Takehiro Tomiyasu didn’t just make the squad tonight, or just feature, in Arsenal’s 5-0 utter destruction of Chelsea. He started, and with that conveyed that there was nothing wrong with him this week. And Jurrien Timber is moving closer towards featuring, as he now has an outside chance of making the North London Derby squad on Sunday.
So the Gunners are just about at full fitness for the final month of the season.
North London Derby FYIs
Kickoff: Sun. April 28, 2024 at 2pm UK at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Team News: Tottenham Arsenal
Starting XI Prediction: Arsenal Tottenham
Google Result Probability: Arsenal 50% Draw 24% Tottenham 26%
PL Position, Form Guide: Arsenal 1st, 74 pts, WLWWD Tottenham 5th, 60 pts, LWDWL
Arsenal crushed their opponents, arch-rivals Chelsea, so badly today that Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino admitted that his side actually gave up.
“We talked at half-time about how it is not possible to start the game like this,” the Argentine side.
“But we started [the second half] in a bad way again. We conceded two goals and in this moment, the team gave up. We were not in the game.”
He was then asked is his team’s folding made him question their character.
“No, it is not the character,” he said.
“I played football and I was in some similar situations with big players, experienced players. I played with [Diego] Maradona, I played with Ronaldinho, I played with [Gabriel] Batistuta. In some part of the season, these type of things can happen and you say ‘yes, these guys that were at the top, give up.’
“Sometimes because of the opponent, because of our energy, because nothing is for you in this situation and you cannot find anything positive during the game and this type of thing happens. It will happen for sure with different teams.”
Now that match was what you call a bona fide beatdown.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Twitter.