It’s PSV this evening in the Europa League, in a game that could more or less secure top spot in the group for Arsenal if the result goes our way.
A win would see us on 12 points, and PSV on 7, with just 2 games to go. That would make it still possible for the Dutch side to overtake us, but just a draw in the return leg next week would be sufficient. As we know, group winners avoid an extra round of games in the knock-out stage, and given how packed this season’s schedule already is, you can understand why we’d want to avoid that.
Which is why I suspect Mikel Arteta will pick a fairly strong side this evening. I think there will be some changes, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see the likes of Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka starting tonight to give us a bit of quality and experience in the middle of the park. If we had Bukayo Saka, Ben White and William Saliba starting against Bodo/Glimt, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that we see some of them again tonight.
The decision to go strong might also be informed by the fact that there’s midweek action in the Premier League. Leeds had an entirely free week before we played them; Southampton played Bournemouth last night, so that might be another consideration when the manager picks his team for this evening.
As ever, he was giving nothing away in his press conference when asked if he was going to pick his strongest XI, saying:
We will make that decision tomorrow.
He was more forthcoming on topping the group though:
Really important. In Europe when you have the chance to take advantage you have to do it. It’s always very unpredictable what can happen in the next game. You have to go away and we know the level of the other teams as well. What I can say watching PSV and what they are doing domestically, internationally, it will be a really tough match.
No doubt Arteta will have seen PSV smash 5 past FC Zurich on two occasions, and they come into this one full of goal-scoring confidence after a 6-1 win over FC Utrecht in the Eredivisie. All of that will contribute to what I think will be a strong side this evening. If I had to guess, I’d go: Turner, Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Vieira, Martinelli, Saka, Nketiah.
Taking three points tonight might leave us better able to rotate for the second game, but with our home game against FC Zurich taking place three days before an away game at Chelsea, being able to play whatever team we liked in that one having secured top spot in the group would be ideal. So, let’s hope we do the job tonight.
Kick-off is early by the way: 18.00 local time, and as ever we’ll have live blog coverage for you, as well as all the post-game stuff over on Arseblog News.
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I mentioned Premier League action last night, and I half-watched Man Utd’s 2-0 win over Sp*rs – while also playing Fallout 4 on the Playstation. I find that’s the only way I can tolerate their football which is, by any reasonable standards, atrocious to endure. I await the think-pieces and hot-takes this morning which suggest that after United had 28 shots to Sp*rs’ 9, they were actually quite lucky to win the game.
It’s always good when they lose, and the downside is that United won, but sometimes you have to take some cloud to get the silver lining. It looks like there might be some Ronaldo histrionics in the works too which would be pretty, pretty, pretty funny, and with Chelsea drawing 0-0 with Brentford, it was a good night from an Arsenal perspective.
And speaking of good nights, the Arsenal Women certainly enjoyed one of those with an incredible 5-1 win away from home over Champions League holders Lyon. The goals came from Beth Mead and Caitlin Foord, who scored two each, and one from Frida Maanum. What a result.
Tim was there last night, and you’ll find all the post-game quotes and analysis over on the dedicated Arsenal Women section on Arseblog News.
Right, that’s it for this morning. Catch you later on for the game, and we’ll have an Arsecast for you around midday tomorrow, recording in the morning at some point because the game is taking place this evening.
Have a good one.
