Club officially parting ways with Luiz at the end of the season. It’s the right call. Give Saliba a chance.
Luiz at 34 can’t be offered a new deal. He’s made mistakes, and often big ones with red cards and penalties, but from what I’ve read he seemed a positive influence on the club, was very good with the young players and showed some leadership when we were crying out for something. With the amount of flak he takes, much of it very undeserved, he’s mentally incredibly tough.

As you say he’s made mistakes. But overall I consider him to have been a good signing.

I think Luiz has been a decent buy, the best of the 3 chelsea retirement buys (Willian, Čech)

There’s a possibility we could miss his passing out from the back unless we strengthen in defence and midfield.

I really hope we have a change in policy though and stop offering these older players the most expensive final contract offer they get when they are passed their best. Type of thing spurs did in the 90s

Joe Willock misses a penalty






then scores on the rebound. 3-2 Newcastle beating Man City.

Two minutes later City score now 3-3

If Saliba comes back and is even remotely as good as he was first reported to be, then a Gabriel, Saliba and Holding is a pretty good core of central defenders that is pretty solid. Throw in decent selection of full backs led by Tierney and the defense looks good with Partey in front of it.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... z-24114104

Note: "has been told" because Kroenke has no idea, no knowledge and my supposition, no love for the game.
He's advised to keep Arteta, but my question is were other voices in the club saying to sack him or did Kroenke see the table and ask if he should stay? I'm sure there are regular (likely monthly) meetings Kroenke has about Arsenal. He's given an update on finances, the clubs fortunes, good or bad and what it means and recommendations.

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/kroenke-strong-arsenal-message-arteta-20599158

Hmmm....at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist.

At his best he was still very good. The performance he put in to beat city in the fa cup semi final was as good as any modern CB for Arsenal. Then did it again in the final.
He’s a player who might have 8/10 good games but then make 1 mistake and that is the only thing people will remember.
Its the right decision to not renew we need to build for the future but we will miss his leadership on and off the pitch

"Has been told" by a former United player being interviewed by a betting site, you nutter.

Still, it's interesting to discover that AG believes Kroenke has no love of the game. I wish AG would post more often, to keep us better informed of his views.

FA Cup final day. I remember how it felt to lose in 2001 against Liverpool - it was an absolute travesty. Stephane Henchoz's handball, a billion shots on and off target etc. Nonetheless, had God had a quiet word after the match - 'Don't worry, cobber,* Arsenal are going to appear in seven FA Cup finals in the next two decades and win every last one of them' - I think I'd have settled for that. Thanks, God.

* God is Australian. It's obvious if you really know your Bible.

On the other hand, the idea that Kroenke might "see the table" and revise his views radically, is something I'm sure we can relate to.

Burnley v Leeds ought to be interesting. Leeds are a decent side. I don't think we can say they can't catch us, a game in hand and "only" 5 points behind. The way our season has been going, the 2 remaining games aren't a given.

Hadn't noticed this before but we're actually the most in form club at the moment. 3 PL wins in a row.

Some eery similarities. Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Tottenham. Burnley and Soton very close to where they are now.


First Division 1967-68
Pos Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts
1 Manchester City 42 17 2 2 52 16 9 4 8 34 27 43 58
2 Manchester United 42 15 2 4 49 21 9 6 6 40 34 34 56
3 Liverpool 42 17 2 2 51 17 5 9 7 20 23 31 55
4 Leeds United 42 17 3 1 49 14 5 6 10 22 27 30 53
5 Everton 42 18 1 2 43 13 5 5 11 24 27 27 52
6 Chelsea 42 11 7 3 34 25 7 5 9 28 43 -6 48
7 Tottenham Hotspur 42 11 7 3 44 20 8 2 11 26 39 11 47
8 West Bromwich Albion 42 12 4 5 45 25 5 8 8 30 37 13 46
9 Arsenal 42 12 6 3 37 23 5 4 12 23 33 4 44
10 Newcastle United 42 12 7 2 38 20 1 8 12 16 47 -13 41
11 Nottingham Forest 42 11 6 4 34 22 3 5 13 18 42 -12 39
12 West Ham United 42 8 5 8 43 30 6 5 10 30 39 4 38
13 Leicester City 42 7 7 7 37 34 6 5 10 27 35 -5 38
14 Burnley 42 12 7 2 38 16 2 3 16 26 55 -7 38
15 Sunderland 42 8 7 6 28 28 5 4 12 23 33 -10 37
16 Southampton 42 9 8 4 37 31 4 3 14 29 52 -17 37
17 Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 10 4 7 45 36 4 4 13 21 39 -9 36
18 Stoke City 42 10 3 8 30 29 4 4 13 20 44 -23 35
19 Sheffield Wednesday 42 6 10 5 32 24 5 2 14 19 39 -12 34
20 Coventry City 42 8 5 8 32 32 1 10 10 19 39 -20 33
21 Sheffield United 42 7 4 10 25 31 4 6 11 24 39 -21 32
22 Fulham 42 6 4 11 27 41 4 3 14 29 57 -42 27

Hmm, City followed immediately by United is interesting maybe ... to fans of those clubs. Four out of the rest of the division doesn't seem that much of a coincidence.

I am sure we can all also relate to being completely ignorant of Arsenal's form. 99.9% of the world population, perhaps including such luminaries as Trump and Kroenke, are probably unaware that we won our last 3 games. Kim Jong-Un probably thinks of something else entirely if the word 'arsenal' comes up in conversation.

Doesn't quite send shivers down the spine but is actually moderately interesting which improves AG's batting average slightly.

Actually, looking at it again, it's first and second in the same positions, but also with both Fulham and Sheffield United relegated again. That is pretty creepy. It's odd that AG buried the lead - well, kind of the lead.

Maybe its a sign from the football gods we'll win the double in 3 years time.

And, hopefully, United being relegated in 2027.

Leeds made easy work of Burnley. I would still put us down to finishing ahead of Leeds but not stating that with a lot of confidence.
We have a decent amount of rest till our next match so lets see what happens.

Like you, I'm terrified that Leeds might end up ahead of us. That hard-fought ninth-place finish I was hoping to tell the grandchildren about.

Hey LTG did you get a notification of a 3pm ko today v CP, you remember previous conversation huh. I got one and I think the problem is one or all of Outlook, Edge or Microsoft, but how nor why I don't know.

Beats me too

Possibility of Sarri managing Tottenham. Interesting if it happens. Not sure if it will matter if they don't spend money.

There will be no takeover of Arsenal. I suspect the press knows that.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9582271/Arsenal-insist-not-received-takeover-bid-club-despite-Daniel-Ek.html

1967/68 was actually my first season of going, my initial game being a 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest on 23/12/67. Scorers were Graham (2) and Armstrong (1).

Watching the cup final (come on Leicester) have turned over from BBC to BT because of Jenas and his non stop utter drivel, unbearable.

No. But then I never get automated electronic notifications anyway.

All very odd.

I didn’t realise Kante is already 30. I’m glad because he’s a massively influential player for Chelsea but is approaching the age (albeit not there yet) when his decline should begin.

He really is awful. He'll have such a wrong take and be really vociferous about it. I saw him do some brilliant analysis of Leeds early this season against Liverpool, but he's generally miserable, a bit angry and just wrong.

But now I'm on BT and I've got Robbie Savage and Glenn Hoddle!!

Evening Bernard. I thought you might find this interesting, considering our conversation about this matter.

"Incredible performers in high-paying sports are staying on longer. Thirty used to be the normal age for when results began to decline; that seems to have been pushed to 35 for the super-talented."

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/jarr ... et-1263011

Those two infinitely preferable, which says it all about how awful Jenas is.

Yep!

What a hit by Tielemans. Leicester played a blinder with him didn't they. They had him on loan for a year first I think?

How we could do with a player Like tielemans. Stunning strike

Or Maddison or ndidi also for that matter

Wes Morgan, 37, on for Leicester, a man who looks like he enjoys a pie or two.

Isn’t the article about cricket? I’d suggest cricket is a little different to football. Anyway, perhaps I’m wrong but I thought cricketers used to go on for longer anyway.