Here we go! Another weekend, another match day. The Arsenal play again, this time away to Burnley. How good is it to be heading into this one on the back of a win with the community and fan base feeling a whole lot more positive about the state of play.
Good to also see a lot more people being vocal about their support of Mikel Arteta and what he is trying to do. I for one am a big believer in the processes he is putting in place. If you need more information about that, please check out my last couple of posts on The Voice of Arsenal; and for an even more in depth tactical piece check out what Mike Mcdonald wrote on Le Grove. A wonderful piece with plenty of insight. Hats off to the man himself.
I must admit European fixtures midweek just don’t have the same ring to it if Arsenal aren’t involved. I do have faith we’ll be back soon, but if we’re being honest the time midweek will have done Mikel Arteta some good, being able to spend plenty of time working tactics with the lads. Let’s see if it really comes to fruition against Burnley.
Team Selection
My preferred line up is this: Ramsdale; Tomi, White, Gabriel, Tierney; Lokongo, Partey; Saka, Odegaard, Emile Smith Rowe; Aubameyang.
Three selection thoughts:
- Leno vs Ramsdale – Aaron Ramsdale first of all deserves to keep his place after Norwich, so its a no brainer for me. You can’t argue with 2 clean sheets and 2 wins from 2 if you ask me. Add to that his ability in the air, and its a safe bet.
- Ainsley Matiland Niles vs Lokonga – AMN would certainly provide more when it comes to contesting 2nd balls, recovery tracking on the counter and pressing however I have gone for Lokongo because of his ability to resist the press when on the ball and forward passing which will be key. See below..
- ESR vs Pepe – Probably the biggest dilemma for Arteta to manage today. Ive gone for ESR. Couple of reasons. First his quick one, two touch passing and interplay will be better suited to breaking down the packed Burnley defence in my opinion. With Pepe I see him being far better suited to playing on the counter and 1v1 situations. For me Burnley will pack the box and defend resolutely. Secondly ESR will be far better on the high press and win the ball back in dangerous areas. Again this is another key area to this match.
Key Areas:
- How will Ben White (in particular) and the rest of the defence deal with the aerial bombardment up to Chris Wood? Arteta has already alluded to it and I think it is spot on. We are going to have to concede the fact that Chris Wood will win a lot up top for Burnley today. The key here will be the challenge and the second ball. First up challenge to win fouls, stop Wood from bringing down comfortably will be crucial. The second part will eb the fellow defenders dropping off slightly to deal with any flick ons in behind. Thirdly Partey and Lokonga will have to be on their game winning second balls in the middle because you can bet the Burnley players will be right up for it considering Arsenal’s start to the season.
- When we are not defending long balls (sigh) I think its safe to assume that we’ll spend a considerable amount of time with the ball trying to break down a packed defence. Quick forward passes from defence will be key to getting at the Burnley side before they are set. Partey fresh off a killer pass last week will be buzzing in this sense.. Then the big question. Can the young trio in front create and score enough. Big test. Big moment in the season for the young lads, in which I have absolute full confidence.
- The high press will be key. We saw very promising patches against Norwich (first 15 mins noticeably). We’ll see even more today with Burnley more likely to knock it long rather than play out. The higher we win the ball back the higher quality chances we will create. Its going to be important to capitalise on this early with goals, because Burnley will quickly resort to going long straight from the keeper if we start to succeed with the high press. Making point 1 all the more crucial.
So there we go! Massive game. Must win again really. If we lose the Arteta out brigade will no doubt be back in full force. Albeit maybe slightly less numbers now that more and more fans are coming round to the project.
I’ll see you on the other side.
COYG
