Right, we are out of Carabao Cup and FA Cup, but not everything is lost. We are 11 points clear of Man City in Premier League and we can take that lead to 12 points if we beat Bournemouth today. City do have 2 games in hand, but if they win both, we will still have a 6 point lead with only 6 games left for the season. In Champions League, we have a 1-0 advantage against Sporting and the second leg is at home. If we managed to get at least a draw, we will be playing Atletico (most likely) in the semi finals. I would rather play Atletico than Flick’s Barcelona.
The chance of lifting a trophy is still a possibility. And a win today will improve that possibility even more. Bournemouth are sitting in the bottom half of the table, and I hope we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot today.
Playing XI is out and I still don’t understand what has gotten into Arteta’s mind.
Why is Martinelli in the playing XI when you have Hincapie available. It’s not the time to be concerned about the injuries, because a loss in any of the games could mean a title. I’m OK with rest of the selection, Eze could have played ahead of Havertz but I’m not sure how much of his fitness is back.
I don’t understand the fact that we spend more than 250m on midfielders (Rice, Zubimendi, Norgaard, Havertz, Odegaard) and yet, we always have 2 DM-profile players and an option to choose from a non-performing Odegaard with a out-of-form Havertz. Anyway, that shouldn’t be a problem for a team sitting on 1st, playing against a bottom half team I suppose.
We need to win today. Man City has to visit Chelsea tomorrow and though I don’t have much confidence in Chelsea beating them, anything can happen. In last 3 seasons, we have always been the favorites going into last 7-8 games but have given it away. There are 7 games left, and 7 test of whether we have learned something over the years.
Right, game starts in an hour. See ya.
Good points Killroy—anyone who views this as a “nothing to see here” moment aren’t worthy of debating, esepcially in light of what has transpired over the past 3+ years…questions will persist regardless of how things unfold this season unless we find a way to win in a decisive fashion on both remaining fronts…it isn’t the same if others shit the bed and the silverware is gifted to us
Thanks TRVL, and a month ago after a City loss Pep had resigned to the fact that the title was gone. With the loss against Bournemouth it is back in City’s hands to win the title. Win the two games that they have in hand and beat us next weekend and we are level on points.
AFC is no longer guaranteed to win the title as most of the pundits predicted. But there are a few trophies to be had. The 4 times in the row runner up trophy, plus the trophy for being 9 points ahead at the top of the table and not winning the title.
However to remove this cancerous growth from our club we have to go through the pain that this produces. If KSE hands El-B a new contract I will take a break similar to what some people did after the November 2024 election in the US, they booked on the Villa Vie Odyssey a residential cruise ship a 4-year, round-the-world voyage visiting some 140 countries. When out of curiosity in November 2024 I looked at what was available on the ship, to my surprise most of the deluxe and owners suites were booked.
Two top comment with 488 & 326 likes in the Athletic article “Arsenal 1 Bournemouth 2 — What does defeat mean for title charge?”
(1) You cannot build a team around caution and damage limitation all season, then expect courage and composure to appear on demand. When the pressure comes, they fall apart, because a side that never tries to attack matches never learns how to play its way out of trouble.
————-
(2) Be honest gooners, none of you like watching this dross do you?
The constant diving for a set piece free kicks, celebrating getting a corner, doing everything to avoid any free flowing football for either team?
No kid grew up falling in love with this.
Good night with this hilarious quote:
Arteta never takes the handbrake off and goes full throttle. Instead he leaves it on and goes full bottle!
Briilliant quotes that cut to the heart of the matter…thanks for keeping it a buck Killroy
Wicksy
The deciding Factor is April / May.
The reaction to a defeat on here is to be expected , but I prefer to look at the situation in a more adult fashion, what we have is Vera and killroy acting like giggling schoolgirls as they swap irrelevant comments that feed their hatred of our club and especially the manager.
“on another note, and of course it’s only rumour mill fodder at this point, the possible departures of both Ethan and Skelly this summer is a rather disconcerting notion”
TRVL – apparently we need to raise money after what we’ve spent in the last couple of seasons. I read about this a few weeks ago and commented on here (was attacked by the fan boys as usual) about the players being considered – Nwaneri and Skelly are obvious candidates but Martinelli and Ode were also mentioned.
To be honest I think the club needs to take a long hard look at Ode – the guy just can’t seem to get fit doesn’t matter how good he is if he’s going to be constantly injured on a big salary.
Norg
“The deciding Factor is April / May.”
There was an article on the BBC yesterday about the title run in – April is historically Pep’s best month and Arteta’s worst.
And we have fans who can’t get their heads round Arteta bottling it repeatedly.
The deciding factor wasnt April/May last season Norg. Let’s not make things up to suit a story.
It’s always of interest to see how our own fans react after a loss.
Some like Kilroy simply show their face, others squeaky hedge their bets but even if we win, it’s not a real win because Arteta/the guy on le grove offended them years ago, some, Fart Fraud go and do knee slides in their garden because they hate us winning.
Some just simplistically attributes not winning a game, a league to the manager being a cunt.
I saw the comment that this isn’t what they fell in love with Arsenal for and that’s what fuels their animosity towards Arteta. They lack historical context. For fans of a certain pre Wenger vintage, it’s presumably exactly what they fell in love with. This goes back to pre GG days where we revelled in 1-0 so much we put it to song. We were known as boring Arsenal for long before I started going.
This isn’t to gaslight and tell you the football is peak Wengerball, even Wenger couldn’t hit those heights for the last 8 or so years of his reign. Nobody could.
But getting angry at still being top of the league, back to back, I expect UCL semis is a little hysterical. The numbers don’t lie, we’re still on current form doing great. It’s exactly why we are 9 points, perhaps 6 later, clear.
That’s my context. It’s why I thought we were harsh on Emery, because he took us to a less pretty more pragmatic style and as a fan base we weren’t ready to accept the Invincbles, with their own fair share of 1-0s and drab draws,were long gone.
I like to think weve matured.
This isn’t to say, Arteta is the perfect manager. That would be as daft as saying he’s the worst and a cunt. There’s a few times where I’ve questioned the things he’s done, mostly around use of the squad. But suggesting we’re a handbrake off team despite being top open play scorers, or reliant on set pieces seems like YouTube copypaste narratives.
I only saw the first half yesterday as I had a game myself, it looked uninspiring. There’s no doubt, and thus goes back at least to last season that Tets has made the choice to sacrifice inspiration at the altar of control. I don’t mind. I actually prefer it to being done with the league in March as had done for most of the last 25 years and whimpering out of Europe every year.
If we don’t win a trophy this year, the conversation about Tets future is a sensible one. That doesn’t make him a cunt or a sh*t manager. Klopp was a great manager, one title here, I think 1 in Germany, but a Dortmund that was relevant, reliable and importantly competitive.
Yesterday, 2nd half was worse than first by all accounts. I still think we’ll win the league, limping over the line, it’ll do, the only real tough game now is Newcs and I think Howe, a manager I rated has run his course. Tets may well find he’s run his if we and potless. I and lots of other supporters will be at the parade while others get even angrier.
Stay calm people
Wicksy
“The reaction to a defeat on here is to be expected , but I prefer to look at the situation in a more adult fashion,”
Does that include having the mental capacity to realise that after almost 7 seasons Arteta is not up to it and if you genuinely want the best for the club then the sooner Arteta is replaced the better?
It could be said that Arteta’s decision to play kepa v city and Southampton has derailed our season , it was a mistake that has cost us as there was no reason to disrupt the status quo defensively.
And now the defence has lost some of it’s confidence that the season was built on and we need to get that stability back as it really doesn’t look like we will find the back of the net in great numbers, not in the league anyway.
Fortunately we have sporting in the week, a game which will give us a chance to rebuild our confidence, get a clean sheet and score a few goals.
A draw against city would be perfect , the worst scenario is city beat chelsea , Arsenal and Burnley in the next 10 days meaning we are level on points with a similar goal difference and each having 5 games to go…
Then We will see if Arsenal will crumble…
Marc
“Does that include having the mental capacity to realise that after almost 7 seasons Arteta is not up to it and if you genuinely want the best for the club then the sooner Arteta is replaced the better?”
Top 4 side in Europe
Top 2 side in England
9 points clear at the top of the league.
Probable Semi final of the champions league.
Final of the league cup
Quarter final of the fa cup
And you question my mental capacity of wanting what’s best for the club..
As for Arteta staying or going it makes little difference to me as long as the manager coming in can better Arteta’s record.
The entitled fans on here seem to think that replacing Arteta will automatically bring back the glory days , those same entitled fans thought replacing wenger would see us win regular trophies, the entitled fans do not have the “mental capacity” to understand that winning the league is tough and for Arsenal it can be tougher as we have the media , the opposition fans and even a minority of entitled Arsenal fans who are desperate to see Arsenal fail and until we do get over the line it will get tougher to succeed whoever is the manager.
Wicksy
All those achievements are nothing but an obscure answer in a piss poor pub quiz.
Arteta has spent a BILLION £’s and his only trophy was the FA Cup with a squad he completely inherited. As for top 2 in the PL – yes I will question your mental capacity because we’re not finishing 2nd behind the same fucking club. In the 3 seasons we’ve finished 2nd both City and Liverpool have won titles so answer me this:
What’s better finishing 2nd 2nd 2nd or 2nd 1st 3rd?
Because I know which I’d prefer.
The War and Peace merchants are back.
No one reads that bollox, its far too fucking long for starters.
This moronic cunt gets paid an absolute fortune, obviously the young exciting talent will have to be sold to finance it and the inevitable new contract and whats left over to spunk on the latest Chelsea rejects that will be available in the summer.
Read Madueke trebled his wages , Havertz trebled his wages and Willian trousered £10 million pay off.
Dont these cunts in charge, realise no one else fucking wanted them?
Art
You missed of Auba getting a massive pay rise and then him being paid off to leave only for Barca to sell him 6 months later for £10 million.
What a cunt.
Good luck Sunderland – come on cheer up all the Gooners.
Marc
When you actually read what, you have just posted , it reinforces what clueless cunts and frauds they actually are
See, people who rate this cunt, obviously have no real world life or business experience.
They are probably hen pecked and wear a fucking lanyard all day at ‘work’ and ponce on the state’s tit.
I disliked Xhaka years before he actually left Arsenal, but this afternoon I hope he scores and does that flapping eagle gesture. Never liked Scumderland either but ‘howay the lads’ or ‘haddaway and shite’ (whatever they fucking say). Beat Spuds and make my weekend a bit more bearable after Arteta’s cuntery yesterday.
Art
If it were happening at another club we’d be pissing ourselves laughing at them.