Belated Merry Gabriel to you

Morning.

Sorry for the lateness of today’s blog, but I slept through two alarms. All the festive wine is catching up with me, I guess. There does not appear to be much going on right now, and I don’t think there’s much more to say after the win against Brighton.

I’m cognisant of the fact my experience of that game was very much a ‘first world problem’ in terms of football these days. I expressed my feelings yesterday in the blog and in the Arsecast Extra, but the reality is my team won and we’re top of the table. That’s pretty good, you know. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

We have stuff to work out, but this the best possible place to do it from. I’m heartened by the return of Gabriel, a player who I think we’ve missed in a significant way even if results don’t necessarily demonstrate that. I will say, I don’t think we lose to Aston Villa if he’s in the side, which isn’t to blame anyone deputising for that defeat. It’s just there’s a presence to him that any team in the world would miss.

Not just defensively, but offensively too. He has one goal and two assists in the Premier League this season, not massive numbers, but just being there unsettles defences and makes us more dangerous from set-pieces. I hope he unsettles the ever-loving shite out of Aston Villa tomorrow, but I also think having the best central defensive partnership in Europe back together will have an impact on our attacking play too.

There’s so much focus on it right now, and I understand that. It is a bit more about the fluency than the end-product for me. Chances get missed by every team, but if you’re one cohesive unit you generally create enough to make up for it. We’ve had a lot of instability in the back four, with almost a different selection for every game this season, and that does have an impact. Hopefully now a little consistency back there can pay dividends further up the pitch.

Anyway, that’s all I have this morning, in this weird limbo time between Christmas and the new year. I know it’s a Monday on paper, but it doesn’t feel like a normal day of the week at all. I would make up a name for it, but I just don’t have the gumption today. Waking up late bothers me in a way I can’t really explain. It’s like not being on time for something but amplified by six trillion and forty-two. Which is weird, because ultimately I can put the blog out whenever I want and there’s nobody going to tell me off.

My boss isn’t going to chastise me, because he no existe. Or at least he is me, and I can essentially do what I want, but I have started today feeling like I have let you all down and for that I am sorry. Like I was sent through on goal by Bukayo Saka and I blazed it over the bar from 6 yards. That said, despite not having the pace to get into that position these days, I’d be confident I could stick it in the back of the net from there. So, ultimately, this is all Gabriel Martinelli’s fault and he owes us a couple of goals against Villa.

Right, enough. Later we’ll have an episode of The 30 for you, rounding up all the Premier League action from this weekend, and an Aston Villa preview pod, over on Patreon. Join us there for all of that. In the meantime, enjoy your not really Monday that is actually a Monday in the last days of 2025.

Byeeeeeeeeeee.