Arsenal find their mojo and blow Sporting Lisbon away
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The only way to score is, of course, to play with a hand break off. Hello, I'm Ian Stone. This is Hand Break Off, the Arsenal podcast brought to you by The Athletic. Last night, Arsenal absolutely thrashed Sporting Lisbon. 5-1 in Lisbon. A place where they haven't lost for 18 months. To talk about that and have a quick look at it,

to West Ham this weekend. Joined once again by Adrian Clark and Amy Lawrence. Good morning. Hiya. Hello. What a good morning it is. Yeah, there we go. See, we went through some of the horrible ones. We did Bournemouth and we did Newcastle. Son, this is our reward, all right? Before we talk about the game,

We know that Big Gabby and William Saliba pocketed Victor, is it? Victor Goikaris? Jokeres. Jokeres, thank you. But we wouldn't mind him up front for us. We were thinking. We were thinking. I certainly liked the look of him at the end there when he ran past Kirill and walloped it against the post. But anyway, if, if...

Amy, you could send one of our current players to go and find him after the game and persuade him to come to the Arsenal. Who would you go for and why? Who's got the persuasive powers needed to bring someone over from Lisbon to sunny North London in November? Well, it's obviously very, very tempting to send Gabriel and just say...

You want me on your side and not against you. Oh, I'm chilled, aren't you, Adrian? I'm chilled, mate, honestly. Yeah, I like that. Yeah. However, I think you've got to send Martyn.

Martin is the man. And if you just if Martin looks at you with that with those handsome boyish, you know, features and and says, I will I will provide you with so many wonderful passes. How could any striker not be wowed?

Yeah. So I'm still reeling from the, I want you on my side. You want me on your side as opposed to on the other team. Because I think that is massively persuasive. No, really, I would join at that point. Adrian, what about you? I had the same thing in my head, funnily enough, but I would put the two of them, Gabrielle and Saliba, just either side and say, look, son,

You know what the right thing to do is, don't you? And I don't think he'd say no. Also, Bukayo Saka, I mean, he's an absolute assist machine. Lovely Bukayo. I don't think you could say no to him if he was to say that I promise you, I promise you, Victor, I'm going to give you at least 10 assists this season or next season. Come and join the fun. But look, on a serious note,

If we are in for him, and I do think that he is stylistically the kind of player that we could do with as an option, alternative to Kai. If you're here, you're thinking, I'm playing for that lot? Seriously, aren't you? I mean, he's seen us up close and personal, how brilliant we can be. That's a great advert from Arsenal, I think, last night. I think there's an assumption, isn't there, that...

Man United will be a first choice just because of the connection with the manager. But I think that, Adrian, as you say, that kind of underrates the impression of... I'm sure there's a lot of temptation. I'm sure that that would be very persuasive for him. But what team and what project would you like to go and join? You know, Jokeres is not 21, right?

He's been around a bit. He's of a certain age and I don't think you want to wait around to be trying to win things. And with all respect to Man United and the job that they've got, that probably is going to take a little longer to be in contention. So I wonder whether that will be a factor in his thinking. I presume he's going to have a few offers to weigh up. So it'll be curious to see which of them, what he's motivated by.

Quite. I mean, in terms of the original question, you've done the ones I was going to say, really. Gabriel, also Libra, the centre-halves putting their arms around him and quietly but menacingly pointing him towards North London. Odegaard, obviously, and Saka. I mean, obviously the question...

is whether we need a striker, by the way. I mean, I know what you guys have been saying. Well, we can talk about it. Sporting, Lisbon 1, Arsenal 5. I mean, look, because what happens when we lost those games to Bournemouth and Newcastle,

And we are very much in the business of just calm down, will you? Just calm down, all right? Or wind your neck in, I think was Amy's phrase, which I really liked. Or give your head a wobble, in fact, is what it was. But it had a similar sort of vibe to it when people were sort of moaning about the whole thing. So again, we shouldn't really get carried away by what we've seen too much. But Amy, aren't we the greatest team the world has ever seen? LAUGHTER

I mean, that first half was as good a first half as I've seen from this team. I mean, in the two, three years, we were absolutely imperious from start to finish. It was mesmerising. It was, wasn't it? I think...

you know sporting are a really good team used to having their own way at their own place and i think there was a bit of shell shock because they didn't anticipate being um overwhelmed in the manner that they were we came out of the trap so quick didn't we well this is it i think speed is the key the speed of pass the speed of movement the speed of thinking

Those kind of angles, it's dizzying. The hunger to get the ball back as well. You know, went out there like a kind of souped up pressing machine from the first seconds and there was four of them hunting in a pack. And what was great is obviously...

You start like that and if you don't get an early goal, it becomes harder to sustain. So the Martinelli first goal was phenomenal in its timing. But what was great is that they then didn't take their foot off the gas at all and they continued with that sort of super press. And the energy levels, the hunger, it looked to me like here's a team that have suffered a bit this season in a way that they found really frustrating.

And they're using that and channeling that in the best way possible. But what was fabulous as well is they just looked like they were having tremendous fun. And that's an unusual experience in a top Champions League tie or any top game. Usually they're tense enough that you don't actually have that much time where you're just having a great time out there. But every player looked like they were tuned in with each other, with what they were trying to do.

And it was very powerful. Adrian, I mean, Mikel Arteta talks about the players having fun. You have to enjoy it. What I loved is how we flowed, how we played with that purpose. Really pleased. I mean, can you have fun in these situations? It certainly looked like they were, I mean, essentially they were expressing themselves fully, weren't they? Oh, yeah, you can totally have fun. Yeah, I mean, when you're playing well in a big game and everything's coming off as

as brilliant as it was, it doesn't get much better than that. It's sort of utopia, isn't it? It's brilliant. It's what you dreamed about, isn't it? Really playing for the Arsenal and you're just having the best time and you're winning 5-1 away in Europe and you go, hang on a minute. The first half, I really do struggle to think of a better first half performance, a better 45 from Arsenal under Mikel Arteta. And you'd have to go back a long, long, long, long time to

for a better spell of football with and without the ball. It was pretty much perfection. Yeah. In terms of what I liked, as well as all those things that Amy rightly pointed out, was just the brightness. It was bubbly. It was bright. It looked like we'd been to Dubai for a few days, didn't it? It looked... They looked completely rejuvenated and...

Because that was a high-level game. Make no mistake, Sporting are a top team. They are very, very strong. And I thought, you know, they had a lot of shots. David Ryan was very, very busy, wasn't he? So that shows you the level we were up against. And we wiped the floor with them. So, yeah, I can't sing the players' praises enough. It was breathtaking, really.

Well, we'll go through them 1-11 I think we might as well at some point. But in terms of the team, Amy, do you think that ultimately that will be our first 11? I mean, I thought Timber was outstanding last night. I mean, I think they all were, to be honest. But I thought Timber was excellent. And in that form, if he continues like that, I mean, and this is not to disparage Ben White, who's had absolutely magnificent for us for the last two and a half years. But

I was around my mates last night. By the way, also hungover, can I just say, this morning. We had a couple of drinks and watched the Arsenal be brilliant. But both of us, when that team came out, we went, that is our first XI. What do you think about that? I just hesitate slightly because I don't know how...

is to have a first 11 in this era of football. But I know what you're saying and I think it's unarguable that that is a great first 11 for this current squad. But I would say that it's a testament to how things are around, you know, London Colony generally.

that there are a few players that you wouldn't have any complaints if they're in instead. And Ben White is one of them. That back four is looking great at the moment, but I don't have a problem if Ben White is playing instead of, well, almost any of them, essentially. He can play centre-back as well if needed. And I think Mourinho is the other one that we haven't probably seen yet.

him at his peak yet, but game by game, there's more and more green shoots of what's the kind of fully flowered Marino effect. And it's possible that he offers something slightly different in midfield. But I think right now, it was hard to argue with that team last night, but there are definitely...

And in one area as well. Deserves to be in that conversation too. Is he part of the best first XI? Probably not right now, but wouldn't be too many complaints if he's in the team. What's really interesting when you're looking at their slightly bigger pitch for Arsenal, what they can or possibly want to try and do this season and trying to win something big or be a bit more successful is...

You know, when you're trying to improve a team or a squad year on year, there's two things that you've got to try and do. And it's raising the ceiling. So can we get any better than our best players across the team? And there's raising the floor. So in other words, the players that might have to come in when you've got problems, are they as good as can be? And I'm really interested to see how some of those players on the bottom end

kind of react to what that first 11 are doing because you'd like to think there could be a bit more from a bunch of guys we know who they are who haven't had the best impact on the season yet but maybe they realize and they'll be part of this infectious vibe of going on that they've got to raise their own game so that when they come in they can make a difference as well

Yeah, I like the fact that Mourinho's taking a shot from outside the area as well, by the way. We don't see that as often as perhaps we should. Adrian, is it about balance? It looked to me last night that that was really the most balanced I've seen us. We had threat down both sides. A lot of it obviously came down the right side and we'll talk about why in a second. But there's a balance to that team. We've got, you know, Calafiori has a left foot, Kassiopoulos.

can go outside, can come inside. I love the way the fullbacks are inverting, but we know they can go both ways. There's a real balance, which means that we use the whole of the pitch. Yeah, completely. You want to make the pitch massive when you have the ball. You want to make it feel massive to the opponent. And when you have very natural fullbacks on their correct sides...

then that helps. You know, it's great to have this inverted, you know, fullback set up as an option, but sometimes it does make you a little bit narrow. So yeah, I really like it with Califuri and Timber. As you say, white or Timber's fine. But Timber was excellent in the game. He's another one. He's very sharp, isn't he? Everything that he does, he's quick.

technically excellent so yeah I think the balance of the team was great I think that Declan Wright well Thomas Partey it helps that Thomas Partey is playing so well because it allows Declan Wright to go in that box to box role yeah it is our best 11 at the moment and the fact that Marino Trossard and White aren't in it it speaks volumes doesn't it of where we're at at the moment and Jesus and Zinchenko

Yeah, I mean, with Jesus, Jesus is miles off being in the first 11, isn't he, at the moment? He's got to be much, much better. He's got to step up. He's got to step up. Amy, Bakayosaka has become the sixth player to register both 60-plus goals and 60-plus assists for Arsenal since 88-89. The numbers are astonishing. How old is he?

Yeah, I know. I know. He should be like 47, but he's 23. The other five, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Paul Merson, Theo Walcott and Robert Pires. Decent company. Decent company. Rio Ferdinand was talking on TNT Sport last night about how he just looked like a seasoned pro last night, Bukayo Saka. The way he was just controlling, he was a constant threat. I mean...

We've been saying, haven't we? Oh my God, he's going to get better. Oh my God, he's going to get better. But he's already at a stunning level. He's unplayable. He's 14 goal involvements for the season in all competitions. Yeah, he's utterly spectacular. And what a blessing that he's ours. That penalty. I know, I know. I've watched it a few times, that penalty. I reckon if you put two goalies in, you're still not saving that. Clinical.

absolutely clinical from Bukayo Saka. Hits the side netting, perfectly taken penalty. Outstanding, wasn't it? It was a ridiculous penalty. Yeah, the whip he gets on the ball just generally is a real speciality, I think. Something he's really good at. But I loved his little assist as well where, you know, it's a beautiful floated ball to put him through, but...

I think when you're kind of running at speed and you've got a great big lumbering goalkeeper like hurtling at you. Yeah. And to keep that level of poise, the touch was beautiful. The bravery, the delicacy. I agree. You know, he has, you could understand a player thinking, I'll just take a touch here, you know, I don't want to get cluttered. He just has the perfect level of timing and weight on his boot to just prod that ball off.

Absolutely immaculately. So it just requires the easiest tap in. Yeah. And, you know, I think I just think the last couple of games in particular, he's looked flawless. Every decision of how am I going to take this touch has been the right one.

And I don't know how much is that playing on instinct, how much is that intelligence, whether it's all everything put together, but he just looks like someone who's so at one with how he's wanting to play football that it's all very natural, even though clearly it's massively practiced over the years. And yeah, he wouldn't swap him really for anyone at the moment. He's just a...

It's the highest level of football. It's the highest level, the Champions League, that you can get. It's better than international football. Champions League, at the top end, when you play the best teams, is football at its very highest standard. And Saka stands out in it. He's a monumental player. And I've got to say, when him and Erdogan are like that and the rest of the team are as good as they were, we look like potential winners.

Don't we? If we played like that in every game in the competition, which we won't, we would win it. We would win it.

Because that was almost as good as it gets. Irresistible, wasn't it, really? And part of the reason, of course, a big part of the reason is the return of Martin Erdegaard. Bakayo Saka said, the day of return, there was a big smile on my face. You can see the chemistry we have, how much I enjoyed playing with him. I'm happy he's back. I hope he stays fit for the rest of the season. I'd imagine that every single player in the squad would say the same thing. They just love having him around. I mean, Amy...

I mean, I was talking about him the week I met. Is he the best player in the world in that position? You said, well, you wouldn't like to answer that. But right now, what he's doing, the way he's running that game, and he's just back from injury as well. Let's not forget, he was out for almost two months. And not only has he stepped back into the team, looked seamless, he seems to be better as well.

I'm slightly lost for words, which obviously is not really what you want from a presenter of a podcast. But I genuinely... Amy, you do the words. I've got a question. Stoney, when were you last lost for words? When? Do you know what? To be honest, it doesn't happen very often. It doesn't, really. There have been a few occasions when people have said things to me and I've thought, what, on stage? Yeah.

And I had a very kind offer of, well, you know, after a gig a little while ago. I was a little bit lost for words there as well. But, no, watching Martin Odegaard, I mean, last night I went round to a mate and watched it last night and we were standing by the end, to be honest. We both stood up, clapping, and the way he was playing. Yeah.

I mean, it's just crucial that he stays fit, isn't it? If he stays fit, we've got a chance in any competition we're in. I have to admit, I've still got a bit of brain freeze over Adrian just saying that Arsenal could win the Champions League, can't I?

Well, if we play like that... We need to take a bit of a breath to take these kind of things in. I haven't made you lost for words, have I? We're all struggling here. Arsenal have killed all of our brains with their brilliance. The way that they played last night, I mean, that first 45, you watch them play, that'll give any team a problem. You know, Sporting are a really, really good team, notwithstanding the fact that they've lost their manager. But Martin Erdekar just makes it seem like anything is possible. Yeah, I mean...

I'll turn this on its head a bit and I'm going to throw this at you, Adrian, but obviously that right side, and even in a performance as great as yesterday, it was right dominant with pretty good reason. Is there an argument for at times Martin drifts around so that he can do his damage a bit on the left as well and try and open up that side? Is there a danger that good as...

they might be a bit predictable and teams might try and accommodate by shifting more players or something onto that side to try and deal with it. I don't know. What do you think? No, it's a very good point. I thought that he did it a couple of times against Forest. I'm just looking at his touch map from the game last night. He had, yeah, just six, six touches to the sort of left of centre. So not a lot really down that side. Yeah.

Stoney talked about balance earlier and...

as much as you'd like to sort of have funnel it evenly each side, you've always got that option to switch because opponents will, if you're right side heavy, opponents will naturally put players down that side, which then actually frees up more space for Martinelli, who loves space, to run into. He ran onto a cross beautifully, obviously, to score last night. So it's not necessarily a total negative thing,

for the left side that they don't have as much of the ball. As long as you always have that option to whip the ball across.

for the other side as well. Adrian, I mean, I think what Amy was talking about there was those little passes that Martin Odegaard does when he slips people through the lines. You can imagine Gabriel Martinelli running onto one of those and using that burning pace that everyone at Arsenal wants, apparently. I'd love him to do it. I'd love him to float and do that. And he could. And he probably should because Declan is a very central player. Declan Rice doesn't have to be the guy that's always closest to him.

to a Martinelli so maybe that's the next part of the team's involvement you know where he becomes more of an sort of orthodox number 10 I don't know but I'm sure that Martinelli wouldn't be against it I think it's Dennis for example you know Dennis played through the middle Dennis is probably the closest comparison I suppose to what Odegaard can do yes yes

It's Kai as well, by the way. Kai was great yesterday. The delicacy of his touch was really on point too. He's right side heavy as well. So you've kind of got half your team, more than half your team, are sort of funneling down that side. So I do feel a bit for the left side.

because they're not getting as many touches as they should. But I still like them. I still like what they're doing. Yeah. By the way, in terms of comparison, someone on social media said that Erdogan's got the skills of Iniesta with the work rate of Ray Parler. Yeah.

That's nice. I really, really like that. I mean, I'm not quite sure that he's at Iniesta levels because I think Iniesta was one of the best two or three players I've ever seen in my life. But it's lovely to watch Martin Odegaard get better and better. We'll chat more about some of the other players who were excellent, which, by the way, was all of them last night after the break. Come see Arsenal! Come see Arsenal! You only come see.

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Ian Stone, Amy Lawrence and Adrian Clarke here on the Athletics Arsenal podcast Hand Break Off. First Champions League goal for Big Gabby, Amy. I mean, we know what he's like as set pieces. That was such a classic set piece. Great delivery. Big Gabby on the end. I mean, it's just awesome, isn't it, to watch that power? Well, you know it's coming, but you can't do anything about it. Good chance, 3-0.

And the run from the penalty spot pays off for Gabriel as he powers the ball into the back of the Sporting Lisbon net. It's like, you know, a stallion starting to gallop. He's just like, you know, roars himself forward. And once he starts on one of those runs from deep, it's like, get out of the way really, isn't it? Good luck stopping that. His appetite for that kind of goal is really joyous.

Because it's, you know, he knows it's a speciality and he relishes every opportunity he's got to get in there and do the damage. Yeah. Adrian, I mean, I thought he was outstanding yesterday, as was William Saliba, who...

dealt with Jokeres so well. He's a strong player, Jokeres. He's very powerful and quick and physically muscular guy. They stood up to it, didn't they? They got off to a great start, obviously, as the whole team did. That helps. Jokeres still had plenty of shots, didn't he, in the game? Shows what a handful he is. I thought they were both really, really on it mentally and in terms of their aggression.

on those corners I mean

It amazes me that teams are still happy to just go one-on-one with Gabriel because Gabriel wins that one-on-one duel with a drop of the shoulder and a run every single time, doesn't it? It's quite remarkable. As long as it keeps working, then why should we really change it? He could play on the wing, couldn't he, with a drop of the shoulder like he's got. It's absolutely superb. We also, quite

Quite a lot of the players came in having had a bit of a rest.

being rotated at the weekend. It is a squad game, isn't it, Amy? And he's going to have to do more of that after the Forest game. It was nice to think, oh, we've got Rice and Martinelli and Havertz coming back for a big game. And he obviously targeted this one. And now, of course, by the way, the Champions League, there's a nice pathway through. Beat Monaco at home, win the other two, and we're top eight, which is what he would have wanted, two less games.

Yeah, obviously. I think... Sorry, that was obvious. You're right. Yeah, you're right. It was obvious. It was. But what I'm saying is this was the game he specifically targeted, wasn't it? He wanted his first team out there for this one. Oh, God, yeah. But I think anything less than a top performance and that's a place where most teams come unstuck and a defeat would have been problematic. Yeah.

As I said, a few people pointed out, no, no, no, no, no. You said you were happy with the point. Oh, yeah, I'm devastated with the win. You didn't actually say no, no, no, no, no. It was just the tone. It was the tone, yeah. It's fine. I can handle it. Yeah, I think the win was real bonus territory. I'm sure that Mikel was targeting that, but, you know, the...

It's nicer to look at the table and obviously that might change this Wednesday morning as we're recording according to how people do yesterday. But wasn't it hilarious to be sitting in eighth place at the final whistle and then pop up to seventh? Yeah.

all of a sudden when uh completely torpedoed themselves but um as long as they stay humble that's the main reason right as long as they stay humble oh seeing oh they'll be feeling humble this morning i know i know seeing his face is just it gives me a joy every time he misses a chance genuinely

Humble McHumbleface wouldn't that do if we were to rename him but yeah so sorry just thinking about that top 8 I do think it's relevant that when you look at it 5 of them at the moment as we speak are from Arsenal's grouping

And that just tells you how tough a draw that this has turned out to be. I think at the time of the draw, most people thought, well, this is pretty reasonable. We're content with what Arsenal had in front of them. But it turns out they've had a lot of strong form teams in Europe this season. The team that isn't in the top five is PSG, who we would have thought would have been the toughest. Yeah.

So it definitely puts Arsenal in a really nice position. It's now Arsenal's to blow up, I suppose, that top eight, I think, after that performance and result. And I think the performance as well as the result means that it does that psychological impact where I think if Arsenal don't come back from Lisbon and feel that they're capable of being an absolute handful to anybody...

That's great, because like it or not, and all those annoying stats, oh, you know, Arsenal haven't scored away from home in the Champions League, and since so many games, well, you don't need to worry about that anymore. So that's quite good. We have now. By the way, after Amy corrected me, rightly so, because I kept calling Mikel Mourinho, and obviously...

That is annoying to a lot of people, I get it. So I will endeavour to concentrate. I've also been told off for Wanyeri as well, who is now, he's actually, his real name is Wanyeri. All right.

I think I got that right. Amy, you're nodding. Well, I was quite surprised because I was having a bit of difficulty with his name to start with and he hadn't made that much impact yet. And I thought, I've got to master this name. And then I saw a clip somewhere of him saying his own name. And I think a lot of people think it is Nwaneeri. Yeah. And even the song that they sing, you know, it has that. But it's Nwaneeri, isn't it? Without the...

David Rea is David.

So we were calling him David Ryer in commentary. That's how he pronounced his name, David Ryer. The other one was Durian Timber. It's not Urien, it's Durian Timber.

Oh my God. And the other one. What is it? Sorry, hang on a minute. We should have had this chat earlier on in the season. The other one that we sort of, that I slipped with a few times, but, and you don't have to do this, but Martinelli calls his name Martinelli. Martinelli. And we started to do that in commentary and it began to stick. So look, it might, you know, this is how they pronounce their own games, own names, which is what we should really do. So it's David and Durian. Oh,

Patrick, I mean, by the way, Patrick sent us an email and thank you for this. You've opened up a whole can of worms here, Patrick. I hope, by the way, that it is pronounced Patrick and not Patrick or something. But anyway, Patrick, nice to meet you and thank you. And we'll endeavour to get it right. Martinelli sounds a bit far, to be honest. Yeah, it's a little bit.

I'm not sure we get Odegaard quite right either sometimes, especially his first name. It's not Martin in an English style. I think when they're properly saying it in Norwegian, it's like Morton or something. It's slightly accented. But Martin doesn't say Odegaard, he says Odegaard.

Oh, my God. Stop it. Are we getting anybody's name right? I mean, anyone at all. Anyway. I'll tell you. Okay. I've got a good one for you. Can I please have your best efforts at the pronunciation of an Arsenal Invincibles legend who had red hair in his song? Oh, what? Freddie Leungberg is how I would go. No. You're shaking your head. Apparently not. According to my standing friends. Leungberg. Leungberg. What have you got? Leungberg.

Yeah, no, that's not catching on. This is not happening. I remember being told off by a scanty mate that that was how they said it. I mean, we can't go through players we supported 20 years ago and apparently we've been singing their name wrong all this time. Anyway, well done the lads. Why do you think we just called him Freddy? Freddy, yeah, that's right, we called him Freddy. Last night, well done the lads. Currently in seventh after Man City. Ha ha ha.

Wow, it's so funny to watch that, isn't it? Anyway, this is Hand Break Off with me and Stone, Amy Lawrence and Adrian Clarke.

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They get a humbric off and you can see that they are more free to play. West Ham away on Saturday. They had some sort of, I don't know how they got a win at Newcastle. They did. But they played, yeah, they played alright. I mean, just to be honest, watching them get a result at Newcastle just annoyed me, thinking of how badly we played there and they'd done a job on us.

But I'm talking to a mate who's a Newcastle fan. He said they only ever do that to big teams. They get good results against decent teams and then they come up against other teams and they're terrible. Look, they've been having a terrible season, really, West Ham. I mean, the manager's under pressure. I won't say his name because there's no way I'll get that right.

But anyway, the manager's under pressure. The gaffer, shall we say, is under pressure. But they've got seven points from their last three games. Suddenly, they're running into a bit of form. They've got some danger in the team. We've got to go there confident after what happened last night. Yeah, I worked on the game on Monday and they were good value. What they did differently was they were less passive. They were a bit more aggressive. They sort of hunted a bit higher up the pitch and...

It was a decent performance. They've still got Antonio up front, so there'll be no surprises there. Is he fit? I haven't seen him much on the pitch. Yeah, no, he was fit and he worked really hard. Bowen is obviously the match winner for them. He's the real guy we've got to stop. Their midfield looked a bit better. They had a guy called Soler in there. Pakatar played ever so well. He's had a pretty poor season so far, but he looked good.

at St James's and defensively they weren't bad at all so yeah look if they play like they did at Newcastle it's a tough ish game but it's one that I'd still back us to win even if West Ham are at their best we should beat them because we're a level above so yeah what was it last year was it 6-0 6-1 6-0

Last year? Well, it was a lot, wasn't it? Yeah, you're right. When Detland scored the goal and didn't want to celebrate. And, you know, we absolutely battered them. So, I mean, Amy, are we going to rotate again? Do you think maybe Georgie will come back in the team for maybe Reston again? How do you think they'll play this one? God knows. Man Utd is the bigger one, isn't it? Yeah, we have to just trust Mikel to...

to do what he thinks is right, to manage the load on the players over the next couple of games. As you say, Adrian, it's making sure that we can not take our eye off the ball immediately in front of us, but we've got to be prepared for the big games. I think the team that played last night should play against Man Utd at home, in my opinion, and then we can probably afford to just change two or three at West Ham and still...

But it depends how they are physically. If they're feeling good and they're in the mood, let them play. Build up a lead and then take them off. I think the goal really is for players to not have to play 90 plus minutes every match. But if you can involve everybody and give them bits of games, whether they're bigger portions or slightly smaller portions...

you know, that's fine. But I think that the mood Arsenal are in, you could go out and try and win this game in the first half again and then take people off. Yeah, I'm of that mind, yeah. But you've got to keep the guys on the periphery happy, haven't you? Because we know, long season, we're still in, you know, four competitions, five,

and we're going to need everyone, aren't we? So, you know, it's sad for Raheem Stone, he never got on last night, but I'd like to see him get some minutes at the weekend. And Eason, when Airey came on last night, even for just six or seven minutes, and there were a couple of moments when he did a couple of things, and I said to my mate, was that when Airey? He went, yeah. I thought, oh my God, what have we got? What have we got? Um...

Let's have a song to finish. Amy, what have you got? I felt like Arsenal were in the groove last night. They absolutely hit that kind of sweet spot. So I'm going to go for something by Groove Armada.

who are Arsenal fans. Are they? They are. Really? Yeah, really. Oh my God. I love those. Super styling in a field when it kicks off is just one of the best things ever, can I just say. What have you got? I'm going to go for I See You Baby, Shaking That Ass. Oh, yes. Which is, you know, just a kind of groovy, like, come on, vibe about Arsenal. I See You Baby, Shaking That Ass.

Amy's moving at this point. Her shoulders are going. It really is. Sorry, everybody. Apologies. No need to inflict that on you fellas. We'll release the video footage of that shortly after. It's like some sort of extra, hand-break-off extra. What have you got? Adrian, are you going to dance for us as well? Yeah, I'm going to go for one of the happiest songs of all time.

Queen, don't stop me now. We're having such a good time because I felt like at halftime,

If ever I didn't want half-time to come, and I think the players as well, it was that game last night. They were having such a good time. We were just flying. And look, in general, you know, don't stop me now. Just keep playing. You just said it, Amy. Play the guys again. Get the lead. Take them off. You just want to continue now. So, yeah, that song is sort of what I'm feeling this morning. Stop, stop, stop.

I went for an 80s lounge classic. Sade, smooth operator, really, for Martin Erdegaard, but really for all of them last night. We didn't even mention Thomas Bartey, who had one of his best games again, by the way. But I'm having smooth operator for Martin because I'm just blown away by what he can do. I love watching him and so happy that he plays for us. No need to ask, he's a smooth operator.

That's it for Handbrake Off. Thanks to Adrian and Amy. Thanks to Jesse, who produced the show. And thanks for listening. And we'll be back after the weekend. See ya.