Leeds will be in the relegation fight this year.

Long sleeves should be mandatory. Proper Arsenal.

Like the way we've seen this out with no dramas.

This is a really good win. Leeds are not quite themselves, but they're never easy to play and we've dealt with their press really well tonight. They're playing most of their best players too. A lot of good performances for us, squad players showing they want to play more which is exactly what you want to see.

I’ll second that. Remarkably and pleasantly straightforward.

That shirt is ridiculous. A strong breeze would have him sailing out of Highbury.

Well, we have to give him something being soundly shown to be the lesser player between him and Ljungberg

Eddie man of the match?

Chelsea taken to penalties. Fingers crossed for Saints.

Is it the Stoke home ground that has those huge open corners? We could've never played there with those shirts.

Walcott just missed one after being called Arsenal reject by the Chelsea fans. The irony is that Chelsea have a Chelsea reject in goal.

Job done. On to the next round.

Nketiah lively. ANM did well. Leno looked good. White and Holding with some nice dribbles to break the press. White will be a real asset with that ability to bring the ball out from the back.

Martinelli is the big disappointment. He looks a shadow of the livewire who burst onto the scene with a flurry of goals. No idea what has happened to him but he looked off the pace, as if he was carrying some sort of injury that was affecting his movement.

Ah well. Chelsea through.

Martinelli and Pépé don’t look like they’re playing in a system or position to suit them. Also feels like both need a good run in the side to build up some confidence.
Both seem to only get the ball 5 yards from the touchline and they struggle to be dangerous from there.

Hi Rich,

Martinelli is neither a winger or a no 9. I can only assume his early goalscoring streak was either an astonishing purple patch or that the longterm injury he had has ruined him.

I can't hide my disappointment because in the early days it looked like we might have a worldbeater on our hands. Now he doesn't even look like getting back in the PL side anytime soon.

It will be hard for him to get a run of games, which may be what he needs. Perhaps a loan in January would do him good.

One of the best...and a baldie.

I agree, Haz, he needs to play and a loan is the only way I see him doing that. I'm not even sure where you play him. He's neither a genuine winger nor a no 9. He's kind of a hybrid of the two and it doesn't seem to work in our system.

Arteta said Ben White had a bug all week and that’s why they bought him off. Hopefully he can shake it before the weekend. Good news it doesn’t seem to be an injury

As a player he was massively over hyped in his early days by our fans. Honestly if Pépé was playing like him he would be torn to pieces (not like he’s doing amazing anyway)

It’s all very well looking class againest uefa and carling Cup minors but organised premiership sides it’s a different ball game.

Contrast the substitute appearances of balogun to his first start in the league v Brentford. It’s kind of why I like the idea of not being in Europe this year as it gives average players a platform to look great.

The truth is he’s not a great option off the bench and I don’t understand our fans microanalysis of his lack of minutes when truth is he hasn’t deserved it

Looking at who is left in the competition, I can't see us anywhere near the final but anything can happen like the final 2 games of the FA Cup when Arteta came in.

Smith and Smith Rowe stood out for me. Holding is solid as a squaddie and did what he was supposed to do. Pépé often is over elaborative. When it comes off its a highlight inclusion for the news that day but he isn't enough a team player for me. He also over estimates his ability to dance and dribble past defenders.

Agree with Soc about Martinelli. In the initial few games he played for us he made some great runs inside the opposition central defense. That seems to be gone.

AMN should be ahead of Elneny in central midfield now, but there still seems to be the need for another bit of quality in there.

Feyenoord's chairman has just resigned after his car was vandalised, the windows of his house were smashed and his children were threatened because he had the audacity to suggest we should consider moving to a new stadium. This comes after 2 directors of Union Berlin, who we played in the Conference last week, were put into hospital by yobs after enjoying dinner in a posh Rotterdam restaurant prior to the match. UEFA, already hot on our heels after prior bans, threaten to ban us from Europe again if anything goes wrong against Union in Berlin next week. Trouble is an estimated 10,000 ticketless fans are expected to show up there. Arsenal, a sea of tranquility.

Morning Rich. Before the Villa game weren’t you saying Elneny should be in the side from the players currently fit? It is a point I made. Too many people react to the last game. I fully agree AMN should be ahead of Elneny in the pecking order. But for deep lying central midfielders (so not counting Ødegaard) for which Arteta has used one but arguably should use two, the order of selection is Partey, Xhaka when fit or Lokonga, then AMN, then Elneny.

I’m not saying Elneny is great. He clearly isn’t. But he’s the fifth choice option for a position when Arteta uses one or two players. How bad a reflection on squad strength is that? I would much prefer Guendouzi instead of AMN and Elneny but Arteta has decided to get rid. But as a fifth choice option where Arteta uses one or two players, is Elneny really that bad?

Elneny’s passing isn’t great but at least he works hard, gets stuck in so competes, and shows a good attitude. For a fifth choice option, how much better can or should we expect? After all, this is a player who last week you were theorising might be worth a place in the team to play Vlla. If you think he’s useless, why would you have said that? It’s because he isn’t useless.

I’m not saying we should always be happy with what we’ve got either. Moreover, we can always say this or that player from elsewhere would be better than the ones we have. I would prefer Kante to Partey or Rice to Xhaka or Lokonga. But myself, I don’t think that should be the basis for measuring squad strength. A bit of realism is useful, in my opinion.

https://tbrfootball.com/emi-martinez-co ... rformance/

Unfortunately missed the game, so did not get to see Martinelli's performance. Based on Martinez, he did well. Based on a comment here, he was disappointing. I'm always hoping to see the same marauding Martinelli again.

It’s only from the Mirror so can’t be considered a reliable source, but as many of us have wondered, will Arsenal be looking to sell Saliba next summer?

If that happens will he be the most expensive signing, at £27m, across football to have never played for a club he joined? We know he will be at Arsenal but I don’t really keep track of signings at other clubs.

While the Mirror report describes Arsenal as cashing in on Saliba, for me the chance of us selling him next summer for £27m is probably approaching zero. Will him never playing for the club make him the club’s worst ever buy?

Clive Allen signed for what was then a sizeable transfer fee and didn’t play a competitive game. But he was here for a lot less time and was swapped a few weeks later for Ken Sansom, who in my view is still the best left back I’ve seen at Arsenal.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... dium=email

Comparing him to Ronaldo after last nights performance was like comparing westlife to the Beatles.

Both him and Pépé really poor and ineffective

Hes still upset because we didn’t let him play in a cup final they lost anyway?

What kind of d******* is he ?

No quote from Saliba there about being upset about that cup final. But if the Mirror believes it, that's good enough for me. I'm fuming.

Even if it’s true, to be honest I can understand it. The opportunities to get winners medals and play in cup finals are quite limited. I couldn’t blame him if he is a bit upset over it.

Was it socrates who mentioned at the time that it’s feasible the incident may have weakened the strength of Saliba’s affinity with Arsenal? If it wasn’t socrates, I know somebody did.

Whoever it was, at the time I could see the logic of their point.

Less than £27m but the club record signing for Cardiff City at £15m sadly never got to play for them. Quite grisly.

Who was it and what was the reason?

EDIT: Just looked it up. Emiliano Sala who died in a plane crash just two days after joining Cardiff.

In our present form, I at least expect us to go to Leicester and put up a stern fight no matter the result. At this point, I'd take a point and be happy. If we lose, it better be a hard fought, bitter 2-1 or 1-0 loss. It won't make most fans happy no matter how well we play (some fans would still complain at a hard fought 1-0 loss at Liverpool from a deflected, lucky goal), but for me it does. In the glory days we would sometimes be off our game and still win. Those days are gone. Going forward, I'm expecting us to win most of the games from the teams below us and next to us in the table and get more draws than losses from the top of the table.

But did Cardiff actually pay all, or indeed any, of that £15m fee? I seem to recall they tried to wriggle out of paying. Wasn't their finest moment as a club.

I mentioned Elneny as a partner for Partey to potentially provide the best balance for the team, not necessarily because I thought he was the best player. It was a reaction to Arteta playing the 4-3-3 and effectively emptying the midfield. I don’t want to see Partey as the sole holding midfield.
In my view Elneny is the only mid we have currently available whose natural game is simply sitting in front of the back 4 and breaking things up. I think Partey and Lokonga are better going box to box, as is AMN. But having seen Elneny and AMN in the same team for 90 mins I think the talent of the players in this instance would come above the natural balance of the team.
Having Elneny as 5th choice mid may be seen as fine for squad depth but really that only depends on how good your first 4 CM are. If we have aspirations to be top 4 I think we need another quality addition in central midfield. I don’t think it is beyond realism for Arsenal to sign a midfielder and move on Elneny and really strengthen that area of the pitch for the squad.

Why not?

I was aware you were speaking of the balance of the team when pushing for Elneny’s inclusion against Villa. I also don’t think it’s beyond realism for Arsenal to sign another midfielder to strengthen that area of the pitch and move on Elneny. However, with Lacazette presumably moving on for free next summer and Aubameyang arguably past his best (he’ll be 32 next season), I think it’s debatable whether it’ll be the biggest priority.

However what Saliba stated, looking forward to the rescheduled match between Nice and Marseille from August 22 with gusto.

I would be that d******* too if I was in his position. Imagine the opportunity to win a French Cup Winners medal at such an age? It must mean a lot more to him since this is his domestic cup final, and I'm sure he grew up being wowed by these finals, and dreamt of being in one too.

I've always been beating this drum. To me, simple logic. An opportunity of a lifetime for one so young taken away. Absolutely no empathy from Arsenal there. And he was doing very well during that stage for his club.