This glorious SPURS THUMPING blog will be my last on this site. If you are looking for my latest work, it’ll be on this Substack until the Le-Grove.co.uk address transfers over.

Sorry if it’s a pain to click this LINK for a few more days.

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How do you start a blog after a result like that?

Arsenal did the job. I haven’t felt this proud to be a fan of our glorious club in 20+ years. Beating Spurs in their house could be framed many ways, but for me, it felt like Arteta rubber-stamping his exit from Phase Three of the project.

• Phase 1: Do some dumb rookie things like signing Willian and giving Auba a £350k-a-week deal.
• Phase 2: Realize older players don’t care for your ideas. Be honest about what the club is, who the coaching staff are, and pressure ownership to back Project Youth 2.0. Also, beg Arsenal leadership to get Amazon in the door to do some doco-making.
• Phase 3: Add a layer of world-class talent to a world-class system. Improve the mental capabilities of the squad. Refine the playing style. Prove the team is ready to dominate by managing a successful league campaign with the added complexity of the Champions League.

We’re now into the final run of the season. All the weak-kneed bed-wetters who said we’d never get back to the top with a manager like Mikel Arteta are dry-heaving on force-fed humble Kai. The screamers on YouTube are going to have to find a new way to make revenue, like anti-vaxxing, Alpha male-ing or flat-earthing. The days of fleecing fan attention with subpar analysis are over – the adults have control – no one wants to watch someone scream ‘Arteta Out’ at the slightest point of pain – Hector Bellerin had it right.

Arsenal is a no-drama zone. The case law has been settled. We are a serious club, top to bottom. This season has been magnificent regardless of where the league finishes. Elliot at Arsenal Vision tweeted that we’re tracking for a 101-point season in 2024. That is incredible.

The Spurs result was special because we didn’t really deserve the win. It was a rough performance pitted with individual errors and subpar performances. Spurs created more xG against us than any team this year. But for me, that is the win. You can’t be Champions if you only win the games you deserve to win. To find the next level, you have to steal games from big teams. As fans, you have to occasionally feel like you’ve taken out a loan on your Grandma’s excellent credit rating… knowing you’ve no intention of paying it back. That happened today… and we stole the old lady’s toaster in the process (and left the toilet seat up).

Let’s go full cliche here: It was a game of two halves.

The first half was far from perfect, but the plan seemed fairly clear. Lure Spurs into pressing us in dangerous spaces, escape with a ball to Ødegaard, then see what happens.

Well, what happened is we were three up by halftime. Arsenal took their chances. Two goals came from corners. Hojberg scored the first for Spurs. The third came from Kai Havertz nodding in a cross from Declan Rice.

Our second goal came from an outrageous counter-attack. Kai Havertz dropped a switched ball for the ages into Bukayo Saka’s path. The Spicy Sauce Influencer bounded into the area, made mincemeat of Ben Davies, and ripped a low shot past one of the best keepers in the league.

Spurs didn’t have a shot on target. You might say they were, in fact, a victim of the fixture list. 15 days off wasn’t a good look for them. But they had chances. Arsenal gave them set pieces, we gifted them transition opportunities, and we let Romero hit the post and allowed Son in on our goal one-on-one. 3-0 up felt dirty, but it didn’t feel secure. A bit like giving your phone number to an OnlyFans influencer.

If the second half was an OnlyFans category, it would have been self-immolation. We did the hard work. We rode out the first 18 minutes really well. Then we lit the match and set fire to our naked bodies.

David Raya received the ball under slight pressure, but no worse than usual. He had options around him. He could have gone short, long, or passed it out for a throw, a corner, or a goal kick. Instead, he chose to dink the ball over two attackers like he was playing 5-a-side against a team of 6-year-olds. The hesitancy meant he didn’t beat his man. Romero picked up the ball and finished like Gabriel Batistuta.

…now it was game on. We went from looking like we’d depressed Spurs into not pressing/giving up to firing them up into believing they’d kill our title dreams. Their fans perked up. The players looked energized. Arsenal were in trouble.

The Arsenal boys didn’t shrink… Saka had an incredible chance to kill the game down the other end, but he missed basically an open goal.

Then Declan gave away a penalty by booting a Spurs player up the arse by accident. Son scored, and Matt Kandela called me and said, “Pete, this is where the title bid ends.”

Our box turned into the Alamo. We gave away free kicks, corners, space for crosses, but one theme remained strong… David Raya claimed anything that went near him. Our defenders put their bodies on the line to clear. It was brilliant defending and outrageous keeping.

Now, there are people who will slam David Raya for the mistake. There’s no avoiding it. It was really bad. When you’re coasting at 3-0 up, you don’t need to take risks. He did. It cost him. But that was the first goal he’d conceded away in 6 games. It was his first major mistake in a while. Mistakes happen, you have to face it. But what was telling was how he responded. He was absolutely incredible after – and sadly, I know Aaron wouldn’t have responded the same way.

This is the broader talking point for me: When we lost THAT Newcastle game in 2022, part of the reason was we lacked bravery. Ramsdale hoofed, no one played through the press, we were bottle jobs, and cowards. Yesterday, our first-half plan revolved around high-risk passing in high-pressure areas… and it won us the game. The criticism of Raya was: He tried to do high-risk brave things when he should have hoofed it. Switching out of high-risk is hard – but I’d rather have a brave keeper willing to do brave things than a keeper who is scared. He’s a brilliant keeper – I’m just glad the season didn’t fall on one of his errors.

We won the game 3-2. That was the hardest game left we’ll play. City won by playing far worse football. There is still a huge chance this title goes our way.

So let’s chat about a few players that stood out.

Kai Havertz I’m sorry, but this guy is a freak of nature. He gets better and better. Chelsea fans all told us about him: He’s a big-game player.

Who showed up today? Big Game Kai.

His assist to Saka was so good I assumed it was from Declan Rice. A 50-yard moonraker into feet. Exceptional. His headed goal from a corner was soft for Spurs, but great for us, because Kai doesn’t score a lot of those sorts of goals. We’re also forgetting about the fact he had the ball in the net very early on as well. He was immense, his work rate, combined with output, makes him a bargainous summer signing.

Remember the nerds who told you he was a bad investment – and never trust them again.

Bukayo Saka This is a game his family would disown him for not performing in. He was electric. He hates Spurs, gets the rivalry, and puts on a show if he can. His goal was pure Mo Salah. He picked up the Kai pass in space and made sure the result of the space afforded to him by Angeball was punished to the max. I thought his off-ball movement was really positive, and his overall danger level felt really high.

Thomas ‘Party Boy’ Partey I thought he was finished. That Arteta had moved on from him. When he didn’t get the nod for the Villa game, it seemed over. Well, we were all wrong. Thomas is going to be the man in midfield for the rest of the season. He was f***ing outrageous. He’s gone from looking a bit overweight to deft on his feet, and maybe faster than he ever was. He was dropping bodies with his movement. The one-touch passing was accurate and devastating. He controls the midfield in a different way to Declan Rice, but it’s oh-so complimentary to his younger counterpart. I’m not sure how you deal with a midfield that good.

Mikel Arteta Matt Kandela said on the podcast that Arteta coached a 4-0 win, and he’s right. Tactically, both halves were perfect. Execution was far from sexy… but it did the job. We have the 2nd best manager in the world right now. I won’t hear anything different. We’re chasing City down until the last game of the season and doing it with kids on half the wages. What he’s done with this Arsenal side is one major trophy away from cementing his reputation…

…What he’s done with this Arsenal side is one major trophy away from cementing his reputation up there with Arsene Wenger and George Graham.

The only thing we’ve wanted for the last twenty years is to have an owner, manager, front office, back office… all going into work every day with the same mission: ‘Make Arsenal great’.

That wasn’t us from 2005 to 2017. It is us now.

Trophies are important, but they can be fluked. What is truly important is knowing the people that look after the thing we love really do care about it.

They do.

This season has been magnificent. The feelings I have towards the club have never been stronger. Whatever happens this season, you can be sure of one thing: No club is better placed to dominate the next 5 years than us.

Ok, that’s me done.

I accidentally posted the On The Whistle in a non-exclusive way yesterday, and we had a Livestream audience of 6100 concurrent AOPers. That is f***ing mad. Thank you to all those who watched. Check out the video here.

This will be the last Arsenal blog I post on WordPress. Beating Spurs was too beautiful not to exit this platform gracefully. If you want the blog, go to the Substack address until I work out the tech. All the writing is free until the end of the year. Thank you for reading commenting, being a part of this amazing journey. Now we move onto the next thing.

P.S. I am back for the Arsenal game. I don’t have a ticket. If you have a spare, I will buy it from you for a very good price. E-mail me! x

Well, my friends, today, I guess we dine in hell?

The biggest North London Derby of the past two decades is here, and the consequences of failing could not be more jeopardacious for both teams.

Unai Emery stole a point against Chelsea with an absolutely dire performance that could sit on the mantelpiece in his hall of shame. Chelsea were somehow denied a goal by VAR at the death. Regardless, a 2-2 draw works really well for Spurs hunt for top 4.

It means they can lose against Arsenal, but could still be in with a chance of toppling a Villa that is the only English team contending a European competition.

Why does that matter? It means that Spurs are likely going to have to do something against Manchester City if they want to make the Champions League.

Big Ange can talk about preparedness for that competition all he likes, but when push comes to shove, managers at Premier League clubs always think about self-preservation. If Spurs have an xG crash landing next season, they’re not top 4, they’re 11th. They’re the second most overperforming team in the league behind… Aston Villa.

Champions League likely gives the Top-Aussie-Geezer a chunky personal cash bonus, it gives him the right to bang Daniel Levy’s oak table and demand big reinforcements, and it cements his legend with fans which might save him if he has a wonky 2024-25.

This Emery boost they’ve been given works for them in every game after Arsenal, but we also have to remember it works very nicely for them tomorrow. If Spurs win their next three games, they’ll be fourth with less need to do something against City.

Arsenal has a different objective – force the league into the last game of the season. Any slip, and it is over. Lose, it’s finished. Draw, and we’re probably living in that world as well. This has to be an Arsenal win if we want to have a hope.

As I mentioned yesterday, the big decision will be who plays fullback. Tomiyasu is the man we all want to see on the left, but there’s no way there hasn’t been a consequence to that horrific challenge he faced at Chelsea. If it’s not him, then I’m going to Zinchenko. His ability to overload their midfield and cause chaos could be really valuable in a huge game. I can’t watch Kiwior have his insides turned out by Brennan.

There isn’t an unknown regarding the Arsenal that’ll show up. It’ll be a force of energy that’ll try to pick Spurs apart with aggressive attacking football. There is a big question over what Big Ange can get from a side that was savaged by Newcastle just before Spurs were given a little Premier League vacation by their friends in the fixture office. Going on holiday on a spanking isn’t usually good for morale. Stepping out of the season when things are heating up might cause a sputtery start. This is a tough one to gauge. The only thing we can know for certain? The longer we don’t score, the harder it’ll be on our legs in the second half when Spurs’ rest time will pay dividends. Most of our failings this season have come when a deserved early goal hasn’t dropped.

There were a lot of people calling Liverpool bottle jobs yesterday; whilst I find that sort of carry-on amusing, it is, categorically, complete and utter bollocks. Since when did we start packaging anything bar total victory as ‘bottling’? It’s childish commentary pushed by people who have generally won nothing in their lives.

Arsenal are well beyond the stage where you can call this season anything outside magnificent. If you’re sitting on the sidelines with draft tweets like ‘see, I told you in 2018 Arteta was a wrong’un,’ you are saying more about yourself than you are about this Arsenal team.

At the very highest level of sport, where Arsenal currently sit, all you can ask for is that your team is competitive and in the mixer for crunch time. There are only 22 days left of the season. We are top of the league as of writing. This is what we have wanted for 15 years… and now it’s here.

Savour the moment, don’t squander it. Seven years ago, we were trying to pump ourselves up about Lacazette, Kolasinac, and Carl Jenkinson finally coming good.

‘Maybe Wenger will win the Europa and send us back to the Champions League?’

‘Maybe Arsenal will choose a really good manager!’

‘This Raul guy, who has been part of some of the shadiest deals in football history, has our best interests at heart, maybe we’ll be okay.’

‘At least Ivan’s here, he can show what he’s about!’

Those were some dark days. It’s tempting to forget about them because now we’re dining at the top table, trying to call shots with a team that is on a wage bill that is half of City. But we shouldn’t forget the banter years, and we should never pretend that we’re where we are now because our fine name demands it. Arsenal is back to their best because we did things the hard way, built the club sustainably, and invested in an idea that took a long time. It could all disappear tomorrow, so enjoy what we have now… the journey is the fun part.

Okay, that’s me done. On The Whistle will be a paid post, but you can watch it if you signed up to Substack. Link going out later! x

Liverpool effectively bowed out of the title race, slumping to a 2-2 draw with West Ham away from home. We all said their collapse would come and we can all pat ourselves on the back for being right on the money.

(more…)

Well, good morning BEST FRIENDS. That’s what we are, right? RIGHT?

I’m still on my sugar high from the Chelsea game. A magnificent beasting for the ages! Should have been 7 or 8 when you watch it back. I still can’t quite get over energy levels like that considering the context of the month. Our weak little lambs, who were bullied by Newcastle, are now the bullies massacring teams with identity issues.

I love it. Sorry, I mean I FOGGING love it.

You know what else I FOGGING love? Predictions about Liverpool coming to fruition. Their luck has run out. Their players are cooked. Their title aspirations are likely dead for this season barring an absolute miracle. Sure, there’s still a chance they could finish ahead of Arsenal, but it looks done to me.

(more…)

Arsenal – what exactly WAS that?

A footballing tour de force, that’s what. An otherworldly display of energy. All the hallmarks of a legendary performance, one that cements the status of this squad as mentality monsters.

There’s no downplaying the sheer brilliance of what unfolded. The team that should have beaten Manchester City at the weekend utterly crushed Chelsea under the relentless pressure of Arsenal’s attack. It was so one-sided, I almost called a charity for advice on how to stop a bully!

From the first whistle, it was a pummeling. Mikel Arteta spoke pre-game about looking up to his footballing daddy… but then proceeded to commit patricide in front of 60,000 people.

27 shots. 10 on target. 3.6 xG. 5 goals.

This isn’t how a young team is supposed to behave during a title race, especially after a tough match against Wolves just three days prior. These games are meant to be tense, decided by scrappy, late goals… but Arsenal tore up the AI-developed script, elevating their game to a next level we didn’t think existed.

I was reminded of a story about a Ukrainian soldier in battle. His comrades were slowing down as they ran for cover, and he turned to them and said, “What are you saving your energy for?”

Maybe it’s not right to compare football to something as serious as war, but Arsenal seemed to prove Arteta’s philosophy on fatigue – it’s all in the mind. And who are we to disagree? Also, hardly controversial to commend the bravery of Ukraine’s people/soldiers given the moment.

Two major changes to the starting lineup: Thomas Partey returned to the midfield, and Tomiyasu slotted in at right-back.

There were simply too many outstanding performances to cover everyone in detail.

Ben White was the man of the match. A beast in defence, brilliant going forward, and clinical with two crucial goals. We sometimes forget this rock-solid right-back started as a center back for Arsenal. He evolves each season, always learning, always improving, never compromising on quality. What a showing! And that no-look goal was the perfect way to stick it to Mudryk, who tried to claim White’s mistimed cross at Stamford Bridge as intentional. I loved how Cuccurella threw a fit when White scored his first, stamping his feet like a hair-gifted toddler.

Caicedo who? That’s all I have on the Caicedo vs Declan debate.

Trossard opened the scoring yet again. What a night for Brighton alumni in general, but only Luther Van Tross truly shone. He slotted home after just five minutes, placing it perfectly under Petrovic. That goal set the tone for the entire night. His best trait is the end product, and he’s now at 15 goals this season. An incredible return for £25m, especially when you compare it to Mudryk, a player three times the price with only six goals for Chelsea in his whole career.

Martin Ødegaard was absolutely outrageous — the kind of performance you could get arrested for. He was dropping passes in the final third that made me blush. The man created eight chances and bagged two assists. This guy is the world’s best creative player right now. How on earth did we land him for so little?

Kai Havertz is an enigma. One minute he’s Berbatov, the next Van Persie, then morphs into Bergkamp or Kanu. Yesterday we saw a true #9. He missed some chances early on, made some questionable decisions in the box, then dumped on Chelsea with two absolute bangers and served up the perfect “I SHALL CELEBRATE THE GOOD TIMES” celebration. The fans love him; he knows his place in our system. Now he’s looking like a £65m bargain, and it’s clear why Carlo Ancelotti wanted him at Madrid.

The midfield pairing we all wanted to see this season: Declan Rice and Thomas Partey. Both possess similar strengths, but Declan excels at carrying the ball, while Partey moves it through midfield with electrifying speed. After Arteta only gave Partey 11 minutes in the last game, I thought he was finished. Boy, was I wrong! He had a monstrous 90 minutes to prove it. And how well did he complement the phenomenal Declan Rice? The £105m man absolutely shattered any notion that he’s anything less than exceptional. He covered an insane amount of ground to ensure Chelsea had nothing against us. Imagine dismantling your boyhood club like that? My favorite moment was seeing him pirouette on the edge of the box, receive the ball… and then blast it just over. There’s a whole other level to his game we haven’t witnessed yet. Consider yourselves warned.

What else did I love?

Players sliding into tackles, getting up, and roaring at the crowd – pure PASHUN. The bond between us and the team is electric. They need us now more than ever. This is like a beautiful COVID-era advert, with all our players fighting for every ball, every duel, every blade of grass, screaming at the fans like it was Miami in a no-mask kind of era.

This whole season has been magical. We head into the final four games still in the fight. Next up is the trip down the road to the Toilet Bowl. A win there, and we set up a Premier League title showdown that could go down to the final game of the season.

Isn’t that what it’s all about? It absolutely is. Wow. Arsenal has brought so much joy over the past four years. If you’re a young fan, cherish these moments because you never know when the next banter era could come and take your joy.

Ok, a final note. This might be my last WordPress post. The domain should move to Substack soon. I’ve written around 5,604 blogs here, you’ve left over 3 million comments, I’ve had millions of readers, and I’ve met so many amazing Grovers. This has been a blast, and we’ll have just as much fun on the new platform.

Some details:

• Writing will be free until the season ends.
• Sign up to receive the emails.
• If you’re feeling generous and want to support the site, you’ll get immediate access to all the podcasts. In the summer, you’ll get all the paywalled content too.

Thank you for being here – your support means the world and ensures another 17 years of writing!

Big love. x

Another game? Already? Sheesh, this Premier League season…

The Premier League has had about 16 two-week breaks, then they lump all the games into one month. It’s really quite irritating – the more successful a club is in the cups, the worse it is for them. I do wish the Premier League would work out a way to distribute the games more evenly over the season. No way should there be just one English club left in European competition.

Anyway, before we get into the latest post, I just wanted to say thanks to all the people who checked out and signed up for Substack. An even bigger thanks to the supporters who signed up for a paid subscription before I even really laid out what the plan is. You are the best. As a heads-up, I’ll be giving you access to all the podcasts; then the writing will move to a blended paid/free model at the end of the season.

Back to Substack, the comments section over there isn’t perfect, but it’s easy to use, looks nice on mobile, and you can get to it via their app. I was considering setting up a Discord for paid subscribers – let me know if you like that idea or despise it.

Onto the post… does Mikel have more daddy issues in the Premier League?

No manager has more of them than the young Spaniard. The problem with his parentage? He loses to those he loves the most. Moyes has given him issues this season, he didn’t beat Pep for ages, and now he’s literally on record saying:

‘He doesn’t like me to say it, but he was like a father figure to me in Paris’

Mikel, you’ve got to stop latching onto Premier League managers like this. I’ve already had to tell Arsenal fans to stop saying ‘Wenger was like a father to me’ on the internet. We can’t our manager doing similar things.

My main worry here isn’t that, though. It’s that everyone thinks Chelsea is an absolute mess, and I’m not entirely sure that’s true. It’s a team packed with largely untapped talent that can blitz Everton and batter City one week – then fall to pieces the next. They binned all the experienced players, signed a bunch of kids, and their mentality was summed up perfectly when they had a fight over a penalty while 5-0 up.

The question tomorrow is which side will show up – a demotivated team badly wounded from an FA Cup semi-final exit, or the dog and pony show ready to show the world they can destroy league campaigns with the same relish Mourinho sides of the past would?

Arteta specifically said the energy at training had been buzzing after the win and he had to stop them. That’s great news. He also absolutely confirmed in his presser that he thinks tiredness is a state of mind. I’m not an elite athlete, so I wouldn’t know, but that mindset can be dangerous for a team’s fitness levels. However, when there are five games to go, what are you saving your energy for? It’s do-or-die against two teams with more reliable weaponry.

This is the Chelsea injury list via their website:

• Christopher Nkunku – in partial team training.
• Robert Sanchez – in partial team training.
• Lesley Ugochukwu – in partial team training.
• Ben Chilwell – undergoing medical assessment.
• Malo Gusto – undergoing medical assessment.
• Cole Palmer – absent due to illness.
• Levi Colwill – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Wesley Fofana – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Reece James – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Romeo Lavia – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.

That’s quite the list, considering the average age of their squad is about 14 years old. The key name there that we’re happy to see is Cole Palmer. Chelsea accidentally signed him last summer and paid over the odds, but he has delivered sensational output and now looks like an absolute bargain. Losing him to illness is a psychological blow – especially if anyone watched Nico Jackson get into multiple world-class positions against City only to blow them with Ade Akinbiyi levels of finishing.

Mudryk? Well, I don’t even need to talk about him. We got Trossard, who has been electric. Chelsea landed the Ukrainian for 3x the price, and he’s been a little underwhelming.

Arsenal has an almost entirely fit squad to choose from. Jurrien Timber played for the U21s and scored an absolute worldie of a goal. He cut back on himself in the Blackburn box like Gabi Jesus, made a yard of space, and fizzed a top-corner goal Dennis Bergkamp would have smiled at.

He won’t be ready for Chelsea, but maybe a bench appearance at Spurs could be on the cards? The boy is some player, apparently one of the best technicians at the club already. I hear the thing the club is really excited about is his leadership skills. He’s going to give us some options next season.

As for our starting 11, my feeling is Tomiyasu will likely start ahead of Kiwior. We might see this as a game where Kai plays as a 9 and Jorginho drops into midfield alongside Thomas Partey. Outside that – it is what it is. Win, and our reward is a 4-point lead in the Premier League, with everyone chasing us. Lose, and well… let’s not think about that.

We’ll be going LIVE right after the game on Patreon. Come join if that’s your jam. You can also check out the Before The Whistle I opened here. x

Well, hello dearest friends of the internet. Here we go again – another week of competitive football in the Premier League of England & Wales. Let’s get into some of the mad stuff that happened yesterday.

Nottingham Forest skewered the VAR in their match against Everton for being a Luton fan. Using a club’s social media channels to make a really emotional point about referees is, of course, very Barclays Premier League, but I’m not sure it helps their cause. It was amateur. The club channels should be above that sort of thing. The game decisions were poor, but I’m not sure it’s because the VAR was rooting for Luton. I think it’s more likely they’re just not great at what they do.

That said, the FA and PGMOL do next to nothing to avoid conflicts of interest. There are 28,000 registered refs in England, 4000 offer up their souls to get into the game each year… yet Arsenal manages to get an Australian Liverpool fan in the VAR box for six Arsenal games and as referee twice this season. There are more Australian refs than refs from London – a capital of 9 million, a huge pool of refs, and not one ref can make it to the elite in *this* era? They only have one ref of color in a diverse league. The majority of refs are from the North, mostly from the Northwest. Refs from Manchester ref the Manchester Derby.

Football obsession is inherited. I hate Spurs because my dad told me to. I tried to support Nottingham Forest and my Dad disowned me until I came to my senses. Growing up, having Tottenham fan friends was tough because my dad would not be pleasant to them – even today, when I flag it as a childhood trauma, he doesn’t regret it at all. In fact, one of my Spurs-supporting friends growing up responded to a Spurs forum post asking if I was a genuine Arsenal fan or an attention seeker – and he recounted what it was like being around my family growing up.

Are you telling me someone who grew up a United supporter can neutralize similar upbringings for their profession? All 23 of the refs? All of the VARs?

The FA and PGMOL should be going out of their way to control the perception of bias or unfairness, but they don’t.

So was Nottingham Forest wrong for their tweet? Probably. But was the substance of the statement baseless? No.

Onto something more fun: UNITED.

Coventry nearly created one of the greatest cupsets of the decade, taking United to penalties in a disaster-class performance for the ages – even for EtH, who has been a dead man walking since December. It was criminal that VAR had to ruin that moment for Coventry.

It has been another nightmare run for a club that lacks direction and any sort of smarts. Whoever they get in this summer is going to be at least 5 years away from getting United back to the top. They have given everyone ridiculous contracts no one else would – and now they are going to pay the price with a slow and painful rebuild.

Just praying they choose Gareth Southgate. It’s a bit of a shame Thomas Tuchel is being mooted. Though it does have to be said, Mr. Tuchel hasn’t performed well in tough dressing rooms of late. I’m not sure why he’d be the perfect choice for a United reboot, but here we are.

Arsenal, fresh off a very top-tier win against Wolves, will be working their hardest to defeat Chelsea at home on Tuesday. The big question is this: How will they take defeat to City? They were by far the better team. They ran harder, had better chances, and looked far more likely to get to the FA Cup final, and yet they were sucker-punched. A team that had a massive dust-up over a penalty at 5-0 up probably isn’t as emotionally resilient as you think

This season is well and truly over for them – but they do have a point to prove to the world. Will they raise their game against Chelsea and channel some of that yesteryear Jose Mourinho vindictiveness to kill our season? I think so. So we have to be at our absolute best again.

The changes for me are pretty simple: Kiwior has to be exited from the starting 11. Even after a good second half, he has ‘gives penalty away to Cole Palmer’ written all over him. This could be a good one for Tomiyasu to step into, or it could also be primed for Zinchenko.

I think we’ll see Gabriel Jesus benched after his drab performance, with Kai back at #9 and Jorginho or Partey stepping into midfield.

The rest is the same. It’s do or die at this stage. Every game has to be a win if we’re to stand a chance. 5 games to make life tough for Manchester City.