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Time to stand up and be counted

Oct 26th, 2024 by


Arsenal vs Liverpool. One of the great fixtures on the English football calendar. There have been cup finals, title deciders and everything in between.

Sunday’s encounter should be no different as both sides hunt down the three points to keep the pressure on our common enemy. Liverpool have enjoyed a near-perfect start to life under Arne Slot, winning every game in all competitions bar a shock home defeat to Nottingham Forest in September. They truly are an elite side and any expectation that Liverpool may struggle to adapt to life without Klopp appear to have been quashed.

But back to those great historical Arsenal/Liverpool clashes of the past. In 1964 history was made as Arsenal and Liverpool played out the very first BBC MOTD broadcasted game in which we lost 3-2. In 1971 we met at Wembley in the FA cup final this time triumphing 2-1 in what proved to be one half of Arsenal’s first ever league and cup double. Charlie George’s long-range winner is still played on the big screens at the Emirates before every game over half a century later. if you’ve seen the goal, you can understand why as it truly is one of the all-time great FA Cup Final goals.

But perhaps the most famous meeting between the sides came 18 years later in 1989 as Arsenal travelled to Anfield for the final game of the season. We all know the story of course but let’s set the scene once more.

Due to the Hillsborough disaster, we didn’t travel to Anfield until 26th May, after everyone else’s season had finished so it truly was the final day. The nation was watching. Arsenal knew they had to win by two clear goals to take the title from Liverpool who were of course the dominant side of that era. They seldom lost at Anfield let alone by two goals. It’s fair to say no one really gave Arsenal a prayer. But George Graham simply told his side to keep it tight in the first half. If it gets to half time 0-0 that’s ok. We can nick a goal early in the second half and continue to keep it tight before throwing the kitchen sink at it late on. And that’s exactly what transpired. We got to half time at 0-0. It was cagey affair with both sides focused on not making a mistake. Alan Smith got a goal early in the second half. Then came the most incredible climax to a league season in English football history. Lee Dixon’s ball found Alan Smith. Michael Thomas was making a late run into the box from midfield. Could Smith find the right ball? He could just about, as Thomas got the first touch which flicked off the defender back to Thomas who now had a clear sight of goal. It seemed to take Thomas an age to get the ball out of his feet but when he eventually did, he flicked the ball over Grobbelar and into the back of the net cue bedlam in the away end and in pubs and living rooms across North London.

In terms of tomorrow’s game, we have been struck with a boatload of injury problems. Saka and Timber are major doubts, and Calafiori got a knock against Shakhtar in the week. Ødegaard obviously remains a long-term absentee. Saliba is suspended following his ludicrous red card in the defeat to Bournemouth last weekend. In terms of team selection, I’d expect White to start at right back with Kiwior accompanying Gabriel at the back with Zinckenko at left back. Having the Ukrainian up against Salah is far from ideal but the only alternative is playing Myles Lewis Skelly there which I just can’t see Arteta doing.

In midfield I think it will be Rice and Partey with Trossard in the ten. I wouldn’t mind seeing Merino for Partey but I expect Arteta to keep him on the bench as he looks to get up to speed with the pace and intensity of the English game.

In the absence of Saka, it’s a toss up between Jesus and Sterling on the right. I think Arteta will prefer a natural winger for a game of this magnitude, so I think we’ll see Sterling start again. Martinelli, who always plays well against Liverpool, will start on the left with Havertz down the middle.

In theory we are slight favourites but given a loss will put us seven points behind Liverpool and six behind City there is real pressure on us to win here. I don’t think the title can ever be over in October but given our next two games see us go to Newcastle and then Chelsea, anything but three points will rack up the pressure on Arteta and the players significantly.

If you’re going to the game bring your dinner but if you’re not you may want to hide behind the sofa for this one. I’m going for a morale boosting 2-1 win.

COYG!!!

Posted in Match Preview | 28 Drinks »

A Matter of Perspectives

Oct 23rd, 2024 by

Matchday three in this new format Champions League – and I must confess that it is a format I am starting to enjoy, the whiff of danger and unpredictability palpable in the air, as each game takes on a unique importance of its own, is particularly satisfying – has thrown up some memorably exciting matches full of feisty encounters, goal-fests, scintillating come-from-behind wins, high-octane football. 

And then there was our beloved Arsenal, serving out a singularly laboured and joyless performance at home, in front of a surprisingly subdued home crowd, and by the end of the match was almost grateful to be able to get away with the three points that everyone associated with the club – maybe even some players themselves too? – had taken for all but granted before the ball was kicked.  

While the entire spectrum of emotions – ranging from relief to apathy to disappointment to angst – can all be understood and empathised with, for this report I would prefer not to dwell on any of those, and neither would I try to draw any conclusion about the team, the tactics, the outcome of the upcoming weekend’s pivotal league match or the long season ahead. It was one of those performances that every top level team have in them even in their most successful seasons, and coming after the international fixtures and then last weekend’s tiring and tiresome loss away at Bournemouth, just returning to winning ways without conceding any goals is acceptable enough not to require any further dissection. 

And, truth be told, other than the blatantly obvious ones, the match presented – at least to me – no particular pattern from which to glean any insight about any individual or the collective. The obvious ones being that in absence of Ødegaard, our midfield lacks creative inspiration and sometimes even the ability to dictate the pace of the game, and if you add to that the unavailability of Saka, our overall creativity drops significantly. We still remain a robust, hard to beat, defensively superb, physically and tactically effective team, and find just that enough bit of quality in our passing and movements and in our set-pieces to eke out victories consistently, but with both Martin and Bukayo out of the starting eleven, we are not a potent attacking force. This I always knew to be the case, and the lukewarm 1-0 victory against the Ukrainian champions didn’t present any evidence to the contrary. 

I would rather take this opportunity to express what I thought was an admirable effort by the visiting team. As bt8 elaborated in his excellent preview, Shakhtar Donetsk – nicknamed Hirnyky, “гірники”, or “miners” as  Shakhtar “шахтар” in Ukrainian literally means “miner”, the name a nod to the origin of the club among the coal miners of the Donbas region – was already living an itinerant existence after the invasion of 2014, and their lives, footballing or otherwise, have been made all the more difficult after 2022, almost impossibly so, along with lives of the rest of the Ukrainians, ordinary or extraordinary. As Mikel Merino said so eloquently in his pre-match interview, it is impossible to imagine for us the daily experience of living through this particular hell of uncertainty and suffering.

Just to play this away match at London, they had to start on Friday from their base in Kyiv, with a break over the weekend in Lviv, before crossing the border to Poland and arriving on Rzeszow to fly from there. But in the pre-match interview their manager Marino Pušić clarified unequivocally that they would rather compete than complain, and even though they started tentatively in the first half and were facing genuine problem to pass through Arsenal’s aggressive front-footed pressing, as the match progressed they started to play with conviction and guile, and sensing an Arsenal not at their very best, became more adventurous towards the end than most would have expected. If they had managed to score an equaliser at the end, I don’t think it would have been undeserved. If not for Raya’s excellent one-handed save, we might have dropped those two points. 

Shakhtar in the modern era has had a bit of a Balkan connection. Arguably their best player in recent history is Darijo Srna, the Croatian right back. The Croatian national goalkeeper Pletikosa played for them for a few years. As did our very own Eduardo, of course. That connection seemed to have been reflected in their current managerial team. Pušić, a Dutch-Bosnian, was born in Mostar. And his right hand man, Mario Stanić, was a Croatian international. Once Shakhtar started to feel confident, especially in the second half, their style of play with crisp and quick passing, rapid movement, sudden switches in attack and creative wing play reminded me a bit of the Croatian international teams. Shakhtar, obviously, didn’t have enough quality in the final third for their good build-up play in the second half to count. And then they came up against two imperious central defenders in Saliba and Gabriel who, without having to exert themselves too much, were still just too good for them. 

Arsenal’s player of the match – and I would say the player of the match – was Gabriel Martinelli. After an inconsistent start to the season, he is (thankfully) coming back to his sharpness in and around the penalty box, and Shakhtar’s right back Konoplya found him nearly impossible to contain in the first half. In the second half, the central defenders Bondar and especially the captain Matviyenko did well to help out Konoplya in handling Martinelli. 

The only goal of the match came from a typical Martinelli movement. He gathered the ball facing the Shakhtar goal, Calafiori made a fine overlapping run to drag Konoplya away just for a short moment, but that was enough for Gabi to move inside and get his shot away. The finish was sharp and powerful enough to beat goalkeeper Riznyk, but unfortunately for him the ball ricocheted off his back into the goal. 

Arsenal 1 (Riznyk OG, 29’) – Shakhtar Donetsk 0

This was a well-deserved lead as Arsenal had started sharply, especially in our pressing and willingness to move the ball quickly through vertically, and it felt like there would be an enjoyable attacking display for the entirety of the match. There were some moments of brilliance, especially from Martinelli and Havertz, and Jesus looked tidy enough even though not yet at his pre-injury best. Trossard, despite having some nice moments on the ball, was uncharacteristically wayward in front of the goal especially in the first half, and that tame penalty in the second half which Riznyk saved so easily underlined his day.    

Shakhtar’s starting eleven had two Brazilians – far cry from the pre-2022 days when a few Brazilian stalwarts started their European club football journey at Shakhtar – on the left side, more experienced Pedro Henrique as the left back and young Equinaldo as the left winger. Equinaldo gave Ben White a few difficult moments, and I don’t think White is back to his full fitness yet. His yellow card was unnecessary, and even though Mikel later claimed that his decision to take White off at halftime was because of that card (to avoid having to play again with 10 men, just in case), I suspect that White’s fitness may have played a part in it. The resultant move to RB for Partey, now rapidly getting back to his best form and excellent in his familiar midfield role in the first half, reduced our attacking potential noticeably. 

Shakhtar had chosen to start this match without their regular captain and the anchor in defensive midfield, Stepanenko, who was on the bench, and their first half performance betrayed a lack of nous in holding on to the ball and occupying space in the middle of the field. However, in the second half Bondarenko and Sudakov combined well, and with Partey removed from the midfield duels, Rice and Merino both playing well within themselves, the Ukrainian champions started to see more of the ball, and had a much better control of the midfield.  The match ended with possession stats distributed 56%-44% in Arsenal’s favour, and passing accuracy comparison of 89%-87%. Much of that evening out happened in the second half when Shakhtar started playing their football with greater confidence and freedom, and Arsenal became less dominant in midfield. 

It was good to see all the Ukrainian flags in the crowd, and the Shakhtar players evidently enjoyed the spirited support of their compatriots. These players gave a good account of themselves, especially on the ball, and can be really proud of this performance. Best wishes to them for the rest of their matches this season.

The refereeing was refreshingly good. No unnecessary drama, no controversy, no strange attention grabbing decision, nothing for either side to complain about or feel aggrieved by. 

Three games into the CL, 7 points on the board, with zero goals conceded. We can and will play better. We have a couple of tough away matches coming up in the competition, against Inter and Sporting, where we will need to raise our performances. Let us hope Ødegaard will be back to full fitness by then. 

Posted in Match Report | 35 Drinks »

A Spot of Euro Footy for What Ails Ye?

Oct 21st, 2024 by

Just to assure everyone that not all is lost after our string of recent domestic disappointments featuring the unwelcome interventions of PGMOL officials, I will begin this Shakhtar Donetsk preview by pointing out that no PGMOL officials will be involved in this contest.  That’s right, UEFA will assure it by appointing UEFA-sanctioned officials who have no particular known or identifiable agenda against Arsenal.  Thank you very much indeed for this welcome relief!

UCL’s revamped “league phase” resumes this Tuesday evening when Arsenal will host the defending champions of Ukraine, Shakhtar Donetsk. The Arsenal-Shakhtar rivalry has a bit more history to it than you might remember, not to denigrate the memory of any fine ‘holic who’s reading this of course, but my research brought up a few tidbits I had long forgotten.  

We have played the Ukrainians four times in this competition, including twice in 2010/11 group play when each club won at home.  Shakhtar won 2-1 in November with the winner scored by ex-Arsenal favorite Eduardo, after Arsenal won by 5-1 at home one month prior on goals by Song, Nasri, Fàbregas, Wilshere and Chamakh to overcome the obligatory Eduardo score for the visitors.  Arsenal previously faced Shakhtar on two other occasions in the 2000/01 competition, when Arsenal overcame two early Shakhtar goals in September at Highbury to win by 3-2, with one goal scored by Wiltord and two late ones by Keown (of all people), before Shakhtar defeated a Lee Dixon captained Arsenal side away by 3-0 in December.  The picture above features Arsenal’s Rosicky and Shakhtar’s Mkhitaryan, who made his Ukrainian league debut in September 2010 when he was substituted for the very same Eduardo, one month before the last occasion when the Ukrainian side faced Arsenal. 

Oleksandr Zinchenko was captain of the Shakhtar youth team before he moved to Russia with his parents in 2014 due to the war in Donbas.  Until 2014 Shakhtar’s home was the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, but due to the Russian invasion the club was forced to move their domestic home games to Lviv from 2014–16, to Kharkiv from 2017–20, and to Kyiv from mid-2020 before moving back to Lviv for the last two seasons as the war continued to rage.

Shakhtar

I haven’t researched Shakhtar’s current players but suffice it to say that their squad is still highly competitive at this level despite all the hardships the club has been through during the last decade. In their two UCL contests this season Shakhtar drew 0-0 at Bologna before defeating Atalanta in their “home” match (played at the home stadium of Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany) by 3-0, so Shakhtar and Arsenal are level on four points apiece in the table, but Arsenal trail their opponents on goal difference. 

In this season’s Ukraine league table Shakhtar sit fourth after their away win last Friday at Kolos, six points behind leaders Dynamo Kyiv after nine matches played.

As to the mentality of the Shakhtar team coming into this match I recommend this BBC article by Alex Bysouth that was published today: War, exile, hope – how Shakhtar continue to overcome adversity, and in particular this description of the trek that the club will have made to London for this game: “Champions League football at least gives Shakhtar a chance to play away from the threat of war, but travelling abroad brings its own challenges.  When they face Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday it will be on the back of a long-haul journey.  On Friday, Shakhtar travelled from their base in Kyiv to Lviv by coach, stopped over for a day to train and then on Sunday went across the border to the city of Rzeszow in Poland, from where they flew to London.”  As Shakhtar’s chief executive Sergei Palkin commented, “When you arrive you are already less competitive than your opponent because of physical conditions, mental conditions.  To spend two days in a bus, in a plane, is very difficult.”

Arsenal XI

The Gunners come into Tuesday’s match having drawn 0-0 away at Atalanta on 19 September, and defeated PSG 2-0 at home on 1 October in their first two Champions League matches this season. With their European pedigrees our new recruits Merino and Calafiori could be decently equipped for this kind of match so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arteta putting them right into the fray, but Ukraine’s own Zinchenko could also be an interesting choice at left back for the Gunners.  Unfortunately, news reports indicate that Bukayo Saka remains a serious injury doubt so I wouldn’t expect to see him risked for this one.  Instead of Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus could come in on the right wing, leaving us with a team that looks something like this:

Raya

White  Saliba  Gabriel  Zinchenko

Rice  Partey  Merino

Jesus  Havertz  Martinelli

Saliba’s dismissal at Bournemouth was Arsenal’s third Premier League red card of the domestic campaign, after Trossard and Rice were previously sent off for delaying match restarts.  But Saliba’s ban does not apply for this European match, so he should retain his starting spot. Let’s hope some Euro footy is just the tonic that Saliba and the Gunners need to refocus their mentality going forward.  Barring any unexpected interventions from UEFA officials, I would expect Arsenal to bounce back from their defeat at Bournemouth, and to emerge with a comfortable win in this one.

Enjoy the match, ‘holics.

Posted in Match Preview | 44 Drinks »

Not At The Races After Yet Another Interlull

Oct 20th, 2024 by

Finally, after another seemingly interminable international break to play games the point of which nobody gets, proper football returned yesterday with Arsenal rolling into Bournemouth. We have the aforementioned games to thank for the fact that Ødegaard and Saka were unavailable and Martinelli on the bench. Pre-match talk was that it was better for both Saka and Martinelli to be saved for Liverpool next week if there were any doubts. Subsequent events were to make that game even more important. Merino was to make his full debut and Arteta, who apparently doesn’t do enough to give opportunities to the Academy, named 3 kids on the bench in Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri and Kabia.

Things started slowly with both sides looking rusty and the game being played at a curiously slow pace. Unfortunately for Arsenal this malaise was set to continue for pretty much the whole match. Rice was seemingly in double pivot with Partey with Merino playing a bit further forward. 

Five minutes in, a soft free kick for Bournemouth was given by the referee in line with 18 yards line on left when the home player, realising that he was entirely without support while taking the ball forward, flopped over on the slightest contact from White. This was played to the back post and required an excellent defensive header by Calafiori to see off the danger. Good pressure was being applied by Bournemouthin the opening 10 minutes and they seemed first to second balls on every occasion. 

The pressure was temporarily alleviated when Arsenal made an excellent fast break from a Bournemouth corner resulting in Sterling putting in Trossard to win a corner.

With neither side particularly willing to press the goalkeeper, there were some slow periods, but Raya was the first to crack with a terrible pass out which went straight to a home player, I couldn’t even say it was intercepted, so little did he have to do to receive the ball, resulting fortunately in a shot just wide.   

Then on 27 minutes, the match was seemingly decided when a shockingly poor pass from Trossard from the Bournemouth half, under no great duress, left Saliba isolated and the wrong side of Evanilson. Saliba made contact with the home player and he flopped over, just yards inside the Arsenal half. The referee decided it was a yellow, perhaps thinking that a foot race over 40 yards between this second rate Richarlison tribute act and one of the quickest defenders in Europe might not be a wholly foregone conclusion, with Ben White also in a position to potentially close down the attacker. 

However VAR decided to intervene, which must mean that it was a clear and obvious mistake by the referee, mustn’t it? Strange, because the interweb was full of examples after the game of reds not being given for fouls which had occurred 10-20 yards closer to goal. Howard Webb, overseer of the shady PGMOL was shown tapping away on his phone while clearly listening to the VAR audio feed. Which apparently can’t be broadcast in real time to us mere mortals just like it is in sports which seek to include the paying public as opposed to treating them like mindless cattle ready to be milked. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, VAR invited the referee to review the incident, which as you know means to change his decision, which he duly did and Saliba was off. I have no argument with the decision. On the proviso that all decisions are treated the same. Somehow I can’t see Walker or Dias being sent off for the same offence, can you?

At this point, I still believed that Arsenal could win, given that we hadn’t lost on the 2 other occasions this season when VAR/referees have curiously intervened to give us red cards.

On 34 minutes, Merino had a shot which was deflected narrowly wide with no resulting corner. A couple of minutes later, Sterling, who had been less than impressive again, was subbed for Kiwior in an attempt to ensure defensive stability. More on which later. Arsenal then worked hard to ensure we reached half time level. In truth we had been consistently sloppy and off the pace for much of the 45 minutes and only a good save from Raya had kept the score level.

Half time – Bournemouth 0 Arsenal 0

Straight away in the second half it became clear that the sluggish start was not to be shaken off, with an unmarked Semenyo blazing over from 8 yards after several half-hearted challenges from Arsenal players had eventually resulted in yards being gained by Bournemouth and a cross pumped into the Arsenal box.

The pressure continued to build with Arsenal unable to maintain possession and keep Bournemouth out of our half, with Havertz manfully attempting to operate on his own and largely unaided up top. 

On 62 minutes Iraiola made a triple substitution bringing on Sinisterra, Kluivert and Christie for Tavernier, Ouattara and Scott. The latter two subs would ultimately decide the game. This was answered by Arteta bringing on Martinelli for Trossard. And Martinelli very nearly added the directness and pace which Arsenal had so sorely lacked when after only 6 minutes on the pitch he was put through inside the box by Merino after the keeper passed the ball directly to him, Sadly Martinelli could only draw a save from the keeper, when he ought to have done better.  It might have changed the game as in truth up until this point, Bournemouth hadn’t done a lot to test the Arsenal goal.

Unfortunately, this miss only sp*rred Bournemouth into action and from a corner a minute later they broke the deadlock from an excellently worked, and clearly pre-planned corner, with substitute Christie hammering home. The biter well and truly bitten. 

On 76 minutes the game was wrapped up. A place kick from Raya was delivered well into the Bournemouth half but yet again we were well second in terms of dealing with it and the loose ball was pumped forward over our high defensive line for the evanescent Evanilson to chase. Kiwior was first to the ball, but his limp back pass was well short enabling the Brazilian to push the ball past the oncoming Raya and seeing Gabriel might cut off the ball run into the keeper. There was minimal contact and I would be surprised to get a penalty for Arsenal for the same but we know the rules. The substitute Kluivert stroked home and the game was over.

Full Time Bournemouth 2 Arsenal 0

We have now had three sendings off this season which can only be described as contentious. Not one for a bad foul. We have taken the physical approach out of our game almost completely and make very few actual tackles and yet we still attract to my mind a disproportionate number of cards, particularly red. I invite readers to engage on why this should be and what, if anything we can do about it. 

Posted in Match Report | 21 Drinks »

Beat The Cherries To Go Top of The Tree

Oct 18th, 2024 by

So after a mere 7 league games which have been punctuated by no less than 4 weeks of pointless international breaks, real football is back again. This latest break included, I believe, one friendly and one game in the unfathomable Nations League – a sort of qualifying tournament for the qualifying tournament to get to the European Championships in 2028!

The interim England manager Lee Carsley decided that, like his predecessor Gareth Southgate, he just didn’t know enough about England’s best player, Bukayo Saka, and decided to play him in an entirely experimental team and formation against Greece. What Mr Carsley discovered was that if you play a young man who despite being fabulously paid for his talents still inhabits a human body, in every possible minute of every game, that body will eventually break down through fatigue and overuse. From what I saw, Saka appeared to strain a hamstring when attempting to twist and drive a cross into the Greek penalty area. From that point he was clearly uncomfortable trying to walk or jog until he was withdrawn some minutes later. Bukayo returned to Arsenal for assessment and treatment and we now cross our fingers for a hopeful prognosis as there is a fearsome schedule ahead before – you’ve guessed it – another international break from 10th November. Ugh.

And so on Saturday we go away to AFC Bournemouth.

Formed in 1899 as Boscombe, the club adopted their current name, AFC Bournemouth in 1972. They have played their home games at Dean Court since 1910 and it was around that time that the club gained the nickname ‘The Cherries’, and for two main reasons. Firstly, the cherry red striped shirts the team wore and secondly, Dean Court was built next to the Cooper-Dean estate which included many cherry orchards.

Boscombe is home to AFC Bournemouth and many older fans still refer to AFC Bournemouth as Boscombe, a reference to the original names of Boscombe St John’s and Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic FC. The word Boscombe was dropped in 1972.

The History
I’ve always had a passing interest in Bournemouth as my godparents moved there when I was a young child and several family holidays were spent there with them until my early teens. I remember working in my back garden with the old transistor radio on on what the statistics remind me was Saturday 7th January 1984, when Bournemouth knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup by a 2-0 score line. They also held United to a FA Cup 5th Round draw, 1-1 at Dean Court in February 1989 before losing the replay by the only goal at Old Trafford. Two very impressive performances for such a small and, at that time, lowly club.

Their Football League history began with election to the Third Division South in 1923 where they remained for 35 years before being placed in the newly reorganised Third Division in 1958. They then became a bit of a yo-yo club, bouncing up and down in the bottom two divisions. They entered administration in 1997 and ended up back in the fourth tier in 2002 before immediately winning promotion via the play-offs in 2003. They were back in administration in 2008 and were relegated to League 2. It was at the end of that season that they appointed Eddie Howe as manager.

Through all those trials and tribulations, and due to my childhood associations, I wondered how such a small club continued to survive and who, in the days of David Dein and the Hill-Woods at Arsenal, was financing such a small club, especially when they began to really advance under Howe towards the end of the noughties. The answer was Maxim Demin, a Russian businessman who became co-owner of the club with a £850,000, 50% investment in 2011, through his company AFCB Enterprises Ltd, when Bournemouth were in League One. He bought the remainder of the club from minority shareholders and American investment group, Peak6 in 2015. Although Demin was Russian-born he was not affected by later sanctions due to the war on Ukraine as he is a British citizen. However, his ownership came to an end in 2022.

Hollywood actor Michael B. Jordan led a minority ownership group investing in Bournemouth when billionaire Bill Foley, who owns NHL team the Vegas Golden Knights, took over the club through his Black Knight Football Club consortium in December 2022. If you are a film buff, Jordan is best known for his role in Marvel’s Black Panther movies as well as being the lead actor in the Creed films, which are part of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky franchise. Bournemouth’s kits have been supplied by English sportswear manufacturers Umbro since the 2017-18 season, and the two parties agreed a new five-year extension in 2021 so that with Foley’s agreement, Jordan will continue as the team’s kit designer.

Big things are seemingly in the plan for Bournemouth under Foley who is betting heavily on “soccer” being a continuing success. Since acquiring AFC Bournemouth in 2022, he has developed a multi-club model under the Black Knight Football Club holding company, in a remarkably short period. He has expanded his portfolio to include Auckland FC, a professional soccer club based in New Zealand that competes in the Australian A-League. He has also acquired a 40% stake in FC Lorient of the French Ligue and a minority stake in Hibernian Football Club in Scottland. Foley says he’s also close to buying a team in Portugal and is looking into clubs in the Netherlands. The idea “is to have pathways for players to move through the BKFC system, to develop and get playing time.”

He also has plans to develop Dean Court (capacity 11,379) which is currently known as the Vitality Stadium in consideration of major sponsors, Vitality Insurance. In Foley’s own words, “the new stadium is not going to be overwhelming though it could end up with twice as many seats as are currently available. It’s going to be built in such a way that we can add another deck on the south side and add another 3,000-4,000 seats.” Big plans and good news for travelling fans trying to get tickets.

A Bit Of Fun
Bournemouth is now in Dorset although it was in Hampshire a few decades ago, and the Dorset accent is wonderfully rounded, similar to the West Country pronunciation of words generally, something, with all due respect, that might add flavour to some of these letters to the housing department of the local council –

“Their 18 year old son is continuously banging his balls against my fence.”
“I wish to report that tiles are missing from the roof of the outside toilet and I think it was bad wind the other night that blew them off.”
“I am writing on behalf of my sink which is coming away from the wall.”
“I request your permission to remove my drawers in the kitchen.”
“Can you please tell me when the repairs will be done as my wife is about to become an expectant mother.”
“I want to complain about the farmer across the road. Every morning at 6am his cock wakes me up and it’s getting too much.”
“I am a single woman living in a downstairs flat and would be pleased if you could do something about the noise made by the man I have on top of me every night.”
“I have had the Clerk of the Works down on the floor six times, but still have no satisfaction.”

The Teams
For Bournemouth I can only find one injury doubt and that is Tyler Adams who has apparently played very little football for 18-20 months anyway and there are more important things to worry about, namely –

The Arsenal
This is almost a preview in itself as there are quite a number of injury concerns to contend with ahead of the game. Bukayo Saka limped off during the England friendly, as mentioned above but is reportedly recovering well. Personally, I hope he is rested for this game as we have a really intense schedule ahead over the next three weeks or so, when he would ideally be needed at his best.

Gabriel Martinelli picked up an injury after appearing as a late substitute during Brazil’s 2-1 win over Chile last Friday. He was spotted training with tape on his calf over the weekend, and then missed his country’s match against Peru. “He underwent an MRI on Sunday night, which showed a small area of muscle oedema,” a statement read. He flew home from Brazil on Wednesday morning and as yet there’s no definite news on his fitness.

Kai Havertz missed the international matches due to knee problems. He scored his fourth goal in as many games in the 3-1 win over Southampton and fortunately is expected to be available for Saturday.

Martin Ødegaard has been absent with the ankle injury sustained during Norway’s 2-1 Nations League win over Austria last month. Fears he had suffered an injury setback recently appear to be wide of the mark, with the midfielder seen training on an anti-gravity treadmill last week. There is no firm timeline on his return but mid-November seems to be likeliest at the moment.

Takehiro Tomiyasu made his first appearance of the season before the international break, featuring for six minutes off the bench. He suffered another injury during that brief cameo, and could face a month out with a knee problem. Thomas Partey missed the international matches due to illness but is expected to be fit.

Ben White hasn’t featured since replacing Bukayo Saka at half-time during the 2-2 draw with Manchester City last month. Well, apart from sitting in the stands in a number of very flash looking coats and hoodies. Ben is quoted in one of the red tops as saying he is not Mikel Arteta’s idea of an ideal professional (red top trouble making) as he won’t go in an ice bath, doesn’t stretch, isn’t very fast or powerful – but he just doesn’t get injured. Well you are now buddy – get well soon! Please! You have to love this guy, one way or another. He has a potential return date for Bournemouth.

Jurrien Timber was forced off at half-time during the 2-0 Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain with a “muscle injury” and did not go away with the Netherlands for their Nations League games against Hungary and Germany. He missed the Southampton game but is likely to be available.

Oleksandr Zinchenko has only played twice so far this season and hasn’t featured since coming on as a late substitute during the 1-1 draw with Brighton at the end of August. He’s been dealing with a calf injury but Arteta expects him back imminently.

Brazilian goalkeeper Neto is ineligible to face his parent club. First-choice goalkeeper David Raya is back fit but Arteta will have to choose between No 3 Tommy Setford or 16-year-old Jack Porter to be on the bench at the Vitality Stadium.

Bearing all that in mind, I would go with this lineup (trying to leave injury doubts a few extra days to improve) –

Raya
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori
Partey, Rice, Merino
Jesus or Sterling, Havertz, Trossard

The Holic Pound
Typical odds for an Arsenal win are 7/10 on, with the draw at 3/1 and a Bournemouth win at 4/1. Batter offerings are for first goal scorer with Saka at 6/1 and Trossard, Havertz and Jesus all at 7/1.

The Officials
This week’s purveyor of logic and consistency from PGMOL will be Rob Jones. Making sure Mikel Arteta doesn’t over celebrate, get too annoyed or inch over the line of his technical area will be fourth official, Tim Robinson. Should we manage to delay a restart without punishment or threaten Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table with an avalanche of goals, Aussie scouser Jarred Gillett will be scrutinising the screens at Stockley Park.

Kick off is at 17.30 UK time with TV coverage on Sky.

Enjoy, Holics !

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