So yesterday I decided to try figuring out the likely starting lineups for the Arsenal vs Crystal Palace match myself. Got it into my head, you know? Grabbed my coffee first thing, sat down at the messy desk. Pulled up the club websites on my laptop. Useless, honestly. Both sites were just pushing ticket sales and merch, zero actual team news. Classic.
Next move, opened up Twitter. Started hunting. Typed “#AFC” and “#CPFC” into the search, scrolled and scrolled. My thumbs got tired. Found loads of fan accounts screaming predictions, random people drawing formations on their phones with crappy apps. No real sources. Saw one guy claiming his cousin delivers food to a player’s neighbour and heard something… yeah, right. Spent maybe an hour sifting through that noise.
Finally remembered the actual sports news sites. Went to like three big ones. They all had articles about the match, sure, buzzing about the latest signings and injuries. But specifics on who starts? Nope. Mostly just rehashing old news or quoting managers saying useless stuff like “we’ll see” and “everyone is fighting for a place”. Helpful, thanks.
Got frustrated. Figured I might as well guess myself. Pulled out an old notebook, the one with coffee stains. Drew a little pitch diagram for Arsenal. Keeper? Ramsdale, obviously. Defence felt shaky trying to remember who’s fit – Gabriel almost certain, Saliba if his back is okay? Left-back a mess between Zinchenko and Tierney rumours floating. Wrote down Rice and Odegaard in midfield automatically. Up front, Jesus or Nketiah? Argued with myself for ten minutes, scribbled Jesus.
Turned the page to Crystal Palace. Even harder. Guessed Johnstone in goal. Defence? Andersen solid, Guehi maybe? Midfield, Doucoure for sure if fit, Eze the key man pulling strings. Up front… Edouard? Mateta? Honestly tossed a coin in my head. Felt like pure guesswork.
Just as I finished my super scientific predictions, my phone buzzed. It was the official Arsenal app alert – team news finally arrived! Scrambled to check it. Ramsdale in goal, Gabriel and Saliba at the back, Zinchenko playing, Rice and Odegaard starting… and Nketiah up front, not Jesus! Wrong there. Looked at Palace update too – Johnstone starts, Andersen and Guehi, Doucoure out injured (!), Eze playing, Edouard starting. Got about half right, maybe. That Doucoure injury I totally missed.
Left my notebook open on the desk, wandered off to make more coffee. Whole morning gone basically. Realised how much nonsense is out there before the actual facts drop. Teams play it so close to the chest. My big takeaway? Wait for the official apps to ping, save your thumbs and your sanity. Should’ve just made toast instead.
