The Chris Wheatley Show is a brand new weekly series talking all things Arsenal and the Premier League. This week, Chris Wheatley and host Jason Jones reveal all about Sheffield United 0-6 Arsenal, latest injury news and much more.
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00:00 I mean, we could spend the whole 25 minutes just talking about the stats from last night.
00:05 I'm going to list off another one. It's not because I'm being lazy. It's just because
00:09 some of these stats are incredible. Arsenal are the first side in English League football
00:14 to win three successive away games by five plus goals. So, I mean, it's football manager stuff,
00:20 isn't it? It's FIFA stuff from Mikkel Arteta's side. Players who weren't producing the goods
00:26 earlier on in the season now, like Kai Havertz, for example, are now scoring and assisting in
00:31 almost every game. You've got Ben White playing at right back, scoring for Arsenal.
00:38 I think at the moment, it's just everything is glowing. Everything is clicking for Arteta's side.
00:44 And to be fair, you have to say it's not exactly been an overnight process. It has taken a couple
00:51 of years for this side to really get gelling and for Arteta to sign the right players to get his
00:58 players in the team.
00:59 Hello, welcome to another episode of the Chris Wheatley Show, Shots TV's one-stop shop to keep
01:07 you in the know on all things Arsenal. I'm your host, Jason Jones. I'm joined, as always, by Chris
01:13 Wheatley. This week, we'll be talking about another emphatic win for Arsenal on Monday evening. And as
01:18 always, we'll be putting your listener questions to Chris as well. So without further ado, Chris,
01:23 it feels a little bit like Groundhog Day, doesn't it? It's another Premier League weekend
01:28 in the books. Another huge win for Arsenal, 6-0 over Sheffield United on Monday evening,
01:36 5-0 up by half-time against the Blades. And again, another really dominant display for Michael
01:42 Arteta's men. Yeah, absolutely. I think Groundhog Day is probably the best description
01:49 for last night's performance. It's been a really good few weeks for Arsenal in terms of results,
01:57 in terms of performances. And they've done it once again against Sheffield United, who,
02:01 got to be honest with you, they look like they're going down without a fight. And it was a really
02:06 poor performance from them. Defensively, they fell apart in the opening 35, 38 minutes. In fact,
02:14 I've got a list of stats, which I have to read some of these out to you. I mean,
02:18 Arsenal went five goals ahead by the 39th minute, which is the earliest an away side has had a five
02:24 goal margin in Premier League history. So breaking Premier League records at the moment with their
02:30 performances, they're blowing teams away. We saw this last season where Arsenal were doing so well,
02:36 and then they fell apart towards the back end of the campaign. But at the moment, they do look
02:41 unstoppable. And hopefully I'm not saying that prematurely, but the performance yesterday was
02:47 superb and every single player on the pitch from back to front, as Martin Odegaard said after the
02:54 game, were superb. And I think in particular, the pressing off the ball has really improved from last
03:00 season. They've got new players in positions which are really showing their class like Declan Rice,
03:06 for example. And they've also got players coming back from injury. So Thomas Party came on in the
03:10 second half. He's back, would you believe it, from what just seemed like the longest layoff
03:16 possible. And he is back in the team or back in the squad. And I think these are really good
03:23 pieces of news for Arsenal. They just need to keep it going, keep the consistency, because
03:28 at the moment they do look, as I said, unstoppable.
03:31 I mean, you mentioned there that this time last season, you know, Arsenal were also going pretty
03:38 well. But I think it's fair to say that they've reached a new level in recent weeks, haven't they?
03:43 I mean, they are pre-scoring, tearing teams apart for fun. And it is difficult to see when they're
03:51 in the kind of form that they've shown, how any of the sort of, if you like, lesser sides in the
03:56 division can lay a glove on them. Absolutely. And I mean, we could spend the whole 25 minutes just
04:05 talking about the stats from last night. I'm going to list off another one. It's not because I'm
04:10 being lazy. It's just because some of these stats are incredible. Arsenal are the first side in
04:15 English League football to win three successive away games by five plus goals. So I mean, it's
04:22 football manager stuff, isn't it? It's FIFA stuff from Mikkel Arteta's side. And players who weren't
04:28 producing the goods earlier on in the season now, like Kai Havertz, for example, are now scoring
04:33 and assisting in almost every game. You've got Ben White playing at right back, scoring for Arsenal.
04:41 I think at the moment, it's just everything is flowing. Everything is clicking for Arteta's side.
04:47 And to be fair, you have to say it's not exactly been an overnight process. It has taken a couple
04:54 of years for this side to really get gelling, for Arteta to sign the right players, to get his
05:00 players in the team. And now everything is coming together. It's just whether or not they can keep
05:06 it going until the end of the season. There's not that many games left. And of course, they have that
05:11 Champions League game against Porto to contend with. The further they go in Europe, I think
05:16 the more difficult it's going to be in the league, of course, because they're going to have
05:20 their eyes on another competition. But yeah, it's all positive. It's all good. And I think
05:25 at the moment, Arsenal fans are really happy with what they're seeing.
05:28 And as we've said in recent weeks, another game where Arsenal had six different goalscores,
05:35 a few include the own goal that Sheffield United scored. But once again, really pleasing to see
05:40 those goals being shared around the side. Yeah, from back to front. I think Martin
05:46 Odegaard even said that after the game, as did Mikko Lortetta, that the players are really
05:52 confident at the moment. And it makes you more confident as a team because everyone is scoring
05:58 rather than just a focal point up front. Everyone is sharing out the goals. And I think that's a
06:04 really plus point of this Arsenal team. When you look at Manchester City last season, you could say
06:11 they were overly reliant on Erling Haaland. The amount of goals he scored, he was such a key
06:17 player in terms of getting the league title over the line. Arsenal are doing things differently.
06:22 They've got a number of players who can really score goals and get numbers in the final third.
06:30 And I think that's one thing that has really been a plus point from the team this season.
06:34 So yeah, it's looking really good. It's looking really positive. And yeah, I think Arsenal are
06:41 very, very happy at the moment with how things are going.
06:44 You saw some interesting comments from Chris Wilder in the post-match, singling out
06:50 certain Arsenal players. Could you perhaps tell us a little bit more about that, Chris?
06:56 Yeah, he singled out Bakayo Saka as the main threat in that Arsenal team.
07:02 I think the exact quote was, "Saka took us to pieces down that side. Whatever you need to do,
07:09 whether it's 5-4 or 4-5, you've got to try to stem the tide, especially when they're in full flow."
07:14 So he really singled out Saka, who of course has got 50-plus assists and goals
07:20 during his career at Arsenal. And he really has been one of the star players from this season.
07:27 It's funny because football, we've been talking about players maybe not delivering the goods or
07:32 not as good as last season. And then they come up with goals and assists and they quiet those
07:38 critics. And yeah, Saka is one of those players who's really done superbly this season. And
07:43 Chris Wilder obviously thought he was a huge threat in the game. And he was. And I think it was,
07:49 yeah, I think without being too disrespectful to Sheffield United,
07:55 they do look like a championship side in the Premier League at the moment. And I think
08:00 Arsenal are going to have a lot tougher tests to come, of course. Manchester City coming up in a
08:06 few weeks, Porto as well. So I think at the moment, you can only play the team that's given to you,
08:13 but Sheffield United. So I'm sorry to say they really, really did look poor yesterday.
08:18 Yeah, I have to agree with you, Chris. I think that, I mean, you look how far adrift they are
08:25 already, you know, 12 games to go, a dozen games to go. And I don't see a way that they get out of
08:30 this, to be perfectly honest with you. And I think that the worst thing you can say about them is
08:34 that they seem to have made that realisation as well, that the heads have gone down and they are
08:38 playing like a team who very much accepted their fate. Obviously, at the other end of the table,
08:45 though, everything is the play for Arsenal, still chasing very closely Manchester City and Liverpool,
08:51 just a matter of points in it. As you say, they've got that game against Manchester City coming up.
08:56 I mean, that's going to be absolutely pivotal in this title race, isn't it?
08:59 It is. And I think it comes at perhaps the perfect time for Arsenal to play. It's just
09:06 after the international break. I heard Jamie Carragher saying that it could be a positive
09:12 for Arsenal, the fact that it comes so soon after the international break. Players don't have too
09:17 long to train. They have to get back in the groove. And that could be a plus for Arsenal.
09:22 Can they go to the Etihad and win at the end of the month? It's a good question. And I think it's
09:30 certainly a possibility because you look at the way Arsenal are playing at the moment, they,
09:34 as I said, everything's clicking, everything's looking good. But of course, Pep Guardiola
09:40 knows how to win big games. He knows how to win league titles. And if there's anyone who is going
09:45 to win a league title or at least challenge until the very end, it is Pep Guardiola, of course.
09:51 So it's not just that Manchester City game. Of course, that is going to be a tough one. But
09:56 they've got away games against Brighton, a home game against Villa, an away game against Warbs,
10:02 and then an away game against Tottenham, April the 27th. So, yeah, it's going to be a tough
10:09 run-in at the end of the season. And even looking at the last two games,
10:13 you've got Manchester United at Old Trafford away from home on May the 11th, and then Everton,
10:19 who are obviously fighting for their lives with a points deduction as the final game of the season.
10:24 So I think Arsenal do have one of the most difficult run-ins possible. There's games there
10:30 which are certainly no guaranteed three points in the bag. But yeah, at the moment, if you're going
10:36 off current form, you're going off the way the team are playing at the moment, they certainly
10:40 do have a good chance of going all the way. As always, Chris, plenty of listener questions
10:49 for you as well. We'll start with one from Philbert, who is asking about the match last
10:54 night and also asking just how serious Gabriele Martinelli's injury is. Obviously, we saw
11:00 Martinelli hobble off the pitch with some assistance, looked like a nasty knock to the
11:04 foot. Have you had any sort of update on how the Brazilian's fitness is?
11:09 Yes, it was good news after the game. Nicol Arteta was asked about it in his
11:13 post-match interview with Sky and he said that it's just a cut for Gabriele Martinelli. So it
11:19 doesn't look too serious, but they're going to assess him and see how he is. But it doesn't
11:25 look as serious as perhaps it was first feared. There was also an injury, what looked like an
11:31 injury for Paquio Sacca, but Nicol Arteta said after the game that Sacca was sick. He felt sick
11:37 and that's the reason they took him off. So yeah, even with the apparent injuries,
11:42 it doesn't look too bad, which again is another plus point for Nicol Arteta's side.
11:46 Join us again on the Chris Wheatley Show after these adverts.
12:05 Welcome back to the Chris Wheatley Show on Shorts TV.
12:07 And I mean, overall, the squad feels as if it's moving back towards something near full fitness.
12:17 I mean, obviously, Yuri Timber very much on the road to rehabilitation now. Alexander Simchenko
12:23 and Takehiro Tomoyasu being the other two main injury concerns. I mean,
12:26 is there any sort of update on when we can expect to see those back in first team action?
12:33 Yep, Yuri Timber, he is, as we've said for the past few months, his recovery has been
12:38 pretty impressive from that ACL injury sustained in the first game of the season.
12:42 There is no kind of immediacy for him to come back into the first team fold.
12:48 Arsenal have been doing pretty well without him. Ben White at right back and they've got plenty of
12:54 options there. But I think there's certainly positivity around that he could be named in a
12:59 matchday squad in the next few weeks. He's looking good in training. He's looking sharp now. And I'm
13:06 sure he will be desperate to work his way into the Arsenal team before the end of the season,
13:11 if it's possible, of course. So yeah, it's good news on Timber. On Thomas Partey, as we said,
13:16 he's back in the fold. They'll be hoping to manage his injury carefully because we know he has a
13:22 history of sustaining these kind of muscle injuries and there's little knocks here and there.
13:27 So yeah, we'll have to wait and see exactly when those guys are going to play. But it's
13:32 looking positive, at least for the back end of the season and where injuries are concerned for Arsenal.
13:37 You mentioned Thomas Partey there. We've got a question here from
13:42 Gieswa who's asking about Mikel Arteta's potential tactical plans for the Guardian.
13:47 Obviously, coming back into the first team off the bench last night, it's kind of difficult to see
13:52 how he gets back in the starting XI at the moment, Chris. Mikel Arteta is blessed with so many options
13:56 in the middle of the park. Gieswa's asking if there's a formation that you could potentially
14:02 see whereby Arteta can fit Partey and Declan Rice and maybe even Jorginho, who's in such
14:08 fantastic form at the moment, into the team at the same time? In terms of which formation are
14:13 those players going to fit into, it's a good question. I think Mikel Arteta has shown that
14:18 he's not afraid to change up the system depending on the opposition. At the same time, he's also
14:24 said Thomas Partey is such an important part of this Arsenal team. I think he will find a way to
14:30 get him into the team, whether it's a three-man midfield, whether it's a two-man midfield and
14:35 Declan Rice perhaps playing in a more advanced role. He did say recently that Thomas Partey
14:41 is such an important player in this Arsenal midfield. They need him there.
14:44 I think that's a big sign that he is going to eventually come back into the team.
14:49 Exactly how he's going to play that midfield and deploy a different formation remains to be seen.
14:54 Arteta's comments are pretty telling and we'll have to wait and see what he does in the next
14:59 few games. Partey is clearly one of the most important players at the club when he's fit.
15:04 As you alluded to in the last part, Matt, it's complicated even further by the form that Kai
15:12 Havertz is starting to show as well. So many goals and so many games after Germany and he's
15:17 really looking like the player that Arsenal hoped he would when they spent all that money on him in
15:21 the summer. He is really living up to his price tag at the moment. When we spoke about him maybe
15:30 a couple of months ago, he really was struggling and was getting a lot of criticism online.
15:35 I know a lot of players say they don't listen to it but it was everywhere. I think you could see
15:42 he was unsettled. Perhaps it was affecting his game but now he's looking like one of the signings
15:49 of the summer. The way his performances are going, he's getting goals, he's getting assists.
15:54 He's scored and assisted in each of his last two Premier League games, becoming the first
16:00 player for Arsenal to do so in successive matches in the competition since Henrikh
16:05 Mkhitaryan in 2019. So that's a plus point. That's a piece of good news for Arsenal that
16:11 Havertz is delivering when they need him most. So good news there.
16:18 It wouldn't be an episode of the Chris Wheatley Show if we didn't discuss the striker situation
16:24 at some point, summer transfer plans. Of course, transfer windows looming ever larger as the end
16:29 of the season approaches. We've got a question here from Abdullah who's asking if there's any
16:34 update on that, Chris. If you have any idea on who that new striker is going to be for Arsenal?
16:41 I think we might need to get an AI version of myself just repeating the same thing every week
16:50 because we know that Arsenal are going to be looking in the market for a striker this summer.
16:54 There's a lot of names which have been linked from Ivan Toni to Victor Osserman and many,
16:59 many others. Younger players like Benjamin Sesko in Leipzig. We know that they're looking at a
17:06 number of targets. We don't know exactly which player they're going to go for. Ivan Toni,
17:11 I've seen recently that perhaps they've called their interest in him. When you look at his goals,
17:16 a lot of them have been non-penalty goals. Are they looking for someone who's a bit more mobile
17:21 in the box, who's going to guarantee them goals from inside and outside the box? Yeah,
17:26 that's a possibility as well. So we know that Arsenal are looking for a striker,
17:29 but it's not the only position. There's going to be quite a few positions they're looking at.
17:33 We already spoke about goalkeepers, an area where they could look to strengthen because Aaron
17:37 Ramsdale is not going to want to sit on the bench going into next season as well. So lots of
17:43 positions they're going to be looking at next season and expect it to be a busy summer at the
17:50 Emirates once again. I've seen a couple of interesting reports in recent days, Chris,
17:56 mentioning Victor Villar-Carreras, obviously former Coventry City striker, now on the books at
18:00 Sporting. I think he's scored something like 32 and 35 this season over in Portugal. He's been
18:06 absolutely electric for him. It would be very interesting to maybe see them take a gamble
18:13 on someone like that, wouldn't it? Someone who's maybe not quite proven in the same way that
18:17 Onosiman is or at a Premier League level in the same way that Atoni is, but someone who is still
18:22 very much proving himself to be one of the most prolific scorers in Europe.
18:27 Yeah, absolutely. He's a player which has the same agent, interestingly, as a couple of Man
18:34 United players like Victor Lindelof. He's someone that Arsenal have been looking at, of course. He's
18:41 one of the names on the shortlist of strikers. I think when Arsenal are going to be looking in
18:46 the market this summer, they're going to be looking for someone who can add different qualities to
18:49 that of Gabriel Jesus. Of course, they've got someone like Eddie Nketiah as backup. But as I
18:55 said before, they're looking for someone who can do almost everything and not just get goals.
19:02 They have Gabriel Jesus who can do a little bit of everything, but the problem with Jesus has been
19:08 his reliability in terms of staying fit. They need someone who is going to be reliable up top for
19:15 them. There's a lot of names there. It will be interesting to see exactly who they go for.
19:21 As I said, it's going to be a busy summer for Arsenal and Arteta and the technical director,
19:26 Edu. Interestingly, one last point before we go. I did have an interview out with
19:31 Gilberto Silva, which is now on Shots TV. I spoke to him about Edu. It's really interesting what he
19:39 said about how difficult it was for Edu when he first started, when he first came into the club,
19:44 how the atmosphere was really bad. The mood was really bad inside and outside the club.
19:50 He was just complimenting Edu and saying how well he's done to really turn it around.
19:54 I would just recommend any Arsenal fans or even football fans watch the interview because he also
20:01 discusses a lot of things from the invincibles and the ingredients to their success to also
20:08 the current Arsenal crop of Brazilian players at the club like Jesus and Martinelli. So really,
20:13 definitely one to watch. If you have some spare time today, I'd go onto the Shots TV website and
20:19 have a look at that. Can Arsenal win the Premier League title this season?
20:46 As I said before, I don't see why they can't. I don't see many reasons why they can't at the
20:51 moment. I think one of the biggest questions was can they keep everyone fit? They've struggled,
20:59 haven't they, this season. But every team struggles because you can never predict which
21:03 players are going to end up getting injuries. Part of that is just luck. You could get a player
21:08 being on the receiving end of a bad tackle. I think now that Arsenal are getting players back,
21:13 and big players as well like Timber and Partey, I think that just only bodes well
21:17 for this crucial part going into the back end of the season.
21:21 I think when you look at the fixture list, Arsenal do have a number of tough fixtures to contend
21:29 with. But I think there's also the possibility that they can really do something special.
21:35 But it just requires a little bit of luck as well. Nicolau Teta is going to be really hopeful that
21:41 they can do it in both competitions as well. They haven't seen Arsenal in the Champions League for a
21:46 long time. If they can do it in both and go far in both competitions, I think it's going to be
21:51 a positive end to the season for Arsenal for sure.
21:55 That's all we've got time for in this week's show. Join us again next week when we'll be
21:58 discussing all of the latest Arsenal news and developments. In the meantime, follow all the
22:02 latest sports news at www.shotstv.com. Check us out on Freeview channel 276.
22:09 Thanks to Chris, thanks to you for listening. This show was produced by Mark Wilson.
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