LOOKING AT ALL THE ANGLES

Bring the noise.

The closer we get, the relevance and importance of the match increases obviously, and tomorrow is a big day for us. The players know it, our supporters know it. It's an early kick-off, so get up early, have an early breakfast, bring your lunch, bring your dinner, and let's go all together for it because it has to be a big day.

I think reinforced because that talks about your culture and the identity of this club and the team, and to define that, you have to go through different scenarios, different moments, individually and collectively. I always said that that's one of the proudest things for me, not only with the people but our supporters as well, they've always been with the team regardless of the situation, and that's great to see in football. I think that attitude, behaviour and unity gives you more will to win for them. That possibility, the opportunity to make so many people proud and happy, increases, and that's what has driven everybody, me first of all, and then all the players and the people in the organisation.

That appears to be the core of Arteta’s messaging for this weekend.

Early kick offs are never my cup of tea. You can’t really get hammered because it’s uncouth. Everything feels a little sluggish. You can get cold starts, especially after a big emotional win in the Champions League.

But… we’re now in April. Sun comes up early, warm weather permeates the city, the flowers have sprung, and there’s that earthy aroma in the air that hits hard in the early days of the new season.

Arsenal have a tough task on the agenda, they have to be the first team since Arsenal to beat Bournemouth. The Cherries are hard to beat. They have a lot of draws to their name; their last 5 games have been of a one-point nature, we also have to navigate the nerves of playing a team that slayed us at home last season. That result did have context, the league was lost, and we were between PSG games. Still stung… that Semenyo cameo and the long throw was not joy.

This season, things are different. Arsenal have the chance to go a full 12 points ahead of Man City, 24 hours before they face Chelsea.

Is this a bigger cup final than the League Cup final a few weeks ago? Damn f*cking right it is.

You can be pretty sure that Manchester City will be at the training ground at around the time Arsenal are playing. They’ll have the game on while they get lunch. If we beat them, they’ll have to sit on that result for the train ride down to London.

Win, and it will negatively impact the mood.

Lose, and it will positively impact the mood.

I feel quite strongly that both types of results will have bearing on the mood.

We have witnessed it first hand this season. Arsenal dropped points against Brentford after watching City turn around a 1-0 deficit against Liverpool.

City dropped points against West Ham after we slashed Everton to pieces in the last 10 minutes.

There is the sense of hopelessness at catching such a large lead, as well as the fear that accompanies knowing that ANY slip could be curtains.

I’m also interested in the psychology of Chelsea. It’s really hard to read too much into a messy squad and a manager who gives Excel productivity influencer vibes… but think about it from a transactional perspective. Chelsea are 6th in the Premier League. Drop points to City, and they could go 4 behind Liverpool this weekend. That means no Champions League bonuses, and the horrors of Europa League. Then think about the FA Cup, another chance to redeem a bad season… you think they’ll want to lose the edge for that game in the league? No way.

There has also been a lot of turmoil behind the scenes. Players like Enzo acting up in the camp. Caicedo and Cucurella both having their moments of ‘uhm, I wouldn’t have said that’ in the media. There are rumblings Enzo will be called back because of good training. If that’s the case, quite often after a big clear the air, players are a little more focused, a bit more dialled in, and they want to prove a point.

Against City? I’ll welcome it.

Bournemouth is drenched in interest points with regards to the starting 11.

Martin Odegaard is clearly having a hard time coping with pain in his knee. If the injury were real, he’d be in trouble. It looks to me like he has a lot of fear with regards to pain and he’s not the type of character to just deal with it like a Declan or a Ben White. Will he be available this weekend? Who knows… but I hope so.

The big two for me are Timber and Bukayo. Those two are essential to how we play and they will give the boys a big boost. Ben White can’t lock down players like he used to and in every game we’re seeing moments of horror. We’re also hitting the two-game limiter of Calafiori. Love him, but need to see me some Hincapie at the weekend.

Eze is coming back from a slightly more serious layoff, but at least he’ll be about and ready to play a role if we’re chasing the game.

My big swing on who starts up front is that it’ll be Kai Havertz. You can sell me on Gyok in the Champions League even though he largely did nothing the other night. But I won’t have it in the Premier League against a team that hasn’t lost in 13 games. We need someone with touch, control, strength, and set-piece threat in this game… mainly because we also need that next Sunday. I’m just not sure I see a world where Gyok or Jesus make tactical sense against Man City. Gyokeres is perfect for the Champions League game.

I wanted to add a little about the news we’ll be looking for buyers of Myles and Ethan this summer to raise £100m. The messaging on that was pretty blunt.

But at the end, they have to earn it and not just for a week or a month, for years like anybody else. It doesn’t matter what department or what you have in the club, you have to sustain performance and that has to be at the very highest level if we want to win, and sustainably be where we want to be.

Part of the problem with Myles and Ethan is that they have tasted what first-team action at the highest level is like. Now, they’ve dipped; there’s no way they are going to do the Saliba loan thing for three years. They want to be settled somewhere playing minutes and I have no doubt they’ll get offers to that effect from teams like United and Dortmund.

They core to all of this is that we just don’t have time to coach youngsters unless they are freaks of nature… which, let’s be honest, Myles are Ethan are… but not like Dowman.

The margins are shorter because we’re doing something that is unprecedented. We have players who play in competitions nobody else has done at that age, so I think the balance is there. We are doing everything we can to accommodate that, especially because they deserve the opportunity as it’s the best thing. Nobody’s here to give a gift, an opportunity, to someone who doesn’t deserve it. Everybody who has been in and around the first team is there because they deserve to be there.

I’m not casting aspersions or making defacto statements to get a reaction… but there is a common thread with the types of folk who explode and demand the firing of a manager if we drop a point against Wolves… with the same people saying the manager should play Myles in Midfield and sell Odegaard and put Ethan there. If you are pro-kids in the starting 11, you have to be pro-mistakes, and pro-it being very hard for Arsenal to make it to the promised land. We exist in a zero mistakes kind of world these days… every result poured over, you’re either a champ, or a bottle job, no in-between. Arsenal have a 76% win rate this season (best ever), no team has spent less minutes losing in the Champions League, we have scored the most goals, conceded the least, we’re 9 clear at the top of the league, and people are seriously conversing over the future of Arteta. Throwing two teenagers in the line-up would be fun, but we all know it would come with risk, and I just think Arteta has decided he wants to derisk games.

Will Myles and Ethan haunt us if they go? Probably. But that, sadly, is the cost of being at the top. Barca lost Cesc. City lost Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers. This is the ying and yang of being very good. You get closer to glory, but the chances of creating ready-made teenagers shrink.

I’m out and about, so I’m going to have to finish this post early, but do check out the latest Before the Whistle below!