Welcome back for another article.
It almost feels like it's been an international break especially after the winter schedule. 49 points all out was a red arrow to 57k. A fairly positive end with Raya and Timber keeping a clean sheet. Liverpool failed to test the keeper in the league for the first time in 16 years. That said, it wasn't a good showing by Arsenal; Liverpool were overall the better team, so I will absolutely take the 0 - 0 with the clean sheets despite the Saka blank.
O'Reilly was a surprise benching despite Gvardiol and Ruben's injuries. Ait-Nouri was in the squad for City as well as they knocked Newcastle out, so he could be a concern now. 🚨 Blanks across the midfield, but the most painful moment of the week was Sunderland winning a penalty. I'd said on past articles one of the reasons Le Fee came in was because of the free kicks and penalties; so he takes it and goes for a panenka which Kelleher collects with ease. 🧤 The difference between the green and the red arrow on that one kick of the ball—0 pointer for him.
Kind of a good reminder how much luck is involved in this game, though, especially if you've had an unlucky season so far; just don't forget you can make perfectly fine decisions and get the wrong outcome. He did take the first penalty in the League Cup for Sunderland in their shootout, so perhaps he's still on them for now! ⚽
Team Selection
I've spent a few days during the break redesigning the Team Selection articles, which I think you'll agree now looks better plus has way more info, so the articles have gone up another level! 🚀
Goalkeeper 🧤
Starting off in goal is Raya playing Forest away. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place with Raya; if you could give me any Arsenal triple up, it would be Timber, Gabriel, and one of Saka or Rice. Though two transfers to swap Raya to Gabriel I'm struggling to justify right now when there are other moves that are a priority. I'm not sure which keeper I'd want either if Raya was getting sold to free up the Arsenal spot.
Defenders 🛡️
The back 3 is Mukiele, Timber, and Van Dijk.
Long-time readers will remember the fixtures under player cards which are back; they give useful context as you can sort of see who is getting started where, and who could be a sell soon. Mukiele looks great for another 3 gameweeks with Palace home next.
Rather than the two-transfer Raya to Gabriel play, I'm likelier to take the more efficient route and swap Timber to Gabriel—I will talk more on transfer plans in a moment. The reason I'd love to have both Timber and Gabriel is the fact that Timber is the top defender in the league for expected goal involvement; in fact, he's had 6 big chances as well, missed all 6 but still. I could play even more efficiently and not buy Gabriel at all, saving another transfer, but I don't think I can do it to myself with the stress every time Arsenal get a clean sheet or free kick when he's ridiculously high ownership. 📈
On the GW22 clean sheet odds, Liverpool are top with a 50% chance, then Arsenal 44%, Villa 40%. So I'm well invested in the top 2 with 3 defensive assets. Van Dijk I'll likely keep for another few gameweeks, then when he's got Man City it could be Munoz coming in. The fixtures line up perfect: when Van Dijk has Man City, Munoz has Brighton away, then Burnley home and Wolves home.
