What Man City loss to Leicester means to Arsenal?

I think it is safe to say that most Arsenal fans, if asked before the start of the Premier League weekend of matches what result they would like to see from the top of the table clash earlier, would have said that a draw between Man City and Leicester City at the Etihad was the ideal result for the Gunners and our hopes of securing the title at the end of the season.

That did not happen and the Foxes stunned their big spending rivals with a reasonably comfortable win, but I feel that this was the next best result from an Arsenal point of view, even though the eight point gap that we now see would have only been five had Manuel Pellegrini and his players prevailed.

However I still feel that Man City would have been a bigger threat to our title hopes if they had won this. Now, though, with the players already knowing that Pellegrini ls leaving and with their fixture schedule from four competitions piling up, they are there for the taking.

Arsenal simply have to win tomorrow to keep the Foxes in our sights but we knew that anyway and now a win over the Cherries will put us a point better off than Man City. But I do think that Leicester’s win today means that we really have to beat them when they come to north London next weekend.

The pressure is on, for sure, but we have already beaten the league leaders quite comfortably on their own turf and two wins from the next two games will put Arsenal in a great position. I am not saying that it will be easy or that I expect Ranieri’s side to fall apart all of a sudden, but we have all had our ups and downs this season. Arsenal are hopefully about to put a bad run behind us and we might just be able to start our rivals on one next week.

What do you guys think?

Tags Bournemouth Ranieri Wenger

58 Comments

  1. Its that bad now? So bad that there are articles here dedicated matches that arsenal didn’t even feature in! When we gonna stand on our own two feet?

    1. ….when we start delivering.
      until then expect posts like:

      ‘if you were a pop tart..what flavour would you be’
      ‘jordan henderson is not the boy from harry and the hendersons’ ,
      ‘dexter season 9 is never gonna happen’

      1. What does it mean to us ?
        Nothing .
        Especially with our set of players who work as hard as someone with a 100 cigarettes per day habit.
        Nothing in this team suggest they are hungry enough , good enough or have the mentality to win the league.
        Talking about the league,
        They have to beat Bournemouth first.
        But with that rickety midfield of calamitous Flamini and a Ramsey who could not make a 6 yard pass , we will be lucky to get a point.

    2. It’s not like it’s a first. More articles=more $$$, right? Being bad currently has nothing to do with it.

      1. All Bournemouth has to do is put up a little resistance, and we’ll be coming back with 1 point, or we’ll get 3 points from an early lead that will leave the team huffing & puffing after Bournemouth hits the bar & fails to equalize, as if we just played a top team! Wenger’s teams of recent years usually don’t respond to the pressures brought about by other teams going ahead of them on the table, or it seems even worse when they have what should be an easy fixture played after other top teams do poorly.

        1. There is a character issue at AFC. We may have intelligent and technically capable players with whom Wenger can communicate, which is all well and good, but we need players who know when to turn around and simply ball out others who ain’t doing the business. Leaders.

          Walcott runs up another blind alley, Mertesacker doesn’t put his head in, Ramsay goes missing, an idiot can see the problems it creates yet I rarely see a player (flamini has done) saying wtf are you doing!!!!

          Coquelin has a look in his eyes which means business, but I struggle to identify others. Too many look phased by problems, more worried about what the crowd think of them, their ego over a missed opportunity etc. We need players that have an inner confidence, know who they as people and know that winning needs personal sacrifice.

          For me this is a player issue not a management one. You can blame Wenger for not having bought another Adams, another Vieira, etc but you can’t blame him for the pathetic nature of cash laden, adult professional footballers who don’t take personal responsibility and only turn up for 75% of the game/s.

          If we want to win this league, they, THE PLAYERS have got to stand up and be counted NOW! Tomorrow is either goodbye pl or the start of what is a must win sequence. Let’s hope they can rise to the challenge. COYG’s!!!

          1. impressed w leicester’s off-the-ball energy ; lets compare to tomorrow.
            esp walcott : see if he trots around or will he show urgency?

      2. It has everything to do with it, with money we could’ve replaced Walcott and have a quality back up for Coquelin that wouldn’t lead to embarrassing games against Stoke and Southampton

    3. MY SUMMER TRANSFER LIST
      THE OUTS
      1. WENGER – Heartless Man – Just push him out
      2. FLAMINI – Useless as His Coach
      3. ARTETA – Lacks ambition lyk Wenka
      4. WALCOTT – Ten years of still developing – SELL
      5. CHAMBO – Hez not serious – LOAN

      PROMOTION
      1. Iwobi – I have to say he might be better at Goal scoring than Ozil (Every AM must score)

      IN’s
      1. RUGANI – Young and Focused defender (BFG will be used sparingly, but we still need him)
      2. JAVI MARTINEZ – Cover for DM, CB & CM
      3. ANDRE GOMES – Replacement for Flamini & Arteta ( Hes very skilled and intelligent)
      4. CAVANI or MORATA – We need one of these two to Fight with Giroud (Competition)
      5. MANAGER – Just about anyone would be better than Wenka ..

  2. LCFC is a well drilled unit…Gotta give em credit for holdin it down. But we’re coming to take it away from them…

    1. heres hoping, can i ask you just an an experiment, tomorrow can u maybe try not doing the …’we got this. coyg’ thing…..just wanna see what happens!

      im not saying ur a hex but im mad superstitious when it comes to arsenal games. someone pointed out that i kept predicting draws for us and it kept happening lol

      1. What the hell… here goes:

        We are going to thrash Bournemouth tomorrow 6-0
        Then hammer Leicester 4-0 and I’m gonna win the national lottery tonight (even though I don’t have a ticket).

        WE GOT THIS. COYG! 😉

      2. just re read that…damn im sounding like a biznatch.
        ignore that msg bro

        but am i a guy who wears the same transformers socks , drinks from the same might ducks cup i have been for the past 15 years- yes im that guy

        swear that cup has been glued together so many timwe

      3. @muffdiver
        I’ve said that before every match since coming on this sight. We’ve won a few, lost and even drew a few.
        But you got in My Ninja. I’ll keep it under wraps…

        1. Hahaha. .. and tomorrow… we will see a…
          “WE GOT THIS! COYG” … Oooops! Sorry boys false of habit ??…. Followed by a Bournemouth 1 Arsenal 1. ?

    2. Lol – heads up arses….that’s a not a an indication I’m gonna tell you something gooners……it’s a statement about some of you thumbing down a straight forward and fair comment about Leicester and a positive one about AFC. Bizarre ‘fans’.

  3. It means Leicester are one game closer to being champions. Up to us to do our own thing and start to show the same level of commitment, desire and hunger they have all season.

    Imo putting Walcott, Ramsay, Mert, The Ox, Gibbs etc on the bench (for at least a few games) and starting week in week out with those with proper desire, character, energy and attitude like:

    Cech
    Bellerin, Gab, Koz, Monreal
    Coq, Elneny
    Campbell, Ozil, Sanchez
    Giroud

    ….would be a good start, and give those others who think they have some right to pull on the shirt something to think about.

  4. Leicester better enjoy this season, cos there team is gonna be decimated by transfers in the summer

    kante vardy mahrez ….might aswell put a for sale sign at the entrance

    1. @muffdiver
      Would like to see Kante playing for us…Dude converts the play high up the pitch. That sh*t looks unreal…

    2. To be brutally honest they’ll be in a position where they won’t need to if they win the league.

      Now is the best season to win the league in terms of a fiscal perspective, it woul see Leicester earn an absolutely insane amount of money, they’d have pot 1 CL football and a tactically astute manager with a good transfer policy. The only clubs that would be able to buy their players are Barcelona and Madrid, Barcelona has no space or need and it wouldn’t make sense to switch to Madrid.

    3. Not so sure muff. Vardy is about to sign a new contract. Oh to have players who fight for the club not just the biggest pay cheque some celebrity manager will bribe them with.

  5. They were fighting relegation this time last season. Now, they top the league and giving huge account of themselves. They have passed two test in Liverpool and Mancity. If they take a point or 3pts against us next week, then they stand a chance of winning it…

    Tottenham is going about their business silently as well. And they are playing some good football.

    Oh well, we just have to beat Bournemouth tomorrow. If they bottles it up, then we’ll be fighting for 4th position.

  6. Wenger has let us, himself & the
    team down not buying what we need.
    Sad to say but Arsenal needs a change.

    As for Leicester if we can’t do it I
    hope they win it fair play to them today.

    1. If the the foxes win the media will find a way to highlight Arsenal’s shortcomings and totally disregard City who they crushed today with a team full of millionaires, Utd, and Chelsea alike who blow through millions year after year. Sad but expected and what hurts is that we could have truly prepared ourselves better last summer. I not a violent person but I read a comment from Michael Owen recently saying Chelsea, Utd and Liverpool are making Arsenal look good this season and if I even ran into him I would f**kn his a$$ up. Annoying little coward!!!

        1. Only if I lived in England lol. People who act like that more or likely never got an A$$ whooping when they were younger because they would know what consequences and humility means.

        2. Hahaha ?
          But his only a poor little “has been” midget,
          It’s not as if he is earning 140k aweek,
          for talking a load of ?…
          Mmmm. … better still or £8 million a year!

      1. But City won the league only a few seasons ago… So they might just be entitled to a pass on this one.

    1. Is anyone planning on celebrating St. Totteringhams Day this year? I always told myself the day the Spurs come 2nd we’ll be champions for sure. Not so sure about that anymore and we still have to travel to WHL.

  7. It means nothing as long we have these bottlers for players.. We are so weak mentally, and I think it’s wengers personality and attitude that is stopping us from being a competitive team..

  8. city losing to leicester means they can beat any one including us next wk if we keep playing the futball wev been for the last few games

    1. Don’t worry mate!
      Our born again virgin striker’s will pop their cherries against Bournemouth tomorrow ?
      And then we will give Leicester a romantic ass bashing on Valentine’s Day! ?

    2. Which means we have to absolutely field our strongest 11 without any favoritism. That won’t happen though sadly.

  9. Let me say this, if Leicester even manage a draw next weekend v Arsenal the title is over imo. We have to win by a few goals tomorrow at least by 3goals for GD just to catch spurs to 2nd… let that sink in too and theu abso hammered watford today just bad finishing but at least they got the one they needed unlike us… no bottle among quite a few of our players.

    If we beat Bournemouth and Leicster then we are 2points off top with 12games to go, no other way about it draws are not good enough at this stage considerin we are 8pts off the top to be considering winning this league. If Leicster win this after all the opportunities we have had and blown, big changes are needed. Plus put spurs finishing above us just to sicken the blow abit more.

    Hammer Bournemouth, concentrate on ourselves win 2wins the next 2ganes and we are right back init.

    1. @Koss The Boss
      Watford looked like headless chickens defending. But still only let in 1 goal…You call that a hammering?

    2. What’s sickening is changing the channel after watching a movie with my wife to hear “when the Spurs go marching in” being sung. This is beyond finishing above them now, it’s a feeling of being massively let down by manager and players with no heart and desire alike. It’s such a shame, big big shame. #FRUSTRATION

    3. When you say ‘hammer’, what do you mean?

      Somebody correct me if I’m wrong but this WHOLE season we have ONCE, I repeat: ONCE, scored more than 3 goals in a match? And even then we conceded easy 2.

      Wenger doesn’t want to humiliate opponents. If we are 2-0 up on the second half, we will focus on sideways passing rather than scoring, which more often than not leads to conceding and nervous last 10 minutes.

      So if we win tomorrow, and it’s a huge if, it will be scrappy 1-2 scoreline. When the season ends, we will have the worst GD out of the top 4. It always goes like this.

  10. There is a fine line between Optimism and plain stupidity. This article is all about plain stupidity. We are 4th , even behind that SPurs and here we are talking about overcoming Leicester who are playing 10 times more passionately than we have. Why not for a change praise other teams and not just hope they fall or just term them lucky.

  11. It will be all about momentum going in to last 10 games … Right now,it’s with Leicester and spurs … Not just because they r winning but because they r playing a winning style of football … We don’t even know what our best. 11 is anymore or who will turn up on the day … It’s though to see that as a winning formula … Wenger, a bit like van gahl, has had the team playing with hand brake on … Needs to ratchet up energy levels and get a more aggressive and forward looking game going starting tomorrow or this will be all over by early march at home and in Europe … Drop Ramsey Walcott and giroud for starters … If mert plays tomorrow I know wenger has settled for 4 th

  12. That moment when Tottenham has scored 8 more goals than Arsenal, conceded 3 less and done all this with 8 English players (3 homegrown since u18’s) on the starting XI/bench.

    Somebody wanna point this madness to Wenger? Never mind, he doesn’t care for such things. As long as we walk the ball to the net, he’s content.

  13. I think many on this website need to overcome excessive pessimism and avoid high blood pressure. Why can’t some people stop their hate campaign against Wenger and the Arsenal Board? I tend to think the main cause of this is inability to see around oneself and analyse issues. If the issue revolves around Wenger not spending money and buying the so-called big names then why aren’t Man City, Chelsea, Man U and Liverpool winning big since they have been spending a lot of money? The way some people talk about Wenger being replaced by whichever name they hear about simply nauseates me! It is a natural reaction to feel bitter after losing a game but this is normally an instantaneous reaction after which a rational person analyses the causes and looks at how the other teams have performed and puts things in a context. I am totally disgusted with the obsession against Wenger and the Board. It has now become too commonplace and disgusting.

    1. Instead o looking at City, United and CHelsea I would talk about SPurs and Leicester who have alos not spent that big but are performing better than us. Imagine this leicester winning the title and Arsenal still giving financial xcuses.

  14. Spurs above us bothers me, this was supposed to be our season. This was our best chance to lift the league and we back to 4th. Next season teams will get stronger, Manchester United may appoint our biggest nemesis Jose, Chelsea will get better, Klopp will start implementing his style and then we have pep who cant be taken lightly. Its not gonna get easy and we are surely in need on improvement.

  15. It means we are back in it………….the race for 2nd place that is lol

    Seriously, anything other than a win against Bournemouth will be a disaster
    Our last 4 games were D-D-L-D
    No more Ds or Ls. Sick of them

    A win against Bournemouth and then Leicester means we will be back in the title race

    1. we all take L’S in life sometimes

      but im going on record here- i am not taking ‘D’ from anyone

      gotta draw the line somewhere

  16. Man city loss has nothing to do with Arsenal Wenger need to quit that all we need we need changes we tired of being disappointed we tired with same s**t different days

    1. Alusine, please, talk for yourself and avoid using ‘we’. Each of us contributes as an individual and I hate it when some people arrogate to themselves the role of being spokesmen for other people. I am not a fool to just parrot “Wenger out” oblivious of what is going on in the EPL. This season could see a team that narrowly survived relegation last season win the EPL without spending any unusual amounts of money while last year’s EPL Champions are now in the bottom half of the table! Any person who does not see this as a revolution in EPL but keeps on shouting “Wenger out” cannot be a serious person. This season has defied conventional wisdom and accepted tenets in EPL such as spending a lot of money on quality players, keeping the established order intact etc. Instead this season the big clubs have greatly suffered at the hands of small clubs. So those who cannot see this as a remarkable development must be very delusional people indeed and should stop claiming to speak on behalf of others.

  17. When champions league spot is threatened or exit at group stage from CL is threatened, we show desire and comitment to rectify the situation and have succeeded. These are the goals set for Wenger by the board.

    Seems to me that golden opportunities to get ahead at top of PL are squandered. This is not what champions do, they win games they should have drawn and draw games they should have lost. Too often we do the opposite.

    Wenger has done very well for the club, since move to emirates and being forced to sell our best players. Now we can keep our best players us fans want more. It seems to me that the desire at the club to deliver more is not there. We shall see over the remainder of the season how it goes. If its a strong performance then OK. If it is a weak performance with a srap for fourth place, poor against Barcelona and weak FA Cup then I think Wenger should step down. Pains me to say that but we need to see desire and commitment to win the PL to mitigate the many squandered opportunities we have had this year in PL.

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