Will Ramsey goals be key to Arsenal title challenge?

You could say that the closest Arsenal have come to winning the English Premier League in recent years, or even since we last won it in 2005 having gone the entire season without a league defeat, was a couple of years ago when the Gunners finished as runners-up to shock champions Leicester City instead of the usual fourth place.

I would argue, however, that we never really looked like taking the EPL trophy that year after slumping badly from being top at the turn of the year. Only Tottenham taking their eye off the ball once the Foxes had won it allowed Arsenal to leapfrog them.

For me the closest we have come to the title was in 2013-14. Arsenal spent more time than any of our EPL rivals on top of the table and had it not been for unlucky injury blows to big players at key periods of the campaign I reckon we would have done it.

The biggest blow of all that season was losing Aaron Ramsey on Boxing Day which caused him to miss about three months. The Welshman had been on fire up to that point with lots of great goals capping his fine form and he also came back strong and scored the FA cup winner in extra time.

Even missing all that time the midfielder notched up 16 goals and I think would have steered us to the title, but he has not quite hit those heights again, sometimes trying too hard to score instead of doing what comes naturally. Another strong season from Rambo could play a huge part in an Arsenal title challenge so to see him score a very well taken goal in pre-season on Saturday was very encouraging for Gooners everywhere.

Will Ramsey have another goal-laden year and if so will it help Arsenal to a major trophy or two?

sam P.

24 Comments

  1. Yawn … If he is going to be our midfield general this season we can already kiss the title chase good bye … Funny how people on this site dismiss mharez as a one season wonder but laud this guy as the future based on a decent 6 months out of 60 in the first team … Any halfway decent manager would have found a quality replacement for carzola by now as it’s clear his time is more or less up and invested big …

    1. Replace cazorla? I Can barely remember him playing in our midfield. Exactly how many matches has Santi played in the centre of midfield? Yet people bang on about replacing him???

      The player we haven’t replaced is Tony Adams, not because of his ability on the pitch but because he knew how to lead a team of men. No matter where they was from, no matter what their religion, they knew they was playing football with a leader of men.

  2. Arsenal title challenge! Are you bonkers or have you learned nothing watching the last 10 years of Wengers dictatorship

  3. Ramsey in our starting lineup just doesn’t inspire me or excite me. I find the guy distinctly average. Clearly, next season it would help us if we have other players score 15 goals and Ramsey would be no exception but I would rather see an Iwobi explode on the scene with 15 goals than Mr sideways passing Ramsey.

  4. Ramsey has undoubtedly the potential to have a really great season in our new formation. The big question is whether he avoid the physio room and stay on the field.

  5. Wenger LOVES Ramsey, so you can guarantee he will play a big part of our season

    Last season Ramsey, Coquelin, Eleney were all quite average
    I would rather see Xhaka and Ox in that role in CM

  6. Ox has looked impressive over last 12 months. Strong, more belief than before, and being authorities in the pitch.

    May see him become a regular starter this season.

    Will need to add some goal threat to achieve that

  7. Apart from Ozil Ramsey has the best balance, change of direction in the team.

    Also has big engine, and can score goals. Also was star of Welsh team.

    He just suffers in Arsenal team because doesn’t have the license to show his creativity when Ozil on the pitch- and has to play further back.

    So for me no surprise he is one of Wengers favs.

    He did also win us 2 FA Cups. Deserves some respect!

  8. People still talking about almost FOUR YEARS ago when Ramsey last played consistently well, as a reason for keeping him. He’s been terrible, and injury prone. Got to draw a line in the sand at some point, and say he’s not good enough, and someone else deserves a chance now. It’s the same with Wenger. 13 years ago we won the league, so we better give Wenger yet ANOTHER chance to do it. It’s ridiculous!!! Arsenal might as just hand out 10/15 year contracts and be done with it!

    Every season it’s the same. So many choose to ignore the facts, and prefer to live in hope that rubbish players/manager will suddenly come good. Maybe we should also give Wilshere another 5 years, because I have this strong belief he’ll be injury free in his 30’s haha!

    It was 2004, not 2005, when we last won the league.

  9. I really hope that all the good work we’re doing in the transfer market doesn’t get ruined by making Ramsey the long-term replacement for Cazorla, because he simply isn’t good enough!

    Cech
    Mustafi – Koscielny – Holding
    Bellerin – Xhaka – NOT RAMSEY AS 1st CHOICE – Kolasinac
    Ozil – Lacazette – Sanchez / Lemar

    The Ox would make a better long-term partner for Xhaka, but they would need to get training on that ASAP, which is unlikely with Wenger’s love for Aaron Ramsey.

    If Sanchez stays and we get Lemar or Seri then they could also play that role.

    1. arsenal won 9 out of last 10 matches including FA Cup final with back 3 and xhaka and ramsey partnership… you guys just want to keep moaning anf moaning.. its a new system and new season starting soon with at least 2 very good new players.. if you cant get on board go support the Spuds !

      1. For as long I can remember arsenal have always finish d season strong so and last season was no exception dude..

      2. Totally agree my friend, we gotta go into season positive or what’s the point ?

  10. People bang on about favortism but Ramsey was kept away from the starting line up last season, and when he got introduced towards the latter parts it turned out we missed him (missed a CM threat) and played better with him in there. I was really surprised last season that he kept going with Coquelin, in the beginning it was him and Cazorla, but then kept trying to make him fit with Xhaka. Xhaka and Elneny were tried, Elneny and Coquelin played before Elneny went away on international. Iwobi and Ox were tried. Ramsey eventually was best and people need to just accept that.

  11. Don’t hold your breath he won’t be scoring that many, but hope he has a great season and a great World Cup if wales qualify. As nobody would be paying mad money for him today that’s a fact! I dont think he should be starting alongside xhaka but he’s the best we have at the moment so I wish him all the best!!

  12. Think we need a replacement for Santi as I don’t think Ramsey is consistent enough and is injury prone. However I think Wenger has a lot of faith in Ramsey and will not sign a replacement. Seri would be a good like for like replacement for Santi however if we went for a different type of midfielder then Goretzka would be fantastic or Danilo Pereira. Danilo Pereira is more of a holding midfielder and a destroyer, Porto have financial problems so could let him go at a reduced price e.g. £25/30m

  13. Earlier in the window we were linked with the likes of Seri and Goretzka. We cooled our midfield pursuits and we put huge pressure on Monaco for Lemar. If my assessment of his playing style is right Lemar has some Carzola qualities in his locker and i would not be suprised if Wenger shifts him to the base of the midfield. He can pass, long range as well as shoot, he can dribble and get out of tight spots with initiative to initiate our own attack from a position we were under pressure. He is 21 and can learn from the pass master himself…Ramsey, Ramsey…well it has never been the same without Carzola in there and Ramsey in the wingback is not an option. I think from some sources there are plans to put up a strong second team for the FA and Europa and retain the core of the team for EPL challenge

    1. Ramsey will play Ozil role in team 2 for Arsenal. Lemar will pick up first team Santi Carzola role and Walcott should be sold to Everton…

  14. i find rather amusing how people who claim to like ramsey and have watched him play only praise his goals in the 13/14 season. IT WAS NOT THE GOALS that made ramsey such a world-class player for the near 2/3 of the season he was fit.

    it was his all-round play. he was in the top 5 in midfielder goals, assist, tackles, passes, ground covered and probably interception( not sure on this one). that is why i always thought that if he hadnt got injured he would have become one of the best box to box mid in the world. ignorant ramsey fanboys bragging about his 16 goal only serve to make others think that ramsey just catched a lucky break in front of goal for half a season.

    he was majestic bossing the midfield and sometime even whole matches by himself. he started pre-season very early and it was evident that he was head and shoulders above everyone physically in the epl. there were some talk about him using a personal trainer in pre-preseaason similar to RVP before. this was the info that proved to me that arsenal physio team was utterly shit at that time.

    also ramsey much like giroud is an instinctive finisher. they are more likely to score when they dont think too much or dont have much time. after the 13/14 ramsey was desperate to recapture that form and focused too much on scoring goals, he is still getting in dangerous position but often missing chances that he would have normally buried. he can get to that level this season if he plays box to box role in the 3-4-3 like he played in 13/14. lol someone just tell him; dont stress, just feel the game and react.

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