Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen! A lot has happened in this year already and we are only a week into it. We beat Brighton comfortably on the new year eve, but then shared points with New Castle in what can be a called a disaster of refereeing. We have also upped our bid for Mudryk but Shaktar thinks we are Manchester United who will overpay for anything and want us to fork a 100m+ for a 22 year old player who has A LOT to prove.
First thing first, we are still enjoying our TOP OF THE TABLE stature. We are only 2 game short of half-of-the-season and sitting comfortably at the top with 44 points.
That’s five points ahead of Man City.
For the next 4 games, we have to play Spu*s (A), United (H), Everton (A), Brentford (H). City on the other hand has United (A), Spu*s (H), Wolves (H), Spu*s (A) and one extra game against Villa at home before they play us at Emirates on 16th of Feb.
Both of our game against Spu*s and United are winnable but are going to be tough. Same with City, playing a Derby has always been a lost cause for them. United for once, can do us a favor, a tough one this is.
Our game against them will be a six pointer. If, and that’s a big If, we managed to beat them, it would not only give us a 3 point advantage against the previous year winners but also instill that confidence among players to push an extra bit for the title.
I’m being too hopeful here but never say never. Not when you are 5 points ahead of the best team assembled in recent years against the best manager on the planet with the best striker in the world!
Coming back to the New Castle game, I would have been happy if we shared points on merits. Refereeing was sh*t and someone needs to do something about it. You can’t grab the collar of a player and pull his tshirt to an extent where he won’t know if he is wearing it inside out! What confuses me even more is the VAR’s role. It was obvious as a day, and should have been a penalty. Arteta made sure he was heard and here’s my middle finger to the disciplinary action being taken against the club.
I am not really in favor of Arteta shouting on the touchline, but hey, that was a cheating and needed to be called out.
I still remember my last year’s article and there is no improvement – Same Old Arsenal, Same Old Referee
Right, onto the Mudryk situation. Rumour has it that we had put up a second, improvised bid which Shaktar thinks is not enough. Well, Edu needs to sit with them and make them realise that we are talking about a 22-year old playing in Ukrainian League. Do they realise that what they are asking was paid for Eden Hazard in his prime who had won everything with Chelsea and was in the top 10 players at that point of time?
And, someone needs to sit with Edu and remind him the priority. We need a Partey’s back up first, Xhaka’s competition and a CF because Eddie alone can’t play twice a week. I know Jesus will be back, but we still need a CF. 3 strikers may be a lot this season, but we are qualifying for Champions League and we would need it soon.
If you say we can use our academy to fill Partey and Xhaka’ position, I won’t mind but where are they? Can we see them having a bit of game time in FA cups and towards the end of Premier League games when we are in a comfortable winning position?
Ok, a lot of frustrations but that 2 points loss against New Castle has rattled me. Lets hope we bounce back and thrash the Spu*s at toilet bowl.
See you in the comments!
We’ve just drawn City or Chelsea away in the 4th round.
KP & Aluminia—much appreciate the intelligent discourse, as it’s both wittty and insightful, yet neither require each other to concur on all matters or else… Positive Pete, aka little Jimmy Jones, doesn’t even comprehend how much he’s lost out through his continued compaign of nonsensical conformity…it’s a crying shame, as there are those whom have considerable contributions on offer that are simply lost in the arselicking minutiae of LG life…Cheers to you both on this fine Sunday
So after Monday night (assuming its a win) our next 6 fixtures will be Spud’s A, ManU H, City (FA Cup) A, Everton A, Brentford H and City H.
That’s a seriously tough run of fixtures.
We have a full house today, nice to see you Almunia.
Chelsea are sh*t lol. Potter has a lot to do, why are they buying players like Mourinho is in charge?
Looks like its going to be damaged limitation in the second half for Chelsea.
Unless Pep instructs his players to no do anything more, I think it will be a long night for Chelski fan.
I have a Chelsea-tattooed friend, you can guess how much I’m loving the night.
He is only iterating what Richard Keys is doing on twitter, lol.
Marc
Yep, tough games ahead basically gonna decide who is going to make it. We can beat both of them on a good day, though!
Ambarish
We can’t try and play out from the back against City – they’ll do exactly to us what they’ve done to Chelsea stifle and suffocate the players into a mistake and then they’re straight in on goal.
Agreed Marc. It would be difficult playing 1-1 with them.
Either a counter attacking game or press like your life depends on it. There is no between, against City.
Should we call it a Haaland v Saliba?
TRVL/Mb/Marc,
Hey lads,how’s tricks? Marc ,that’s one daunting run of fixtures alright,make or break stuff in terms of the title. Top 4 is a given for me,we may never have as good a chance at winning the title again. Newcastle, utd,pool will all get stronger,Chelski can’t get worse and City are going nowhere. It would be a travesty to fail for the sake of a player or two in this window.
City on fire here but I have sympathy for Potter. They have managed to assemble so many expensive misfits in one squad it’s unreal,epitomised by havertz. Interesting to see what Potter does if given time,though it’s by no means certain he will be.
Ambarish
I’m not holding out a huge amount of hope to be honest.
# more appropriate to say City aren’t going away anytime soon as opposed to they’re going nowhere!
Almunia
I’m good mate – you?
Agree Chelsea have a really unbalanced squad – there’s talent in there I’m just not sure its the right talent in the right places.
If they have any sense they’ll right off this season (10 points off top 4 already with Liverpool and the Spud’s both chasing) and give Potter a chance to start building a team for next season.
Its a strange time at the moment – Liverpool, Spud’s, ManU and Chelsea are in all a rebuild mode and with Newcastle now close to becoming a permanent fixture in the top 4 that’s going to leave 2 other spaces after City for Arsenal plus those 4 teams.
5 does not go into 2 whichever way you look at it.
Exactly, I mean what makes anyone think it’s gonna get easy next year? Chelsea can’t do any worse, New Castle will buy more, United will improve, Liverpool won’t have two sh*t seasons in a row, City is well City.
If you get two players for 100m and they take you over the line, no complaints from me.
Ambarish
I’m not sure about Liverpool – there’s some serious work to be done there. Their midfield is awful and they have a click of players all close to hitting the age brick wall including Salah.
Agree about Liverpool,only Spurs are as fragile long term as they are. Klopp leaving would be a big blow,he’s irreplaceable. Peak Salah is also gone forever. He was also irreplaceable. Huge money spent on jota,Luiz,nunez and Salah’s new contract but the holes in midfield are still there. And that’s without mentioning an aging VVD who is increasingly injury prone and also irreplaceable.
Spuds reliance on Kane and Son is well documented and their failure to bed in alternatives or attract quality players in other positions while they were relatively strong will come back to haunt them. We know how difficult it is to get quality players when the image of title challengers fades.
Marc,
I’m doing ok,how are you? Hope all is well. Your loyalty in holding on to your season ticket could yet present you with a real’ I was there’ moment at the end of the season. Fingers crossed.
this is when several pieces of misplaced business come home to roost….imagine what might have been if clear and more experienced heads had previaled, when some real coin was finally made available…White, Lokonga, the re-upping of Xhaka, the mismanaging of our RB situation, our mishandling of the Keeper scenario, even though I do like Ramsdale, and the lack of confidence shown towards our blue chippers when we should have been in a full-blown rebuilding mode…fact is, we can’t look this MF gift horse in the mouth, so the dollars must be spent in this window for not one but 2 individuals who can have an impact in the now and the later…if this requires us to ship the likes of TIerney, god willing he remain healthy enough to retain some market value, or Eddie or even a White and/or a Gabriel to raise funds, come the summer, so be it…if we don’t spend and we experience a dropoff, then we all of a sudden are losing Saka, selling Marts and/or ESR, in the offseason, that would be an organizational shit show…the time is now, so no more Cech-settling windows
Yes… We are happy that we are table topper..and we (As an Arsenal Fan) hope that this position will continue for us…
Now our next match with Oxford Unt…We have to win this match with good points with hard work and team effort to maintain our table postion…but we need the most important thing in the match is REFEREE…We need a genuine decision from Referee to the best on ground..so that he is not seen as our enemy in the game…
Everything else our boys will do…Afterall we’re ARSENAL ❣️
My suggested eleven
Turner
Cedric
Tomi
Holding
Tierney
Lokonga
Elneny
ESR
Marquinhos
Eddie
Vieira
And I’d rather the bench was full of young tyros rather than first teamers as an insurance policy. This set up should surely be enough to get to the 4th round.
I know it’s hubristic but it would be optimal to be a few goals up by the 60th minute and then see some of the younger players. This team should treat the game as if it was a PL game and start like a train and press the living daylights out if Oxford. Tets should tell them they’re fighting for their place.
I get the reason behind that white kit but there ought to be other ways the club can bring the horrors of youth violence to the fore.