please log in to view this image Venue: Gewiss Stadium Date: Thursday 19th September 2024 KO time: 20:00 BST Preview: Arsenal begin what is a tough opening in the revamped Champions League away at Atalanta this week. This is the first ever meeting between the two sides. The Gunners made progress in Europe’s elite club competition last season, reaching their first quarter-final since 2010 before eventually going out at the hands of Bayern Munich. Their return to the grandest stage was another example of how Mikel Arteta is moving to restore former glories but the Arsenal chief has been dealt a difficult hand in the new-look league phase. Atalanta thrashed Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final in Mayand represent a difficult opening opponent before Arteta squares off against the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan. The Gunners are rarely had it so bad with injuries as they now have fears over Bukayo Saka’s fitness, along with captain Martin Odegaard, summer signings Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino and others. Saka was forced off in the closing stages of Sunday’s win over Tottenham to throw his involvement into doubt, while Odegaard is expected to be out for a few weeks. Updates on both will come ahead of the game. Jorginho and Gabriel Jesus will likely deputise should the pair miss out. Atalanta welcomed Berat Djimsiti and Nicolo Zaniolo back for the win over Fiorentina, along with former Arsenal man Sead Kolasinac. Rafael Toloi, Ben Godfrey, Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca are all still sidelined.
Seems like Calafiori is the only one back from the injured list. Rice will obviously be back for this. Odegaard, Merino, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu and Tierney all still out.
Raya Timber Gabriel Saliba Calafiori Rice Partey Trossard Nwaneri Martinelli Havertz BOSH Blood Nwaneri now if we need a CAM for the next few months.
After Sunday we've got four home games in a row, three of them against fodder. We've got to blood someone creative in the #10 position. Nwaneri. Get him on the pitch. We need someone with quick feet who can get past people and thread through balls. Haverts is not it. He needs to be up top. And Trossard hasn't got the vision... he needs to be the goal threat on the end of the balls. Shame we sent Vieira away really. But it's gotta be Saka or Nwaneri.
Yeah Havertz needs to stay up top. Do not rate him in midfield. Shame Merino Isn't fit - Rice as a 10 might have worked.
Was at a company conference event for two days, but thankfully, the venue had a bar where I could watch the last 25 minutes of the game. Considering the gruelling week we have, and the tough start to the season, a point away against the Europa League champions isn't terrible. But the performance I saw wasn't encouraging (in an attacking sense). I can't judge the first 65 mins, however, from what I read, we were slightly better in the first half. Second half, the only chance we apparently had was the Martinelli one (which I did see) and he totally botched it. It's 17 games he's gone now without a goal or an assist. This is becoming a huge concern. But I don't know what we do. Trossard when he starts isn't as good. Sterling did ok when he came on yesterday, but as I said when we signed him, he doesn't address our problems. However, I don't think the issue is just Martinelli's poor form. The setup we have doesn't allow us to create a lot of good quality chances. We seemed very risk averse and lacked any penetrative running or passing in their third. The final ball was also terrible. Whilst Trossard, Rice and even Saka struggled to get their incisive passes/crosses accurate, we were taking too long to release the ball and players weren't getting into spaces to attack the box enough. In the end, it seemed like we were content to take the point. I get the opposition we've played overall has been pretty hard (with the exception of Wolves), but if this is how sterile we are going to look with Odegaard out, the next two months are going to be very painful. We can't keep relying on set-pieces to bail us out. Eventually, we need to start creating good quality chances from open play.
Btw special mention to Raya. What a tremendous double save from the penalty and follow up that was. He's been incredible for most of 2024, but he's been especially amazing during this start to the season. Proven all his doubters wrong. Gabriel and Saliba were also both immense.
