There is definitely one person who can confidently rule Arsenal out of the 2023–24 Premier League title battle, despite the fact that we are only a few points away from the top of the table.
The former Liverpool and Manchester City goalkeeper David James on Sky Sports has written off Arsenal’s chances of winning the Premier League.
According to James, Manchester City always drop nine points in the final stretch of the Premier League title battle, and he believes that if they do so this time, they will hand the crown to Liverpool.
“I did a little bit of homework, and since COVID, they (City) drop around nine points on average in the run-in. That gives Liverpool about four games on average. Are Liverpool gonna lose four games? Are City gonna drop their average nine points? If so, then Liverpool are going to win the title.”
On why the defending champions dropping points doesn’t boast Arsenal’s chances, James was adamant that Arsenal aren’t in with a shout:
“I think it’s a two-horse race. I know there’s a lot of Arsenal supporters who think they’re involved in this, but personally, I don’t think that’s the case.”
David James is not a prophet, and his comments, like those of the other commentators, are just that, and we can firmly say that James having played for both our title rivals hasn’t influenced his thinking in the slightest.
But in the end, it is Arteta and his team that can decide their fate on the pitch. Whether Manchester City drop points or not, our Gunners will focus on what they can control, which is winning games, and aim to have the most points come May, proving naysayers like David James wrong.
Which we will, I am sure!
COYG!
Sam P
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Arsenal have failed several tests in EPL, so I guess James’ prediction will come true
Arsenal could win EPL if they become unbeaten till the end of the season, but it would be highly improbable because they still have to play against six big EPL teams
@gai, I have had my reservation since Xhaka was replaced with Havertz and we didn’t sign a physical prolific CF. I have followed Epl enough to know Saka and Matinelli could experience burn out this season because Saka in particular played many games last season and Arteta wasn’t skilled at rotating his players .
With our present form and Arteta’s not flexible tactically, we are not going to go unbeaten till May. I predict 3rd or 4th place for us but then anything can happen in football injuries to other team players, loss of form etc .
There’s still time to replace some of our players
I like this article.
Being the underdogs will psychologicaly take the pressure of us. We should just hang in behind the favourites for a couple of more games and then shift into gear to take the lead. Going on a 10-12 game unbeaten run will almost gaurantee the title.
FINGERS CROSSED!!!
WOW!
Liverpool will be losing Klopp at the end of the season
Let’s get Klopp 😊
You seem not to have heard the massive breaking news an hour ago then?
KLOPP has announced that he and all his coaching staff too will be LEAVING LIVERPOOL at end of THIS season He says he is runnng out of energy.
He ALSO said he will NOT be managing anywhere else at all,for at least one season and definitely NOT in England ever again.
It has come as ahuge shock to all football folk.
But de told the club owners of this last November, which they kept secret .
Mathematically it is possible we can still win the title, but will we?
Our play and productivity are a shadow of last year.
Hopefully changes in tactics, more rotation, and players finding some consistency can change our fortunes.
Currently our style of play makes it harder on ourselves.
Durand, I have effectively given up any REALISTIC hope of us winning the title this year.
Now that Klopp has announced he is leaving Liverpool at end of this season, I expect THEM to win the title and would rather they did than MAN CITY.
We are playing , effectively, for third place and hopefully with luck, a good run to the CL semis, but realistically, no further than that!
Jon
I don’t hold out any realistic hope that we will finish as champions at the end of the season.
Our style of play is a lot of possession without end product; which has been ongoing all season.
We are far too predictable in attack, and have not seen Arteta adapt his tactics to play differently when we are struggling. Instead he subs out players and continues with the same tactics and style of play.
We don’t play players according to their strengths, but rather deploy them according to the tactics Arteta has decided.
For example, Jesus when he is obviously a winger not a striker. Vieira anywhere near central midfield. Jury is out on Havertz as an 8, but overall he leaves a lot to be desired in that position. Lastly, Zinchenko never was or will be a fullback. Far more suited to a midfield role, whether as an 8 or a 10.
I don’t see Arteta altering his tactics or style of play this year, as he seems heavily committed to his philosophy or slow buildup, static positioning, and passing to maintain possession.
Yes Durand – it’s that wretched static positioning… grrr
YES DURAND . Sadly you are right!
Instead of players who interchange positions, as some of us hoped MA had learned from Pep, we do the opposite and stay static. AND FAR TOO SLOW IN PASSING PACE .
Man City are experts at getting over-the-line. Liverpool managed it a few years ago. Arsenal failed last year. Also City & Liverpool currently have more points. So James has is correct based on history, but although that sets a precedent, it doesn’t necessarily mean that history will repeat itself. And as BangBang points out above, being the underdogs this time around will certainly help with the psychological element in a young team. So I don’t think anybody can write-off Arsenal at this stage. If they can start clicking again properly and avoid too many more injury problems, the gap is not big and the title is still a real possibility at the moment.
I would call your post an unrealistic one and a triumph of mere hope over good judgement !
The only way we could win the league is when we sign a top top striker, change our formation by returning back to an attacking formation of 4231. Else we should just forget this in terms of trophies or top four. The formation we are playing this season is too rigid, no fluency. The forward wingers are not enjoying themselves as soon as the get the ball they are turning back instead of forging ahead and i do not blame them cos they are acting base on the instructions giving them by the coach which to me is very annoying.
This is a reasonable and balanced perspective. However, being so sensible means your comments get rubbished by those who are overly pessimistic.
Klopp to win the league on his departure?
I think there is more to the Klopp decision (if true), then what we are being made to believe. My guess is that the club has decided to sell Salah this window against Klopp’s wishes.
Because Arteta is not prepared to alter his style of play, because he is not ready to rotate and because he has made up his mind on playing some players out of position whether it’s benefiting the team or not, arsenal can not win the title. We should be real and wake up from day dream and mere wishful thinking. The best we can get is 4th that is if Villa and Spurs lost form.
The fact that Klopp Is leaving Liverpool at the end of the season could have the effect of galvanising City who have been a bit on and off so far. Liverpool’s management have kept this secret from the squad for 2 months which could have a detrimental effect. Will they fight hard enough to give him a big send off knowing he wasn’t up front with them? Not long to find out.
This news could also be beneficial to us and I’m sure we will finish, at least, in the top 4 with still a chance to win it if we can get a bit of consistency going. Tough? Yes, but not impossible.
Liverpool have only lost one game so far so how many will they lose this next time around, probably not many. Those draws though can be worse sometimes like it’s better to lose one and win another than to draw two games, so hopefully, if they aren’t losing many games then we get to see them drawing one too many. So then there’s City and he reckons City will lose the equivalent of three games. If that’s the case and we win our next two fixtures then I reckon we’re still in the talk. It’d be madness to give up with only a five-point margin from the top, we had that over City last season so it’s not the most comfortable lead when the pressure mounts, it’s doable
Well, if it’s not the league due to Klopp’s last season in charge of Liverpool, surely it’s the CL.
We are not winning the league. And given Artetas record in cup comps recently, we are definitely not nicking the CL.