Morning from a very wet and windy Dublin.
Football is back and we face Nottingham Forest at home. On paper not the most tricky game we could have had, but given their form so far this season (and perhaps ours), definitely not a foregone conclusion by any means. Mikel Arteta was surprisingly forthcoming about the fitness of his players yesterday, and there was good news and a smattering of bad as he provided updates.
Based on what he said, it looks as if we’ll have Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori all available today. All of them trained, to varying degrees, and the manager sound pretty positive about their involvement. I also thought he was quite interesting on Martin Odegaard who, after playing 96 minutes in his first game back, had a bit of a reaction. Arteta said:
After such a long time not playing he needed time to recover. The ankle reacted and other areas of the body with so much load going into it. It wasn’t ideal, but he’s been OK, the last day and a half he’s trained with the team and he’s feeling good, so that’s really positive.
I don’t think it’s at all unexpected that it took a lot out of him. To go from 0 to 100 on his first game back wasn’t ideal, but as we now go into a period of the season with a game every three or four days, it’s going to be important that we manage his load quite carefully. That said, I expect him to start today, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see us line up as follows: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Merino, Odegaard, Martinelli, Saka, Havertz.
There are possible tweaks of course, but as I wrote yesterday, I think a slight shift in the midfield balance is worth trying, and today feels like a decent day to give that a go. At home against a team that will sit deep, deny us space, and look to hit us on the counter, I don’t think you need a side with both Rice and Thomas Partey. And while I don’t think you can classify Mikel Merino as an attacking player per se, he does have the ability to get into the box, the timing of his runs into the area is generally good, he provides an aerial threat in there too.
That leaves the manager with options from the bench, should he need to change things in the second half, but however we go about it today, three points are a must. We’re back at home, and the manager was clear about what’s required:
It’s about building momentum, getting results and getting back-to-back wins. That would again create the energy that we need with all of the good things that we are doing. Tomorrow and after every break, and especially we’re going to get into the Christmas period, we know that there is something special in that period and you have to generate that momentum. We feel that it is the right moment now for us to start.
As for the opposition, they’re flying high so far this season. Chris Wood has scored as many as Mo Salah, and with players like Anthony Elanga, Calum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White, they have plenty of pace and direct running, particularly on the counter. So, how we manage those moments of transition will be key, as well as trying to break down a pretty stubborn defence. Forest have the second best defensive record in terms of goals conceded so far this season, and we’ve struggled a little bit when it comes to scoring (although with 18 goals we’re just 3 behind leaders Liverpool, so it’s not as bad as it has felt).
An early goal for us today would be ideal. I don’t think it’s the case it would make Forest go gung-ho, but they’d have to come out a bit at some stage, and hopefully that might just give us the space we need for more.
Right, I’ll leave it there for now. Don’t forget the preview podcast is available right now on Patreon. Join us later for live blog coverage, plus you’ll get the match report, goal clips, reaction, player ratings and much more over on Arseblog News.
Come on you reds!
