Arsenal were looking set to enjoy an almost perfect weekend in the Premier League, with Man United losing at Swansea, Tottenham dropping points at home to West Ham and Jose Mourinho left fuming as Burnley stole a point off Chelsea (not that we are in the title race but just because I don´t like them).
But Liverpool went and spoiled it by beating Southampton at St. Mary´s. Even though the Saints were the club that could have overtaken us with a win, the draw was really what we wanted. now it looks like Brendan Rodgers and his Liverpool side could be the main threat to Arsenal finishing in the top four. United, the spuds and the Saints have all lost two and drawn one of their last six while we have just one defeat and Liverpool have only dropped two points.
Really Arsenal should be looking at third place at least, but the scousers are in great form and we saw last season how they can go on a charge and put a run of results together. Next weekend could be massive for us because we have a home game against Everton after the midweek Champions League clash with Monaco. Liverpool have a tough game at home to Man City but if they win it, that could spell real danger for the Gunners.
Then looking at the remaining fixtures, it looks like we have the slightly better run in, with an away clash with Man United and home games with Chelsea and Liverpool themselves the tough ones. They have home games with Man United and Man City and must travel to Chelsea, us and Stoke on the final day. There is not much in it really and only three points currently separate the clubs, although our much better goal difference is worth another point.
So it could be that we will be involved in a fight to the finish in the league and assuming that we get past Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool could be on a collision course in the FA cup as well. Are they now our main rivals?
No we should simply see there are 4 teams within touching distance of us. If we pick one team as the biggest threat, any of the others could blind side us and make us look foolish. Best focus on what WE need to do and note that it’s in our hands to finish top 4.
Preferably 3rd to avoid a qualifier and be able to convince players to join sooner in the summer should they require definitive CL guarantees.
Exactly the point. We’re in third place now. It’s not about hoping for other teams to drop points anymore, it’s all on us to make sure we stay where we are. We don’t have to catch anyone, we have to set the pace now – we’re the ones that the others are trying to catch.
I agree that all 4 sides are definitely competitor.
But if u specifically want to rate, then it is Liverpool, then United then Southampton and then Spurs
The table is so tight that a single loss or draw will push back you from 3rd to 6.
Yes Next week will also a decider as we can not underestimate Everton who are a very good side.
Was a good week for us, could have been disastrous if we dropped points in dying seconds.
Having said that, winning against any team would not be easy, Burnely took points from chelsea and we almost dropped points at palace
It will go down to the wire
our D looked stronger, but there’s still something missing. monreal got smoked too often at LB: wonder if gibbs would’ve coped better w the their pacy RW? chambers at LB is a accident waiting to happen. bellerin effectively no backup at the moment . hoping paulista slowly gets more and more mins and eventually becomes equal to Per, or maybe better. also, we have no effective backup for coq. will be v.interested to see if wilshere can step up and fill in at b2b for cazorla.
Honestly i dont know why we talk about teams below us.. Now that we are third, we should be aiming to catch up with City.
Success comes when you focus on yourself and not others..,
What utter nonsense. You are talking like you have some sort of bearing on the inner thinking of the club. We are just observers. We watch and speculate AND what he is speculating is that Liverpool look like bigger rivals in the top 4 race then united and Southampton.
He is right.
Liverpool are an excellent side and shouldn’t be underestimated. A lot of people criticise them at the start of the season but u don’t sign 7 new players and expect them to gel instantly. Now their transition period over and their signings are hitting the ground running. That said, we should still be slightly above them in terms of quality, but we need nothing short of our best to see off their challenge in the league and fa cup.
They’ll be real challengers for the FA Cup, but they still have to play Man City and United, and play away to Chelsea and Arsenal. They have difficult run in compared to us, and we already have a 3 point cushion + goal difference. Can they finish above us in the league? Yes. Is it likely? Not really, it’s not down to them, it’s on us to do our job and finish above them. If they finish above us it’s our fault for messing up.
@ tubby
Id relax a little bit on the “liverpool are an ‘excellent’ side” and “their signings are hitting the ground running”. Besides Can and Moreno, none of their other signings are starters and they arent as good as you think they are (but i do rate can im a big fan).
I think what makes them such a good team is there high intensity, high tempo, pressing game that is very difficult for any team to cope with. That being said i do think we should still finish above them hopefully in 3rd and i can see them getting the 4th CL spot as long as europa league obligations don’t interfere with the prem for them.
Nice response. True a lot of their new signings haven’t broken into the team. They now want rid of balotelli and Lamber. Lovren is now their 4th choice CB behind toure. Manquillo is a flop.
That just leave lallana and markovic. Both with question marks against their names.
Our remaining games are easier than all the other teams vying for 3rd/4th, so we have the advantage in that sense, but it means nothing unless we convert that advantage into points. I can see City going on a real run now with Toure back (should be a thriller on Tuesday!), so I can’t see us catching them at all, we just have to focus on 3rd place now. It doesn’t just mean automatic CL qualification, it also means more money. Can’t afford any more slip-ups, we’ve had too many this season.
Look at our squad, it’s fantastic. It’s not world class from top to bottom, but one or two more top quality signings and it can certainly match City or Chelsea’s squads. I expect a title challenge next season. A real one. I’m tired of Arsenal going into big games and not being feared. It’s not just Chelsea or City fans that aren’t scared of us, it’s Liverpool, Tottenham, United, Everton and Southampton too. Perhaps not against United, but against the rest of those clubs, we have to go into the game at favourite to win it, and at the moment we aren’t. This summer is huge for us, we have to make the step up from a big club to an elite club, for the first time in a long time.
That is exactly where we are headed “we have to make the step up from a big club to an elite club”
Oil money and Russian rubles skewed the EPL, but FFP is dampening the effects.
Wenger has made superb buys in the last two seasons; the quality of the club took two big steps last season and this.
As you say this summer we take the final step up. Just two players.
@ mick
Why do you think we have such an easy run in? We have united, pool, everton, chelsea, west ham left to play which are all very difficult games
we have a *relatively* easier run in. there’s no easy in EPL now.
All at the Emirates, other than United.
Chelsea saw Burnley as an easy game. They saw Bradford as an easy game.
There are no easy games in “squeaky bum” time. None!
United, Southampton, liverpool and Spurs are all within 4 points of us. So they are all our enemies
Chelski …………60
City……………… 55
Arsenal ………..48
United ………….47
Southampton..46
Liverpool………45
Spuds…………..44
City should be keeping an eye on us too. We are slowly inching forward and forward. Next Sunday City are away to Liverpool. We can get even closer maybe. But March is fully loaded so must concentrate one game at a time.
March:
1st= (Home) Everton
4th = (Away) QPR
9th= FA Cup (Away) United
14th= (Home) West Ham
17th= CL (away) Monaco
21st= (Away) Newcastle
The main thing for us is to WIN. Fully concentrate on each upcoming game and Win it.
Both Arsenal and Liverpool look the best of that bunch right now and both should finish in top 4. United have been average all year and shouldn’t even be there. If Harry Kane’s goals dry up, Spurs are nothing. The pressure has got to Southampton and they’re losing a lot of points. But United and Southampton do have a big advantage of not playing in Europe.
Europa league will really affect Liverpool. Flying all the way to Turkey for a tough game on Thursday against Besiktas – we all know how difficult that game is – and then playing Man City on Sunday. It’s difficult to get a balance between competitions with Thursday’s games.
We currently have just 15 matches left season if we win all 15 we will be in the semi finals of the cup, 1/4 finals of the champions league and 100% guaranteed 3rd spot. Another 2 wins at wembley would see us retain our fa cup and let’s face it you can actually win the champions league from here on in by getting outplayed and not actually winning another match over 90 mins. 1-1 draws away from home 0-0 draws at home see u make the final, in the final u can win it by not actually scoring until the penalty shoot out, an unlikely route I know, but not too different to chelsea winning it a couple of years back. Are we capable of drawing 1-1 away at madrid barcelona and munich? Of course we are, are we capable of drawing 0-0 at home? Most certainly.
We need to all be positive now, we are in the last third of the season, in a great position to push man city all the way, unfortunately I think the title was lost when we had too many injuries, but we are the only team still in the fa cup and champions league and with a full squad looming large, we can do this. Coquelin cazorla Giroud ozil sanchez and welbeck is proving to be a superb “front 6” so much so that arteta flamini wilshire Ramsey chamberlain rosicky and walcott appear to be looking at the bench at best. In bellerin and gibbs we have a superb option to debuchy/chambers and monreal as the latter pair are a perfect rotation for home games, but also both can play wide midfield from the bench, again adding another dimension. With Gabriel now seamlessly bedded in we have a top quality cb on the bench and when debuchy returns chambers will act as 4th cb. I haven’t even mentioned gnabry bielik zelalem and akpom as I cannot really see them getting much game time from here in, very similar to martinez who will not start ahead of either ospina or Szczesney. All in all I am very confident 3rd place is definitely achievable whilst I feel sure we will be in at least one semi final this season, then hopefully the final or two?
Ospina
Debuchy mertesacker koscielny monreal
Coquelin
Cazorla ozil
Welbeck giroud sanchez
Szczesney
Bellerin chambers Gabriel gibbs
Arteta
Wilshire ramsey
Chamberlain Walcott rosicky
Rest of squad: martinez hayden flamini diaby bielik zelalem Gnabry akpom
When u look at that squad it hard to see too much weakness, perhaps arteta is the weakest link in the two line ups. If everyone was fit you struggle to see a way back for flamini, not to mention the likes of podolski, Jenkinson, ryo and campbell. By the start of next season we will have 31 players born 1993 or before, that means 6 will have to go before we even think about new signings. Some of those will obvious. Diaby, Ajayi, Galindo, Ryo will surely be the first 4 out of the door. For one reason or another The likes of arteta flamini campbell jenkinson podolski wellington and rosicky will be wondering if they will make the cut? Even martinez, Szczesney, Ramsey, wilshire or Walcott could find themselves being used to make some cash.
But first let’s worry about nailing down a top 3 finish and claiming a cup or two along the way.
Lars Bender > Arteta
Hummels > Mertesacker
If that’s our summer spending spree I’ll be over the moon. Could hopefully get both for £40-50m well within budget. Could still afford to splash out £40m on a striker.
every player in Dortmund is > than us…except for Sanchez
Dortmund was LAST place, now up to 10th. Better than us ?
jezus rahman: r u an arsenal fan??
can everyone stop with this hummels crap. The guy is CONSTANTLY injured think of wilshere and ramsey combined. And he hasnt been good at all this year his form has dropped significantly from the WC
Yes, and the “BFG is too slow brigade” won’t be too impressed with Hummel’s similar lack of pace.
@atid – You take a good holistic view and also take into account our Academy & loan players into account. You forgot Sanogo but a very complete list. But I completely forgot about Galindo. I think players with work permit issues should not join Arsenal. Look at Campbell, Silva & Galindo, they stand no chance really of ever joining Arsenal first team. The Home Office & FA want to make it even more difficult. Spain & portugal are a lot more relaxed about this and teams can exploit it.
100% Sell – Flamini, Diaby, Miyaichi, Podolski, Campbell, Jenkinson, Silva, Ajayi, Galindo
Possible Sell – Arteta, Rosicky, Goal Keeper
Loan: Sanogo
Summer targets:
CDM – Schneiderlin/Bender/Gonalons
LB – Mings (he is a good understudy, Under 21 and also possible a CD)
CD – Schar (can be signed for free, longer term Mertesacker replacement)
Striker: Dybala/Lacazette/Reus
Those 4 targets we could get for 60-70 mil. Player sales should generate about 20-30 million.
If Walcott does not sign before the summer we can expect him to be sold and a replacement will be found.
OT: At the London derby game between west ham v spurs; The spuds fans kept on booing poor Jenkinson all game long, just because he is an Arsenal player. How silly!
What I found very amusing is that after our London derby the Spud fans were so smug, yet a few games later they are trailing again by four points. I really believe that on the day, they played out of their skins and looked impressive, but we all know they are normally nowhere near that level, where as we normally are. Perhaps if they were not so obsessive over us, they would do a lot better…poor spuds.
OT: yes it’s about transfers, but I can’t wait to see who we bring in next.
Many will disagree but I think we should at least try for Paulo Dybala, Nabil Fekir, and Morgan Sneiderlin… Wenger will be on to something with these guys, and yes 2 of them are unknown but we had quite a few unknowns that became stars…
seriously what is with you and dybala? every single article you bring him up no matter what.
Dybala is world class…he guarantee goals and assist…..
sign him up…
Ha ha ha ha ha ha fiz
hahaha thats hafiz’s go to slogan no matter what