A good, but slightly late good morning to another stunning day. Someone thought it’d be a good idea to stay up all night drinking delicious red wine. While I’m definitely in need of pork-based sustenance, I’m surprisingly *boilk* free, but have slept in quite significantly.
Today we take on Tony Pubis’s Mark Hughes’ army of fuckers from Stoke, in a game that Stoke occasionally appear to feel is one of their biggest of the season. There’s a distinct rivalry and malice that has grown up between the two sets of supporters and teams, ever since Aaron Ramsey had the temerity to have his leg broken by Lenny Shawcross in 2010 and subsequently didn’t feel like shaking hands with the oaf that did it.
Some of the needle was because their former Orc Organiser in Chief, Tony Pubis, and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger were often quite openly hostile, never missing an opportunity to get little digs in at each other. Pubis was sacked last season, of course, his chairman sick of seeing the type of football Stoke have become renowned for. In a complete, fundamental change in direction, the silky smooth, ball on the ground, progressive possession football genius that is Mark Hughes is the baseball cap wearing fuckwit’s replacement. Hughes and Wenger have their own history, of course, after Hughes was once really, really, really upset that Arsene once committed the war-crime-level sin of having not shaken Hughes’ hand once.
All that said, the clubs have gone on something of a charm offensive in recent fixtures (relatively speaking), the Arsenal manager having made some conciliatory noises about Stoke’s style of play in the past, and ahead of today’s game, Mark Hughes has spoken specifically about Ramsey’s injury, praising the Arsenal man for coming back so strongly and saying it’s time to move on:
He’s an outstanding player, now doing exceptionally well – he’s adding goals to his technical ability which he has not been able to do.
It’s been a long time [since Shawcross’s tackle]. Everyone acknowledges people need to move on. It’s difficult because every time that Stoke play Arsenal it’s brought up against us. It’s one of those things that can happen.
Thankfully Aaron has returned now and he’s probably playing at a higher level than he was when he suffered his injury.
I don’t think there’s much question he’s playing at a higher level than he was before the injury, but it happened three years ago. Imagine what he might be like now had it never happened and his development had proceeded unhindered?
Ramsey himself has also spoken about how the injury is now well and truly behind him:
Those memories have gone, especially playing at home is a different game. I think under Mark Hughes they’ve changed their style of play a bit, they’ve had a good start to the season.
I’m sure they are still going to be quite physical by pressing us and closing us down but we’re at home and we will be switched on so hopefully we can get the result that we’re looking for.
And while Aaron’s rehabilitation and return to form is obviously wonderful news for both the player and Arsenal Football Club, the last point is key – it’s the result that’s most important today. Smashing them 84-0 would be lovely, but three points, however they come, is the most important thing we get from the fixture.
In terms of team news, there’s nothing to add to yesterday’s brief update: Rosicky, Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Diaby, and Yaya Sanogo are all still out, while Mikel Arteta could return to the squad. Given all that, I expect we’ll see the same team we did against Marseille, with a back five of Szczensy, Sagna, Koscielny, Mertesacker, and Gibbs, a midfield of Wilshere, Ramsey, Walcott, and Flamini, and Ozil playing off Giroud. You’d expect it’d be more of the sort of thing we saw against Sunderland, except at home you’d hope it’d be a little less nervy. We should take nothing for granted though, and it’s going to require a big effort.
Finally for today, bacon’s siren call from the fridge becoming impossible to resist any longer, The Guardian has an extract from Stillness and Speed, Dennis Bergkamp’s book. Well worth a read, amongst other things it talks about drive, motivation, and dedication.
As usual we’ll be back with a liveblog during the game. Check back for details a bit later (in fairness not much later now!), or bookmark the liveblog page here.
Come on you reds!
