the game against Everton. As for the center of defence, we will have to make do with what we have currently with Chambers who has been solid for the most part and Sokratis who has been wildly inconsistent. In the center of the park, the pairing of Xhaka and Torreira can work out if they are set up right. Torreira should be the one sitting infront of the back four and once he wins the ball back, play it to Xhaka who can at times spread play across the pitch beautifully. With the attackers, Mesut Ozil will be given a 'clean slate' by new boss Arteta. If Ozil is given the ball in the right areas of the pitch there is still a player in there who can pull out killer passes. Pepe has shown glimpses of what he can do and I will give him more time to settle in. Moving onto Gabriel Martinelli, where do I start with this lad, he has been absolutely stunning to say the least. He has a fantastic attitude, work rate and is also very direct in his play. At times in the past it seemed like he was the only player playing for the badge and I do feel sorry for him, hopefully there will be more fighters alongside him from now on. Up top there is no need for any introduction as we all know what Aubameyang can do when given time and space in front of goal, he is absolutely lethal.

I will be wanting to see fight and passion but most importantly would like to see three massive points. 3-1 to the Arsenal, Come On You Gunners.

Recap: Sheffield United 1 vs 0 Arsenal

It all went wrong again for the Gunners at Bramall Lane on Monday. Having played 5 games away this season they have only won 1, drew 2 and lost 2. Needless to say, Arsenal's away form this season is once again proving to be their achilles heel. It was as if they did not know what Sheffield's game plan was. We all knew (at least the fans did), that they were gonna come at us with intensity and if we were not going to match their intensity we were always going to be on the back foot.

In the first half we sat back and invited pressure onto ourselves. Pepe should have scored that sitter. In my opinion he should have cushioned it into the net with his right foot instead of trying with his left. As for the goal, we had 3 players moving towards the ball and when it fell none of our players reacted quick enough. Defensive frailties once again cost the Gunners.

The start of the second half was pretty much the same, Arsenal simply did not create enough. It was boring sideways and backwards football once again. Most definitely seemed like a familiar style of football. Emery got the team selection all wrong. The midfield had 3 very similar style of players. Willock and Guendozi are more of box to box midfielders while Xhaka is seen as more of a 6 by Emery. There was no link between the midfield and the front 3. No one was able to supply the goods. Ceballos was on the bench and while Mesut Ozil was nowhere to be seen. Tierney was ready but was left on the bench and so was Torreira. Emery has questions to answer for. If he leaves out key players and gets the job done, fair enough but when it all goes wrong like this, explanations are needed. The lack of creativity was apparent. Ozil should at least be on the bench as someone you can bring on when you need that little bit of magic.

We ended the game with 3 strikers on the field, its all good having that many of them on but you simply have no one to feed them. Now I`m not saying a player should be starting just based off of his reputation but if Emery drops a player because he isn't performing then that policy should apply to all the players. Sokratis, Xhaka, Kolasinac and Luiz have all been inconsistent but yet they still get to start every game.

We have Crystal Palace next up, be sure to stay tuned for that games preview.