Good win tonight. Don't rush about the PSV match, as jolly, jolly, Oct. 13 Arsenal play Bodo away. Their fans will be up for it.

Saka scored our goal in the 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

3 nil but It wasn’t a good performance really which sounds odd

I thought Marquinhos had a really bad game and but for the 2 nil lead would have been hooked at half time. Turner looked a bit shaky and had terrible distribution and I have to say despite his goal it was hardly a performance to propel Nketiah back in the side. To be centre forward for Arsenal you have to have more to your game than chasing down loose balls in the hope the defender or keeper dwells on it.

That said Tommy was superb plus Tierney too and vieira showed some of his ability.

Oh good, at least he has that knocked away

I thought the worst player for us was Lokonga, he looked lost most of the time. And mostly playing sideways and back.

He was okish. He loves a sideways pass but is neat and tidy. I don’t really see him imposing himself on many games. However walking away from the ground my gut feeling was that our back up is now very strong in some areas and weak in others. To maintain a title challenge I think we need a genuine alternative to Thomas Partey, a new winger and I’m sorry to say new striker

It is great to see some true depth in the squad, players who you now feel step in to the first 11 and there is not a break in fluidity and quality. Despite their relatively small squad this has been City's strength for a while. We need more in January though

There is certainly a Thomas Partey shaped hole in our central midfield whenever he does not play. The way in which a modest team like Bodo gained control of the match in the 2nd half was a concern.

We don't really need a back-up, more a player on his level who can offer serious competition for his place. Not easy to find but definitely needed.

I read that Kante had been offered to us. I think if the financials were OK I'd take him as a a short term option if no longer term option is available.

Thought it was a pretty decent performance last night, considering we switched almost our entire starting eleven. One thing noticeable in the first half was that despite changing 8 players from the weekend you could still see the same structure to our game, the same patterns of play, the same movements. The way we play looks set now, and our squad players look comfortable in their roles as well.

Tomiyasu and Tierney both made a case for being first choice in their positions, thought they were both great. Nketiah never stopped running, but we couldn't generate the same level of offense as a team and I felt he wasn't given enough to work with. Vieira is hugely talented, but there's still a big difference in the way Ødegaard affects the game compared to him. He'll learn though.

Focus moves to Liverpool now

Can’t go due to my eldests birthday, tough game this one. We are no pushovers at home, the atmosphere will be amazing but Klopp desperately needs a big result.

I also felt Tomiyasu (my man of the match) and Tierney were both exceptional. Indeed, as admirably as White has performed at right back this season, if I was choosing the starting eleven for a really important game Tomiyasu would probably be the right back.

Tierney or Zinchenko at left back is perhaps an even harder choice. I still think Zinchenko goes wandering a bit too much leaving the left side of the defence over exposed. So I might go with Tierney as the left back, but it’s a close call.

Full back is definately the area of the squad where we are well covered. Whatever option is chosen is very, very good.

Liverpool is definitely our biggest test so far. Going into the games against Man Utd and Tottenham it was very likely that we'd have 60-65% possession and be the dominant side in terms of controlling the play, and it would be a question of if we could minimize defensive mistakes and neutralize their counter attacks - against Man Utd we didn't manage to do that, but we did against Tottenham and got the deserved result in each match.

This will be our first opponent of the season where it's not certain we'll see more of the ball than our opponent. We should not be fooled by their poor form, at their best Liverpool are still a better team than us and they've been remarkably consistent for a number of years now. That being said, looking at the form for both teams this is obviously a very good time to be playing them. Really looking forward to this, a sizeable challenge for the team.

The lone 6 role that Partey plays to a high level is one of the hardest profiles to find in world football right now. In the premier league I think Rodri and Fabinho are the only other two who do this to an elite level. Someone like Busquets has been doing it for years, but even in the prime Barca years he had Xavi sitting more deep than the set up Arsenal have with 2 advanced No.8's

Locatelli at Juve, it would be interesting to see how he's been playing since he moved to them as we were supposedly interested before

Great to have those choices. I'm minded to agree with you that up against a really tough opponent with top class wingers I'd maybe go Tomiyasu and Tierney. But other games and tactics may suit White and Zinchenko better. White as a right-back has certainly surprised me so far this season - he's been excellent

Rafael Leao at AC Milan, I can imagine a big bid from a rich team within a year. He's very direct, tall, strong and scores goals. Plays mostly from the left wing.

One thing we've not quite reached in terms of what City and Liverpool have done for years is relentless scoring when we dominate games. We get the game won but don't kick on and score 5-6.

Not the worst thing to not have yet, winning games is what counts but I'm never relaxed until we get at least a 3-0 lead. We seem to be having enough shots in a game but we're not quite clinical enough, or we tend to drop the intensity still once we get comfortable

2 big challenges for Man U and Spurs this weekend. Potential sliding doors moments for the immediate part of the season.

Spurs started the season picking up points but not playing particularly well, they then lost 2-0 away at Sporting, got spanked by us 3-1 and drew 0-0 in Frankfurt. Spurs go away to brighton who are a very good side. Lose and this run starts to look very bad and a Conte rant won't be far away. Win and they can look up in the table after securing an excellent away win v a tough side

Man U started horrifically, recovered with some moral boosting wins, but in my opinion those wins glossed over the underlying issues still. They unsurprisingly got outclassed v City, so next they play Everton away who have conceded the fewest goals this season and Lampard seems to have galvanised the fans and the squad as well as making some astute signings through the spine of the team. Beat Everton away would be a very good win and a chance to push on, lose and Everton go above them and they'll still be languishing in mid table.

This feels like one of those weekends which could be very big for the top 4 race with us playing Liverpool as well.

Definitely

I’d also suggest our best 2 full backs are the ones the played last night.

I'm feeling strangely calm about the game, which wasn't the case before we played United or Spurs. Just feels like there's not a lot for us to lose here, but a lot to win; worst case scenario after the weekend is we're second, two points behind City so it's not a disaster at all. After Liverpool our next three league games are against Leeds, Southampton and Nottingham Forest, so plenty of opportunity to get back on the horse.

If we win we're still top of the league and beating Liverpool will be a huge boost to the team. We need to get that monkey off our backs.

I have a slight feeling that we wont win on sunday. Probably just the memory of too many Liverpool victories against us in recent years.

I have absolute faith in this team, I think we'll do Liverpool on sunday

The optimism I have now is that for a while under Arteta when we occasionally played well the performance had all the same characteristics, high tempo from the first minute, high press, high intensity and a commitment to attack and overwhelm the opposition. The press was rapid after we lost the ball as well. This didn't happen that regularly but now it seems to happen in virtually every game - particularly at home.

More of the same on Sunday and I think we can overwhelm Liverpool - they will not be looking forward to facing us. It will be a massive statement if our young team wins - far more so than beating Spurs who we generally beat at home most seasons anyway

Put Tierney on Salah tomorrow. Doesn’t feel like a game for zinchenko

Chris Sutton on BBC predicts we will win 4-1! What is he on?

You mean you’re predicting 4-0?

Sounds like Liverpool will be missing a few players

Melo, ox, keita maybe Robertson and Curtis Jones

For sure.
I would pick Tomiyasu as well. We need specialists to cope with their wingers and overlapping fullbacks.

Spurs leading Brighton at half time and unfortunately looking better balanced with a change of formation, bringing Bissouma into a 3 in midfield replacing the third forward.

None of them are starters bar Robinson.

Where I have my greatest concern is our deficiencies that are exposed when we are not in possession. We always seem to be behind their players not in front of them without possession. This was obvious against Spurs but we didn’t pay the price as we weee really good in possession. We cannot allow Liverpool this luxury. I hope we do enough to take down a Liverpool team that are out of form. LB is difficult: play Tierney and he gets in the way of Martenelli and fails to make proper inside runs. But play Zinc, open up Martenelli but be weak at LB.

Chris Sutton on BBC predicts we will win 4-1! What is he on?[/quote]

I have more than a few people think the planets have aligned for us. We are playing well, at home and Liverpool are not.

I've never seen Liverpool roll over for us. They may play badly against us but they always fight. I'm nervous about this one. A draw wouldn't be the end of the world. I don't expect a loss. I am thinking draw or win. It's Liverpool so this may be game they turn the corner on. It can happen any game.

I'd love to win obviously and keep the distance between us and others the same while getting a win against them and when they play Liverpool at home, they'll hopefully drop points or lose.

I think anyone thinking its a foregone conclusion as if we are playing Forest, have been watching football with the happy gas you get from the dentist.

I see that Austin Trusty scored twice yesterday he is becoming a fan favourite at Birmingham

Quite interesting really. He seemed a speculative American signing to keep the owner happy but he’s only 24 and a left footed centre back (which we need 1 of) so may come of use. Arteta hates having right footed centre backs on the left that’s why Gabriel played v bodo

May come of use

Conte should have played the 3 in midfield v us. I thought it was obvious to do that as they’d get over run with their 2 v our 3 plus inverted full backs!
Annoyingly good result for spurs though, was disappointed with Brighton though as they didn’t come at them as fast paced as I’ve seen them do to big teams before

It will be interesting what Klopp does today. Midweek he went with a 4-4-2 with Jota and Nunez up front and Diaz and Salah on the wings. His standard formation is the 4-3-3.
He knows what we’ll do so it’s nice to think a top team is having to think about how they deal with us and potentially adjusting their normal plan because of us.

Judging from the bookies, most people have a far more sober assessment when it comes to putting the money where the mouth is. A tossup is about right. We've been much more consistent this season, but what happened at united, and the fact that Spurs could have pinched it if they'd taken their chances at 1-1, makes me nervous that we might concede a silly goal or too. And Liverpool are capable of beating anyone on their day.

So ... I'd take a draw now right now, although I will be disappointed after the game if we don't win

I'm with you

haha, damn good sharp joke

BHA overplay when they move closer to Spurs penalty area

Aubameyang on video with friends said
"Big characters, big players, he (Arteta) can't deal with it. He needs young players who won’t say anything."

In that he’s just vindicated Arteta getting him out asap. No doubt he was doing this all the time trying to turn people against Arteta, he was a toxic influence and had to go. He’s also done this at virtually every club he’s been at.

Also I think Arteta wanted players who would work hard and work to his plan, nothing to do with big characters and all to do with discipline and attitudes.