James Benge

@wossa_3 Explained in the piece but also I mean, yeah, obviously! The xG is illustrative of a point made across 1500 words, it’s not the point.

@contesoldwig @EBL2017 Right, back to the start, read the whole thing again. When you’ve proven that you can read and retain information, then we can have a discussion. (As a hint, it’s all in the top four paragraphs. I know they’re long but stick with it and you’ll get there.)

@jamesbenge @EBL2017 How much has Chelsea spent in the last 3 years relative to the rest of the competition?

PL teams combined xG in R16: 22.3 Opponents’ combined xG in R16: 20.2 The grand conclusion to be drawn from the Premier League’s struggles? Don’t draw grand conclusions from eight days of cup football. cbssports.com/soccer/news/pr…

@contesoldwig @EBL2017 That’s not a complaint, that’s a fact. Come on, this is basic stuff.

@jamesbenge @EBL2017 Okay I’m sorry that I read your article saw that you complained the *checks notes* EPL TEAMS INCLUDING CHELSEA AND NEWCASTLE got beat by “rich kids”? You have a clear bias idk what to tell you James

@contesoldwig @EBL2017 I posted one asking if there might be 6. I posted another asking if there might be none. I also described all six qualifying as “an outside shot” and literally quantified the odds at 3.8%. Focus less on my writing, more on your reading.

@jamesbenge @EBL2017 You posted an article basically proclaiming that there might be 6 in the QF boosting the prem even though the only decent chances of progressing were Arsenal and liverpools lol You can be biased but be honest about it

@contesoldwig @EBL2017 Would I? How would you know that?

@jamesbenge @EBL2017 Why not? You absolutely would if the bum EPL clubs won instead

@TheWaveAFC To an extent, like in the PSG tie you can make the case that having Kvara, Barcola, Dembele etc gives you a nice advantage over what Chelsea have. But even then in that tie you can’t put it all down to individual skill. There was just a lot of wackiness this week.

This just says to me that a lot of the other teams have superstars who can score great goals from low quality chances. Something we saw in the Leverkusen game that we haven't been doing enough of. Just shoot! This is how PSG knocked us out last season.

No Martin Odegaard in the Norway squad for pre-World Cup friendlies later this month. Probably a bit of a relief for Mikel Arteta, that.

With much more than just a “magic moment”, Eberechi Eze is proving he’s a fit for Arsenal with and without the ball. cbssports.com/soccer/news/ar…

@kubla2KS He said he's fine

@jamesbenge Any chance we can find out if he did indeed go off injured or not.

Asked Arteta about Eberechi Eze's notable improvements defensively, more on which later. He seemed very clear that he'd wanted that and was pleased with what he has been seeing. "Without it, you have no chance of playing in this team."

Eze's gone down off the ball after that brilliant run, looks to have some pain in his left ankle

Norgaard and Mosquera coming on

2-0, Rice

I might not like wrestling but you have to respect any team that walks out to Triple H's entrance music

Will he keep them up though?

One of those goals that has you digging out the Alan Partridge World Cup commentary. Truly that was liquid football.

1-0, Eze

Arsenal averaging a possession recovery in the Leverkusen half every four minutes early on here. They're properly hemming a good team in.

Very warm applause around the Emirates as Max Dowman warms up