Arsenal's 2-0 victory over West Brom Monday was . . . expected. Although they caught a couple breaks via the referee and Nacho Monreal's field awareness, Arsenal mostly took care of business and won by a scoreline that they were supposed to win by.
So, cool! We have accordingly adjusted the Wenger-O-Meter closer to the "IN" position. Wenger isn't quite out of the woods, but things are looking up!
Pre-match press conferences are usually occasions for managers to give injury updates and talk about how their opponent is going to be tough, no matter who it is. This is a tried-and-true formula, and it mostly works as long as the journalists stick to said injury updates and platitudes about the other team. Let's be honest: no one ever learns anything at pre-match press conferences and it's amazing coaches don't answer every question with "I don't know, we haven't played the game yet."
Valencia maintained their unbeaten start to La Liga play with an impressive 3-2 victory over Real Sociedad at the Anoeta on Sunday. With the score level at 2-2 and both sides down to 10-men, Italian striker Simone Zaza hit the game-winner in the 85th minute with the assist provided by 20-year-old Portuguese attacker Goncalo Guedes.
Fulham’s hiring of former Bayern Munich manager Felix Magath back in February of 2014 was one of the most quixotic appointments in the history of the Premier League.
Arsenal took care of business in their Carabao (which we are pronouncing CaraBOW with extra emphasis on the BOW) Cup clash against Doncaster Rovers. Theo Walcott scored. Alexis dribbled a lot. Olivier Giroud tried two overhead kicks. Arsenal saved two goals in situations that involved beleaguered Arsenal defenders making horrible mistakes but being so much faster than the Doncaster forwards it didn't matter. Jack Wilshere played.
So, nothing to worry about, really. Survive and advance.
In Thursday's Wenger Watch European special, we ended with "Arsenal play Chelsea on Sunday, which means the Wenger-O-Meter will be in a much sillier position next week. Unless they tie."
Well, guess what happened? They tied! 0-0!
Therefore, true to the Wenger Watch's word, we are keeping the Wenger-O-Meter in the exact same position we had it in on Thursday, which, as you may recall, was in the MIDDLE. Neither IN nor OUT. SCHRODINGER'S FRENCHMAN.
Today will bring one of Liga MX's highlights of the weekend. Miguel Herrera is back at the kennel. "El Piojo" will lead Club América as they take on his former squad: Tijuana's Xolos –named after a breed of Mexican hairless dogs. Will he make it out alive or will the hounds from northern Mexico tear Club América to pieces?