AFC WIMBLEDON LATEST NEWS - LEAGUE ONE, NEW STADIUM AUGUST 2020

Update for August
The 2020-21 English Football League seasons will start on 12th September, our League One campaign will then run through to end on the 8th May 2021 all being well. Obviously we're still waiting on news of the fixture list and with our new stadium in Plough Lane not expected to be ready till end of October whether we can switch a few games to away fixtures or perhaps play behind closed doors at Kingsmeadow, or find somewhere local available, that part of the new season is very much an unknown quantity at this moment in time.
  
Signings / Squad News
Glyn Hodges has bolstered his squad for next season by completing the signing of right-back Cheye Alexander.  The 25-year-old has signed on the dotted line after leaving Barnet, where he spent two seasons playing for the National League club. Cheye was a product of the West Ham United Academy and has also been on the books with Aldershot Town prior to his time with Barnet. So far that's the only confirmed new recruit, we hope there will be some more before the season begins in September, a Goalkeeper is still surely a must have again this year with only the inexperienced Nik Tzanev available else we might need to ask the coach Ashley Bayes to have a go 😏

And as if they were reading my mind we get an update later the same day ... The Dons manager has announced the loan signing of 24-year-old goalkeeper Connal Trueman from Birmingham City. Connal, who made 10 appearances in the Championship last season after signing a new contract with the club he joined as a boy, signs for Wimbledon on a season-long loan deal.

Glyn Hodges said that Connal is a goalkeeper who he has tracked for some time after a glowing recommendation from a respected figure in the game. “Connal has been on my radar for a while,” said our manager. “Kevin Hitchcock, who is a friend of mine and was Goalkeeper Coach at Birmingham when Zola was manager, told me about Connal a long time ago. When he became available we took the opportunity to sign him and we are delighted to have him on board. Connal is at a great age and he could potentially end up being the Birmingham number one so we have got him at a good time and he’s hungry to do well. He is forging a career for himself and if he comes here and does well for himself it will be great for both parties.”
  
Stadium News
The latest pictures from the club show the start of the "semi permanent" stands going up at New Plough Lane. This is great progress even though we are unlikely to see them any time soon being part of the club and the progress being made knowing we are so close to returning home again. 

Starting to take shape and have to say the pitch is looking really nice, still not expecting it to be ready this side of October / November and with no idea of when fans will return next season might be close to being able to play behind closed doors if we can request from the EFL for the first few games to be switched to away matches (The FA / Premier League did this for West Ham, I'm sure others have too including Spurs). We will keep a close eye on progress with the club about to start selling season tickets and debentures in the coming days. 

GALWAY FESTIVAL 2020 [JULY 27th -- AUG 2nd] -- DAY SEVEN SUNDAY

DAY SEVEN SUNDAY
Sunday is our final day of action here at Galway and the meeting will begin at 2:45pm with a 1m Handicap. The feature race today is the Ahonoora Handicap over 7f and will be under way at 4:20, where 16 runners face the starter for this fifty four thousand euro contest.
 
As mentioned on day one our recent years have focused on the horses from trainer Dermot Weld and we will continue to track his progress this week though we might also offer one or two other selections in particular the feature races if no Weld runner is declared. Have also included selections for JP O'Brien this season we intend to follow them to success as they often has a nice priced winner and seems to have taken well to training and has the ability to be as good as his father in time.

Going -- Soft.
Weather Forecast -- A high of 16C with a good chance of rain during the day sadly. 

DAY SEVEN SELECTIONS;
2:45 Kenny Galway Handicap
1m 73y [12 Runners]
Ubume [JP O'Brien]  [9th 12/1]

3:15 Lord Hemphill Memorial Irish EBF Median Auction Maiden
7f [14 Runners]
Louisville [JP O'Brien]  [9th 15/2]

3:50 Ardilaun Hotel Handicap
7f [16 Runners]
Capal At Dawn [JP O'Brien] [3rd 11/1]

4:20 Irish Stallion Farms EBF 'Ahonoora' Handicap
7f [16 Runners]
Jassaar [D Weld]  [9th 14/1]

4:50  Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden
1m 3f 180y  [11 runners]
Alaiya  [D Weld]  [6th 11/2]
Lady Dahlia  [JP O'Brien]  [2nd 14/1]
Pista  [JP O'Brien]  [WON 12/1]

5:20 JPK Fencing Race
1m 5f 186y  [6 runners]
Tandem  [D Weld]  [2nd 12/1]

5:50 Fr. Breen Memorial Handicap
1m 5f 186y  [21 runners]
Dawn Over Owning  [JP O'Brien]  [Non Runner]
Mere Catherine  [D K Weld]  [Non Runner]
  
Hopefully we can end the week with a winner. 
Results will be updated here later on Sunday afternoon. 

D Weld 4pts staked today
Returns today 1pts.
p/l for week -7pts after Day #7

JP O'Brien 6pts staked today
Returns today 14pts.
p/l for week +4.705pts after Day #7

Overall week p/l to date -2.295pts after Day #7
Too many places not enough wins this week. 

Summer, Horse Racing, Galway, Irish Women, Guinness = Life IS Good.

And sadly that's all from Galway for this years festival, plenty of exciting racing still to go this year and I hope we can soon be allowed back on track to attend some meetings our-self. Stay safe, keep well, we'll be back in 2021...

EMIRATES FA CUP FINAL 2020 ARSENAL vs CHELSEA - SATURDAY 1st AUGUST

ARSENAL - 2 Aubameyang 28' (pen) 67'
CHELSEA - 1 Pulisic 5'

Kick Off 5:30pm Live on BBC1
The greatest domestic cup competition in the world finally reaches it's conclusion for this season and should have the BBC's full attention today across the national network as they build up to the big show. It's not quite the treatment from the BBC that it used to be in the past, no episodes of Cup Final Mastermind, or the like this weekend and of course the kick off is 5:30pm and not 3pm where it traditionally should be but never mind. 

This season is the 139th FA Cup Final and we've got ourselves a London Derby with Arsenal vs Chelsea a repeat of the 2017 final won by an Arsène Wenger led Arsenal 2-1 and only two of that starting XI survive now Héctor Bellerín and Granit Xhaka. 

If you can remember when there was life before the Premier League and the FA Cup was THE final game of the season it used to go on all day, Mastermind, Question of Sport, watching the team coaches head to the old stadium, the twin towers and hoards of fans walking down 'Wembley Way' from the station I don't think the teams even think about having a FA Cup final song anymore (remember Chas and Dave with Ossie's Dream anyone). Chelsea still sing that "blue is colour" song from the 70s which is still better than that awful 'one man went to mow...' of course this season has been far from normal and having this Cup Final in August is just one of them.
12pm
We start our FA Cup Final Saturday with FOOTBALL FOCUS, Dan Walker presents the weekly magazine programme ahead of the FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea he will be joined at Wembley by Alex Scott and Dion Dublin there's a lack of supporting programs but hopefully they can fill the hour with interviews from the managers who are both in their first season with their clubs and one of whom will be lifting their first trophy as a manager.

4.30pm
Gary Lineker hosts live coverage of the 139th FA Cup final at Wembley, where he should be joined by regular guest pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer. Back the 'under 1 minute' market for the time it takes someone to mention that Shearer has never won the cup.

• Arsenal reached their 21st FA Cup final with a 2-0 victory over last season's winners Manchester City, managed by Mikel Arteta now they are the record holders of this competition and this is their last chance to book a place in Europe for next season, it will be their 4th appearance in the final in the last seven years, they won those previous three.
• Chelsea have reached their 14th FA Cup final. Only their opponents Arsenal (21 including this season) and Manchester United (20) have made the final on more occasions, Chelsea of course beat a rather lacklustre Manchester United side 3-1 in the semi final.

Alan Shearer and Ian Wright provide expert analysis and then we are almost ready to end the build up as the teams come out about 5:15pm for the traditional ceremonies and we will be treated to the traditional Cup Final anthem 'Abide With Me' kick-off is scheduled for 5:30pm.

The line ups will be confirmed during the course of the afternoon's program, we've just left them as per the semi final games initially and will update when team sheets are known; 

ARSENAL Team News;

Martinez (Gk)

Holding    David Luiz   Tierney 

Bellerín    Ceballos    Xhaka    Maitland-Niles

Pépé    ⚽Aubameyang (c)    Lacazette

Subs -- Macey (Gk),  Papastathopoulos,  Torreira,  Nketiah,  Nelson,  Willock,  Kolasinac,  Smith,  Saka

CHELSEA Team News;

Caballero (Gk)

🟨Azpilicueta (c)    Zouma    Rüdiger 

James    Jorginho   🟥Kovacic    Alonso

⚽Pulisic    Giroud    🟨Mount

Subs -- Arrizabalaga (Gk),  Christensen,  Abraham,  Pedro,  Kanté,  Hudson-Odoi,  Barkley,  Tomori,  Emerson

Our match referee for today's showpiece final will be Anthony Taylor who will become the first referee to take charge of two FA Cup finals since 1901 when Arsenal face Chelsea at Wembley on 1st August. Referees usually take charge of the FA Cup final just once in their career. Taylor from Wythenshawe, Manchester previously took charge of the 2017 Cup Final ironically also between Arsenal and Chelsea, the Gunnars winning 2-1. Taylor will be joined by assistant referees Gary Beswick (Durham FA) and Adam Nunn (Wiltshire FA), fourth official Chris Kavanagh (Manchester FA) and reserve assistant referee Lee Betts (Norfolk FA).

The FA Cup Final will of course feature VAR and Stuart Attwell (Birmingham FA) will be the video assistant referee (VAR), and will be joined at Stockley Park by assistant VAR (AVAR) Steve Child (London FA).

My best bets are for a high scoring game, so back the over 3.5 goals market [@9/4]. Also think a penalty awarded is a good bet [@5/2] as well as backing Giroud to score against his former club [@4/1] as long as he starts the tie (which he does). While Willian is also a strong bet at any time [@11/4] but he doesn't appear in the line up sadly so we'll go with Pulisic instead, and also with Granit Xhaka to score a rare goal for the gunners [@10/1] ... picked up a few there nice.

Latest Odds (from William Hill)

ARSENAL - 11/5  /  Draw - 12/5  /  CHELSEA - 6/5