Arsenal beating Liverpool will make absolutely no difference to the pundits

The low opinion that Arsenal is held in by many pundits, journalists and former players will not change even if they beat Liverpool 3-0 on Saturday. Trust me on this, they will find excuses for Liverpool, call Arsenal lucky, claim it will not last and so on.

Just today I read an article from former player Ray Parlour who said this on TalkSport: “I heard a few shows yesterday saying we can challenge for the league, but they’re a million miles away from Man City and Liverpool at the moment, if I‘m honest,”

“How many Arsenal players would get into the Liverpool team?”

Million miles? Would that be the same million miles Liverpool were behind Man City two seasons ago?

I accept that Arsenal is not at the level of Liverpool just yet but I do believe they have closed the gap with the new signings, whereas Liverpool bought no one of note and City just Rodri.

Arsenal has started with two wins from two, the first time they have done that in a decade, Liverpool scraped a win over Southampton due to the incompetence of Danny Ings and yet it is Arsenal that are a million miles away.

Now, that is just Ray Parlour but anyone that watches and reads as much about Arsenal as I do will have seen the huge negativity still pouring out of the so-called experts in the game.

I watch various programmes on Sky Sports and BT Sports, some say Arsenal will finish top-four, some say they will not, but what they all do agree on is that the top three is a given. Since when has that become an established opinion?

How did Tottenham jump from finishing just one point ahead of Arsenal last season to being a cast-iron certainty for third spot?

I could go on, but I suspect most Arsenal fans will agree with me that is makes no difference if Arsenal beat Liverpool on Saturday in the eyes of those that are making a living slagging Arsenal off.

45 Comments

  1. This season Arsenal could reasonably get 4th. I want to say we could get 3rd but it would be my heart making that call and not my head. With regards to the title. The team is young and inexperienced playing together. If we get the right reinforcements again next summer then we can start talking about challenging, but we are on the right path in my opinion

  2. Left to you no one will be allowed to say anything negative about Arsenal! Instead of blaming pundits why don’t we concentrate on returning to the CL and winning the league? Looks like you are testing out your defence theory to be used after we lose to Liverpool! Are you?

      1. Its liverpool not Barcelona of Xavi inesta even then we did beat them at home lol!. Liverpool were lucky with injuries we will see what they do this year. Only team that is certain for title is man city after that it’s open for everyone. So Arsenal can finish as high as second. We have invested n have a good squad with UE having one season under his belt. We wont challenge for title but I belief we can finish as high as 2nd ….definitely above spurs.

  3. If we were to beat them on Saturday.. I’d be too busy on cloud 9 to even notice what crap any of them come out with!

  4. I’m more optimistic this season than for the past 10 years but have to agree with the Romford Pele on our chances of winning the league.

  5. It’s funny how some people get so sensitive and emotional just because of being told the truth.

    We have been a joke for more than a decade and have not come close to competing for serious trophies since 2007.

    We all say the same on here but the moment another person from outside our little tribe says exactly what the majority of us think we then cry.

    1. Agree.
      At the start of every season for the last 6-7 years, we have been complaining about pundits and experts writing us off. Firstly as title contenders and lately as top 4. But the truth is, they have mostly been right.
      But that doesn’t mean, we can’t surprise quite a few this year. I think there is a chance.

    2. That’s not truth that’s opinion of a person, same pundits when given the chance to coach failed miserably…most of them were not even great player for gods sake. We finished in top four for so long it became the usual stuff yet every season they were placing bets on us to fall out of top 4…eventually that will happen bec everything that rises is due to fall as well. What did liverpool do in last 7 season to be constantly louded as title contender apart from last year…then even Leicester did win it once as well. So if liverpool ran city close for one year does not make them title contender every year but for most of the pundits they have been for last 7 years…person who follows the crowd n believe they are right is the dumbest person.

    3. I don’t disagree. We need to build back our reputation. I’m not really too concerned what pundits think, but the sentiments are not out of nowhere. If Arsenal become consistent winners again, then things will change. But as of now, we havent gotten close to the league in ages, and our European performances consisted of making it out of group stage, then getting bashed by Bayern/Barca/essentially any team. People forget how painful that 9 year trophy drought was and how damaging it was to us as a club.

  6. Pundits are all criticising Man-U and Chelsea atm and for the first time in a decade they believe we are going the right direction that is if we get our defence in order and get a decent score against Liverpool, a draw is a fantastic result for us and hope to beat the spuds home then we will have respect

  7. Arsenal vs Liverpool players match to match.

    Aubameyang – Mane
    Lacazette – Firmino
    Pepe – Salah

    Ceballos – Wijnaldium
    Torreira – Fabinho
    Guendouzi – Henderson

    Monreal – Robertson
    Luiz – Van Dijk
    Sokratis – Matip
    N. Miles – A. Arnold

    Leno – Adrián

    Toe to toe we can match them well. Only downside for us is our midfield is younger than theirs but have energy to suit them

    1. Our midfield is stronger then their midfield. We have more technically gifted players. Our strike force can match their strike force toe to toe as well now. Only thing they are ahead of us in is defence. With Tierney, Hector n holding coming back from injury later I am confident we can match them in this department as well..specially with Luiz in there with the young defence.

      1. I don’t think having technically gifted players make us better though. As a unit Liverpool’s midfield are the best at pressing, best at giving the ball the their attackers and launching counters. Our midfield I wouldn’t say excels at anything and is still finding its identity.

    2. Hmmnnn !

      Until Bellerin, Tierney, Holding etc come good into the squad, we are still inferior to them man-to-man.

      With these presentation that you dished out, Liverpool still have edge, even without factoring in the home fans advantage.

  8. Too much negativity under the rude of being “practical & keeping it real”. Let’s keep it real and acknowledge that we have an awesome front three and it may not happen that all three of them will misfire. All Emery has to do it is put out a string team and go into attack from the start. I know people will come at me for this, but all we have to do is check the team that was on the pitch in Emirates last year for the one-all draw and compare it to the team that played in the 1-5 defeat. Let’s keep it real and discuss based on facts, and not give in to confirmation biases.
    With all the buys this summer, aiming for Top4 is being defeatist, so we must look at Top2. Liverpool was shown up by Chelsea and Southampton, and therein lies the clue. Let’s keep it real.
    Most of us fans make s big deal about scurrying around and going in to tackles, instead of looking for the creative talent that can provide the goal getting assist.

      1. Viju, virtually everyone does typos at times. No one much seems to mind. So why worry! No need to ask for excusing them, since they don’t matter a bit.

    1. I completely agree with you bro, apart from city I think we have a good shout this season. We are in strong position to finish in top 3…n if get lucky with injuries then I am confident we can finish in number 2 spot.

    2. I am falling under the Pracitcal and keeping it real, but I dont necessarily see a loss as being negative. Rebuilding Arsenal isn’t something that is going to be achieved short term. If we don’t beat LFC I dont think we should really be negative when we have a whole season ahead and an overall exciting team as you said. I think we will hit our peak later into the season and have a huge shot at top 4, and whether we win/lose/draw the next match will not be a determinant.

  9. I’m gonna try and keep it real like some have suggested. We do have some awesome front runners, some of the most clinical players in the whole of Europe, dangerous doesn’t even begin to describe them. We have some midfielders who can scrap, and some who can play a ball, and now a playmaker who does it all. Defence, I think we’ve improved in this area, I think most will agree.

    So let us just try and be as deadly as we can be, and if we narrowly miss out well at-least we can do a Liv and mention some missing players in run up to the game, also inferring that some players might not make the lineup with 50/50 sort of bs.

  10. Why am I being moderated Admin. The comment doesn’t go straight through, I end up at Article at top when it refreshes, is this happening for anyone else – or does anyone know if this could be malware or something on my computer hijacking everything I write..

  11. Beating Liverpool would definitely galvanise our team into a formidable force. It would give the boys the incentive to stand up to any other EPL team. It would give Arsenal a strong psychology boost. From that time on the boys would use it as a reference point in their subsequent games. It would not be an exaggeration to say it would be the turning point for Arsenal.

  12. There was a season I though Leicester would loose and they kept winning no reason Arsenal can just keep grinding out results and be challenging.

    Even if we loose on Saturday it’s still a long way to go so won’t start throwing my toys out the pram

  13. Let’s have this discussion in January, pleeeaase! Who the hell cares what other people say about OUR team. We will be the ones that laugh last. Btw, keep the recording of what Ray Parlour said, and play it back to him at the end of the season.

  14. I DO think we are a long way behind top two and have zero chance of getting into top two this season. BUT though I also think Spuds are better than us, that gap is very small and we have a chance, not a great one but still a chance of top three. I actually THINK we will be fifth though, ahead of Chelsea. The bookies have us slight odds on to make top four. I would say we are slight outsiders for top four, about a 40%/60% chance in fact, with United our likely main opponents for fourth.

    1. I think your right Jon, Spurs team is sightless ahead of us but I have seen stranger things, I really thought when we went ahead after Christmas that we had it and Leicester just kept winning. I reckon the top two are the next level up but I don’t think we will be as far away as people think.

  15. We’re certainly good enough for top 4 we have a superior strike force to utd and Chelsea and we have more than enough to beat Liverpool.. yes they’re good but not unbeatable, Norwich carved them open quite easily and could have scored at least 3 if they were more clinical.

  16. Hmmnnn !

    @S.J

    Until Bellerin, Tierney, Holding etc come good into the squad, we are still inferior to them man-to-man.

    With these presentation that you dished out, Liverpool still have edge, even without factoring in the home fans advantage.

  17. That we are a million miles away is certainly not true. With our new signings, we are certainly better than we used to be. Klopp and his team are certainly aware of this

  18. I think it is clear Liverpool have a better defence than we do, but everywhere else we can match them. My big worry is Xhaka giving a penaty away or getting sent off. The same goes for Socratis. If we play Auba, Laca, and Pepa, the three ALPs…who knows what will happen? Maybe magic. Abracadabra doubledicabra may a bowl of confusion fall on the Liverpool players heads. There you are…..taken care of.

  19. There`s an old film saying…………. “on any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team”……………………trouble is it`s being played on a Saturday, so we`re doomed !………………..although another old saying says ………..we have a sporting chance ! 😎

  20. Soccer is soccer it’s not a film that you know the film start
    Yes Liverpool fc are on their running form but just know Arsenal
    Has talented and new energy so don’t underrate them ,they can crash so called Liverpool 5:0

  21. I have been an arsenal fan since late 96/97, has it always been like that or has it to do since ARSENE WENGER took charge of the club we all remember ARSÈNE WHO? or am I being paranoid! could someone tell us please??

  22. People are giving Liverpool too much credits, their mistake could be not buying,asked Chelsea,man utd even man city bought even if it’s 1/2 players,kllop sàid it was very difficult to improve his team still man city did it,si who is right, city have more more depth and quality meaning more competitions unlike pool players could find themselves in some sort of comfort zone unless he shows us how great a manager he is!;

  23. It really doesn’t matter what crap talk pundits ex players or the media think cos they r just full of jealous people who in their day had it rough from ArsenalFC…How can spurs who only finished 4th by 1 point be nailed on to finish 3rd this season

  24. Many so-called Arsenal fans are too used to seeing us in less-than-complimentary light that they can never see the truth in this article.

    Thankfully, this makes little difference to reality. We are making real progress and these are too besotted with the likes of Liverpool and Man City that they can’t (or wont) notice. That’s okay.

    The result on Saturday is just one match among a whole lot that remains to decide the season. Win or lose, you can’t judge us based on the result of that one match. Continuous improvement is the key.

    We can beat Liverpool on Saturday. Yes we can. Let that sink in. But it is the fact that we can keep that up that will matter in the long run. If Southampton could give them a run for their money, so can we. Except, of course, if you think we are a little behind Southampton in terms of quality and drive.

    I think the full strength and capability of this team is yet
    to be seen. We have a lot of room to unfold into. Our injured players are yet to be back. So let’s keep our fingers crossed.

    Saturday is a good test, no more.

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