The eyes of every Arsenal fan on Wednesday evening was on the Champions League clash with Girona at the Estadi Municipal de Montilivi, and although manager Mikel Arteta’s side did not have it all their own way, we did what was needed to take the win but attentions will now very quickly turn back to the January transfer window and next Sunday’s home clash with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side.
Although we fell behind early on, a much changed side rallied to take a 2-1 victory on Wednesday night and it meant that we secured third spot in the revamped Champions League table with 19 points from our eight games. Arsenal news is already full of stories given that we know that after the Play Off legs take place, we will face either AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord or Juventus in the first knockout phase.
However, whilst our 42 year old gaffer was relatively pleased with our efforts on the night and he was happy to pass some praise around at the full time whistle, he had also earlier confirmed that the decision to leave goalkeeper David Raya out, and replace him with 35 year old debutant Neto, was purely driven by injury concerns.
With a number of changes made for the final league stage clash with qualification not really in question, originally many had simply assumed that it was general rotation with an eye to resting Raya for the Premier League games to come, but he categorically stated that was not the case, saying he was ‘not fit’ and that he could not play because he was ‘injured’.
Arteta did not elaborate on what the injury was, nor the severity and how long it may potentially keep him out of contention, but it is a worrying development ahead of the weekend. As we all know, all three points against City could prove to be pivotal in our attempts to chase down Liverpool in top spot and the last thing we need right now are additional injury worries that derail our efforts and focus from having a far stronger end to the campaign than our first six months.
As a bizarre twist of fate given the decision the Spaniard was clearly forced into taking, on loan Bournemouth stopper Neto not only made his debut for us as previously stated, but he became the Gunners oldest debutant in more than 100 years when he took to the pitch as part of the starting XI, and that is bound to feature in a future Arsenal pub quiz.
Naturally though, the press and pundits were all over Arteta’s reveal and the concerns about the City clash, in particular, would not have been helped by Neto’s rush of blood and finding himself in no man’s land for their opener, but the single capped Brazilian international has long been considered a safe pair of hands even if he has been a rare No 1 across his playing career.
Whilst the Raya news is obviously a worry, it is the only concern we seem to have given the changes that were made, but fingers crossed it is certainly not as serious as many are worrying.
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