G'dday tribe fresh from my fulfilled prediction on Steven Gerrard in "RE: WHO HAS GERRARD'S PHONE NUMBER", I go unto a team, who has another of my prediction hanging on them,saying, GO AND SLLEP ARSENAL FAITHFULS,CHAMP LEAGUE IS SURE. The coach, Mikel Arteta has built this team to become one of the youngest in Europe and certainly the youngest in the top five leagues,currently occupying first position.
Meanwhile Aston Villa has responded to my prediction by opting for the immediate past coach of my dear Arsenal—
https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1584798915215269888?s=20&t=1faxYCU3O2v9EyAMOgB93g
- FabrizioRomano
source
As if it to tell me,"we would haunt you for your correct prediction".Hehe. As for Emery he surely wants to prove something. I look at the Villa team,do they have the immediate tools? Yup,that's not a terrible squad really.
I conclude that Emery has taken some risk, but I don't think Villarreal has the spending power of Villa. So this is a calculated risk,he's thinking future and you can see the strategy for recruitment in that tweet.
Now back to the exciting Arsenal of today, Arteta has sent a number of players on loan,like he did to the currently super exciting William Saliba last season.
THE LOAN ARMY LAST WEEKEND
Charlie Patino: Big things are expected of this 20-year-old England U-20 star, who starrs as a midfielder for Blackpool in the Championship. It was a derby game against Preston North End on Saturday. It ended a resounding 4-2 triumph for the Seasiders, with Patino scoring the second goal(making them 2-1 up) and his delightful cross gave his teammate the chance that made it 3-1. The fans are loving him everyday, it's his second goal and now Blackpool has bragging rights in the City.
Folarin Balogun: The rampant,22-year-old English man, with Nigerian ancestry has being lighting up the French top tier league(Ligue 1) with Reims. He's a striker and true to type he has been on the goals. Again in the weekend he scored his sides first goal against Auxerre, with match finishing 2-1 in favour of his side, this being his seventh goal of the season.
Nicolas Pepe: The much older Pepe,27, is having a revival of some sorts in Nice, of Ligue 1. Like sometime ago,my post said A NICE FAREWELL,NICOLAS PEPE. It was a hectic match against Nantes and the opposition was leading by a goal till stoppage time– seven minutes into stoppage-time it was a penalty for Nice. It says a lot as to how much his team value him that he was the one who took the penalty as such a crucial moment. He kept is cool and lashed the ball into the back of the net earning his team a draw. This being his third goal in five games, across all competitions. Not bad for a player who looked to have lost his usual confidence at Arsenal last season.
Nuno Tavares: More from France, the 22-year-old full-back starrs for Marseille in Ligue 1 a team who are also doing quite well in the Champions league this season. He's been brilliant with them,often playing as a wing-back. At the weekend Marseille suffered a 1-0 defeat(third defeat consecutively) to Lens and Nuno was on for the entire duration of the match.
Pablo Mari: Moving to the other side of Europe we land in Italy to check out the solid centre back, 29-year-old Pablo Mari. Being a left footed player, had he been around he would have been putting pressure on Gabriel Magalhães, who has been quite wobbly this season. However,we know Arteta prefers them young. Mari starrs for Monza in Serie A, and it was a tall order for them at the weekend against defending champions,AC Milan and at the San Siro for that matter. There were beaten 4-1 by Milan, but it was Mari featuring for the entire duration of the match.
Auston Trusty: The 24-year-old American who plays exactly thesame position as Mari,was signed by Arteta in 2021,presumably to offer needed competition to Magalhães. Well he was sent on loan to Birmingham City and he's been churning out great performances. He played the for the entire duration of their match in the weekend against high-flying Blackburn Rovers, which they lost 2-1.
Alex Runarsson: There's also a goal keeper. The 27-years-old goal tender plys his trade with Alanyaspor in Turkey. He was on for the entire duration of the weekend's match against mighty Galatasaray in this their revived selves. It end a two-all draw with him making crucial last-minute save. Arsenal now has enviable goal keeping options.
Others are:
Nikolaj Moller: The young Swedish striker,20, who plays for Den Bosch of the Dutch 2nd tier league got an assist after coming off the bench in Den Bosch’s 3-1 loss at MVV Maastricht.
Miguel Azeez: Another 20-year-old this time of England,also came off the bench in the 74th minute of his club,UD Ibiza’s 2-1 loss to Levante in Spain.
Aside from Patino and his exploits in the Championship other Arsenal loanees are in that league–
Harry Clarke plays for Stoke City and came in as a substitute as the second half began but he couldn’t stop his team from being felled 2-0 at home to Conventry City.
There is also a Brooke Norton-Cuffy who plays for Rotherdam United. He was on the losing side as his team were thrashed 4-2 by Hull City. He was able to get 59 minutes of play-time.
In League One,striker,Tyreece John-Jules earned 73 minutes of action as his club,Ipswich Town got the better Derby County, 1-0, to remain in second position on the league log.
There is yet another goalkeeper in the quite popular,imposing 21-year-old, Arthur Okonkwo,who starrs for Crewe Alexandra in English League Two. His team finished with a one-all scoreline against Doncaster Rovers. The highpoint of the match was when Okonkwo saved a penalty.
Let's just be done with the goal keeping department then. O yes another one, playing in the non-league,by name Tom Smith. He was in goal for his team,Bromley, against Chesterfield, but he couldn’t prevent his team's 3-2 to defeat to them in the National League.
In thesame non-league there is an Ovie Ejeheri,who plays for Chelmsford City. He helped his club to a 2-1 victory over Hemel Hempstead, which lifted them to fourth position in the National League South.
In neighbouring country Scotland, we go to Kilmarnock and Ayr.
Arsenal loanee,Ryan Alebiousu plays for Kilmarnock and was on for 74 minutes as his team pipped bottom-placed team, Ross County, 1-0.
Ayr is a club in the Scottish Championship and that's the club Arsenal loanee and 19-year-old defender, Alex Kirk, plays for. He netted a goal for his team against Cove Rangers. It has a header from a corner. Impressive for a defender. The match ended two-all.
CONCLUDING
The loan army are generally giving a good account of themselves, as this new project under Arteta continues to unveil. As for the senior team, it was a minor blip against Southampton with the one-all draw, a match still riddled with impropriety by the ref on some decisions,especially the obvious foul on Gabriel Jesus, who was through on goal,that should have been a penalty. When the draw didn't have such a telling effect in the overall scheme of things in the EPL. They welcome Nottingham Forest next at home, a very winnable match.
So, go Gunners!
Cheers