Michael Owen has tipped Liverpool to get back into the Premier League title race despite their recent poor run of form.
Arsenal has become the leaders of the league standings after winning their opening five league games of the campaign.
They failed to win a sixth consecutive game after Manchester United beat them in their last league fixture.
But they are now considered one of the teams that can win the title, considering their form in the league and the performance of their top players.
Manchester City closely follows them on the league table and it seems they will compete with the champions for the title.
Liverpool has struggled this term, but they have been the only club challenging City for the title in recent times.
Owen knows they are in terrible shape, but he warns about writing them off so soon.
He said, as quoted by The Daily Mail:
‘They have had an average start.
‘In the league you don’t want to be giving Manchester City a head start, but it’s nothing they cannot recover from.
‘You don’t turn into a bad team overnight. They will be back, but need to do it before teams get away from them.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
We are now genuine title challengers and we must know who our fellow competitors are.
We are now in the same class as City and Liverpool, but it is a serious task to maintain our upward trajectory as things stand.
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Do not get carried way guys. We could not even managed to get a draw against united . United was our first real test and we failed .
This team is good enogh for top 4 but not title at least this season.
I am not buying this idea of challenging .
I need this team to make top 4 and I will be over the moon.
We all used to laugh at Wengers top 4 trophy….now we’re begging for it
Having
Arsenal
Chelsie
Tottenham
Man city
Man United
Liverpool and propably Newcastle will make top four look hard so.we have seven teams fighting for top 4 and of all those teams first eleven If am not wrong Arsenal and Newcastle seems to have a weaker midfield which on one way or another will be the daciding factor in every team.
@Aussie gooner. The league was not this competitive then. Manure and Chelsea were the only real challenger then. City was just coming up and Liverpool and Spurs were not this good. Have you ever wondered why it’s called Top Six now
I don’t know if some people use this Wenger Top 4 thing out of shallow mindedness, gullibility, personal incredulity or what. It’s been addressed season after season but still you have people that keep using it.
Just a synopsis:
“The Top 4 had become a trophy to wenger. Since 2004 and the 2007/08 season we had never challenged for the title. For about 12 years we were just a Top 4 trophy club. Absolutely no care in the world about challenging for the Title / CL. In wengers last 2 season we even dropped out of the Top 4 trophy competition, we finished 5th and 6th consecutively.
With Arteta stability was the main focus, stabilise the club from the downward mess that Wenger and Emery had left us in. Clear out the dead weights. Rebuild step by step.”
Imagine Arteta being afforded 12 years to just about hang in the Top 4 trophy competition. I would not be happy with that whatsoever. That’s why most of us expect a comfortable Top 4 finish from Arteta this season and may be a cup. Then next season we want a title challenge.
If Arteta fails to reach these targets starting with a comfortable Top 4 finish this season then he will be dealt with by most of us.
Wenger was just stuck on 4th place is like a trophy for more than 10 years. That’s not good enough.
People might not like these FACTS about the other side to wengers reign here but they also have to be talked about. Can’t just be deluding ourselves about the whole wenger tenure.
Downward mess accelerated from 6th to 8th under MA. What do you want to prove? How is your Math?
@Kenny
It had to escalate to a certian point while a new manager tries to come in and clear out all that dead weight, isn’t it?
Moving from 6th to 8th with a team that was headed that way anyway was not that surprising. The majority of those players had dropped us from Top 4, to 5th to finally 6th. The trajectory was obvious and something had to be done. Bring in a new management, stabilise the rot, get rid of 90% of those players slowly by slowly while rebuilding for a new team. Isn’t it?
Simple logic to be honest. Don’t you think so? 🙏
👍
1. Goonster: “the downward mess that Wenger and Emery had left us in.”
Only last 2 years of Arsene Wenger are out of top 4 but his last season was chosen because it is his worst year of his time in Arsenal
SEASON RANK POINTS
2017-2018 6th 63 points
2018-2019 5th 70 points
2019-2020 8th 56 points
2020-2021 8th 61 points
Note: These data are taken from ESPN Soccernet.
Clearly, there is no downward mess as mentioned by Goonster. The 2 years that MA managed are 56 points and 61 points, which are considered “downward mess” compared to Arsene and Unai Emery. MA fans will argue that 2019-2020 have 3 managers. As I analysed carefully by win rate, loss rate and draw rate, MA performed better in 2019-2020 than 2020-2021. Clearly there is “downward mess” from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021.
1.1 Let examine 2020-2021.
1.1.1 Emery
WWLDDWDWLDDLD
Played-13 Wins-4 Draws-6 Loses-3
Win rate (WR)=30.8% Loss rate (LR)=23.1% Draw rate (DR)=46.1%
On 29 November 2019, following a series of poor results and a winless run of seven games, Emery was sacked by Arsenal. His final game in charge was a 2–1 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League. He was replaced on an interim basis by Freddie Ljungberg and later on a permanent basis by Mikel Arteta.
1.1.2 Freddie Ljungberg
DLWL
WR=25% LR=50% DR=25%
On 20 December 2019, Arteta was appointed head coach at former club Arsenal, signing a deal until 2023.
1.1.3 Mikel Arteta
DDLWDDDDWWWWWLWWDLWWW
Played=21 Wins=11 Losses=3 Draws=7
WR=52.4% LR=14.3% DR=33.3%
1.1.4 Mikel Arteta whole season in 2020-2021
Played=38 Win-18 Draw-7 Losses-13
WR=47.4% LR=34.2% DR=18.4%
Clearly, MA performed better in 2019-2020 than 2020-2021. Arsene’s worst year is better than MA’s worst year. Arsene has WR=50% LR=34.2% DR=15.7%
1.2 CONCLUSION
With data and statistics, the “downward mess” DOESN’T EXIST. So Goonster is wrong in his statement.
—————————————————————————————–
2. Goonster: “It had to escalate to a certian point while a new manager tries to come in and clear out all that dead weight, isn’t it?”
Let examine the first 11 based on most starts in the season.
NOTE: The data are taken from ESPN Soccernet. As ESPN Soccernet doesn’t have 2020-2021 data, I used Wiki data.
2.1.1 Arsene Wenger 2017-2018 season
NAME STARTS
Granit Xhaka 37
Petr Cech 34
Hector Bellerin 34
Alexandre Lacazette 28
Nacho Monreal 26
Sead Kolasinac 25
Shkodran Mustafi 25
Laurent Koscielny 25
Mesut Ozil 24
Alex Iwobi 22
Aaron Ramsey 21
Henrikh Mikhitaryan 20
Danny Welbeck 12
Jack Wilshere 12
Mohamed Elneny 12
Aubameyang 12 (joined in Jan 2018)
2.1.2 Unai Emery 2018-2019 season
Bernd Leno 31
Shkodran Mustafi 31
Aubameyang 30
Granit Xhaka 29
Alexandre Lacazette 27
Sokratis Papastathopoulos 25
Lucas Torreira 24
Matteo Guendouzi 23
Alex Iwobi 22
Sead Kolasinac 22
Nacho Monreal 21
Mesut Ozil 20
Henrikh Mkhitaryan 19
Hector Bellerin 18
Aaron Ramsey 14
6 players from Arsene 2017-2018 team are still in the first 11 of Emery’s team.
NOTE: Aubameyang is not counted as he joined in January 2018, not the whole season in 2017-2018, hence his starts are lesser compare to those players who play whole season. The same logic apply from 2.1.2 to 2.1.5.
2.1.3 Three managers in 2019-2020 season
Aubameyang 35
David Luiz 32
Bernd Leno 30
Granit Xhaka 30
Nicolas Pepe 22
Alexandre Lacazette 22
Bukayo Saka 19
Sead Kolasinac 19
Matteo Guendouzi 19
Sokratis Papastathopoulos 19
Dani Ceballos 18
Mesut Ozil 18 (seldom use in the 2nd half season, Dani Ceballos was used instead)
Lucas Torreira 17
Ainsley Maitland-Niles 15
Hector Bellerin 14
Shkodran Mustafi 13
Only 3 players from Arsene 2017-2018 are still in the first 11.
2..1.4 Mikel Arteta 2020-2021 season
Bernd Leno 35
Bukayo Saka 30
Granit Xhaka 29
Rob Holding 28
Kieran Tierny 26
Aubameyang 26
Hector Bellerin 24
Alexandre Lacazette 22
Gabriel Magalhaes 22
Emile Smith Rowe 18
Thomas Partey 18
Dani Ceballlos 17
David Luiz 17
Mohamed Elneny 17
Nicholas Pepe 16
Willian 16
Only 2 players from Arsene 2017-2018 are in the first 11. Rob Holding is not counted as he is not amongst the substitutes in Arsene’s 2017-2018 season.
2.1.5 Mikel Arteta 2021-2022 season
Bukayo Saka 36
Gabriel 35
Aaron Ramsdale 34
Martin Odegaard 32
Ben White 32
Granit Xhaka 27
Thomas Partey 23
Kieran Tierney 22
Gabriel Martinelli 21
Emile Smith Rowe 21
Alexandre Lacazette 20
Takehiro Tomiyasa 20
Cedric Soares 16
Aubameyang 12 (On 1 February 2022, Arsenal announced Aubameyang’s departure from the club by mutual consent)
Albert Sambi Lokonga 12
Rob Holding 9
Mohamed Elneny 8
Edward Nketiah 8
The 2 players from Arsene 2017-2018 are still in the first 11.
2.2 CONCLUSION
Goonster: “It had to escalate to a certian point while a new manager tries to come in and clear out all that dead weight, isn’t it?”
What Goonster said again another wrong statement if we compare the first 11 in different periods.
2.2.1 In section 1, data and facts prove that there is no “downward mess” from the 2 previous managers but there is “downward mess” in MA 2020-2021 season, Hence, there is no dead weights.
THE WORST POSITION IN 25 YEARS.
2.2.2 Emery can still use 6 players from Arsene’s last season and achieve 5th position with 70 points. This is the manager’s skill but MA doesn’t equip with this skill.
2.2.3 In 2019-2020, Emery only use 3 players from Arsene’s first 11. It is Emery who have started to use his own players and depend less on Arsene’s players.
2.2.4 MA used the same players to win the FA Cup and Community Shield. SO THE FEW PLAYERS ARE GOOD and NOT DEAD WEIGHTS.
*real challengers
This Arsenal Title talk nonsense is mostly being mentioned by these pundits. Most / vast majority of Arsenal reasonable fans have been and keep saying a solid Top 4 finish with a Cup or something.
This title talk I hardly ever hear from our fans.
Yes, it is true we should not be carried away by the euphoria of Arsenal performance and present status but that doesn’t stop us from going for the title. If we now end up in top 4 at the end of the season bless God.
Despite Man U beaten Arsenal, arsenal are still the favorite for this 2022 2023 EPL champions
lol
A bit too far to claim we are in the same class as City, wake up.
We win 5 of 6 games and now some let their hopes and dreams replace reality.
We are a solid contender for the top 4, and that should be the goal; anything better is just gravy.
Naïve maybe, so early into the season, but I do believe that this season is more open. We don’t know if Potter can reinvigorate Chelsea or if the other challengers to ManC can still hold on to their finishing position s from last year. Liverpool are not convincing at present but that does not mean That Klopp can’t find a way.
Whether you are 💯 convinced by Arteta or not, there is stability at the top now
Arsenal are not the first champions in the making to lose at Old Trafford so all hope shouldn’t be lost. We are on top meaning we are still in the running so no need to be pessimistic about it
There is fixture congestion this season and the world cup midseason….I think anything can happen, this season will be exciting