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5 min White lofts down the line and into space, Ake nervously waving a foot at it and missing. That allows Gyokeres to power into the channel, exactly the thing he does best, but when he reaches the line, his cut-back is intercepted.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 3 min We see Eze sat on the bench and he looks pretty nauseous. He\u2019s worked so hard to learn Arteta\u2019s pressing system and adapt to playing in a team looking to dominate rather than counter, so to have this reward taken away from him must feel grim. Arsenal<\/a> will miss him, I think.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2 min City move the ball along the back four, looking to draw Arsenal<\/a> on to them so they can spring, but it\u2019s all a bit tight and messy so far, a ball in behind finding Gyokeres offside.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 1 min Arsenal immediately press City high, defenders backing up attackers by jumping. City, on the other hand, are sitting off a little.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 1 min Away we go!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n I can\u2019t help but think if Arsenal<\/a> had spent the money they\u2019ve used on various good players on one or two brilliant attackers, the title would already be theirs. I know a major reason they\u2019re doing so well is their squad depth, but it\u2019s rare a champion side is as prosaic going forward.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n There are soldiers knocking abut the pitch, I\u2019ve not a clue why; this is a football match, not a war. Anthem time.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n How did we appraise import in football matches before they invented those flame things?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Our teams are tunnelled, which means it\u2019s time for a succession of curiously staccato sentences of varying sense from Peter Drury. And here they come!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n There are plenty of gaps in the City end and I\u2019m not surprised. I guess some will fill up before kick-off, but the expense of travelling and paying into Wembley makes it difficult for fans.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m really looking forward to this game. As a contest, I\u2019m not sure it\u2019ll be pretty, but that\u2019s not what brings any of us here really \u2013 what football gives us that nothing else can is its special brand of competitive, emotional intensity, and this is that and then some. The players will be feeling the weight.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Forest have won 3-0 at Spurs; it\u2019s looking grim in N17, but West Ham\u2019s defeat at Villa keeps them a point above the relegation zone, while Forest are now three above it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Arteta says Eze is injured, then explains that he fully trusts Kepa, and that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Guardiola tells Sky that Dias felt something against Madrid and isn\u2019t ready for today. I was getting to the keepers \u2013 both teams are sticking with their reserves \u2013 and he trusts James Trafford. Then, laughing, he notes that he\u2019s selected the tallest team he could because who isn\u2019t concerned about Arsenal\u2019s set-pieces?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n City, meanwhile, will want Doku to dart low crosses across the face of goal for Haaland and Semenyo \u2013 who\u2019ll also be looking to complete those long carries, so many of which end with a shot and often a goal. He\u2019ll feel he can get by Hincapie and down the side of Gabriel.<\/p>\n Cherki, meanwhile, will want to get on the ball and fire those low shots with much disguise and little backlift, as well and slipping passes down the sides of defenders for Haaland. He\u2019s clever enough to elude Zubimendi, but may leave his side light on midfield numbers as he seeks to create crucial moments.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n So, where is the game? Arsenal will want to get Bukayo Saka running at Nico O\u2019Reilly. Though Timber\u2019s superior defending has seem him usurp White, White is the better attacker and his relationship with Saka was a principal feature in the early years of the Arteta revival.<\/p>\n Otherwise, I\u2019d expect to see Rice rampaging into tackles, after loose balls and in the channels \u2013 neither Bernardo nor Rodri have the legs to cover the width of the pitch, and I\u2019d not be surprised to see Martin Zubimendi picking up spaces around the edge of the box. I\u2019m not, though, sure what we\u2019ll see from Havertz, who doesn\u2019t play in midfield all that much these days. When he came through at Leverkusen, his soft feet and imagination on the ball shone through; Arsenal will hope he can conjure them space, and that he continues burnishing his impressive big-game record.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOh Lord, Daniel, the nostalgia!\u201d begins Charles Antaki. \u201cToo many guitars on stage, of course, but who (of a certain age) can resist the appeal of that lineup; soon to become hopelessly old-farty, cranky or dead, to be sure, but still just about alive. Happy, or happy-ish, days, before Dylan\u2019s singing became completely incomprehensible, and popular music took a very different turn. It\u2019s a museum piece, of course, but even museum pieces can get the old heart going and the foot tapping.\u201d<\/p>\n The anticipatory noise the crowd makes when Dylan comes on stage is one of my favourites \u2013 and, now I come to think about it, reminds me of this League Cup final sound when the ball goes wide to Ander Herrera and everyone knows that if he puts his cross into the right place, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will do the rest.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Can Arsenal<\/a> win the quadruple? It seems unlikely because it always is, and not much about this team suggests they\u2019re good enough to do something beyond the greatest we\u2019ve seen. On the other hand, the draws in Europe and the FA Cup have been kind, so they won\u2019t have to win as many difficult matches as would ordinarily be the case and they are so diffocult to beat.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n At Tottenham, Forest now lead 2-0; at Villa Park, Villa now lead West Ham 2-0.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Physically, the edge is with Arsenal<\/a>, especially in midfield. Rodri may never recapture the power and pace which made him one of the best in his position, while Bernardo never it. They\u2019ll look to control the tempo of the game and have the passing and smarts to do it, but it\u2019s a tricky endeavour with Declan Rice charging about.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Guardiola, on the other hand, is still tinkering. In midweek, he left out Semenyo, presumably because it\u2019s hard to carry two players \u2013 him and Erling Haaland \u2013 who don\u2019t contribute loads apart from goals. He\u2019ll hope that in Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku, he has enough creativity, and he may well be right \u2013 the former is a one-off who\u2019ll be certain he can make this match all about him, while I really like how the latter has come on in the last few months. He\u2019s so hard to read, and is making very good decisions; one on one against White, I fancy him.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Back to the teams, Arsenal\u2019s looks more settled. They\u2019re without a couple of regulars, but play according to the same principles in pretty much every game. They lack magic, especially in the absence of Eze, but of the two teams, they have the higher bottom level; chances are, they\u2019ll defend properly whatever happens, so will take some beating.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Email! \u201cI just cannot see Arsenal<\/a> winning other than on penalties,\u201d says Graham Fulcher. \u201cNo one is going to want to score the winning goal for them and then miss the Premier League run-in as a result. The last time someone scored a League Cup-winning goal for Arsenal they were dropped immediately afterwards\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Goodness, that was a very long time ago. I was so much older then, I\u2019m younger than that now.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n City, meanwhile, are without the injured Ruben Dias; Nathan Ake comes in. Otherwise, Antoine Semenyo returns, with Tijjani Reijnders dropping to the bench.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The headline news for Arsenal<\/a> is that Eberechi Eze isn\u2019t in the squad \u2013 presumably he\u2019s injured \u2013 which is a particular shame for him, given how long it\u2019s taken him to fully integrate, and for us, because he\u2019s an artist with big-game pedigree. His spot goes to Kai Havertz, while at right-back, Ben White is in for the also-injured Jurrien Timber, and on the left, Pedro Hincapie is preferred to Riccardo Calafiori. Otherwise, Viktor Gyokeres continues up front, and on the left it\u2019s Leandro Trossard not Gabriel Martinelli.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n We\u2019ll dig into those shortly, but before we do, join Rob Smyth for the second half of Spurs 0-1 Forest, probably the most important game played so far this season.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Teams!<\/p>\n Arsenal (4-3-3): Kepa; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Rice, Havertz; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard. Subs: Raya, Mosquera, Jesus, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman.<\/p>\n Manchester City (4-3-3): Trafford; Nunes, Khusanov, Ake, O\u2019Reilly; Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Cherki; Semenyo, Haaland, Doku. Subs: Donnarumma, Reijnders, Stones, Marmoush, Kovacic, Nico, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Foden.<\/p>\n Referee: Peter Bankes (Lancashire)<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Humanity\u2019s search for meaning is a struggle 300,000 years in the making, a succession of theories and experiments unable to fix on a reason or explanation for the lunacy that is life. We find patterns and seek stories to get nowhere, everything we are \u2013 thoughts, memories, feelings \u2013 bafflingly contained in a quivering lump of fat, water, protein, carbohydrates and salt. The reality \u2013 that we\u2019re little more than sentient custard \u2013 is so discombobulating, it\u2019s barely any consolation that we are, at least, seasoned.<\/p>\n