Arsenal at home Sunday 31st August 430pm

[SB]

Not the easiest of starts to the new season but who’d have thought there’d only be 3 teams 2/2 after only 2 rounds.

Not sure if Arteta is playing mind games again but if Saka is out & possibly Odegard that’d be huge. Hopefully Macca comes back in but any word on Frimpong returning?

[Mark79]

Frimpong is out until after the International break.

[SB]

Frimpong is out until after the International break.

Cheers I did suspect it but some players defy the norm in recovery times.

[Sus]

This feels like such a huge game at the moment, but it probably isn't when thinking about a whole season. After all, it felt like a huge moment when City drew in the 98th minute at home to Arsenal last October, but that turned out to be largely irrelevant

Having said that, I think this game will tell us a lot about both sides - Arsenal will batter us with set pieces, and we seem to have some clear vulnerabilities there, at least in winning our individual duels

Arsenal will also sit pretty deep, I reckon, and not commit too many men forward, so it's up to us to break them down.

I do think Wirtz will be particularly influential here, and am expecting / hoping him to be the difference maker this Sunday

We just really, really need to win our individual battles

[Big-Red-Ed]

This is exactly the sort of challenge we need right now to shake off the early season rust

Sent from my SM-S928B using Tapatalk

[RedReet]

I was thinking that if we somehow get through this, preferably with 3 points, let players improve fitness on international duty, we should hopefully have a few easy fixtures afterwards to finesse our new style/system.

I was wrong.

Burnley A- Should be 3 points, but tricky after internationals and they'll be well up for it.
Everton H - History suggests 3 more points, but another unnecessarily hard game.
Palace A - Very tough game.
Chelsea A - Big challenge
United H - Even when ****, it's usually hard for us.
Brentford A - Depends on how Andrews has them playing. Good win against Villa, flowed up with an away win to Bournemouth in the cup.
Villa H - Again, historically 3 points, but Emery will have them difficult to beat.
City A - Our toughest game on paper
Forest H - Dropped points last year.
West Ham A - Can be difficult, will depend on manager and form.
Sunderland H - First straightforward match for me. Looking forward to seeing Wirtz playing AM.

[danperkins]

Our start to the season is beyond nasty & there is no forgiveness for the bedding in period that we need. This game is going to be fiery as ****, even without Saka & Odegaard they still have a very strong side. I'm hoping that with Grav, Macca & Bradley back that we will be a bit more solid defensively and have a wee bit more cohesion. We've got out worked and out fought in the first two games & really haven't played well but we still cam away with the points and we are still scoring goals, so that's a real positive. I'll be in Spain for this one, love watching the footie when I'm away.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Our start to the season is beyond nasty & there is no forgiveness for the bedding in period that we need. This game is going to be fiery as ****, even without Saka & Odegaard they still have a very strong side. I'm hoping that with Grav, Macca & Bradley back that we will be a bit more solid defensively and have a wee bit more cohesion. We've got out worked and out fought in the first two games & really haven't played well but we still cam away with the points and we are still scoring goals, so that's a real positive. I'll be in Spain for this one, love watching the footie when I'm away.

Arsenal will be trying to get as many new faces integrated into their set up as us, with one of those possibly having his debut against us, so think there may be a levelling out thanks to that.

Seven new faces in their squad and the majority of those being first team starters or very close to that level.

[danperkins]

It just might and I'm sure Eze will start. I do expect there to be a bit more football than the Newcastle game but this one will have a nasty edge to it aswell. A home win and an improved performance would be an amazing start to the season considering the fixtures and the circumstances.

[vlahka]

They're going to score 4 set pieces against us while singing our songs.

[DerKrampus]

If Konate ****s about any more then Gomez is ready to step in, and if not Gomez then Leoni.

[brightred]

Our start to the season is beyond nasty & there is no forgiveness for the bedding in period that we need. This game is going to be fiery as ****, even without Saka & Odegaard they still have a very strong side. I'm hoping that with Grav, Macca & Bradley back that we will be a bit more solid defensively and have a wee bit more cohesion. We've got out worked and out fought in the first two games & really haven't played well but we still cam away with the points and we are still scoring goals, so that's a real positive. I'll be in Spain for this one, love watching the footie when I'm away.

The pints taste so much nicer in the sun!
Enjoy!!

[Irishnev]

Chris “no handball Odegaard” Kavanagh is the ref I’ve seen

[danperkins]

The pints taste so much nicer in the sun!
Enjoy!!

[RedReet]

Chris “no handball Odegaard” Kavanagh is the ref I’ve seen

I'm sure he'll stamp his authority and show he won't be influenced by the crowd, by giving us absolutely nothing all game.