Draw Premier League: Arsenal 2 - 2 Fulham | Saturday 26th August | KO: 15:00 BST

Prediction

Arsenal 3-0 Fulham

 

[Batman]

Definitely not all him as you say.

But what we have to do to get him into midfield alongside Ødegaard while also (trying at least) to maintain shape, has really ****ed us...kinda more Arteta's fault that Kai's, in that sense.

If we had to sell Xhaka in the summer, we should have replaced him with more of a proven 8 in midfield.

This is the thing though, we don't have to do all that. The first 2 matches he showed he could win duels in that position. He's made some good runs into the box that just haven't quite been found. He's put some decent balls in that people haven't gotten on the end of. I would prefer to see if he can play in last year's system with Zinchenko and Gabriel in their correct positions first. If he's still struggling then give Rice that role and play Partey at the 6 but I still don't think he's actually been put in position to truly succeed in the attacking phase and everyone played dreadful football today except stunningly Vieira.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

I also feel arteta ask our players to be perfect how many times today we got into Fulham box and just refused to put cross in specially in 2nd half first 15 minutes it always was like that i dont get it. It make me really angry isnt that what Havertz best ability is too to head the ball? We do it in pre season too he scored twice from it ffs.

What worry me is our players will be mentally exhausted because of it.

 

[avenellroad]

It is frustrating that we keep giving away such cheap goals. The first goal was absolute rubbish to concede. The second from the corner was also pretty poor.

What’s frustrating is that we concede ****ty cheap goals yet struggle so much to score our own goals.

It’s actually ridiculous that we make the situation 10x harder for ourselves trying to justify spending £65 mill on what looks to be a dud. Second half after Havertz came off was when we played our best football. Incisive and with a threat

 

[Farzad Stoned]

Saka was passing where he thought our player should be. Total muscle memory.

Yup in back 4 Gabby would be there

 

[Melquiades]

This is the thing though, we don't have to do all that. The first 2 matches he showed he could win duels in that position. He's made some good runs into the box that just haven't quite been found. He's put some decent balls in that people haven't gotten on the end of. I would prefer to see if he can play in last year's system with Zinchenko and Gabriel in their correct positions first. If he's still struggling then give Rice that role and play Partey at the 6 but I still don't think he's actually been put in position to truly succeed in the attacking phase and everyone played dreadful football today except stunningly Vieira.

I feel like he got himself into good positions today and you can see the IQ and technical skills and holdup play but it feels like there’s very little intensity or directness in his game. Very casual. He’s talented but he isn’t a late-career Bergkamp who can just jog around being a genius. Needs a firecracker up his ass like we saw from Vieira today.

 

[benjamin86]

For anyone that was lucky enough to miss this game and wants to watch it to see how we did...

...there, saved you 100 minutes to do something more enjoyable with your life

Missed the game but i'd like to see one of those "every touch" highlights on youtube for Vieira as I heard he was sensational.

 

[Batman]

I feel like he got himself into good positions today and you can see the IQ and technical skills and holdup play but it feels like there’s very little intensity or directness in his game. Very casual. He’s talented but he isn’t a late-career Bergkamp who can just jog around being a genius. Needs a firecracker up his ass like we saw from Vieira today.

Seems like a player struggling for confidence as one might with an entire fanbase rooting for them to fail. I agree, he does need to be more assertive. As far as Vieira, I have no clue wtf that was today but if he can replicate it then we've found something fantastic. Nobody can say they were expecting it.

 

[Farzad Stoned]

Seems like a player struggling for confidence as one might with an entire fanbase rooting for them to fail. I agree, he does need to be more assertive. As far as Vieira, I have no clue wtf that was today but if he can replicate it then we've found something fantastic. Nobody can say they were expecting it.

Lol its not Tets fault Havertz is **** but the fans fault.

 

[Alexs]

Barney sums it up well: João Palhinha stuns Arsenal as 10-man Fulham battle back to earn late point

"Thomas Partey may or may not be an instinctive positional postmodernist, able to slip into a fluid right-back-midfield role. But there was very little evidence of it here and his 55 minutes on the pitch felt like time lost pursuing an under-researched experiment."

"Kai Havertz looked unremittingly confused, not just by his role on the left of midfield, but by the basic fact of taking part in a Premier League match. “He got in great areas but the ball didn’t arrive,” was Arteta’s verdict."

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

Atmosphere was dead. This new ticketing system i guess. Seems the club are determined to kill everything good about last season.

 

[King87]

We should play back 4 with Gabriel, play double pivot of Partey and Rice. Get some stability and start winning games before trying to be too cute. We should be playing way more fluently for the talent we have and win games against bottom table sides more comfortably.

We won't concede that goal from the corner kick with Gabriel on the field. Arteta can be really weird sometimes I just don't get it

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

So much has been said but today, only Nketia and Vieira can be pleased with themselves. It’s going to be hard to pick up 14 players who seem to have no idea what's going on and I'm struggling with the formation given the personnel we have trying to execute it. Now it's just beat Utd and go away with your countries.

 

[freeglennhelder2]

So much has been said but today, only Nketia and Vieira can be pleased with themselves. It’s going to be hard to pick up 14 players who seem to have no idea what's going on and I'm struggling with the formation given the personnel we have trying to execute it. Now it's just beat Utd and go away with your countries.

Team selection may be Artetas undoing this season, last season the team pretty much picked itself.

 

[TakeChillPill]

Our game management has been piss poor, NF put us under the cosh when they went to 2-1 we hung on for the result....at home.

Same with palace, we scored and then because sloppy

Now with Fulham we pressured took the lead and then let Fulham control the game.

This is all down to mental weakness, it's the same weakness that saw us capitulate at the end of last season.

 

[Batman]

Atmosphere was dead. This new ticketing system i guess. Seems the club are determined to kill everything good about last season.

Probably had something to do with the club handing out a free goal inside a minute again as well.

 

[King87]

Is there anything Kiwior provides that Gabriel is not capable of? Just don't get what the manager is trying to do.

There is also this problem of us not been able to close out games if our lives depended on it. That has been an Arteta problem from day 1, Doesn't seem a solution is in sight yet again

 

[Batman]

We should play back 4 with Gabriel, play double pivot of Partey and Rice. Get some stability and start winning games before trying to be too cute. We should be playing way more fluently for the talent we have and win games against bottom table sides more comfortably.

We won't concede that goal from the corner kick with Gabriel on the field. Arteta can be really weird sometimes I just don't get it

It's amazing how players' legends grow on the bench. We've conceded stupid corners like that with Gabriel on the pitch. He played almost every minute last season and we conceded plenty of ridiculous soft goals with him out there. The players have an issue with focus and finishing matches off. This is evident regardless of personnel. There's something wrong with the mentality with a lead. It's too negative and defensive. We need to keep playing until the game is truly over.

 

[King87]

It's amazing how players' legends grow on the bench. We've conceded stupid corners like that with Gabriel on the pitch. He played almost every minute last season and we conceded plenty of ridiculous soft goals with him out there. The players have an issue with focus and finishing matches off. This is evident regardless of personnel. There's something wrong with the mentality with a lead. It's too negative and defensive. We need to keep playing until the game is truly over.

I prefer centre backs who dominate their own box، I don’t think we conceded a goal last season from a set piece with both saliba and Gabriel on the pitch tbf you might want to check that

..Crazy to break up such good partnership Crazy to break up the white/saka partnership and Ødegaard’s game is also suffering without Partey to feed him between the lines، however Rice had a very accomplished game.

Agree we can't close a game even if we score on 89 minutes the team always looks like it will concede. How do you win a title like that?

 

[andeoch1]

Sitting back with 11 v 10 yeah u deserve it

F**k of Arteta. 2-1 up against 10 men and he takes of Ødegaard and brings on Jorginho- loser mentality

 

[andeoch1]

I prefer centre backs who dominate their own box، I don’t think we conceded a goal last season from a set piece with both saliba and Gabriel on the pitch tbf you might want to check that

..Crazy to break up such good partnership Crazy to break up the white/saka partnership and Ødegaard’s game is also suffering without Partey to feed him between the lines، however Rice had a very accomplished game.

Agree we can't close a game even if we score on 89 minutes the team always looks like it will concede. How do you win a title like that?

We haven’t a hope ‍