NEW 1-0 ARS: Outthought, Outplayed, and Out of the Race

 It was a pedestrian display from the Gunners as they fell victim to a scrappy, aggressive Newcastle.  I don't blame anyone for the goal; it was a great cross and superb header.  Livramento canceled out Martinelli and our midfield was simply not up to the task of breaking the Magpies down.  I can't remember Nick Pope having to make a save, certainly no difficult ones.  Fair result.

Barring a miracle, Arsenal's chances of overhauling both Liverpool and Man City are extremely remote. They'll try, of course, but the focus may shift to the cup competitions.  I wondered what would happen if Odegaard had a long term injury, and now I know.

ARS 2-2 LIV: Great Game, Fair Result (if refereeing is ignored)

 Anthony Taylor is the new Mike Dean, apparently.  Right up until the end, when an obvious corner should have been awarded to the Gunners but wasn't, he gave Liverpool advantage after advantage.  But with all that, and with our injury crisis (we lost two defenders in this game as well), we played Liverpool even and probably should have won this game.  We're now five adrift of City and four behind 'Pool.  We need our top players back.  Saliba's suspension is over, but his CB partner looks to have suffered a knee injury.  

Liverpool played a very good game, but I don't see them as a juggernaut.  City seems a little off their pace from last year.  We've got to get through the festive period without further serious damage to our points haul or our players.  Then the run-in could see us through.  I hope we take all four competitions seriously.  Silverware is a requirement this season.

ARS 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk (ECL): Another Game, Another Injury

 We're sitting on 7 points after three games in the new Champions' League format after an uncomfortable win at the Emirates.  Our goal came courtesy of the opposition keeper's butt.  To be fair, he was excellent all game and this was just really bad luck, the hard first half  Martinelli shot coming back off the post and smacking him in the ass.  Trossard missed a penalty in the second half.  Raya made a great save late on (see below).  With the penalty save against Atalanta, that's three points our GK won for us just in this competition.  It's important for us to finish in the top eight out of the 36 teams in the ECL "league" so we avoid a two-legged playoff to get into the final 16.

Calafiori twisted his knee; it could be serious.  Sunday will be a struggle against Liverpool.

BOU 2-0 ARS: Self-Destruct Button Pushed Repeatedly

 Credit to Bournemouth, who looked as likely to score as we did when it was 11 vs 11.  I'm not going to rehash the series of poor mistakes that lost this game.  It was a sad display all around.  Saka was missed; Sterling was not in that class today.  We got very little out of him.  Kiwior has demoted himself to the bottom of the defensive pecking order; at this point, Arteta might send Tomiyasu out wearing a leg brace before playing Kiwior.

It's a humbling experience and a costly one.  In addition to the dropped points, Saliba won't be playing for a couple games, including Liverpool.

Mexico 2-0 USMNT

 This was far from the US's best squad.  There were a lot of injuries and Pochettino released players, presumably to take a look at more of the Americans vying for a spot.  He probably wasn't delighted at what he saw; we had one shot on target.  It was low stakes for CONCACAF's top dogs, since both are in the next World Cup due to being co-hosts (with Canada).  What do you think of the Mexico jersey?  I can't make up my mind.

Spurs Are Spursy Again, and Other Observations

 The ugly away kit was justly punished in a fashion that is just so Tottenham.

The North Londoners were all over the Seagulls in the first half and Brighton were lucky not to be further behind than 0-2.  The second half was a very different story.  Ange Postecoglu has never heard of adjusting tactics for game state.  His Spurs are told to play the same way every game, all game, whatever the score.  So they kept their high defensive line rather than sitting back to protect their lead, and this naivete was punished severely.  The 3-2 scoreline at full time was no more than Brighton deserved--or Tottenham.

The PL's top three all won, albeit with some difficulty.  Man U held Villa to a scoreless draw, which may have given ten Hag another few weeks of employment.  United has some great attacking players (who are poorly coached), but their back line is ravaged by injury and, to put it unkindly, with age.  I don't know what happened to Marcus Rashford.  I still like him, but Man U seems to have sucked all the joy out of his life.  

Here's the current table, just seven games in:

I don't believe that Palace will finish near the relegation zone, and I don't think Manchester United will finish in the bottom half.  Fulham and Brighton are doing better than I expected, though I'm happy for the ex-gunners on those teams.  Wolves are a shocking last place.  Can they turn it around?  Southampton is, I think, a sure bet for bottom three.  Whether Ipswich and Leicester join them in going back down to the Championship after one season is an open question, with Everton, Palace, and Wolves all doing so poorly.  There are no surprises at the top of the table.  I expect a more wide-open race for the title this time, though if any team has a chance of running away with it, I think it's Arsenal.  City has lost Rodri for the season and they may fade, even with their cyborg goalscorer.  Liverpool has had a kind schedule to date.  By March, I may be backtracking on these predictions, but my crystal ball has Everton, Leicester, and Southampton going down, Arsenal winning the league, and Liverpool, City, and Villa rounding out the top four. Chelsea 5th, which may be good enough for Champions' League.

ARS 3-1 SOU

 This was not the walk in the park I expected.  We couldn't break through despite overwhelming possession in the first half.  I thought Sterling and Jesus were too slow to make decisions, and didn't always make good ones.  I was worried about Partey as right back, but he wasn't tested.  Calafiori had a strange game:  going forward he looked great, but his best moments on defense were when he had to make recoveries after being beaten by his man.  He does not appear to have the pace of a Premier League forward, and is too easily outrun down his side.  He also lost his man late in the game and put us under pressure.

But Saka imposed himself on this game.  After the Saints' too-easy goal, our main man got two assists and one goal.  His corners were more erratic today. but he did put some nice ones in.  Havertz was really good again today; his finish for our first was perfect.  When the subs came on, I thought it would be Trossard who scored, but Martinelli made a great run and applied a deft finish from a yard out at a tight angle between Ramsdale's legs, on the end of an exquisite cross from Saka.  He potted the third goal after a breakaway and a follow off a blocked shot.

I didn't see the PSG game, but the highlights are definitely indicative of the stats.  It was a deserved 2-0 win off what I have to say looks like a shadow of the PSG of prior years.