RØADEGAARD

Arsenal treble 25/26.

West Ham are no joke. 10th in the 2026 table. Have only lost once at home this calendar year. That was in early January. Have found real clarity with their game-model and best XI this side of the year. Pablo and Taty up front together. Pablo a physical handful. Taty more technical. Bowen and Summerville on the wings are top-end UCL level players. Mateus Fernandes belongs with the elites. Souček one of the most valuable midfield profiles in the Premier League. Diouf a big threat with his crossing. Walker-Peters a well-rounded and dynamic fullback. Disasi has formed a good partnership with Mavropanos whilst offering a big set-piece threat. Hermansen has clarified the goalkeeper situation. If they do go down, they will be one of the best Premier League teams to ever be relegated, if not the best. Tactically, it is quite basic. If the opponent presses man-to-man from the goal kick, West Ham play one pass short and play direct to 1v1's high. If they press zonally, they will try to use the overload in the build-up and play through the press. But the approach is primarily direct, often pushing everyone up and kicking closed. Higher up, Nuno gives his players freedom to 'feel the spaces'. Just like he did at Forest. It works because there have top players and they have a good balance of 1v1 dribblers, runners in behind, players who come to feet, and players to dictate the play with passing. Defensively, Nuno mixes his approach up from the goal kick. Sometimes man-to-man, sometimes passive. Primarily, it is man-to-man. What killed West Ham when Nuno first came in was the goal kick moment. His teams launched it with little-to-no detail and sat off when defending. Now, because they are more prepared from those moments, they make it harder for the opposition to exert control and exert their own qualities on games. However, the general philosophy is to be direct in the build-up and to sit off and be passive in open play. West Ham revert to 'type' if teams deal with their build-up/direct play from goal kicks and play through their initial lines of pressure. If they do that, West Ham sit off in a 4-4-2. Arsenal need to quieten the crowd by doing several things well. Defensively, they must apply pressure to West Ham's build-up. When they do that, West Ham will play direct. From here, Arsenal must come out on top in the duels. But that is no easy task because West Ham have outlets in the top-line and physicality + tenacity in second ball situations. They also have excellent technical quality to retain possession, to exploit you in transition, and to break down a low block. All of that is what Arsenal want to avoid. Arsenal will defend within their typical zonal turned man-to-man shape, but they need to prevent the game from being a physical one and suck the life out of West Ham, like City did to Brentford today. West Ham will have moments, sure. That is normal when they have the qualities that they possess. But if Arsenal can match their physicality and exert control with technical quality, they are likely to pin West Ham back and suffocate them. Bowen and Summerville are very diligent defensively. They will track back and make it difficult for Arsenal. But, in doing so, they also make it hard for their own team to get back up the pitch because they lack numbers high. That's why City dominated Brentford. City pinned them back and Brentford lacked outlets to hit in transition. They suffered from wave after wave of attack. Arsenal must try to do the same to West Ham. Arteta has to pick a team that can A) press, B) defend compactly before transitioning into a high press, C) win 1st and 2nd balls, D) be dynamic + brave in the build-up to overload and bypass West Ham's press, and E) break down the low block. The team that beat Fulham and Atleti achieves all of those things. Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Rice, Lewis-Skelly; Saka, Eze, Trossard; Gyökeres. It is not AS good as Arteta would like from a defensive organisation standpoint without Ødegaard in the team, but the reality is if Arsenal are to exert true control in this game then being organised defensively won't be a common game theme because they have the ball and are offering a genuine offensive threat. Besides, Eze has been at the club long enough. He knows the defensive demands, both tactically and intensity-wise. With Zubimendi and Ødegaard, Arsenal often lack players who show real cojones in deep-lying midfield positions and a #10 who consistently stays high with a genuine goal and creative threat. When Rice, Lewis-Skelly, and Eze play together, Rice can drop into the first line to overload the press, Lewis-Skelly is dynamic to get on the ball and evade pressure, and Eze can stay high and provide an elite threat between the lines. Plus, if Arsenal need technical reliability and a player to drop from high to low to offer control, Trossard can do that from the wing. This team can also break down a low block. 6 players on the top line. Lots of alternating movements to create all sorts of questions for West Ham's defence and options for Arsenal's players to find between the lines. It will be important to manage the occasion and the crowd. Best way to do that is with the ball and with an offensive threat in every moment. In such a big game, it is normal to fall back and defend low at times when winning, sure, but if you must do that then do so at 2-0 up after controlling the game WHILST maintaining a transitional threat. Not at 1-0 up the way Arsenal did against Atleti at home in the second leg of the Champions League. Controlling games of football with the ball is ALWAYS the best solution, even if it is a hell of a lot easier said than done. Ultimately, Arsenal have to exert control with the ball to give themselves the best possible chance to win and West Ham have to cause chaos to give themselves the best possible chance. West Ham are a little more predictable with what they do, so that leaves the onus on Arteta and his staff to come up with the optimal game-plan to exploit what we expect to see from Nuno and his team. However, West Ham did use a back 5 when they played City this side of the year. In that context, the team suggested for Arsenal to pick still makes sense because they attack with 6 on the top line. It doesn't change much in reality. A huge day for both clubs, but the expectation and subsequent pressure is on Mikel Arteta and Arsenal. It's time to deliver.

Big day ahead. “History is made - one step at a time” Nervous - yep a little. Remember how you all felt after Tuesday. It’s time to seize the opportunity to be remembered for ever.

PGMOL are 100% setting up a trap for The Arsenal tomorrow. We have to be clinical, will need to put the performance of the year.

Insane run

You’d think this is an AI Hallucination 😂

I believe Arsenal will wear their home colours for the UCL Final in Budapest 2026 as it stands.

Rice needs beat and possibly relegate West Ham Eze needs to beat Palace and raise the PL trophy at Selhurst Park These man need to lock in and be ruthless 3 games. 3 wins and it’s ours

Tbf that is leadership

Win 3/3 and we win the league by 2pts

Bournemouth away will be the one

Absolutely sickening. Clearly clipped him. That's a penalty.

Now, you see, if O'Reilly is booked for a blatant and dangerous push into the hoardings earlier, then you've got a potential red card there. Alas.

Boooo

Checked and cleared 😂😂😂😂

Doku has now scored the same goal 12 times this week.

Staggering. It’s a punch. They’re sending people off for tiny hair pulls, ignoring this is deliberate and corrupt.

My guys having the perfect gap year if we’re real 😂

How has Bernardo Silva got away without a straight Red for that? You’re not allowed to swing your arms and punch someone on the leg. Intentional also! & to top it off sky sports called it “impressive attitude” Sometimes it feels like I’m watching something completely different!

Let’s make it 18 lads