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Arsenal’s loss to Leicester may not have been the best way to enter the 2 week long international break. One could choose to stew in it, but I think the majority of supporters treated it as a welcome break from all the drama around the club. Things seemed to have calmed down, even regarding Emery\u2019s future. For me personally, I had an eventful fortnight. Got sick, spent some family time, and applied for a new job.<\/p>\n
One person who finally got a new job this week was Jose Mourinho. Was a bit of a surprise move from our neighbours. Pochettino had got them to the Champions League final after all. Thankfully, it was the history of the Tottenham which prevailed and they were left empty handed again. It did also leave them disheartened with nowhere to go. At least that\u2019s how it appears from the outside. Strange as the change is, even in financial terms, I think Spurs have made the right decision here. It\u2019s no knock against Pochettino\u2019s ability as a coach either. Sometimes things just get stale.<\/p>\n
Spotlight shifting from Spurs to Gunners<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the side effects of this move is it shines the spotlight on Arsenal a bit brighter. I watched Emery\u2019s press conference, and all the zen from the international break left me. So much in fact that I have to write about it, more than the football, which literally hasn\u2019t been much to write home about anyway.<\/p>\n Southampton<\/strong> \u2013 He genuinely perked up talking about how great they are away from home. To illustrate this he said they beat Sheffield, and then listed their narrow losses to ManCity and Spurs. Later, when asked about the 9-0, he said his focus is to think of them at their best and to prepare accordingly. That\u2019s a sensible stance to take, but I was reminded of the Wenger quote \u2018It is the media\u2019s job to imagine the worst and a manager\u2019s job to imagine the best\u2019 (I am paraphrasing). I think Emery prepares so intensely for each game, he starts imagining the best….from the opposition. I even noted this on Twitter a few days ago. That I\u2019d just realised Emery had had 2 full weeks of watching tapes of Southampton and this must have left him terrified. I predicted #Respectball.<\/p>\n Spurs<\/strong> – Emery was not shy of his praise for Pochettino. I wouldn\u2019t have thought much of it if it were once. But he repeated how great a job Pochettino was doing (even calling his last season \u2018perfect\u2019) and tried to distance the Arsenal Way from Spurs. He also praised Mourinho but I found it interesting he didn\u2019t mention that he\u2019d earlier named Pep and Jose as two of his coaching inspirations. No wonder he\u2019s so confused about identity.<\/p>\n Xhaka<\/strong> \u2013 This might have been the most infuriating aspect of the presser. He talked about how Xhaka seems more mentally ready to come back into the side. Said he\u2019s been training well, but then says he\u2019d also been training well before the break. Says he had a good conversation with Xhaka and he\u2019s feeling like Arsenal is his team again. Says his (Emery\u2019s) objective with Xhaka is for him to connect with the supporters again and let them see he\u2019s giving his best in his \u2018short…or long\u00a0 future with us\u2019. WTF is that?! You\u2019re ready to bring a player back into the fold again, want his full commitment, say he is fully committed and then for no reason at all, mention it might be a short career with us? I swear Emery is a boss from hell. (Or from SanHELLi)<\/p>\n Anyway, connecting with supporters was a big theme for Emery. Playing better was almost an afterthought, though he said the two things together like a mantra.<\/p>\n He also said we\u2019re 5th in the table. That surprised me. Does he not know we are 6th? Did he forget? It seemed like he didn\u2019t want to acknowledge Sheffield being ahead of us on Goal Difference.<\/p>\n When talking about bridging the gap to top 4 he brought up last season as some sort of model to follow. We started with 2 losses last season and came back. We have experience from last season. What experience? How to throw away games and bore people?<\/p>\n Honestly, whatever little confidence I had was once again destroyed by watching Emery\u2019s press conference. Initially I was hoping that the players would be recharged to some extent. Some of them, like Xhaka and Torreira for instance, had very good games with their national teams. But now, I think all of that will be for nothing. You can call me defeatist and I wouldn\u2019t even fight you. Emery makes me not care.<\/p>\n Match preview<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know what\u2019s left to say. Southampton are 19th in the table with 8 points from their 12 matches, and a GD of -18. They don\u2019t pass it around much, don\u2019t take a lot of shots, and don\u2019t score a lot of goals. But, because Arsenal do all of those things only marginally better than them, I am not confident of a win, even at home.<\/p>\n Team News:<\/p>\n Pepe came back late from his travels, and didn\u2019t train with the team on Thursday. Saka, Kolasinac and Holding didn\u2019t train because they have minor injuries. They should all be fit for Saturday though.<\/p>\n I doubt we\u2019ll see this front 4, but I\u2019d go with a team of<\/p>\n Starters: Leno, Bellerin, Sokratis, Luiz, Tierney, Torreira, Guendouzi, Pepe, Ozil, Auba, Laca<\/p>\n Subs: Martinez, Chambers, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Ceballos, Saka, Martinelli<\/p>\n Whatever team plays, we know we have the talent to not just win, but really put Southampton to the sword. I\u2019m sure no one\u2019s expecting that though. Not even Mr Raul \u2018we\u2019ve got the right man for the job\u2019 Sanllehi. I\u2019d be delighted with any sort of win.<\/p>\n Prediction<\/strong><\/p>\n Head: 1-1 draw.<\/p>\n Gut: 2-1 \u00a0loss to Arsenal.<\/p>\n My fear we\u2019re going to lose is undoubtedly a reaction to the press conference. Since this isn\u2019t an exact science, and it\u2019s my match preview, I think I\u2019m entitled to go with my gut.<\/p>\n Am happy to be proven wrong of course. But, one thing is for certain, we\u2019ll have more corners and would have played to our game plan. Enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arsenal’s loss to Leicester may not have been the best way to enter the 2 week long international break. One could choose to stew in it, but I think the majority of supporters treated it as a welcome break from all the drama around the club. 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