Right, one more push.
After a gruelling January schedule, February started with a bang … well, five bangs against Man City, and tonight we have one more big game before there’s a well-earned break. It’s the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Newcastle at St James’ Park, and 2-0 down from the first leg, it’s going to be quite a challenge.
In terms of tonight’s team, I think we might see a couple of changes from the one that played on Sunday. I have a suspicion Ethan Nwaneri will start, and we might see Myles Lewis-Skelly drop to the bench with Riccardo Calafiori come in. Obviously in that latter case, it’s got nothing to do with his performance, but about managing an 18 year old player as well as we can. And when you have the Italian international as an option there, it makes some sense to use it.
Nwaneri’s goal on Sunday was a bit special, and it just feels to me like it might take something like that to blow this game open. I suppose there might well be a temptation to keep that in reserve in case you really need to change something as the game goes on, but I’d like to see him from the start in this one. We know Newcastle are strong in midfield, and that will be something Mikel Arteta considers with his team selection. They have running power and physical power, and perhaps one of the trio that started against Man City might drop out to introduce some fresh legs – but after such a big win, he might be inclined to go with the same again.
Tiredness and fatigue feel more acute when you lose; after a game like Sunday’s, these guys will feel fresh and ready to go again – not to mention the confidence boost you get after a result like we just had. I think Kai Havertz will lead the line again, and if Nwaneri starts, it’ll be one of Leandro Trossard or Gabriel Martinelli on the left. The question then becomes how do we, and Newcastle, approach this game.
They have something to protect, but know another goal would more or less seal the deal for them. Do they come out of the blocks flying to try and get that goal and kill the game early, or sit off a bit? I suspect it’ll more likely be the former than the latter, but the longer it goes without a goal, the more inclined they’d be to defend deep – and we’ve seen them do that quite successfully against us in the past.
Do Arsenal have a real go from the start to try and quiet down what is going to be a noisy, intense atmosphere up there, or play it safe from the off to make sure we don’t concede? Keep it tight, keep it 0-0, then try and turn the screw in the second half? It’s tough, because you can plan for something, then the randomness of football undermines that, but I think we’ll try and be secure early on, before attempting to get a real grip on a game that Newcastle will play with intensity – and in a way which disrupts any rhythm we might want to build. Expect LOTS of niggly little fouls.
The first goal could be so important, something Mikel Arteta spoke about beforehand, saying:
There are a lot of factors – When that first goal is scored as well, you know, how well you are producing in the game to score that goal, how we generate momentum. What if you don’t score for a period of time as well? There are going to be a lot of scenarios in that game and we have to be really good at it.
And on what’s at stake tonight:
The next step is a final in Wembley so we know how big that is, and you can feel it straight away. The boost the game against City gave us, the manner that we won it, and the fact that it is a game in the competition where we are closest to a final, so we’re going to give it a real go.
After this, we have 10 days off, a trip to Dubai is in the offing for the players to wind down and recharge their batteries a bit, so there’s going to be real cup-tie energy to this one. Newcastle have a lot of quality in their attack, but perhaps have shown some vulnerability at the back of late. The first job is to keep them quiet when they come forward, then punish them up the other end. Easier said than done, of course, but all we can do is give it a real go, so fingers crossed.
Right, let’s leave it there for now. You can find a preview podcast over on Patreon if you need something to pass the time until kick off. Join us later for live blog coverage, plus you’ll get the match report, goal clips, reaction, player ratings and much more over on Arseblog News.
Come on you reds!
