Another thing. Would it be too much to ask for Petr Cech to

[SWv2]

How long we had before the Palace game is irrelevant to the fact that we had no recovery time from the previous game, I'm afraid.

We had 48 hours B, not "no recovery time" as you say.

Not ideal as I have stressed but not a complete handicap either.

[Burney]

We had 48 hours B, not "no recovery time" as you say.

Not ideal as I have stressed but not a complete handicap either.

Well no handicap is 'complete' in a sporting sense - that's the point of handicaps, they are designed to level the field when there is one manifestly superior performer. What this handicap did was bring our fitness, availability and stamina down to a level that lessened or even negated the impact of our generally superior players, allowing Bournemouth to take advantage - at least until they became tired, at which point our advantage was restored.

[World's End Stella]

Well no handicap is 'complete' in a sporting sense - that's the point of handicaps, they are designed to level the field when there is one manifestly superior performer. What this handicap did was bring our fitness, availability and stamina down to a level that lessened or even negated the impact of our generally superior players, allowing Bournemouth to take advantage - at least until they became tired, at which point our advantage was restored.

I have to say, Burney, I find this idea that Bournemouth got tired but we didn't to be disingenuous at the very least. While I appreciate that they were working harder than us, it's not like Arsenal were standing around breathing in oxygen and receiving massages while Bournemouth ran about. We were also putting in a significant amount of effort and if we really were at that much of an advantage I would have expected us to really struggle second half.

And how many times do you see teams press other teams and then get tired and the other team weathers the storm and then gets back into it? That happens all the time, and it happened last night, so I fail to see that the initial additional fatigue really had much of an impact.

[Burney]

I have to say, Burney, I find this idea that Bournemouth got tired but we didn't to be disingenuous at the very least. While I appreciate that they were working harder than us, it's not like Arsenal were standing around breathing in oxygen and receiving massages while Bournemouth ran about. We were also putting in a significant amount of effort and if we really were at that much of an advantage I would have expected us to really struggle second half.

And how many times do you see teams press other teams and then get tired and the other team weathers the storm and then gets back into it? That happens all the time, and it happened last night, so I fail to see that the initial additional fatigue really had much of an impact.

Nowhere have I said that we got tired but Bournemouth didn't. I've simply said that Bournemouth coming fast out of the blocks and running much more than us took so much out them that, by the final third of the game, they were shot and their physical advantage had decreased to the extent that our players' innate technical superiority was able to assert itself and restore our inherent advantage.

[PSRB]

We had 48 hours B, not "no recovery time" as you say.

Not ideal as I have stressed but not a complete handicap either.

There is a reason Europa League sides don't play on the Saturday having played on a Thursday, mind you, they're still usually **** on the Sunday