A load of old bells

Morning all.

Can I just say I’m tired of the ‘Ooooh, the team that is top at Christmas never goes on to win the league’ stuff? Give it a rest Football Scrooge. Nobody cares. It’s not even scientific. We can all see it for the rage bait it is.

If you’re not top at Christmas, good for you. If you are top at Christmas, also good for you. It’s almost as if there’s loads of football still to play and some arbitrary marker based on the birth of a child to a virgin in a manger in Bethlehem with donkeys and all that isn’t that relevant to whether or not Arsenal might be champions.

I’ve just looked it up. Opta do not have stats for xJC. fBref do not have a category for Wisest Man. Players are not paid with frankincense and myrrh, which is probably a performance enhancing drug these days anyway. I bet Man City’s lads are all on industrial doses of the good myrrh. They’re myrrh-d up to the eyeballs. Probably do it in a recreational fashion too, meeting up in one of Manchester’s famous myrrh emporiums to suck it out of balloons. Young people these days, eh?

Anyway, what might otherwise have been a quiet week is punctuated by an EFL Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace tomorrow night. Like a person ringing the bells on Christmas day, as if they were a rag-tag Pogue of some description, I expect Mikel Arteta to ring the changes when it comes to his team selection. Wait a minute, what bells actually ring out on Christmas day? I’ve been alive for quite a long time now, and for much of that I’ve lived within earshot of a number of cathedrals, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard bells on December 25th. I suppose it’s well within the realms of possibility that Shane MacGowan might have heard bells that nobody else did. Next you’ll be telling me these so-called bells were jingling on a sleigh in some way. I suspect Big Clapper are behind this.

Anyway, back to tomorrow, and my hope is players like Kepa, Ethan Nwaneri, Noni Madueke, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Christian Norgaard receive the gift of playing football for Christmas. Palace looked a tired side against Leeds on Saturday evening, their schedule has been pretty hectic, and while I recognise our manager will want to win this game and ultimately win the tournament, he’s got to trust these lads at some point. If it’s not tomorrow night, then when will it be?

As well as giving them time on the pitch to kick a ball with their underused boots, there’s also a benefit that if – and I want you to try hard and imagine this scenario because it’s absolutely crazy – someone who plays more often picks up an injury, they won’t be thrust into action as ‘cold’ as they are right now. I don’t think there’s any kind of pre-game press conference, so we’ll just have to wait and see what kind of info we get beforehand.

You will notice that I have thoroughly resisted the easy gag related to Jesus and Christmas time, but I do think there’s an opportunity to give the Brazilian a chance from the start and see how he responds. He was out for so long, and as he made clear last week he’s looking to make up for lost time, so this feels like the perfect opportunity to see what he can do in what is a relatively low-stakes game. At least in comparison to the way Premier League fixtures feel these days.

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Right, before we go, we did have the Goodly Morning mugs on sale again, and as we always do, we pledged to donate the all proceeds to charity. And because loads of people bought them when they came out last year, we ‘only’ generated around €400. However, this is the time of year when, if you are in position to do so, I think you should try to help and give a bit back.

So, Arseblog took that €400 and added a bit on, making the following donations:

€5000 to UNICEF to help with their vital work, helping to save and better the lives of children in war zones across the world.

€2500 to Islington Food Bank – poverty is everywhere, even in the biggest cities. Their work is so important, and aligned strongly with Arsenal Football Club.

€2500 to Children’s Health Ireland, who raise vital funds to support sick children and their families.

Thanks to everyone who bought a mug, and thanks to all of you who read and listen to Arseblog over the course of the year. With your support, we’re able to do things like this and while it’s a drop in the ocean of what’s really needed to make the world a better place, every bit helps. Maybe too, if you can, you can find a few bob extra to support a cause that’s local to you, or important to you.

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Ok. I’m gonna leave it there for now, but stand-by for an Arsecast Extra in a little while. We’ve already put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server. The pod should be out around noon.

For now, have a good one.

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