LAST 32 FEELS LIKE A CUP FINAL. SAD.

Nothing more stressful than trying to green card over here. It’s painful. They want pictures of your insides. It never ends. Bonus slips from First Sport, 2002. Size of toenail clipping when you’re hot. Every question, they asked. Finally, after being flagged about 500 times… they sent the card. What surprise did they have in store? They give me a new middle name. ROBUT. It’s like the guy who writes ‘Pizza’ on my Starbucks cup moved to the visa office.

You know what? I can live with it.

I could say it’s how the French spell the name.

From now on, please address me ROBUT. I think it’s kind of cool. The sort of thing Prince would have named his kids.

The name that I really care about? Thomas Partey. He’s back in training. He might play tomorrow. Who knows. He might last 40 minutes. He might give us 2 games. Just don’t get your hopes up. Enjoy his majestic presence like you’d turned up to an after-party with Prince as your dad and everyone is asking you cool questions about your seriously cool name.

Arteta’s press conferences are very muted at the moment. He really doesn’t give much away when he’s under fire. His story about Eusebio was an epic invite to sound interesting and he delivered the most deadpan boring response you could imagine.

Benfica in the Greek home leg is a Cup Final for him. Win, it sets up an exciting tie this weekend. Lose, and he’s getting pelters on twitter.com and we all know he reads them.

I see no reason we shouldn’t bury the Portuguese side. Hopefully the running around at City has blown the confidence out of the sails. We need fresh bodies and we need everyone concentrating to the max so we can move into the last 16.

I’d imagine it’ll be all the big names. Smith Rowe will be fresher. Saka will start. Xhaka might have a more able partner next to him. I’m not really sure where we’ll see players rested? Europa is literally our only way back into the Champions League this season.

The game needs a performance as well. We need to continue the good bits we’ve seen since Christmas. Expansive football, high-quality chances, and control of the game on our terms. If we do that, I don’t think Benfica will luck out like they did last time.

This is sadly a very huge night for Arsenal. Last 32 feels important. A loss and it’ll crater Arteta’s rep. A win, and it’ll put judgement on hold for another 2 games. He needs this win to kick start a run. We need to see what this squad has got.

COME ON YOU REDS. See you in the comments. Might see you after the game with an on the whistle.