Ødegaard Cruyff turn nutmeg when boxed in by the touchline. Crowd liked that one

Liverpool close to a deal with Cody Gakpo. Man U seems the front runners there.

Crazy amount of forwards for Liverpool. Salah, Jota, Nunez, firminho, Diaz and some young players

So pleased for Nketiah more than anyone to get his goal. Lot of talk and pressure on him coming in to this game. He’s done well.

He turned his man with that drop of the shoulder and spin at least 3 times before he then did it for the goal.

Magic 40 point target reached.

10 consecutive home wins in the league now

Well done boys

Elneny on on 94 minutes??

Crucial 1 second there from Mo.

Nice win
Another 3 points
Here we go again

And he didn’t put a foot wrong.

Arteta boosting his appearance credit

Wow

Watching Odegard I cannot understand why Madrid let him go.

Very good second half. Very enjoyable

Firminho looks like he’s on the wane for this level and Jota is a brilliant player, perfect for them he can play across 3 positions, but clearly has ongoing injury issues. Gakpo annoyingly looks another good signing for them. If Nunez is left and Centre with the emphasis on central and end product, Gakpo is the foil of being able to cover the same positions but more emphasis on the left and build up play. Wouldn’t have placed him there but he fits tbh.

After De Bruyne I don’t think there is a better creative playmaker in the prem than Ødegaard. Even in the average team first half he was the one I was yelling at to just give it to.

Ally McCoist (best co-com by a mile) on Amazon commentary was just waxing lyrical about him all game

Brilliant result that. Without question

Total collapse and a fair amount of football to be played not withstanding, can we say with a fair amount of confidence, that City and to a lesser extent, Newcastle are the only clubs we have worry about in terms of the table?

Great result. Great performances, team and individual. Well happy.

No.

Defensively pretty much perfect in the second half. West Ham we’re a threat on the counter in the first half but we didn’t give them a sniff second half

Really interesting to see a bit of analysis of how Arsenal’s wide players hold the width, with the aim to be to get them in dangerous 1 v 1 situations - which you can do with those quick switches of play to a wide man holding his width.

This was something Pep insisted on at Barca, there is a story that He Ty tells about himself scoring but Pep subbing him off because he drifted off the wing too much.

4 huge tough games coming up. Decent amounts of rest between them
Brighton (a)
Newcastle (h)
Spurs (a)
Man U (h)

You’d probably take 2 draws and 2 wins from that even given our fantastic start.

Arsenal have made an initial offer worth up to €65million (£57million) for Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk

(Paywall) https://theathletic.com/4036140/2022/12 ... ed_article

Loving motd right now…

Widely reported Arsenal submitted a bid for Mudryk today. Somewhere in the region of £40m with add ons.

Mudryk himself has been busy posting about arsenals goals tonight on his social media. The guy has his heart set on us so badly

Brighton away is the only game I have a fair amount of confidence for a win. Newcastle are a different side now that they have a gazillion dollars at their disposal and are managing well. They aren't in 3rd by chance. I'm nots saying a loss but I think we'll have a tough time getting a win. They have only lost once. A draw wouldn't surprise me.

Sperz away we have to hope to leave with a draw. And no matter where we play Man Utd they always seem to get the better of us. The few times we are a much better team we seem to get a draw, the times we seem even they get a win.

Obviously I's love to win it all.

Would be a fine addition if we can get him.

Our recent record v Man U is ok. In a way it’s similar to spurs in that we tend to beat them at home but lose away.

Liverpool fee for Gakpo supposedly £37m up front and £13m in add ons. Even if the add ons are easily attainable £50m seems reasonable - and I say that thinking that the player and the timing is the sort of thing that leads to a silly fee. He’s scored and assisted a lot in 2022 then scored 3 goals at the World Cup. It is a shame Man U didn’t join a bidding war as I half expected Man U to go to £75m at least for him

Terrific result.

Ødegaard was just superb and Saka's combination of skill and strength is really something to behold.

Ben White was outstanding, as were Partey and Xhaka.

The only negatives were that I thought Saliba looked off the pace and Tierney was playing too high up the pitch, taking Martinelli's space out wide and leaving us vulnerable to counters from Bowen and Antonio. Maybe it's me but Martinelli and Tierney is a combination that just doesn't seem to work well.

Hi Rich,

Liverpool seem to have got that deal done with upmost secrecy and at a decent price too. Can't say I am a massive fan of Gapko but he looked a threat in the WC, he's tall and quick so he might turn out to be a great signing for the scousers.

I hope we get our deals done and are not guzumped at the last minute.

Yes credit to them for that. It was similar for Diaz and a number of their other signings, quick and secret and they have simply overpaid to get them done.
I looked a lot more at Gakpo when we were linked last year. There is a lot to like, tall, quick enough and gets a decent amount of goals and assists. I’d put a slight question mark on his natural technical ability and I don’t think he has as high potential as other players in a similar bracket to him

Our forward players regularly take the headlines but you’re right to highlight Xhaka, Partey and White - I can’t think of a bad game any of them have had.
I really like Tierney but Zinchenko is better suited to the way we play/Arteta wants us to play.

Yes, Zinchenko was a lovely player to bring in when we were winning, like “you’re not getting the ball back know”.

Particularly as Tierney was huffing and puffing a little bit. He was showing Bowen out wide which is the right think to do, but Bowen just got low crosses in anyway. I’m never convinced by Tierney’s one on one defending, he’s quick but seems far less solid that say an Ashley Cole who he seems similar to in stature - he often seems literally lightweight. He goes down multiple times a game writhing in agony with some knock or other. He does just seem like an old fashioned “white on your boots” winger playing at left back sometimes.

I did however feel it was Tierney starting in the Prem which has been rare and, like Saliba, may need a game or two to get into more of a groove. Although Tomiyasu is out but now Zinchenko is back, Tierney can’t catch a break start wise.

Thinking back Saliba was very lucky not to get a yellow card for the penalty. That kind of sliding tackle on such a dangerous area would normally be a card….and it would have been a 1 game suspension for him which we could do without with Tomiyasu injured currently

Incredible that we have only dropped 5 points this year. Our form has been incredible.

why didn’t we just sign Mudryk in the summer than wait till now?

Weren't Shaktar taking the ^&*% with the transfer fee?

We are just so good to watch right now. Memories of games against Barca and Bayern, when we could not get hold of the ball and they were all one-touch playing around us. I guess Pep was the reason, and his apprentice has studied and learned well!
Onwards & upwards!

I don’t think I was ever worried about Nketiah replacing Jesus in the team, the structure Arteta has in place is designed to be able to interchange players without changing the plan or style and also to elevate those coming in to the level of those around them. The bigger worry losing Jesus for me was simply the stretching of the squad rather than not being able to exactly replace what he does.

There was a lot of criticism for the 5 year £100k a week deal for Nketiah but that’s ‘just’ a £25m commitment. When you see what other teams spend on back up strikers he’s a snip