JoeIt’s been a LONG time since my last post, mainly due to the World Cup disrupting the domestic season across the usually busy months. Yesterday it drew to a close in a game for the ages. But this isn’t a World Cup blog. The talk has happened and the games played. Now it’s time to return to the Arsenal.
It’s not been all quiet from that perspective either. The biggest news of course is that Gabriel Jesus is out for up to three months. A hammer blow this season. His goals might not look overly impressive but I’ve spoken before about his impact. He panics players, drags the defence out of shape and free’s up space for the rest of our attacking cohort. Replacing him in January seems to be a tall ask. It’s a notoriously difficult month to do business especially to bring in the calibre of player we’re after. Eddie Nketiah now has to step up and start finding the net again until such time as we have an alternative. Can he do it? Time will tell.
In other news, the players and some lucky fans got to enjoy some winter sun in Dubai (a very short hop from Qatar). With players linking up after their World Cup exploits with those who weren’t fortunate enough to go to the tournament, it gave the squad a head start before we take on West Ham. We ran out 3-0 and 2-1 victors against Lyon and AC Milan respectively before returning home and playing out a 2-0 defeat to Juventus at a VERY cold Emirates. As always with these games, the result is almost irrelevant with match readiness the focus.
So that’s it then, we’ve done all we can ahead of this strange season resumption. One week to go. For now the focus is squarely on the visit of West Ham on Boxing Day. As always, I’ll see you there.
COYG!
-J