You didn’t expect Wolves, who are sitting in 20th position, to do you a favor, did ya? Man City closed down the gap by 3 points today and it’s now in our hands to extend the lead back to 7 points by beating our legacy rivals. Man Utd are crap, lets be real. But they still sit at 5th position, ahead of Chelsea, Newcastle and Spurs. They are only a point behind Liverpool and they know few wins could get them into the Champions League. They have something to play for, so do we – and we will find out tomorrow who wants it more.
Calafiori and Hincapie will be assessed before the game but it’s fine to say we will have a fully fit squad for the first time this season. Mikel will have everyone in front of him to pick for his playing XI, and our next game in a not important CL games against Kairat. So, yeah – lets go for everything.
If I have to pick, I will do the usuals. Raya in goal, with Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and Calafiori in defence. A midfield of Odegaard, Zubimendi and Rice will do where Rice plays in a more advance role. I would pick Saka, Gyokeres and Martinelli as front 3, but won’t mind Trossard if Mikel finds him more contributing to our game.
16 games left. 7 points lead (4 but then City has played one extra game). A Premier League trophy we have been dreaming of since THE INVINCIBLES. That was in 2003-04, about 23 years ago. There are some Arsenal fans who can vote, marry and have a kid but haven’t seen us lift the trophy.
And then, we have a billion dollar squads, most of which have finished 2nd three seasons in a row. Most of them had the heart breaks, some of them were exhausted, some would have punched a wall. Some of them are on big fat wages, some renewed, some joined from other clubs to be a part of red and white in the hope of winning something. NOW IS THE TIME. Mikel and the team does all the talk, but we need to walk the walk.
I know there is still a long way to go, 16 weeks of Premier League football and we would see a lot of ups and downs, but I am not wrong to say it’s ours to lose now. Man Utd, under Carrick, will try their best to stop us. Can we sustain the pressure? Can we keep our winning run?
We will find out. See you in the comments.
Carrick might get a 5 year deal before he leaves the building after taking all 6 from City and us
Commentator saying it a 5 goals thriller…
He might not have noticed it but it was a 3 goals thriller and 2 shitty goals, one of them an own goal and the other one a scrappy corner that crossed the line somehow.
Fucking exhausting. A classic Arteta shit show against a very poor side.
TRVL
I will take Carrick over Mikel at Arsenal for rest of the season.
Weren’t there “boasts” in the run up to today about its the first time Arteta’s had a fully fit squad to choose from?
Carrick secret is motivating players who have seen better days . They are performing to that level . But guess that cannot sustain.
Meanwhile the dark shiny Arab stallion is our good old Emery
Ambarish
I’d take my Mum over Arteta for the rest of the season and the extent of her interest in football is to check the fixture list before arranging family gatherings to stop me using the football as an excuse to not turn up!
Marc
Corners and sideways passing can only get you so far… I am sure R9 would have been asked to ‘recycle’ the ball a few hundred times every week in this Arsenal side, managed by the great ‘won fuck-all’.
Lamens had a couple of damn good saves . It is like when Allison arrived at Liverpool. They built up on stability. Arsenal too with Raya and the best defensive back line . What I mean to say wtf Hincapie was taken off ?
“”check the fixture list before arranging family gatherings to stop me using the football as an excuse to not turn up””
😂😂
Hoopah
I was expecting Saliba to be replaced by White. Still can’t understand the Hincapie sub
Right, here’s what going to happen. We are going to win next 5 games, everyone would be so happy, excited, over the moon and when the season is about to end, we would lose 2 games and City gets ahead of us.
Like the 3 previous seasons.
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I will be curious about the ‘reason’. It was inexperience, then injuries, and then a Salah contract situation earlier.
Ambarish
It hasn’t stopped me not turning up – I’ve just found other excuses!
Once a cunt, always a cunt.
Hows the dog?
Should have called it Cunt.
Cunt.
Or Wicksy
Where is the arse licking toady?
Carrick has got his lot attacking and entertaining the punters after 2 games.
Our cunt still has not after 6 fucking long bullshit years.
Own goals or set pieces , thats this cunts repertoire.
even MA could be heard saying to himself “this fuck better not cock things up again”
it’s worrisome when MA selects a more conservative starting 11 for a home fixture…he seeing ghosts…if he wasn’t such a gutless fuck he would have started with the lineup we finished up with, minus the Hip for White switch, especially considering our recent PL dry spell…he’s a new dog acting like an old dog who can’t learn new tricks…only at Arsenal
he’s
it’s a tough league and if your level drops then expect the worse.
. Today we went from being a team in control of the game for the first half hour to a team that were clueless, William Saliba was culpable when he almost let Bruno in, followed by a poor pass from saliba to Zubimendi who was off balance when attempting the back pass to Raya to let mbuemo in for their first, there is a time in the game when you have to put your foot through the ball and that was one of those times.
Individual mistakes are not the manager’s fault, the problem is that a couple of errors at the back can lead to massive drop in confidence which then feeds through to the crowd and then the opposition can sense the anxiety , and in fairness the 2 united goals were top quality strikes that could/ would destroy most teams.
Carrick tactically was very good as he never allowed his team to sit back to defend their lead in the last 15 minutes, he left 3 players high up the pitch to stop us regaining control and consequently we became more desperate by hitting long aimless balls as united never gave us time and space to build from the back.
You only have to look at the past 6 results of teams in the top 6 to see how difficult this league is , it isn’t only Arsenal that have struggled recently in the league.
Played 6 Won draw lost
1 Man united 3 3 0
2 Arsenal 3 2 1
3 Fulham 3 2 1
4 Brentfor. 3 1 2
5 Newcastle U 3 1 2
6 Aston Villa 3 1 2
7 Leeds Utd 2 3 1
8 Man City 2 3 1
9 Chelsea 2 2 2
10 Everton 2 2 2
11 Bournemout 2 2 2
12 Liverpool. 1 4 1
It’s all about how we bounce back , we are 4 points clear but we have opened the door for villa and city, we were in a similar position a couple of months ago when we lost to villa after drawing with Sunderland.
Our fixtures on paper are more favourable than our rivals , we’ve played villa , united and Liverpool twice and only have city to play away from home out of the top ten sides, though of course we need to improve performance wise, though that can be said of the chasing pack with villa losing to Everton and city losing to united last week.
Dogs’ dinner of a performance after we looked in control up until we scored.
We’ve seen this before, we did our best to give them a freebie until Mbuemo decided we were serious.
I didn’t like the four subs, it can be viewed as being decisive and addressing the issues but in my experience at varying levels of the game, it can transmit a sense of panic stations to the players on the pitch. Also, I’m not a fan of the overhaul in shape that 4 subs can do. In game it’s a lot for players to take in. Take of the least effective three and the others they’re next unless.
Even in their most shit moments over the years, ManU have always had the capacity to stick it the better teams. They’re not donkeys but they an organisational shitshow. Having said that, I didn’t see us falling to them. They kept a good shape and decent balance between aggressive pressing and sitting when they had to.
It took Saka too long to adjust his positioning to deal with Manu’s defensive shape and for to impose himself on his side. He’s been quiet for a while now and we’ll need him to spark soon.
I think it would be alarmist to write off the league because we’re only 4 points ahead. We don’t have many tough away games to play. The league is still very competitive. Some point to.it as the top teams being crap but I think it’s as much a consequence of the teams being closer in quality. We laud the prem for being competitive, the results and table reflect that. Both our challengers are going to find it as hard to close that gap as we will to extend it.
A this stage Madueke has earned the right to a start. Not because he’s a better player than Saka but because he’s trying to create and make things happen, he’s not hiding, he’s got some skill and as much Saka needs to take a seat and refresh. His game’s got a bit stale and predictable.
I don’t know of it was clear onscreen but there was noticeable booing at the end. That’s over the top. As fans we need to relax a bit and accept that winning a league isn’t often a smooth process.
I’m speaking from distant memory but friends of mine who support clubs with more recent successes face their own angst. Like the players, we have to manage our own emotions a little better as a group.
Being top by four at the end of Jan isn’t a disaster. The recent performances are a cause for concern. My worry is that Tets does that thing where he shows an unwillingness to lean away from his core group. Wenger was similar, I don’t think it’s blind faith but with some players, despite their status in the squad, he should be thinking about alternatives. I’d start goal Machine Micky Merino up top. He’s got lots to his game that he does very well and perhaps more functional. We can go back to basics.
Kairat to flush this out our system, Leeds to reset and Chelsea to get us back to Wembley. It’s Still good to be a gooner
Wicksy
” it isn’t only Arsenal that have struggled recently in the league.”
Weren’t you telling us the other day how amazing we were? Walking the PL, dominating the CL, storming the FA Cup and one foot in the league cup final?
The reason the fans were so jittery today is because deep down they know that Arteta is a second rate manager. Between those who won’t admit it full stop and those who are so desperate to win a major trophy they’ll drink the sand thinking it’s an ice cold beer we have an awful lot of fans who need a decent slap.