After last night’s extremely entertaining (but deeply unsatisfying) Arsenal draw at Bournemouth, we now have to endure tonight a match between our most hated rivals, Tottenham and Chelsea.
The runaway League leaders Chelsea are 8 points ahead of us, and 5 ahead of Liverpool in second place, but a win tonight will mean that it is virtually impossible for Arsenal to catch up against an 11 point lead.
But even worse, Tottenham are just 2 points behind us, and will leapfrog us into 4th place if they managed to take all three points off the Blues this evening. That will be extremely hard to take as the dogfight for the Champions League places is becoming extremely tight, with the hated Mourinho creeping up and just 2 points behind us as well.
If we simply accept that Chelsea are definitely going to end up Champions then we should be cheering them on and make sure we stay ahead of Tottenham, but if we are still harbouring hopes of catching Conte’s team, then we should be cheering on the Spuds!
It’s not a good dilemma, and if you want to take advice from Thierry Henry, he said when asked if he would be supporting Tottenham: “I won’t be! But maybe they [the Arsenal players] will be. That would be too much for me!”
So maybe we should just hope for a draw, even though that will leave the Spuds just one point behind us and full of confidence?
So let’s find out what the majority of Arsenal fans think, shall we. Pick one result in the poll below….
What do you want to see in tonights game?
- Tottenham win (56%, 354 Votes)
- Neither win! Draw.. (23%, 143 Votes)
- Chelsea win (21%, 135 Votes)
Total Voters: 632
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No brainer. Chelsea to win. We are not competing with them. We are fighting for 4th with Spurs.
A draw will do just fine. Chelsea wont match our 14 win streak record; will drop crucial points; and wont extend their lead over us. Spuds wont win or leapfrog us in the table while dropping points too. I hope its a 4-4 or 5-5 draw!
It’s easier to catch Spurs than Chelsea so yes, dare I say it I will support Spurs all the way tonight.
A draw or win for Chelsea will completely put us out of reach and I feel some players fighting spirit may just go even further down (We cant always play for runner up or our favoured 4th place trophy).
I will be friends with Spurs for 90 minutes, after that they can go hang. I also have one eye on that record, come on Spurs, do your elders a solid then go back to your corner!!!
I care no more whatever the result. I just want this season to end fast so that we know if there are hopes of winning a trophy next season if wenger does not extend his contract.
I totally agree with you.
And someone please respond to my rant from another article,whether you agree or not it will feel better knowing that I was able to share. It is just so painful, same story each year.
“Well you shouldnt really blame Giroud when he has scored in the last three matches and one thing you guys miss is that Giroud for all his limitations is one of the few players on the team who is always giving it all. I am not a big fan of Giroud and I agree with you that he slows the team down but since we have a team full of passengers, I will take Giroud anytime.
Look at players like Iwobi and Ramsey, one is a 20 year old getting regular match time in one of the biggest clubs in the world and you will see him jog around when he doesnt have the ball. Another is a player who is yet to cement a regular place in the team after so many years and still he seems to be on a different wavelength from the rest of the team.
Problem is that Wenger doesnt have that winning mentality, I dont see him angry at any of these results because it just seems he has seen it all. Did you see Arsenal come back like they wanted to make a point against Man city after a loss against Everton? No.
Was it any different after half time at Bournemouth? He just doesnt instill that passion for winning in the team. It almost looks like he thinks he has done the job in training and he is just a spectator during matches. Even his substitutions look planned way in advance, if you are trailing after 70 minutes just send all the attackers you have on the bench and let them decide where to fit in the system. If you are leading just send your defenders on and it is assumed that the game is closed. Ridiculous”
If you want a response to the above “rant”; you are so right, Wenger is not the passionate, motivating, directing, managing type of manager during games the way we see his modern counterparts (Pep, Klop, Conte, Mourinho). You would think that when his team struggles or doesn’t put enough effort in that they would respond to a bit of angry gestures on the side lines. He simply is not that guy and there is no point in expecting him to become that guy at his age. He is sticking with what worked for him 13 years ago.
As some ex-Arsenal guy said: that hands of approach works if you have a locker room full of the world’s best players and leaders, but that is no longer the case.
We have a mentally weak team who can not motivate themselves well enough. We should have gone on a 6 game winning streak after our two losses to Everton and City yet we barely win 2. In both the losses to Everton and City and during last night’s draw we saw two teams. Against Everton and City we saw “good” Arsenal in the first half and bad Arsenal in the second half, last night we saw good Arsenal for about 25 minutes. This can only be motivation and mentality weakness. This is not a bad day at the office or an off day.
I do disagree with you on Giroud, I really don’t like the impact he has on our team. We become too slow in my opinion and add Ramsey to that mix and it becomes hard to win any game. Iwobi on the other hand I think has a bright future but he to would benefit from more leaders on the pitch. We lack leaders and it might be because Wenger doesn’t like outspoken guys. But in the past we had Adams or Vierra to take control of games and Kos or Ozil or Xhaka or Coq are not those type of leaders.
Thanks Jansen, but to add to that, even if Wenger is the sophisticated types who doesnt want to jump and run around on the sidelines. I am sure if he was more involved we would see more in terms of substitutions and the change in attitude atleast after a break.
Giroud, well like I said I dont actually disagree with your point above, but I like his attitude and efforts that he puts in. Dont want to criticise him because he just wasnt born with the abilities.
@Koss
What makes you so sure that we would win silverware with a new manager?
Coz the new manager won’t be Wenger
Tottenham to win 2-1. Maybe one red card for either side.
Sanchez has been involved in more league goals (goals and assists) than any other player in europes top 5 leagues this season (20), it would be crazy to let him go. Pay him big an be ambitious in signing one or two World class player in summer.
If Wenger dips in transfer market in January it is becuase he thinks top 4 is under threat not becuase he wants to win the title.
Wow! He knew he was on form, but didn’t realise he was top. We must get him to sign at all costs! I love Ozil as well, but I think we could live without him, but losing Sanchez would be a massive blow! He’s our best player in pretty much every game. We better get him to sign quick, because we’re looking in good shape to miss out on the top four this season.
It is better we loose out on top 4 and europa such that wenger himself realizes that he needs to resign so that we get a digital manager who can motivate the team. Its not that Bournmoth have better players than we do, it is the manager effect
Both team deduct points to crowd TROUBLES!!!!
Come on admin, is calling Chelsh!t Chelsh!t worth getting moderated over?
Sh!t is just so obiously a swear word. Use your head or your imagination if you have you have any. My filter is automatic. You swear… you’re moderated. Simple.
Oh ok..go ahead and moderate this you egotistical fcckwrd!
Has to be a Spurs win. Chelsea need to know they are beatable, otherwise they will romp away with the league, which is not as good as a tight title race.
That said, I suspect it will be a draw..
Those that want the Chavs to beat the Scum need to take a serious look at themselves. Just because we have a longstanding rivalry with the Scum doesn’t mean that we should be so short sighted. I hope the Scum win, even if it means that they leap frog us. Ultimately if we want to leap frog them back it is still in our hands if we match their results and beat them at the “Lane.” We should never give up the league until it is mathematically impossible. We need to make that point that the boys valiantly fought to get yesterday count.
a draw will be good as the spuds will remain behind us for that 4th place – but pls do not support the spuds. = gooner for ever
@tweety
EXACTLY…