5 hours ago
2
BACK WHERE THEY BELONG
Welcome back, everyone, to the Round of Arsenal, otherwise known as the last-16 of Bigger Cup since the Wenger years, and for us it will always be thus. Pedants will point out that ‘ooooooh, Arsenal weren’t even in Bigger Cup for many years’ and ‘oooooooh, Arsenal actually won their last-16 tie against Porto last season’. It doesn’t matter. This is the Round of Arsenal. Manchester United didn’t always score in injury time under Sir Alex Ferguson. They didn’t even score late goals most of the time. But that didn’t mean that particular watch-tapping, chewing-gumming stoppage time didn’t have a name. And this, so-called Bigger Cup round-of-16, is yours.
Football culture will always hinge on pettiness and while this tea-timely email has no axe to grind against the Gunners, we can understand a certain level of comfort in seeing them own their round once again. There is a quiet fulfilment to watching things return home to the place they belong – like hugging a family member, pouring a perfect pint of Tin without spilling a drop or the gentle satisfaction of Ronnie O’Sullivan potting a black ball into the bottom right pocket with a minimum of fuss. Broadcasters for Arsenal’s first-leg at PSV are presumably scrambling to get the audio rights to Radiohead’s ‘Everything in its Right Place’ for the soundtrack of their closing montage on Tuesday night, the camera panning softly to dejected away fans just as Thom Yorke wails: “I woke up sucking a lemon.”
Of course, these supporters will be keen to dispel a notion that such a round, a narrative of determinism, even exists. But – uh oh – here comes Jurriën Timber. “We have a good team and this is a beautiful game and a chance to change the narrative to win,” admitted the former Ajax defender on what is a particularly spicy return to his homeland. “We have to win and in [Bigger Cup] you only have two games so you don’t get second chances,” he added, somewhat confusingly. Either way, don’t take all this joshing too hard, Arsenal fans. Football Daily has no designs to be screenshotted on to fan forums as part of a media agenda or plastered across Arsenal’s dressing-room wall as a sort of new-age pre-match rallying cry … although if Mikel Arteta had ever heard of us, that’s exactly the sort of thing he would do.
Arsenal may well triumph at PSV. Despite their knack-related problems, the Gunners are still favourites to progress to a quarter-final against one of Real Madrid or Atlético. Perhaps the only surprise is that they aren’t facing Bayern, so often their conquerors in Bigger Cup knockout stages. But Ivan Perisic, once of Tottenham Hotspur or Spurs and now of PSV, was on hand this week to offer a history lesson. “Arsenal often lacked that one bit to win something,” explained the Croatian, who won this competition in 2019 with Bayern. “We have to be fully prepared, then we have a good chance to beat Arsenal. When you hear the [Bigger Cup] anthem, it gives something special.”
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Will Unwin at 5.45pm (all times GMT) for updates on Club Brugge 1-1 Aston Villa in the first leg of their last-16 Bigger Cup tie, while Yara El-Shaboury will be on hand from 8pm for Real Madrid 2-1 Atlético Madrid, and Niall McVeigh is due to be all over PSV 2-1 Arsenal.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The reporting on the matter, as well as disgraceful suggestions made by certain news organisations and high-profile figures within the sport that Liam intended to harm Jean-Philippe, has contributed to the unwarranted character assassination of Liam and fuelled abhorrent online abuse towards him. No player at Millwall Football Club steps on to the pitch with the intent to harm another, and the club will continue to support Liam, who reached out to Jean-Philippe personally on Saturday evening with an apology which was accepted immediately. The club are pleased to hear positive updates from Jean-Philippe and wish him the best in his recovery” – Millwall hit out at the reaction to Liam Roberts’s head-high challenge on Jean-Philippe Mateta during Saturday’s FA Cup defeat at Palace.
Reading your reference to the boy Line-acre (yesterday’s Football Daily) reminded me of your own Big Paper’s commitment to educational furtherment back in 1986 by declining the verb ‘to done great’. I done great, you done great, he done great, we done great, you done great, they done great, the boy Line-acre done great. Halcyon days indeed” – Jack Mignall.
Manchester United are apparently trying to get out of the lease on their London offices. I think that Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe needs to have a rethink. Surely the whole point of United having a London office is to be close to their fan base” – Robert Darby.
I was disappointed that the seemingly interminable riff about the FA Cup ‘losing its magic’ (yesterday’s Football Daily) failed to pose the question: ‘What do you call a magician who has lost his magic?’ Ian, obviously” – Harry Hill Andy Korman.
Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Andy Korman, who gets our last copy of David Squires’ latest book Chaos in The Box. We’ll be in touch. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED LOOKING
It’s your man David Squires on … diplomacy and drama in the FA Cup fifth round.
