Audition opportunity for Pompey FA Cup striker – Suburban Gooners

It’s the FA Cup today for Arsenal and after having a bit of a laugh at the Tiny Totts (they were terrible in that first half so I’m glad I didn’t bother with the second) last night while I was cooking, Arsenal need to get a win at Fratton Park against Portsmouth.

We’ve all talked this season about how impressive our squad is and how it would hopefully set us up for success, but so far this season the only way it’s really been able to be used is via the League Cup, and even then I think Arteta preferred to go with a strong team given we’ve played Premier League opponents most of the time. So today is another chance to see some of those rotation options come onto the pitch and I think – with all due respect to Portsmouth – this should be an occasion in which full-scale rotation is considered.

So for me, the team I line up with today, if I were Arteta, is:

1. Kepa
2. Salmon
3. Lewis-Skelly
4. White
5. Gabriel
6. Norgaard – DM
7. Eze – Left Eight
8. Nwaneri – eight right
9. Gabriel Jesus
10. Madueke – right wing
11. Martinelli – left winger

I don’t think Arteta will do this, because I think he will play Merino, but I left Merino out only because he has played a lot of minutes this season compared to the others, and I think this match, of all the next ones, offers the most opportunities for large-scale rotation. That’s also why I stuck with Salmon at right back, but again, I doubt Arteta will do that. Going by what I “think” will happen, it will be White at right back, Saliba and Gabriel at center, Eze at right eight and Merino at left eight. There is, however, an opportunity to surprise myself; we can also use the midweek League Cup game at Chelsea as an opportunity for a bit of rotation as well and I think Chelsea will be quite strong in that one as it will allow Rosenior to rally the fans very quickly if they beat us over two legs and then also get to a final with a chance of winning a cup.

So this midweek game probably needs a stronger XI, which means I hope Arteta rotates a bit more today. I spoke yesterday about the state of Portsmouth, having looked at some of the stats available, and they are a team who are likely to play a long game, sitting compactly and looking to counter-attack on the break. In an ideal world you need players who can probably operate in small spaces and I think Eze can certainly do that, I think Ethan has tight enough ball control and tight enough dribbling ability to do that, so given that this game at Pompey might need a few more lock pickers on the pitch, why not go for two creative eights, rather than Merino who is more of a physical, duel winning and threatening eight?

There’s probably also an element of protectionism on Ethan’s part, as I’ve seen a lot of fans online, on pods, videos, etc. all talking about Ethan and how we’re getting minutes from him. We all have a lot of affection for this boy and we want to see him, which is why I think – perhaps like you – that I am desperate for him to be part of this team today. Let’s see if that happens.

Let’s also see if we get some airtime for Havertz as well. That would be great. From the sounds of Arteta’s pre-match press conference, the signs are good, so if I were a betting man I’d probably say there’s a job-sharing opportunity with Jesus and Havertz today. If Jesus gets 70 minutes and we win, let’s see if Kai can do 20 minutes on top. Just as Jesus’ minutes have been handled so far, we need to do the same with Kai, and so I see this game as a perfect introduction. Looks like Arteta is judging by his comments. It will be so good to see him again, although I think most of us are reasonable in our expectations; this guy has been out for over a year, and expecting him to make a major impact in the coming weeks is probably a little too far-fetched. I think he’ll probably be able to start a match in February, and by Marc, he might start to look a little like the Kai of old. But for now, what we need are glimmers of the old Ka,i and with Big Vik looking increasingly lacking in confidence, having another option on the bench seems like a big plus for our aspirations this season.

For Gabby Jesus, this represents an opportunity to tell the manager, “Remember, I was THE guy at nine. So here’s my re-audition to start,” and, given that Big Vik has looked anything but lethal in recent games, if he plays today, I think the fan clamor to start him will only grow. I’m getting there too. This Liverpool game appears to be a watershed moment for Gyokeres; he wasn’t great, he didn’t offer much, and when Gabby Jesus came along, we saw a guy who was so much more involved. Yeah, he wasn’t great either, but I think the challenge of Big Vik is that people can’t “see” him. Everyone can “see” Jesus because that’s the kind of wasp-like character he plays on the field.

I want us to win this game. In previous seasons our team hasn’t been big enough to cope on many fronts, but given that I’ve just been able to name an almost completely renewed XI that still looks very good and doesn’t even include merinos, this is proof of the fact that we have the team that should be able to challenge. And we have been eliminated in the third round of this competition too many times recently. Last season at United (which was a joke), the season before at Liverpool, two seasons before that it was Forest. In fact, since we won it in 2020, we haven’t made it past the fourth round of this competition. It’s time to change that. And this team has the depth and quality to do it. Now go prove it, Arsenal.

I’ll be back tomorrow as usual to do a little debriefing, but for now I’ll leave you with the rest of your Sunday and hopefully we can settle matters this afternoon.

Later the children.