[NoSkillz]

Thu. December 26, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Dover (11-3-3, 36 points, 4th) vs. Arsenal (10-3-5, 33 points, 5th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Arsenal: 11-5
Past Meetings: 6W 2D 9L

Arsenal are starting to nip at our heels a bit but even with a win today, they won’t be able to pass us due to the fact their goal differential is only +4 versus our +19. It looks like stellar defender/striker Nchimunya Munyao is playing more up front this year, as he leads the Gunners with 9 goals thus far. They still have dangerous forwards Lee Ross and Boakye as well. After losing five straight league games at one point in November, Arsenal have righted the ship and rung up five straight wins in all competitions. They also are through to the Europa League knockout stages. As usual, they were modest spenders in the transfer window, with only £12.5 million spent on five players, most notably former Dover loanee George MacKenzie, who came over from Sunderland for £7.25 million.

We make six changes from our ugly draw against Wolves. Ingo Wilke is in goal for the struggling Manuel Perez. With captain Salim Loucif injured, I bring in vice captain Saber Nasri and rest Rayane Hamon, as we play again in two days against Sheffield United in league play. Also coming in for today’s game on defence is Emerson, with the only holdovers being Claudio Contreras and Renato Gaucho. In midfield, the only holdover is Jose. After a three game benching, we give another shot to Neil Cairney. Also playing in midfield are Arsene Bamba and Graham Allen. Superstar striker Paul Moses, very unfit after four months recovering from a torn calf, is on the bench today and we’ll try to get him 30 minutes of playing time.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, Emerson
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan
S - A. Broomes, Chiquinho
Bench - Rafinha, M. Mutesa, A. Rocca, E. Harvey, M. Pedersen, L. Kunchev, P. Moses

Arsenal are in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Munyao up front, Jack Wilshere in behind and Sergio Asenjo in goal. I pull aside Chiquinho and tell him I expect a better game while also telling Neil Cairney I expect a performance from him today. Beyond that, I tell the players to put on a good show today.

HALFTIME - Well, after a horrific defensive performance last game, I guess I can’t complain too much about a scoreless first half. We dominate the proceedings, with 53% of possession and a huge 15-4 (3-0 on target) shot advantage. Andy Broomes is a bit of a goat again today, with an incredible 8 first half shots but only two on target. At least he’s doing SOMETHING while Chiquinho continues to struggle immensely. I try to instil some confidence in these guys by saying they can win this game and I tell Broomes I have faith in his ability. I also tell Chiquinho I’m disappointed in his performance.

59’ - Arsenal are starting to take it to us and have had all the highlights this half. Time to bring in our saviour! Out comes Chiquinho and in comes Paul Moses to a warm ovation from our crowd!

66’ - It’s absolutely INCREDIBLE how much Moses means to our club. He’s completely out of shape and hasn’t played in four months yet we have essentially six minutes straight of highlights and he’s darting all over the place. Jose sends a ball up field down the right flank into open space and Moses beats his man to the ball. He attempts a cross into the area, which hits an Arsenal defender but deflects right to out of form NEIL CAIRNEY, who hits the ball on the volley and it’s past Asenjo and IN!!! YES! That’s Cairney’s first goal of the year! DOVER GOAL 1-0

79’ - We bring in Andrea Rocca for a tired Jose.

90’+1 - We have Rafinha waiting to come on and I’m trying to change to a counter attacking mentality but we can’t get a stoppage in play. Still, the persistence of Neil Cairney pays off, as he tackles the ball away in midfield and gets to the vacant ball in Arsenal’s end. He sends a ball up to Moses and his shot is weak and wide. It’s about to go out of play but at the last second, Graham Allan gets there and sends a desperation, one touch cross to the middle and the ball hits an Arsenal defender and bounces into the net! We’ll take it! DOVER GOAL 2-0

Rafinha comes in for young fullback Emerson.

We get the much-deserved win!

Dover 2 - 0 Arsenal
Goals - Neil Cairney (8.7), Jan Lems OG
Assists - Neil Cairney, Paul Moses (7.3)
Man of the Match - Neil Cairney
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.3), Emerson (7.2), Saber Nasri (7.2), Claudio Contreras (7.3), Renato Gaucho (7.2)
Attendance - 23,000 (Sell-Out)

It was a bit tense early in the second half but the move to bring on Paul Moses changed the momentum BIG-TIME in our favour and we score two goals in those 30 minutes to prevail. Moses gets a 7.3 rating for his 30 minutes - that’s rare to see for such a short time on the pitch but shows how influential he was in limited minutes. We held 53% of possession and a 21-10 (6-3 on target) shot advantage. Neil Cairney was sensational today - easily his best performance in quite some time! Wilke was excellent in goal as well - man, I can’t believe he continues to play at such a high level. I really thought Perez was going to take over this year but I’m finding it very hard to keep throwing the guy in the fire only to let in three goals every game.

-- Everyone continues to roll: United beat up on Derby, City win on the road at Middlesbrough, Chelsea can only manage a draw against Spurs and Sheffield Wednesday destroy Huddersfield 5-0. We stay in fourth, a whopping nine points out of first place.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 19 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester United - 48 points
2. Chelsea - 41 points
3. Manchester City - 39 points
4. Dover - 39 points (after 18 games)
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5. Arsenal - 33 points
6. Middlesbrough - 32 points
7. Sheffield Wednesday - 31 points
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Contract Expiries

-- We have a number of decent depth players and two key prospects with expiring deals so I go ahead and start offering contract extensions.



Next Up

-- We begin the second half of the season, welcoming 17th placed Sheffield United to Crabble Athletic Ground as we continue our month-long home stand.