[NoSkillz]

Sat. March 23, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Dover (23-6-1, 75 points, 1st) vs. Arsenal (14-9-7, 51 points, 7th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Arsenal: 7-4
Past Meetings: 5W 2D 9L

Arsenal just got knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona and are on a poor run of form, with only one win in their last six matches. Striker Boakye leads the club with 17 goals in 35 matches and defender/striker Nchimunya Munyao has 14. The normal Arsenal tactic is to start with Munyao at defence then move him up to striker if they need a goal later in the game. Arsenal usually play with only one man up front. Fine Canadian defender Lorenzo Tomaselli is hurt and will miss today’s contest.

We’re fully healthy now but I’m going to continue to do a bit of squad rotation today just to give some players a needed break. Sitting today will be captain Salim Loucif, Rayane Hamon and goalkeeper Ingo Wilke. Neil Cairney is back in the lineup after missing the last four games due to injury and suspension. We’re only slight favourites today. Control mentality.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, Rafinha
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - C. Guzman, M. Yilmaz, A. Rocca, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan, Z. Bardi, S. Andrea

Interesting…Munyao is playing striker today in their 4-2-3-1 formation and Arsenal’s leading scorer Boakye isn’t even on the bench. Carl Cousins, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere are all dangerous midfielders and Sergio Asenjo is in goal. Lets do this for the fans today!

9’ - Jose to Neil Cairney in the middle and his rocket launcher is saved by a diving Asenjo! Great stop!

19’ - Chiquinho receives a Jose pass but shoots from a poor angle and Asenjo bumps it over the net.

23’ - Jose with a wonderful pass off a give and go with Paul Moses and our leading scorer is in all alone. He looks like he has the right angle but Asenjo makes a brilliant stop! Wow!

25’ - Jose with a bullet of a free kick from distance and Asenjo JUST keeps it out of the net. He’s on FIRE so far!

30’ - We have a goal kick and Perez sends it up field. Chiquinho wins the ball and sends a pass out wide to Gianluca Bolis. He’s running down the right and crosses in and there is Paul Moses, slotting the ball past Asenjo and we take the lead! DOVER GOAL 1-0

32’ - Arsenal march right down the field on the ensuing kick off and a cross comes in to Alexander Kacaniklic but his header is saved well by Manuel Perez.

42’ - We have a corner and Arsene Bamba crosses to the near post. Saber Nasri heads the ball and it goes off Paul Moses and IN! Moses scores them in so many ways and he’s got two! DOVER GOAL 2-0

45’ - Only seconds after Arsenal midfielder Carl Cousins misses the net on a glorious chance, we move quickly ahead and it’s Bolis again as the architect, as he sends in Jose on a through ball and our Brazilian midfielder strikes a low ball with FURY and it’s past Asenjo and in! That’s Jose’s second of the year and we’re now comfortably ahead! DOVER GOAL 3-0

HALFTIME - Wow! What a half of football. We get edged in possession, holding 49% but we outshoot them 12-6 (8-2 on target). Fantastic! I’m pleased boys!

58’ - Munyao, quiet up until now, gets a header that rattles off the crossbar but Perez is able to grab and hold onto the ball when it finally comes down.

67’ - We have another corner and Bamba’s cross is to the far post. Claudio Contreras heads it forcefully past Asenjo and IN! We’re dominating! DOVER GOAL 4-0

We take out the excellent Jose and bring in Gian Marco Fanfoni.

73’ - In comes Graham Allan for Arsene Bamba.

85’ - Last sub sees Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz come in for Claudio Contreras.

SOLID.

Dover 4 - 0 Arsenal
Goals - Paul Moses 2 (9.0), Jose (8.1), Claudio Contreras (8.4)
Assists - Gianluca Bolis 2 (8.5), Saber Nasri (8.0), Arsene Bamba (7.7)
Man of the Match - Paul Moses
Other Dover Notables - Rafinha (7.8), Renato Gaucho (7.5), Neil Cairney (7.3), Chiquinho (7.2)
Attendance - 23,000

We show our class to a sellout crowd at Crabble, defeating a traditional powerhouse in all phases of the game. 53% of possession and a 22-11 (10-5 on target) shot advantage. Brilliant!

-- Look out for Manchester City, as they wallop Middlesbrough 5-1 on the road. Jose Mourinho is whipping them into shape quick. Aston Villa continue to do us favours, drawing against Chelsea. Manchester United and Spurs both win to keep up with us while Liverpool can only manage a draw against Everton.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 31 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Dover - 78 points
2. Manchester United - 66 points
3. Tottenham - 65 points
4. Chelsea - 62 points
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5. Manchester City - 60 points
6. Liverpool - 56 points
7. Arsenal - 51 points
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-- With a 12 point lead and only seven games left, the best any opponent can do at this point would be to get to 87 points and that would be Man United…but only if they win all seven of their remaining games. That means we only need nine more points to tie that mark and with a goal differential that is currently +25 ahead of United, essentially three wins from our remaining 7 matches SHOULD win us the Premier League! Holy crap! I think this is the year guys!!!



Dover U18 Update

-- Norberto Vazquez scores our only goal in a 1-1 draw against Crawley.



Premier League Team of the Week

-- Paul Moses, Rafinha and Claudio Contreras all make the Premier League team of the week.



Dover Injury Report

-- We are completely healthy right now. We’ve been really fortunate all year…knock on wood!



Next Up

-- In yet another pivotal Premier League match, we head to Manchester to face City and their new manager Jose Mourinho, who is quickly turning around the fortunes of the highly decorated club.