WE DON'T FORGET

Sorry, the preview is a bit later than usual, but work got in the way, hence the delay.

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Before we focus on our chums from Greece, there are a couple of items we'd like to cover.

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1. Ethan Nwaneri never made the bench at the weekend. Completely tactical decision, no injury.

 

He is, we would say, the first casualty of our newfound squad depth. This was made more surprising and, from his viewpoint, worrying, because Madueke is out injured and Max Downman was selected ahead of him. Is it less about Downman being miles better and more about sending a shockwave to Nwaneri? A reminder that raw talent only gets you so far; consistent, high-level effort in training is what earns the matchday privilege.

 

How will Ethan take it? Sulk and seek a move or buckle down? Let's not forget that Havertz, Gabi J, Hincapie, and Madueke will all be back at some point. Yes, we will have injuries and suspensions throughout the season, but as we've mentioned before, squad places are going to be a dogfight. Hey, healthy competition brings out the best in players and all that jazz.

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2. Can we just take a minute to say Fuck Newcastle United Football Club. One of the richest clubs in the world, but it plays like a modern-day Stoke. Their official club preview poster, we kid you not, was headlined "Get In To Them". Are we back in the fucking '90s? That's what neanderthal fans from the north used to chant when Wenger teams came to town. Is calculated retro-style aggression through official club channels the best Newcastle can muster?

 

And then you wonder why, only a minute into the game, walking career criminal Joelinton wipes out Saka at the knees without even trying to play the ball. The same Joelinton who didn't get booked for that but received a yellow for kicking the ball away, then continuously clapped the referee with no further punishment. The same Joelinton who elbowed a 15-year-old in the face in a pre-season friendly. Money buying a seat at the top table doesn't automatically buy class or acceptable on-field behaviour. Fuck those bar code wankers.

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Phew. Exhale. Needed to get that off our chest. Been stewing on that since Monday.

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Now onto Olympiacos.

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We owe them. All of us Gooners remember the Europa League tie at The Carpet in 2020. A cruel gut-punch kinda night. El-Arabi very late on, then Auba even later, with a miss that to this day we still don't know how it didn't go in. 

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Olympiacos is one of those teams that have the weirdest of stats vs us. They have won the last three times they've come to town. We could understand if it was Real Madrid, etc, but Olympiacos? Such a strange one. We've played twelve times and have 6 wins apiece.

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One outstanding stat in our favour is that we have won our last thirteen group/league stage games at The Carpet and have kept clean sheets in TEN OF THEM. The Emirates really is a fortress on European nights.

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Enough stats though. What about their squad? Who are the dangers?

 

One of their signings in the summer was Taremi from Inter. He might be 33 years old, was never the quickest, but has always known where the net is. They have a familiar face in diminutive tricky winger Podence, who had a spell at Wolves and is on loan in Greece from Al-Shabab from the Saudi Retirement League. Their biggest outlay in the summer was £8m for winger Strefezza from Cesc's Como. They lost their best player, centre forward Kostoulas, who is now in the Premier League with Brighton after the Seagulls paid £35m for his services.

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Team news-wise, they have three doubts in Yaremchuk, Gelson Martins, and Rodinei.

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As for us, the usual suspects remain injured, and there was no sign of Hincapie at training, so we are scratching him from the available list.

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It's funny talking about squad rotation playing a side that's turned us over 3 times on the trot at home, and we have 6 wins apiece, but that's exactly what we're going to do.

 

Without tempting fate, we watched their big derby match against bitter rivals Panathinaikos a couple of weeks ago, and they looked bang average in a 1-1 draw. Yes, they won their league at a canter, but it's the Greek league without being too disrespectful. They may be unbeaten in five league games this season (4W 1D), but there are levels, and we are at least a couple above them.

 

Tonight would be a great time after the exertions of Sunday to rest a few weary legs before West Ham at the weekend. This is where it gets tricky. Is Arteta bold enough to make 7/8 changes on a European night, or does he go strong and try to put the match to bed, then haul players off around the hour mark?

 

Below is the lineup we think he'll go with. Does Saka get a breather coming back from injury? Saliba's managed minutes continue? Will he give Rice most of the night off to get his lungs replaced after SJP? Honestly, this line-up could be much of the same from Sunday or complete Carabao Cup vibes. Tough one to predict. If he does play Eze AND Odegaard, like a lot of fans have been clamoring for, it will be interesting to see how that particular experiment pans out.