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FA Cup Semi Final Preview

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PEP TALK ARSENAL WILL LOOK to build on Wednesday evening’s superb victory over champions Liverpool when they return to Wembley to face holders Manchester City in the semi-final of the FA Cup on Saturday. The FA Cup now represents a great chance for Mikel Arteta to end his first season at the club with a trophy and with it a pathway back into Europe, but it will not be easy. Pep Guardiola’s City, still hurting from losing their grip on the Premier League title, have not lost a domestic cup tie since Wigan Athletic knocked them out of the FA Cup in March 2018, since when they have won all 20 ties in both the League Cup and FA Cup. In fact, that defeat to Wigan is the only domestic cup tie Pep’s side has lost in 28 since Arsenal beat them 2-1 at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final in April 2017. On top of that Arsenal will need to overcome a dreadful recent run of results against City. Since that semi-final victory three years ago, Arsenal has lost all seven meeti...
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Liverpool Match View

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DICK VAN DIJK ARSENAL 2 LIVERPOOL 1 ARSENAL CAME FROM behind to beat champions Liverpool at the Emirates last night to keep alive their slim hopes of qualifying for Europe via the league. After Sadio Mane had deservedly fired the champions ahead just before the first half drinks break, Mikel Arteta’s team capitalised on some uncharacteristic defensive uncertainty from Liverpool to lead at half time thanks to opportunist finishes from Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson, the youngster’s first Premier League goal. It was the perfect illustration of our new early press forcing mistakes from the opponent, Liverpool on this occasion the victims of their own pressing style. The second half saw a throw back to the 1980s as Liverpool dominated possession and chances, but Arsenal defended for their lives and held out for a big victory ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final meeting with Manchester City. We now sit three points behind Wolves in sixth place but with j...
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Liverpool Match Preview

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THE CHAMPIONS AWAIT ARSENAL WILL LOOK to bounce back from Sunday’s disappointing North London derby defeat when newly crowned champions Liverpool visit the Emirates on Wednesday evening. With European qualification now looking less likely via the league, we may well have our minds fixed firmly on this weekend’s FA Cup semi final clash with Manchester City. Mikel Arteta certainly hinted at some squad rotation ahead of this meeting with the champions as he said: “I believe that it is very important to have energy and momentum going into important matches, and in order to do that you have to go game by game. “Today and tomorrow we will assess the players and how they are, and obviously they’ve been hit and a lot of them have played some crazy minutes up until now and again we’re going to have a game every two and a half days. “We will try to put the strongest team out as possible here and as well on Saturday, and to do that we need to know how everyone recove...
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Tottenham Hotspur Away Match Preview

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NORTH LONDON IS RED  FOR THE FIRST time in several years Champions League places are not at stake in Sunday’s North London Derby but that will not make it any less intense. With just one point separating the sides ahead of kick off and just four matches remaining it will be winner-takes-all in the race for North London bragging rights. In-form Arsenal, unbeaten in five matches, currently lead that particular contest but if we are to continue our recent good run and remain on course for a top six finish we will need to end an away jinx at our North London rivals. We have won just once in our last 11 Premier League away meetings against Tottenham, a 1-0 success in March 2014 thanks to a first minute strike from Tomas Rosicky. Since then we have drawn two and lost three at White Hart Lane and Wembley, scoring just three times. However, this will be our first visit to the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium so in many ways it will be a clean slate. Another statistic ...
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Wolverhampton Wanderers Away Preview

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MOLINEUX-LOOK ARSENAL ARSENAL WILL LOOK to continue their recent upturn in fortunes when they visit in-form Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday. Wednesday night’s 4-0 victory over Norwich City was the third win in a week for Mikel Arteta’s resurgent side which has thrust them right back into the chase for European qualification. Saturday’s match at Molineux is set to be a top six shoot out with Nuno Espirito Santos’ side who currently sit in sixth place, six points ahead of Arsenal. Wolves are the only team to have won all three of their matches since the restart, although with a relatively small squad the heavy schedule may soon start to catch up with them. Santos has already rotated the dangerous Adama Traore to great effect in recent matches and his battle with Kieran Tierney on Saturday looks set to be a fascinating duel. Keeping the Spanish winger quite will be key to our chances of success. Prior to last April’s 3-1 loss at Molineux, Arsenal had enjo...
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Norwich City Match View

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CANARIES IN A COALMINE ARSENAL 4 NORWICH CITY 0 PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG scored his 50 th and 51 st league goals for Arsenal at the Emirates last night to send Norwich City a step nearer the relegation trap door. Having been stuck on 49 since late February, the Gabonese striker reached 50 in less games than any previous Arsenal player in the Premier League era when he stole the ball from Norwich goalkeeper Tim Krul and fired into the empty net to mark his 79 th league appearance for the club. That moment of opportunism summed up exactly what Mikel Arteta has demanded from his team; a high press, and it has now brought goals in two of the last three matches following Eddie Nketiah’s similar effort at Southampton last week. Speaking after the game, Arteta said he was pleased with the how the players are adapting to his ideas: “Yes, it’s part of the process that we have to respect, and we can give them so much in certain moments. “It’s been a really d...
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Norwich City Match Preview

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BACK HOME IT HAS BEEN a particularly good week for Arsenal with two consecutive wins and progress to the semi-final of the FA Cup. Following the disastrous restart with defeats at Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion, wins at Southampton and Sheffield United have shown how quickly fortunes can change in football. After four away trips in a row, it is a relief to finally return to the Emirates on Wednesday evening with relegation-threatened Norwich City the visitors. We are the only team to not yet play a home match since the restart so it will be an historic occasion. We have not lost to the Canaries in the last seven meetings, since a 1-0 defeat at Carrow Road in October 2012, and that has been our only defeat against them in the last 19, since they won 4-2 at Highbury on the opening day of the Premier League in August 1992. I have watched far too much football over the years to ever describe a match as a guaranteed win, but Daniel Farke’s side has lo...
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Sheffield United Away Match View

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FA CUP QUARTER FINAL SHEFFIELD UNITED 1 ARSENAL 2 A DRAMATIC LAST gasp goal from substitute Dani Ceballos sent Arsenal through to a record 30th FA Cup semi-final with a tense victory at Bramall Lane on Sunday. Mikel Arteta has now taken the club to Wembley just six months after taking the hot seat and the prospect of winning a trophy in his first season is still very much alive. After Nicolas Pepe had scored from the spot to give us a fully deserved half time lead, it was substitute Ceballos who popped up to win it in stoppage time just moments after David McGoldrick had brought the Blades level. After a bright start it was very much a backs-to-wall second half display, similar in many ways to Thursday’s win at Southampton, and Arteta was delighted with the character of his team. He said: “Yes, I am very pleased with the result. This is a really difficult place to come and win. After conceding so late, that reaction is not easy. We went for it again; we scor...
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Sheffield United away Preview

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SHOW SOME STEEL ARSENAL WILL LOOK to follow up last night’s win at Southampton when they head north to face Sheffield United in the FA Cup quarter final on Sunday. Bramall Lane has hardly been a happy hunting ground for us over the years with Arsenal failing to score on four of our last five visits, including an FA Cup tie in 2005 which we won on penalties after a 0-0 draw. At the time of the original tie in March the Blades were in great form, chasing a top four place and playing some great football.  They had played extremely well in a 1-1 draw at the Emirates in January and of course beat us 1-0 at Bramall Lane in October. But the restart has not been kind to Chris Wilder’s side.  Following a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa in the first match of Project Restart, where they were denied a goal by a goal-line technology malfunction, they have since suffered back-to-back 3-0 defeats at Newcastle United and Manchester United. This though will be their first...
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Southampton Away Match View

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YOUNG GUNS HAVING SOME FUN SOUTHAMPTON 0 ARSENAL 2 ARSENAL FINALLY GOT their season back up and running yesterday evening with a hard-fought win in the searing heat at Southampton. Following two poor defeats since the restart just over a week ago, this was a game where we needed to see a response. And thanks to young Academy graduates Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock, that is exactly what we got. Nketiah, a surprising choice to lead the line, scored the opener after closing down Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy and rolling the ball into an empty net, before substitute Willock smashed home the second after McCarthy had failed to hold an effort from fellow replacement Alex Lacazette. After everything had seemingly been going against us in the previous two matches it was nice to see a few decisions go our way for a change and to get a little bit of luck.  Let us hope it has not all come in one game. Manager Mikel Arteta had received much criticism in the ...
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