HAMMER TIME

Happy Friday, my Arsenal Legion friends.

 

We thought we'd get in the weekend vibe with our site pic today. Who on a Friday afternoon doesn't want to see Viktor Gyokeres as MC Hammer, right?

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We chose "Hammer Time" as our title and Viktor as our main protagonist for the preview for a few reasons. One was we wanted to see how funny he would look wearing MC Hammer's baggy trousers (and he does), and the other was that he really is a blunt force trauma kinda striker, so the hammer vibe fits him perfectly. And of course, we play West Ham tomorrow, so the whole theme fitted together nicely. You Can't Touch This level of pre-match analysis...... We'll get our coat.

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Not sure how we manage to get new manager bounce games on such a regular basis. We already had it with Forest and Ange (how's that going?), and now we get it with Nuno and The Hammers/Irons, whatever tf. We had it last year at The Carpet with that lot again, this time with Potter, and they filthy low blocked us to a win.

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Brings us nicely on to our next point. 

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We keep reading about how our next run of games is "nice and easy". Whoa, whoa, slow your roll there, cowpokes. For the record, our next six fixtures in the league before the NLD are West Ham, Fulham, Palace, Brighton, Burnley, and Sunderland.

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Let's look at last season's results against these teams. As mentioned, West Ham turned us over at The Carpet after we'd given them a severe walloping in the reverse fixture. We drew with Fulham away and won at home. They took 4 points out of 6 off us the previous year. Palace is on fire and has just set a new club record of 19 games undefeated. Brighton is another club that historically gives us a hard time, plus, no matter the manager, you're never quite sure what to expect from them. Burnley have already proven to be stubborn opponents since their return to the top flight, especially at Turf Moor and fellow new boys Sunderland, under the leadership of one Granit Xhaka, sit 5th in the table.

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Yes, by all means be bullish, optimistic, confident, all those things, but let's make sure it doesn't turn into complacency, and we're sure Miikel won't let it. We were a little guilty of that here at Arsenal Legion on Wednesday night, and Olympiacos reminded us that no game is a gimme.

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So what of our opponents tomorrow on a rare Saturday 3pm kick-off slot?

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Well, obviously, things haven't gone well as everyone's favourite face swap manager, hipster slacks-wearing Graeme Potter, is out of a job again, and our old pal Nuno Espirito Santo is at the wheel. We wonder what's next for Potter? Does he stay on the EPL managerial merry-go-round, or does he try something new? He certainly isn't afraid of going out of his comfort zone. He started in the lower leagues in Sweden due to the lack of opportunities afforded him in Blighty. 

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Their recruitment in the summer, it has to be said, was pretty awful, so not all of the blame can be put on the old manager. They paid £44m to Southampton for midfielder Mateus Fernandez. This was West Ham's third biggest EVER signing. We have to admit not knowing a whole lot about him other than he came through the fabled Sporting Lisbon academy and only spent one year at Southampton before the move. Their other big purchase was making centre half Jean-Clair Todibo's loan into a permanent one to the tune of £40m.

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Other recruitments included left back Diouf from Slavia Prague, Hermansen, the keeper from Leicester, who we really liked dating back to when he was at Brondby and defensive midfielder Magassa from Monaco. Those signings totalled roughly £60m. They added Premier League experience in Walker-Peters and Callum Wilson for free.

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Their main outgoing was letting arguably their best player in Kudus, leave the club for a London rival. Never a smart move, even if you are getting £64m in return. Centre half Aguerd went to Olympique Marseille and already has a winning goal in Le Classique to his name. Declan Rice's replacement (yeah right), Edson Alvarez, left for Turkey on loan, then they cleared the decks with the removal of a lot of older players such as Emerson, Ings, Coufal, Zouma, Cornet and club stalwart Cresswell.

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No matter the personnel, we know what we'll get with Nuno-ball. A dirty, low block/counter. It will be a case of defend, look stern, point a few times and leave. Hopefully, with a point in the bag. We've seen it with every club he's been at and have no reason to think he will be any different this time around with The Irons.

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Team news-wise for them, their only real doubt is Todibo, who hasn't trained all week, but they are hopeful he makes it. James Ward-Prowse has been bombed from the first team squad altogether.

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For us, it's the usual absentees, although there are murmurs that Havertz, Gabi J and Hincapie might not be too far off returns. Hincapie, the earliest of the trio after the interlull. Madueke is the other that remains injured. Big Gabi at the back came off injured Wednesday night, but Arteta didn't seem concerned at all about him missing out. That means Mosquera is starting for sure.

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Arteta's main dilemma is does he go with Odegaard again in the 10? Not saying it's a dilemma because his performance on Wednesday doesn't warrant another start, but he is coming back from injury, and maybe two games in four days is still a bit much at this stage. If he does go with him, we can see Eze being moved to the left wing. This, of course, means no places for Trossard or Martinelli.

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The back four will revert to type. Mikel seems to have decided that's his strongest back line, and with our defensive record, who are we to argue? We also happen to believe he is correct.