Don’t worry about the Arsenal defeats, this is how we can still win the League

If Arsenal beat Crystal Palace on Sunday, the Gunners will have a total of 40 points at the halfway point of the season, so with another 20 games to go from now, Petr Cech thinks that we should not worry about our blip of two defeats because our rivals will also suffer blips like that before the end f the campaign.

The ex-Chelsea star knows that we are 9 points behind his old club, but is confident that they will be pegged back in the coming months as long as Arsenal concentrate on their long term target. Cech said: “Overall you need to be consistent to get to 87 or 88 points and it doesn’t really matter how you get to that,”

“If you have back-to-back losses then you have to go and make up for it in different games. Then you can catch up.

“It’s a long-term competition so if you have a period where you’ve not been particularly great, you can still make up for it.

“There are still enough games to make up for our blip and I also think it’s impossible for our opponents to not drop points.

“There’s still a big opportunity for us to close the gap now. Between now and the end of January, the table might look completely different.”

I know that is the right attitude to have, but I am not so sure that Chelsea could drop nine points more than us considering they are on a super record-breaking 12 game winning streak at the moment.

Do you think that Arsenal can still catch them?

Darren N

7 Comments

  1. Chelsea is just one club among 6 trying to win it yes Chelsea will drop points at some stage I know and believe conte to be of a special category in tactical maneuvers but he did not win the European championship so yes they will drop points the main question here can we at Arsenal buckle up for the win at every encounter ?Can we fight and win every match ? Can we all work together united to win every match ??? the Premier League is a long hard affair that requires physical and mental strength do we have the strength to win every match we play ??? Well I hope so
    Happy new year gooners

  2. Match week 19 shows the difficulties in winning, for everyone. If Arsenal win, not a given but the most likely result against a Cruystal Palace side struggling for identity, they will beon 40 points. The two teams immediately above them, Liverpool and Man City are on 40 and 39 points. If City win, they move to second on 42 points and liverpool remain at 40. Arsenal go to third on goal difference.

    If Liverpool win, the remain second on 43 points, Arsenal leapfrog Man City and go to third on 40. Assuming a Tottlenham win, Man City fall to fifth on goal difference and Spurs climb to fourth.

    The third possibility, a draw between the Reds and Sky Blues, puts Arsenal and Man City even on points at 40, with Arsenal moving to 3rd on goal difference. Liverpool remain second on 41 points, and Chelsea, Tottenham hovering at 10 behind. Man U would be three further back at thirteen behind.

    Arsenal’s chief task then is to win. 40 points puts them one ahead of where they were after 19 games last season.

    In the first half, the Gunners have drawn 4, against Tottenham, Man U, Middlesboro, and Leicester. None of their losses and only two of their draws could be categorized as “bad”. Losing away to top half teams is something that you almost have to expect. Arsenal should have beaten Everton and without the referee’s error, would have at least drawn. It seems reasonable that Arsenal can collect 47-49 points in the second half of the season. That puts them on 89 for the total. Could they do better? Perhaps, but some combination of two losses and two draws seems like a honest projection of potential results.

    The question is, will Chelsea be able to maintain their pace. If they can, they win. If they match their first half they will rack up 98 points and be unbeatble, but that seems really unlikely. If they go unbeaten the rest of the way, they’ll score 106 points and be crowned on of the great teams of all time. That seems even less likely.

    So far Chelsea have been very lucky with suspensions and injuries. That could continue. Leicester enjoyed a similar injury free season last year and free of European football, as Chelsea are, but Arsenal are usually better inthe second half of the season, Man U will be better, and Tottenham seem closer to regaining their best form.

    It seems likely that Chelsea will tally somewhere between 87-94 points. Arsenal’s margin for winning the title is slim, but it exists.

  3. I have no worry about Liverpool n City their weakness in defence ll always mean Arsenal ll still top them but Chelsea however, they top us with 9points which is huge n the big question isn’t if Chelsea ll drop points, cos they ll, they cnt go on 32games-winning streak, but will Arsenal capitalize on the dropped points n if they manage to won’t they also still drop points at decisive points.
    our next 5games should be 5 wins.
    Chelsea face Spurs n Liverpool away so they ll drop about 2points to 6points that’s assuming they beat Stoke,Leicester.
    then we MUST beat them at Stamford Bridge to take 3points off them. by then they ll at most be topping Arsenal with 4points n possibly 0 to 2points if they drop points in two games (Spurs,Liverpool) prior to we beating them.

    let’s see where we stand by February 5th but for now KEEP WINNING!

  4. Our winning the league is out of our hands,but making sure we stay in the top 4 is still in our hands. Only Arsenal and Liverpool were the only two teams to have topped the table at new year and ended up not winning the league,will chelsea be the third,the next two months would tell us. Seriously,our players should stop talking much and get serious on and off the pitch,cech have been beaten at his near post and haven’t saved one penalty.

  5. I respect the laws of averages and diminishing returns. But there is also a very important fact that should not be ignored. FIXTURES.
    Chelsea are not in Europe. Even if they have a blip plus injuries, they have 6days after their previous game to regroup before the next game. They have an advantage (TIME) to recover. If things go awry, they’ve TIME to psychologically get it out of their system. But for Arsenal and Man City, we play every 3 days. If we turned the tables and Arsenal were 9points ahead at this stage of the season, the truth is we as fans would still be worried that we’d f$%& it up. That’s not the case with Chelsea. The last time they were top of the league at Christmas, they won it. Never say never I know, but in my mind, I don’t think I’m questioning whether Chelsea will have a bad spell and drop points this season. I think they will drop more than 15 points before the end of the season. The real issue is will Arsenal stop dropping points at the 2nd half of the season? For me, that’s the real issue. There are signals I’ve seen this season that still suggest we will possibly drop more points than Chelsea will come May?
    Why?
    Defensive Discipline. (DD).
    DD is part of Chelsea’s DNA. It’s a mentality for them. It’s how they roll. But the sad thing is, you can’t say the same about Arsenal. I like the way we play football. We have an identity as Arsenal Football Club. We play beautiful football. But unfortunately, we are not a defensively disciplined side. This year, I still believe we are different. We have improved as a group. We have found a new defensive partnership. But until it becomes DNA. It’s only a watershed moment.

    1. Going forward we only have two more games than Chelsea unless we eliminate Bayern from the CL for which we have the best chance ever IMO.

      If Chelsea drop 15 we can only drop another 5, that’s a big ask IMO.

  6. Darren, no offence, but I don’t think you should have wrote the P Cech article. It was meant as an inspirational piece, to give readers something to hope for.

    We’ve seen stranger things happen, a league is long.

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