Chaos factor returns in clinical fashion
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The Athletic FC Podcast Network. The only way to score is, of course, to play with a handbrake off. Hello, I'm Ian Stowe. This is Handbrake Off, the Arsenal podcast brought to you by The Athletic.

So on Saturday, the Arsenal smashed Crystal Palace 5-1 at Selhurst Park. We'll chat about that game with Adrian Clarke and James McNicholas. Morning. Morning. Hello. Morning. What do we want for Christmas? This is sort of our Christmas special, really. We're two days before Christmas. Adrian, what do we want? A little Arsenal Christmas wish list. Magic cream for Saka's hammy. Yes.

That'd be nice. I don't know if Santa's got any. Hamstring cream. Hamstring cream would be lovely. Just to damage, you know, damage limitation. I've got a couple more ideas. Obviously, the Grinch side of me wants some kind of injury to Liverpool's key players like Salah. But let's not be mean. I would like Father Christmas to dish out some more all-out attack peels. I think they're available everywhere.

at the Spurs club shop give them to all the managers in the Premier League because we love playing against teams that want to go toe to toe with us as Crystal Palace found to their cost so no more of this parking the bus against Arsenal let's just yeah come at us I'd love that for the rest of the season please I imagine the Spurs club shop has sold out of all that attack pills I imagine Andrew's used up next season's as well by the way

Anyway, are you not entertained? Yes, we are, Ang. Yes, we are. But we're not paying for season tickets, mate. James, what about you? Arsenal Christmas wish list. What have you got? Yeah, this probably tells you where we're at. My head went to exactly the same place. I wanted a nice, clear scan for Bukayo Saka. That's what I was hoping for. A perfectly intact hamstring. Or if not...

Just another hamstring that we can donate to him for him to use over the coming weeks. Christmas is about getting presents, but it's also about being grateful for what you have. And I'm very grateful that we have Bukai Saka, and I want that to continue to be the case for the coming matches. I like the grateful for what you have, because I think we should take a moment to be grateful for what we have as well. We'll do that in a second. Obviously, I went exactly the same way as you two. I want our medical team to have a nice long holiday. I think they deserve it. Somewhere nice,

Somewhere they can't be contacted. We won't need them. Doesn't matter. Also, if there is a 30 goal a season striker whose club want to sell him at a discount rate, there's also a nice bloke who's kind to animals and would generally fit into the general vibe, you know, really good with win on the training ground, that sort of stuff. If there's one of those knocking about, we'll have one as well. That would be great. Thank you, Santa.

Crystal Palace won Arsenal 5. It wasn't a 5-1, was it, James? I saw your post-match little chat and it wasn't a 5-1. I mean, it was an attacking performance and there was a lot of good things about it, but it never really felt safe to 4-1, did it? No, it's funny because Mikel Teta was in a really good mood in his post-match press conference and why wouldn't you be when you've just won Arsenal?

and close the gap on the league leaders. But I think when he sits down and analyses that game closely, I think there'll be quite a few things in there that he won't have particularly enjoyed. I think we were certainly clinical in attack and we made the most of our opportunities. But...

Something he often says off the back of matches is, well, we gave them nothing. We gave nothing away. And this wasn't that game. It was a bit more chaotic, a bit more end-to-end. There were more chances in it. It isn't what I would call a typical Arteta's Arsenal match, but...

The good side of that is I think that, you know, because it was a bit more end-to-end, we got a bit more space. Because they pressed high, we got a bit more space when we attacked. And with both Havertz and Jesus on the pitch, we look really dangerous. I just think it's interesting...

to what extent that maybe unbalances the kind of defensive platform that the team is built on. And I'm really interested to see going forward, you know, is that something we see more of from Arteta in Arsenal? Or was this kind of a one-off, an aberration, something that's a bit outside of his scope?

comfort zone. I don't know, but very exciting to see us score five goals away from home yet again. Fantastic record. I think we've done that practically half a dozen times across the course of the year. So superb for the travel efforts. Yeah, Adrian, we can get to some of the negatives in terms of defensive stability, I guess, in a moment. But

That's the kind of chaos we're talking about. And we'll talk about Gabriel Jesus, who brings the chaos. It's like, finally. Oh, there it is. Gary, thank you very much for bringing the chaos. We've been wondering. But that's exactly the sort of stuff we're looking for going forward, isn't it? Definitely. Yeah. By the way, that's six times. You're right, James, in terms of scoring more than five or five or more away from home. No team's ever done that.

Not just Premier League, top division. Yeah, no top division side's ever done that. So, yeah, well done to the players. I think we played the numbers game. And by that, I mean, we got players in the box. You know, look where Gabriel Martinelli scored his goal from inside the six yard box. Doesn't always do that. Doesn't always get in into those positions. Goals one and three, you'll notice we had overloads inside the box.

And that's down to players just taking a chance for the first one. I mean, it's kind of a long-winded recycled set piece, but Gabriel's in the box and Thomas Partey's in the box. And they've got sort of a set up a 3v3, I think with Havertz as well, which just left Jesus on his own. He scores. And, you know, for the third goal, there was a 3v2 at the far post.

But the corner that Jesus scored from, I found this quite hilarious because Glasner was getting a lot of praise for leaving three players up for Arsenal corners. It's like, oh, isn't he a genius? You know, he's taking players back. You know, he's going to ruin Arsenal's set-piece prowess. Well,

he left his box too empty I'm afraid and we had a 4v3 at the far post from which Thomas Partey laid the ball back to totally unmark Gabriel Jesus who had the whole edge of the box to himself Gabriel is trying to get there it was Lerma who got to him Jesus he's placed another one an incredible first quarter of an hour for Gabriel Jesus who just can't seem to stop scoring and against the same team

What a finish that is. Great finish, man, wasn't it? Great finish. But yeah, I just think we were a bit bolder, a bit braver, flooded the box. And yeah, obviously that attacking midfield has its benefits. I don't think it will become the norm, but I like the fact that it was tried and it remains an option all of the time.

And I'd maybe like Mikel Arteta to use it a little bit more frequently than he has, you know, just with one defensive midfielder and two attacking ones. So, yeah, it was fun, wasn't it? I really enjoyed the game. It was fun. Gabriel Jesus, James, I mean...

It's a bit maddening in a way, really. We've watched him sulking and moping around a pitch like some recalcitrant teenager who is not allowed to go out or grounded or something. And then suddenly the smiles on his face, the hatching against Crystal Palace in the week in the Carabao was great. But this...

It just absolutely felt like the Gabriel Jesus who signed for us and who lifted, elevated the entire club, let's not forget. In a lot of senses, he was really the catalyst for all that's happened in the last few years. The way he turned up and that first game also against Palace, wasn't it? Away, when we went...

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What a player this boy is. And there he was at the weekend with a big smile on his face. Two more goals. Mikel Arteta said, that's the beauty of football. Things change. Great credit to him because he's put so much work and belief into what he does. He was patient and he got rewarded. Not as patient as us. No, very true. I mean, it is one of those moments where you sort of go,

why do we pretend to be able to analyse this game and rationally explain it? You know, you've got a player who is so in the doldrums, so struggling to make an impact and then he does appear transformed overnight. You know, the sort of

The magic kind of alchemical effect of confidence on a striker, I think, is probably one of the few areas of football that's still relatively poorly understood. It just completely can supercharge a player. A player could be capable of a finish that they weren't capable of a week before. It seems that way anyway. I'd love to know, like, was this an affliction that was affecting him just in games or was it the same in training? You know, were we seeing the same kind of

slightly sloppy, not looking sharp, Gabriel Jesus every single day in training. And now, is it just every session he's on flames? It feels like that. It feels like that because, yes, he got the two goals and let's be honest, probably should have had a third. Should have done. But,

It was the all-round game from him in this one that I think was really encouraging. If you go back to the Carabao game, I think in the first half he was okay. He wasn't great. Obviously, in the second half, Hazard-Stormer scores a hat-trick. From the first whistle here, he put in a really good all-round centre-forward performance. One that had all those elements you mentioned, Ian, that were kind of his trademarks during that initial run. And it was really exciting to see

Him combining with Gabriel Martinelli, combining with Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard, the positions he picked up, the way he held the ball up, the way he brought other people into play. This was a really well-rounded centre-forward performance from him. And I'm not sure we've seen that, never mind the goals, for some time.

Adrian, I was watching Match of the Day and Alan Shearer pinpointed the work rate as well in the 86th minute or whenever it was when he chased the ball down, held it, gave it to Calafiori, gave it to Detlef Rice who scored. I mean, it's not just about confidence. Obviously, he's just enjoying himself and he's happy and he wants to work hard for the team. You've played the game.

I mean, has this happened to you? Has this happened to other players you've seen, this transformation? I mean, it does happen once in a while. Oh, it happens all the time. Yeah, it really does. I think football is... All Premier League strikers, they can all finish, trust me. Like, they are masters of their craft. They've been practising it since they were five years of age. And yet, and yet, he went off the ball for a year. I know, I know. But it is inside your head. You know, top-level sport...

a lot of it is inside your mind and you've got to feel confident to produce your best. And, and,

finally he's rediscovered the confidence and it's flowing through him. And the rest of the team as well. He seems to be a bit of a catalyst in that way. Look, I think if you've got a striker that grafts, it always sparks everyone else. You know, when I used to play, obviously Ian Wright was the first choice up front. But any team that you ever play with, if your striker is really hard working and on it,

everyone else feels better. They're the trigger for everyone else to go and press him behind. If he goes, everyone goes and follows. And Jesus is more than happy to do that, as is Havertz. Havertz is one of the hardest working strikers in the Premier League, but Jesus is up there with him. Certainly in terms of numbers, his numbers were really good in this game, running-wise. But yeah, on commentary, I said exactly the same thing about Jesus, the way he chased that ball by the corner flag.

He was second favourite to win it, but his determination got him there. In the 86th minute of 4-1 up. Yeah, exactly. But that's what I really like about this Arsenal team. There isn't casualness about them. They are hungry. That's the reason we've scored five plus away goals in six games this year. It's because we're thirsty for it. We don't take mercy on opponents. We sort of grind them into the dirt and...

I do like that about this Arsenal team.

Jay's just did fantastically. I'm so glad that Mikel picked him. It was the right thing to do and it paid off. Yeah, the set-up. Adrian, I know James mentioned this, so I want to ask you about the set-up. More attacking, basically just one holding player and then two in midfield basically going forwards. You've got five, really. We did look vulnerable. Palace were playing through us a little bit. David Rea made an excellent save at 2-1 that I think really...

that game could have changed. And also made another double save, didn't he, at 3-1 just after the start of the second half. And both of those things could have really lifted Sello's part. We know how noisy it can get in there. And, you know, props to him for that. I mean, do we just play this against the lesser teams? Would you feel a certain amount of disrespect if you looked at the Arsenal team sheet and saw Odegaard and Havertz sitting there behind Jesus and the other two out wide? Eh.

Ipswich at home next. I mean, you could probably do it in that game and just back yourself to outscore the opponents. You know, I said it before about Wanerian and Erdegaard together, either side of one. But here it's Havertz with Erdegaard. Yeah, I like it. It's a good option for us. I didn't like it for a lot of the first half when we didn't have the ball.

The Palace system was set up to really hurt us playing that way because they had Sarr and Kamada. Luckily, it wasn't Eze, but Kamada and Sarr playing as these narrow two number 10s, which basically the positions they take up are kind of just far enough away from fullbacks so that fullbacks can't really follow them in. But they're also behind the central midfield and

And I would have liked to have seen us have two guys there that can just sort of screen the service. Thomas Partey was all on his own and there was too big a gap and he was overloaded. Whenever Crystal Palace...

you know, went at us and they did come at us, didn't they? So yeah, I think structurally it wasn't a great fit for the game. And that sounds bizarre to say when we just smashed them five. But yeah, a better team might have really made us pay there. So it wasn't perfect. I think that Declan Rice's substitution, we'll probably get onto that in a minute, Declan Rice's substitution did make a difference, even though he was really positive there.

you know that he's got that defensive nous and awareness to help out Thomas Partey. You think about the last half hour, Camerder and Sarr did far less. They basically didn't really offer much in that period. And I think that's partly because Rice came on for Havertz.

which solidified us. I mean, it's not rocket science, is it, James, that you sacrifice a bit of defensive stability if you have one less holding midfield player? And that's essentially what happened. I mean, I'd rather Arsenal played like this, but...

When you're playing against the top teams in the Premier League and in Europe, we can't leave ourselves so open because Palace were strolling through, particularly in the first half. Yeah, and there were other ways in which we sort of contributed to our own issues there. You know, a bit of sloppiness on the ball at the back. Yeah, William Saliba, there were one or two occasions. Does he feel less protected because he's only got one big guy in front of him instead of two? I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, yeah, David Rye had a little moment as well, didn't he, where he gave the ball to Thomas Partey in quite a bad position.

I think Palace, you know, were much more aggressive, certainly, than they had been in midweek in the way that they set up, the way they pressed us. Saliba, I thought, in the first half, had quite a difficult game. It was quite uncharacteristic from him. He looked a bit ruffled, you know, when normally he's just so at ease. I think Mateta is a real handful. I don't know if that was something that unsettled him, but certainly he wasn't at the level we're accustomed to seeing from him. So,

Like I say, there were just elements of his performance that, strangely enough, were kind of not that great, not the level we're used to seeing from Arsenal. But I think we've all been crying out for

You know, that killer touch inside the penalty area, getting more men into dangerous areas. So I think the good outweighs the bad, definitely on this one. Yeah, very quickly, Palace were very aggressive, but that's what they do. They make more pressures, which is like closing a player down, make miles more than any other team in the league. And in this game, they made 254 pressures. We made 139 pressures.

And they created 32 turnovers from those situations. So, you know, they are, they will hassle you. And it wasn't a surprise to me that we were a little bit ruffled at times, but we did get better. And on the whole chaos thing, before I forget, yeah,

I do think, and maybe we'll talk about Martinelli in a sec, but I do think going on the outside to cross a ball is always better than just swinging the old in-swinger in on the opposite flank to your strongest foot. I do think we've got into that habit in certain matches this season, just floating these in-swingers in.

You notice that two of the three goals in the first half came from dropping the shoulder, going on the outside and whipping it in. Why do you think it's better, Adrian? Because it's further away from the goalkeeper, harder for him to collect? Defenders don't like dealing with it. The closer you get to the byline, obviously it's more of a...

horizontal cross or it's more of a cutback isn't it and defenders find it much much harder to deal with that kind of cross because the people coming onto the cross can see it far more clearly than they can whereas

the in-swingers, the defenders, you know, they can get their position set and they see the ball the whole way. And it's also, I think, harder to get on the end of those deliveries. You've obviously just got to flick your headers towards goal rather than sort of come onto it and power it. So there's value in the in-swing, of course there is. But I feel that the balance of our crosses hasn't been perfect lately. It's been too much the other way.

♫ You've only come to see me once though ♫ Come to see me once though ♫ You've only come to see me once... ♫

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Let's talk about the reason that Gabriel Martinelli dropped his shoulder and went on the outside and crossed was because Pekai Osaka went off injured. We'll talk about the ramifications of that in a second. But I thought Martinelli on the right looked great, James. I mean, I really did. The way that he was just dropping the shoulder and beating, was it Mitchell over there, again and again was...

That really augurs well. I think he's a winger, Gabriel Marti. I know a lot of people say maybe try and get him to play in the centre. But with his pace and his ability, that was a beautiful cross for the goal that Jesus headed onto the post and Havertz put in. He beat him more than once. And I know that it was obviously sad when Becaia went off. But watching Martinelli do that,

I must admit, I felt nothing but encouragement. I thought, well, if he can do that for the next however many games Bukayo's out for, I'll take that on one side. And then Jesus and Trossard and what have you on the other, we've still got an attack. Yeah, I think he played himself into that position, didn't he? Yeah. We've seen him on the right a little bit in the past, but... Not often. Not often. And I think that's the most effective I've seen him there.

I mean, I do think playing on our right flank in general is probably a bit easier for a wide player. I feel like the combinations on that side are better. You know, on the left, I think Myles Lewis-Skelly was doing well, but you've got an inexperienced player at fullback. You've got Kai Havertz inside you who's not really a traditional midfield player, you know, not necessarily a guy who's going to be sending little passes in behind for you to chase on to. So I think...

He was probably quite excited to be over on that side with Martin Odegaard and Jurgen Timber getting involved in some of that combination stuff. But I agree, one-on-one, he was excellent. He worked in the build-up to Havertz's goal. And with Raheem Sterling out as well, you know, we lost him the day before the game in training. We don't know how long for. We might find out later on this afternoon when Mikhail Teta has his press conference.

I think Maianelli is absolutely the next in line for that right-hand side. Yeah, Adrian, you're agreeing there. I mean, he did look good in that position. Is it just about, you know, there's more going on on the right for us, isn't there, really? Oh, yeah. James is bang on. Like the Odegaard-Timber kind of axis...

So much of our play seems to be funneled down the right. It's been like that for a long, long time. And in this game, Odegaard fed Martinelli an awful lot, just as he would have done for Kai Osaka. So he's going to get more of the ball. And I think that performance, scoring, assistance kind of as well, will have given him belief that he can shine for however long Osaka's out for. I picked up on some of his athletic numbers earlier.

which were actually phenomenal. He hasn't covered more ground in a match or made more sprints in a match going all the way back to the start of the 2020-21 season. So, you know, he was on it. He was absolutely on it. He was hungry, couldn't stop running. Well, he's going to have to be, isn't he? He's going to have to be because...

because Saka is out for a period of time. We don't know how long we'll get maybe something from Mikhail Otev to the press conference. Maybe not. Do you really think we will? Well, I don't. I mean, I've seen various, you know what you see also four to six weeks, it's a hamstring injury. Unfortunately, it does seem to be the same one that he struggled with in whenever it was, September, October. James, obviously a massive blow, but

Jesus coming back into form. I mean, the other three of our strikers all scored in this game. All scored in this game. And we are going to need them to step up.

But if I'm Mikel Arteta, I'm basically sitting him down in the dressing room and saying, listen, you know what Bukayo means to this club. You know how much he wants to win. He's on a mission this year. Unfortunately, he's not going to be able to play for the next four to six weeks. Do it for the star boy. And I know it's a bit of a cliche, but in the end, this is a team game and Bukayo can't carry them for the whole season. So these boys are going to have to step up.

Well, I guess that was another encouraging aspect of Saturday, wasn't it? That the goals and assists were shared around in Bukayo's absence. You know, we demonstrated that we can do that. We're definitely going to need that because, you know, Saka's numbers, we speak about them every single week, how fantastic they are, how reliable that production line is. But having Jaduz backscoring, having Martinelli on the score sheet, having Kai Havertz on the score sheet,

That does set us up rather well. And Detlef Rice as well. You know, we need some goals from midfield as well. That's true. We really need to share them about. You know, I don't think we can get away from how big a player Saka is for Arsenal and how much his loss is a blow. But...

I'm hoping that the attacking group can kind of take collective responsibility because I think that's the only way that you can combat a problem like this. Great to see Calafiori back as well, by the way. He does fly in to tackles a little bit, but I think he's so important. Not least, you know, Urien Timber can stay in his position if Calafiori is there as well. Although Myles Lewis-Skelly, another good performance as well. Yeah, he was, yeah. No, I think Calafiori makes a big difference.

Just for balance of the team. Lewis Kelly's doing great and he's proved that he's good enough. But yeah, I think Calafiri's the clear number one for the left-back spot. I just wanted to mention Declan Rice. I thought Declan Rice was nearly perfect. I think it was absolutely commanding half an hour's football from Declan Rice. He just took the game by the scruff of the neck and owned it and

obviously set up the one for Martelly scored a great goal himself but was just looked a top player didn't he he looked happy he looked like he did last season when he was just strolling through games and that you know because I think everyone's agreed and he's said it himself he hasn't quite been at the level since he got back from the tournament and he's obviously had the injury but

But a fully fit Declan Rice, well, fully fit players, they really help, don't they, to be honest. It's interesting because Declan Rice is, you know, since he's about 17, he's been a starter in every single team he's played for. So we haven't seen very much of him as a substitute ever. But the sight of a sharp and fit Declan Rice against a tiring,

Crystal Palace genuinely was a complete mismatch. I mean, he was physically on another level to everybody else on that pitch and really encouraging from an Arsenal perspective. I think he would probably say himself he's not his best form, but, you know, we're about to start the second half of the season. This is when the big players so often come to the fore. Maybe the timing is right for Declan. This is Hand Break Off, the Arsenal podcast brought to you by The Athletic. We've got him up, bro!

We have one more act for you this evening.

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They get a humbric off and you can see that they are more free to play. Ian Stone, James McNicholas and Adrian Clarke here on this Christmas edition. I guess we are recording it on the 23rd.

We're finishing this. I've got to go and get food shopping. I mean, pray for me is what I'm saying. Because it's going to be ugly out there, to be honest. You're right. Good luck parking. 2024 then. I mean, we're not done yet. We've got Ibswich before, but it's the last time we'll chat to you before the new year. We were talking about that stat. Arsenal scored 5-1.

To be honest...

James, these stats annoy me. What, end of year stuff? Yeah, because football seasons don't go from January to January. That being said, have we got a favourite moment of 2024, James? Favourite moment of 2024? I know, it's difficult, isn't it? But have we got one? Declan Rice scoring against West Ham. That was 2024, wasn't it? Away, that shot, that was a lovely moment. And then not celebrating, but how pleased we were for him. That was nice. I enjoyed that.

Do you know what? Emptying the London Stadium so early was a moment.

just a saver I thought yeah I thought that was great I've also got to give a shout out to our home game against Chelsea in the spring was that 6-0 5 I think it was 5 5 5 5's not bad I'll take 5 but I just sort of you know we were really good we were very good that night and you know there's a few scars from a couple of games at Stamford Bridge a while ago so it was nice to sort of get one over them in that respect it's better to go after Arsenal

And it's played a gem of a ball to Kai Havertz, through the middle, and three for Arsenal. Havertz, chance, two for him, four. Odegaard, played right across, and finished by Ben White for his second. Everything is going Arsenal's way.

Adrian, anything in particular? I really enjoyed Calafiore's curler at the Etihad. Really enjoyed that. And Big Gabby's winner, obviously at Spurs, in front of the Arsenal fans there. I thought that was a lovely moment. In by Saka, Gabriel! Arsenal at Spurs!

So, yeah, we've had lots of good moments, haven't we? We didn't get the moment that we wanted, but we've had lots of good ones. Yeah.

Yeah, all right. Well, we won't talk too much about that because I think we've got better moments to come. That's my feeling. And the boys certainly believe it, don't they? I mean, I like the way they're going about their business at the moment. Got Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-final. This is probably the best draw we could have got, isn't it, James? I mean, seeing us out

I can't see how Tottenham are going to get past Liverpool over two legs. And I didn't want to play them in the final. So, you know, we beat Newcastle. Hopefully we get a proper result at home. So when we go away, they have to come at us. And at that point we can silence them. I mean, it was the draw we wanted, right? It's what you wanted, I think. It is what I wanted, yeah. I,

I didn't like the prospect of two more North London derbies in the season. If United went through, I didn't want to play United five times in a single season. Liverpool, I think, are best avoided until the final. So it is the draw I wanted. I do think second leg away from home is a bit tricky. I think it puts a real onus on us to get a decent result in that first leg. Yes.

tear into them tear into them but we got a very good we got a very good record at Newcastle very good right well I think we might need it so that's good yeah Adrian do you feel the same way yeah I do yeah I mean the easiest game would have been Spurs I think

I don't mean that facetiously I just I just do think I do think that the worst of the last four I mean it is so funny at the moment just so funny and will not change such great value he will not change will he he won't no three of his three of his back four out and the goalie as well and

I just think that you have to tweak and adapt a little bit. But yeah, I'm with James. It's about the first leg. Newcastle have a horrible record at Emirates Stadium. We've got to maintain that. And, you know, we can go there and win or get a draw.

it's become a little bit of a bogey stadium or an awkward stadium for us, hasn't it? We haven't produced our best football there for a while, I don't think. So, actually, there was one win recently, but we've had a few more off days than good ones in the last four or five seasons at St. James'. So,

Yeah, let's just bury them in that first leg. Yeah, if we do that, then the crowd... Because even that game we won, they battered us for 15 minutes. And then we got ahead. And then after that, we sort of basically held them off. But that is a hard place for us to go. So 3-0 in the first leg is what we're looking for. And then really give them no chance to get back into it. I mean, looking at...

We've got nine fixtures in January. We've got Premier League games away at Brentford and Brighton. Never easy. We've got home games in the Premier League against Spurs and Villa.

and we got Dinamo Zagreb and Girona, as well as the Cup games against Man Utd and Newcastle. James, we can't really rest players for any of those, except hopefully Girona in the last away game of the Champions League, assuming we're through top eight. I mean, we are going to have to, the squad is going to have to really help here, aren't they? Yeah, I mean, it's great that we've got Califiori back, that Declan Rice is fit again. I think that gives us a bit of...

but certainly in the attacking area, you know, assuming that we do lose Mekhi Sak and Raheem Sterling for a few weeks, it is going to be taxing on the players that we do have available. It's what we want though, isn't it? We want them to be in these competitions. I mean, you know, and it's been one of the hardest seasons I can remember for a few years, but we're in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup, in the FA Cup final,

we're starting in a few weeks and in the Champions League we're hopefully through in the top eight I mean and we're in touch in the league it could be worse couldn't it? It's interesting I saw Paul Merson and Jamie Redknapp on Sky debating this and they were saying maybe the FA Cup game with United is the one where Arteta might make more changes or you know might see that as an opportunity to arrest players but

I'm not so sure. I think he'll squeeze everything he can from the main first team group in this month. Because I think he knows that this season he needs to be competing on every possible front. So it's going to be interesting to see how he manages that balance. He'll just have to adapt training. Training will be not non-existent, but it'll have to be much lighter, won't it? It just will. Because...

Yeah, there's not a lot of time between games. So a lot of talking, less physical work, I think, on the training pitch this month. And yeah, I don't want us to sacrifice that cup tie against Man United. Absolutely no chance. I want us to win that game. I see Zagreb as the one where we could put out a Carabao Cup team

and still beat Zagreb and still make top eight, I think that could be the one that you're looking at. The others, I don't think we should be resting or rotating too many players. If they put out the Carabao Cup team against Zagreb and won, that obviously would be an ideal scenario. That gives them a few games off. But it's just all these other games above that packed in. I mean, Villa at home in the Premier League, we know what they did to us last year. They absolutely spanked Manchester.

Manchester City at the weekend and that by the way also is tremendous entertainment we've got ourselves a strike humble lads keep it going the humility is working great for the rest of us we've got ourselves a striker now that we can rest and rotate you know Jesus and Havertz Havertz had to carry so much of it on his own now we can probably rotate them could be

Jesus against Zip Switch, have us against Brentford, Jesus against Brentford. Do you know what I mean? That would help. You can just mix and match it a little bit there, I think. And we have enough big central midfielders in Partey and Marino and Rice to maybe give one or two of them a little breather here and there as well.

send her back it's just going to have to go with it they don't run far anyway do they so they're young kids they're young boys hopefully they've got the energy keep it going have a rest in June Ipswich up next after Christmas let's have a song James well I mean funnily enough it's a song that came on in my car the other day and Jay was like have you got anything to sum up the year it's a Tom Petty song and it's called Running Down a Dream and

And I feel like that's where we're at. You know, we're chasing this dream. We're working hard to get there. We're running hard. Gabrielle Martinelli's running harder than he has for three years or something like that on the touchline. And let's hope we can get there. It looks challenging. You know, Liverpool look fantastic, I think, right now. But we're still in the fight. Yeah, running down a dream. Working on a mystery dream.

I've gone with the dream scenario as well because I've gone for a bit of Paul Weller, obviously. The Weaver. I am the weaver of your dreams. This is for Bukayo, okay? Because he is the weaver of our dreams and I wanted to be back healthy and playing as soon as possible. Adrian, what about you? Yeah, I'll level with you. I forgot to do a song. Sorry.

Yeah, because it's such an unexpected thing, isn't it, on this podcast? It's so unexpected. I mean, I'm doing the podcast. We don't do songs, do we? Do you know what? I would just like to wish a Merry Christmas to all of our listeners. Classy touch from Adrian. Nice. Yeah. Nice. So let's, you know, let's go out on, you know, I don't know, Merry Christmas, everyone. You know, let's just go out on that one. Yeah. All right. Shake in Stevens. Let's just have a good one. Let's enjoy it. And...

Look forward to, hopefully, a trophy-laden 2025. Don't see any reason why we can't. Can't make it that happen. Don't see any reason either. I would wish you all a happy Christmas, but I picked a song. So, you know, I've done my job, haven't I, really? Yeah, happy Christmas. Happy Hanukkah, whatever you celebrate. And we'll be back in the new year. We're going to have a bit of time off and we'll be back in the new year post-Brentford. Thanks to James. Thanks to James.

Thanks to Adrian and thanks to Jay, our producer. We'll see you in a week and a half. See you later.