Aston Villa v Arsenal Sat 6th December 1230 PM KO

Sicario2

Rice should be good for this one. Personally think Saliba will return as well esp if Mosquera is out.

Looking at their first squad there is no reason why we shouldn’t be beating them. Therefore, this is a must win no doubt about it. Let’s beat these chumps and take them out of the title race.

COYG

Burnwinter

Important match. I'm calling it a 6.5 on the FH–MW scale.

If we win this then Villa go back 9 behind us and Chelsea do no better than staying there. Any other result would be a setback to absorb and we'd probably have City right on our arses instead of feeling demoralised.

Qwiss

So many moving parts this week. If its Merino up front and Rice is a doubt I'd want an Ode and Eze midfield with Martinelli left. If Gyokeres is 100% then maybe Merino in for Rice with Eze starting left. In defence you just play whoevers fit.

Burnwinter

Is there an update on Tross? Be good to have him available.

This would be a great match for Madueke to take it up a notch.

Sicario2

Burnwinter to be fair Madueke would have prob scored last night if the ref didn’t blow for that ‘foul’.

Burnwinter

Sicario2 He's looking great. Only a matter of time before he puts a couple more away on that evidence.

est

Sicario2 There's absolutely nothing to suggest he'd have scored that chance except for wishful thinking.

He has looked absolutely hopeless when it comes to end product so far.

Good thing he does the rest pretty well, so he keeps getting into those positions quite regularly. I really hope he sharpens up whatever he's doing after he beats his man/gets into a scoring position and does it soon.

Segway

In theory, Gyökeres should be perfect against Villa's high line.

Sicario2

est he scored v Bayern. I have no doubt he would have put a one on one way against Kehllier

Qwiss

est dunno what he would have done TBH, we haven't really seen him get space like that before. He certainly has final ball issues in traffic so far but he's not played much and is showing a lot of promise. Let him get a while being fit and playing with the team and I think he'll up his productivity quite a bit. Keep him on the right if possible though, once his confidence is up and he's settling then try him at LW.

lorddulaarsenal

Going to this. Sitting amongst the Villa fans.

My 8 year old son asked if he can wear his Arsenal shirt “sure son go for it!”

USArsenal

So, sounds like Rice will be fine for this match. Obviously he has to play. Lets hope Saliba is also healthy enough to partner Hincapie. I would really like to see a Timber/Saliba/Hincapie/Calafiori back 4. Rice/Zubi/Odegaard (or Eze) and then up front, Martinelli/Gyokeres (or Merino?)/Saka to start. Noni on the left is not the same as on the right, but he can't start over Saka in this game on the right. We need to go strong and get the 3 points at all costs.

Then we have Brugge/Wolves/Everton. Rotate in those games.

Panda

There is also a week gap between Wolves home and Everton away so we just need to get through this game unscathed and then hopefully Rice/Zubi/Timber/Saka/Calafiori/Merino can have a bit of a rest.

Hope Saliba and Trossard are back and we go with the strongest team possible.

Saka usually plays well here so banking on him for this 1.

Come on Arsenal!

Sicario2

Mentally if we can past Villa with the 3 points it is huge, maybe our toughest test on paper due to their form, the short turnaround, the early KO, the injuries, away game against 3rd place in the league etc. A win and our rivals will not only be mentally fucked but also have a huge hurdle to turn around in terms of points.

lorddulaarsenal

What you’re describing sounds pretty much like a must win match

CPM

If we win this match we're going to be almost impossible to catch. At least 5 points clear with basically every tough away game bar City done (I guess Spurs counts also because it's a NLD, but they're average and shit at home).

Sicario2

CPM yep although Everton away in a few weeks could be potentially tricky but at least we will have a full week to prepare for it

lorddulaarsenal

Sicario2 sounds like what you’re describing sits firmly within the “must win” category

tazmania

This is an 8/10 on the must win scale.
City playing Sunderland, they could lose points. We can't give them any excuse to breath down our necks

RowJimmy

tazmania
We probably need to win 75% of our matches to win the title, so yeah, 8/10 sounds about right (week in, week out).

Sicario2

tazmania there is no 6/10 or 8/10. A must win is a must win. Either it’s a must win or it isn’t. It’s a must win.