Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

Arsenal 0 Liverpool 2     FA Cup 3rd Round Sunday 7th January 2024  4.30pm     Arsenal completed a sorry hat-trick of defeats – two of them at home – in an admittedly entertaining FA Cup Third Round tie at the Emirates yesterday. However, entertaining as it was, and as delightful as much of the Gunners’ first half dominance proved, they failed to put the ball in the net, despite numerous chances.   Talk of the need for a clinical finisher at centre forward is not new, but it is definitely louder after the matches since Boxing Day. The question is whether or not investing in one of the required quality will put the club in Financial Fair Play hot water. Ultimately, the situation Arsenal now find themselves in is a legacy of not being in the Champions League for six seasons. Year on year, that meant a significantly reduced income, all the time paying wages at a level that required participation in the competition. The Premier League income...

Manchester City 1 Arsenal 0    FA Cup 4th Round    Friday 27th January 2023 8pm      Arsenal unsurprisingly made their exit from the FA Cup away to Manchester City, but their performance was credible, and this was nothing like the 4-0 cup exit at Manchester United in the 2007-08 season, a game that was flagged up by ITV’s coverage as being significant in that season’s collapse.   All the same, Mikel Arteta’s team selection confirmed this trophy was not high priority, and in financial terms, it really isn’t. This is why the status of the trophy has declined over my lifetime. In the 1970s when I was a youngster, it felt of equal importance to winning the league. Now we see weakened teams and I don’t habitually watch the final. Manchester City last won the trophy by thrashing Watford 6-0 in 2019. I didn’t watch it and would never have recalled that without a prompt. I am of an age where my memory only retains stuff of greater personal meaning.  ...

Oxford United 0 Arsenal 3   FA Cup 3rd Round   Monday 9th January 8pm     Arsenal last played Oxford in the 2002-03 season, also in the FA Cup third round, with a starting eleven that was generally populated by back-up players, aside from Pires and Bergkamp, which kind of echoed things 20 years on, as Mikel Arteta selected both Martinelli and Saka. Arsenal went on to win the trophy that season, including an unlikely win in Manchester (against United), so who knows? Four players were retained from the starters that faced Newcastle, with Eddie Nketiah joining the two aforementioned attackers up front, and Gabriel in defence. Aside from that, it was a chance for second stringers to get game time and ideally make a case for selection in the Premier League, although no-one really took the opportunity with the possible exception of keeper Matt Turner. Yes, Vieira did get two assists, but we’ll come to that later.   Just a thought about this competition thoug...

Nottingham Forest 1 Arsenal 0   FA Cup 3rd Round   Sunday 9th January 2022 5.10pm    Mikel Arteta played a mix and match side – as is often the way in the earlier rounds of the domestic cups – and it was such a selection that were beaten 4-2 at the City Ground in January 2018, Arsene Wenger’s final match in this competition. Rob Holding was the sole representative remaining from that line up, and that experience should have ensured that he of all people must have been aware of the danger of fielding weakened sides in the cup, especially away. He was the captain yesterday, but evidently was unable to motivate the troops sufficiently, as performance-wise, it didn't feel all that different to four years ago. All white kits were worn as part of a campaign to prevent the needless deaths of teenagers from knife crime, with cuts closing youth centres and removing safer alternatives for how youngsters spend their spare time, compared to gang culture. A worthy initi...

Southampton 1 Arsenal 0 FA Cup 4th  Round Saturday 23rd  January 2021 12.15pm Southampton fielded a strong team that looked like they cared about progressing into the last 16 of the FA Cup a little more than Mikel Arteta, who mixed things up to give gametime to some second stringers. Away against a team above them in the league, one that they have struggled to beat in recent encounters, it indicated Arteta’s priorities. Tuesday evening’s Premier League visit to the same opposition is more important.   Consequently, the mix and match side that took on the Saints produced an impotent, disjointed performance. We’ve actually seen the first eleven play like this a good number of times this season, and one has to ask what is actually happening on the training ground to produce such unwatchable fare. Some of the players simply aren’t of the required standard, and there’s little point hoping that either Eddie Nketiah or Pepe will come good, or that Willian will ever consistently ...

Arsenal 2 Newcastle 0  (aet)  FA Cup 3rd Round Saturday 9th January 2021 – 5.30pm    Arsenal 0 Crystal Palace 0   Premier League    Thursday 14th January 2021 - 8pm    Arsenal 3 Newcastle 0   Premier League    Monday 18th January 2021 - 8pm    So, firstly thanks to those that have emailed to express concern that I have come down with the virus, due to the lack of activity on the blog. I am healthy and well, but as I will explain very busy on the work front. Most people know that I have passed on the baton of Gooner editor to Layth Yousif, but less are aware that my new gig is holistic therapy. I do a lot of work on the connection between emotions and physical illness, although I am spending two weeks in South Africa to work with a fellow therapist exchanging ideas and developing programs for a home use microcurrent frequency device called a Healy . It was launched in the summer of 2017, but i...