Morning all. It’s a new week, a new month, and let’s hope May is more fruitful in terms of Premier League points than April.
I did not waste any time watching Man City’s game at Fulham, but I knew from the lack of excited WhatsApp messages that they had won. I was in the pub for the Liverpool game though, and the opening period was most amusing. Just like they did against Newcastle, Spurs shipped a load of goals early on and given the rate of scoring I hoped they might let in ten.
Unfortunately, Liverpool took their foot off the gas, and there was a comeback. I say unfortunately because I never want that lot to score, but sometimes you have to suffer to get your true reward. And so it proved. It was 3-1, then 3-2, then Richarlison – without a Premier League goal all season – claimed a goal in the dying seconds. I’m unsure if he even made contact, it looked like that one Kane ‘scored’ back in the day, but he celebrated like a crystal meth chicken thinking he’d nicked a point for his team.
His joy lasted 99 seconds, as Diogo Jota – who probably shouldn’t have been on the pitch – pounced on a mistake from Lucas Moura to slot home and make it 4-3. 99 seconds and the Spurs ain’t won (©Mrs Blogs). In the pub there was a lone Tottenham fan sitting close to the door, looking at the TV. I didn’t know he was one of them until the third goal went in and he celebrated a bit, but by the time I’d finished laughing at the fourth goal, he was gone. His stool empty. His half-empty Guinness left on the counter. Just a little dust cloud from the speed with which he’d obviously stormed out.
It’s a toss up which was funnier: Richarlison’s dismay and Spurs misery, or Jurgen Klopp pulling his hamstring celebrating the goal while having a pop at the fourth official. I assume Richard Keys had plenty to say about the antics of the Liverpool manager? He didn’t? How strange. Anyway, the point is the dismay and misery is the funniest. I made the toss, it came up Spurs. Which, as anyone who has followed football for any period of time knows, is basically a miracle.
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Later this morning Mikel Arteta will hold his pre-Chelsea press conference. After a bad night at the Etihad, it will be interesting to see how open he is about possible changes to his team for tomorrow night. Ahead of the City game, he smiled and said “We’ll see tomorrow” when asked about changes for that game, but beyond Granit Xhaka coming back in, there wasn’t anything different.
Having conceded 11 goals in our last four games, there’s a problem there for the manager to fix. I appreciate we’re not exactly replete with defensive options on that right hand side of the back four, but it’s still an issue he needs to try and sort out. I don’t expect him to go into a great deal of detail about it, but hopefully someone can ask the question and we’ll see what we get in response.
As I said after the game last week, my main concern is what lies ahead, and that starts tomorrow against Chelsea. This is the biggest blip in form of the season so far, coming at a time when there’s much less of a chance to make up for it. Time to stand up and be counted, because as much as I’ve loved this season and this team, it’d be a shame if it fizzled out. Let’s make a fight of it.
Obviously we’ll talk more about that game tomorrow, and we will have a preview podcast over on Patreon for you a bit later on this morning.
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Finally for today, good luck to Arsenal Women who will play the second-leg of their Champions League semi-final against Wolfsburg in front of a sold out Arsenal stadium later on. Incredible support, and let’s hope it can help the team as they look to secure a place in the final. Considering the players absent through injury, the comeback from 2-0 down last week was fantastic, so fingers crossed they can go one better later today.
For more on the game, and some of the build-up, Tim has a match preview, and a brand new Arsenal Women Arsecast available in all the usual podcast places, or over on Arseblog News. And if you want to watch, it’s being streamed free via DAZN’s YouTube channel.
Ok, that’s it for this morning. We’ll have all the press conference coverage on Arseblog News too, and a couple of podcasts on Patreon. Not bad for a bank holiday (in this part of the world anyway).
