Of course it will not be nice for Arsenal fans to finish behind our north London rivals Tottenham this season. It would have been a whole lot worse, however, if the spuds had managed to keep their momentum going and pip Leicester City to the title so we are all mightily relieved to see the Foxes of Claudio Ranieri hang on and finish off their fairytale season.
As long as Arsenal now finish the season in the top four, which seems almost certain as we have Aston Villa at home on the final day, the repercussions of us surrendering the long held dominance of north London will be nothing more than bruised pride, because the way the Champions League pots are arranged for the draw now only give precedence to the Champions of each country, and Arsene Wenger´s comments reported by Sky Sports this week are intended to make sure that this pride should be taken with a large pinch of salt.
Even if Spurs finish second and we have to get through a play off, the Gunners will have a better UEFA coefficient and will be in a higher pot, because it is Arsenal that has the consistent record of qualifying for the elite European club competition and Tottenham that has almost always had to suffer the disappointment of missing out.
While reminding our rivals of this little fact the Frenchman also decided to pile on the pressure ahead of their game against Southampton tomorrow by reminding them that, although the chances are that they will finish above us for the first time since Wenger took over the job of Arsenal boss, they could still muck it up as they have in the past.
Wenger said, “It is still an important game, even if Leicester are champions and we are second best.
“It is still a very important game because part of the responsibility of being a professional is to prepare the future, and the future of Arsenal Football Club depends on this game.
“Our target now is to secure a position in the Champions League next year and, if possible, to get in second place or at least secure third place. On Sunday, we can achieve that.
“Tottenham had a very good season. They didn’t manage to finish very strongly recently but overall, they had a very good season and they have a strong team.
“But our target is still, if possible, to get in front of them.
“If they do that, you can at least say it is a one-off because in 20 years, it has happened once.
“But at the moment, it is not done.”
Nice one Arsene. And after the way the pressure got to the Spurs players in their last game and they lost their heads against Chelsea, a little bit of extra pressure is just what they need don´t you think Gooners?
Nice one Arsene?? Admin really??? this is we’ll take pride in? Finishing above spurs every season?
“It is still an important game, even if Leicester are champions and we are second best.”
Pffffft!! Second best my ass..
As somebody said…”if you are second, you are only the first in a long line of losers”.
Are you quoting Ricky Bobby?: “If you’re not first, you’re last!”
We can only hope, they bottle their remaining fixtures and we beat man City tomorrow which will be crucial! So all I can say is Fingers crossed and let’s hope for the best! Coyg!
Spurs will be desperate to
finish in front of Arsenal
and Wengers comments
will only motivate them more.
I just read the comments
on the “Blue Moon”
a Man City fan site.
On there they are totally
slagging off Pellegrini and the team.
They reckon the manager has lost the plot
he can’t motivate the team and has run out of ideas!!!
Sounds like someone else 🙂
The squad is tired clueless and needs an overhaul.
Heard that some where else. 🙂
They are all saying Arsenal will win and one guy
said he hopes its only 0-2 not their usual 0-4 capitulation!!!
No doubt Chelsea and Man U fans will be the same.
Leicester City has taken away all the excuses
so the fans of the top teams are having a free it.
Thank you Leicester City 🙂
And we still have time to bottle it against City.
“Hope in the future” the mantra of wenger 🙂
Here the signs of mediocrity at it’s BEST, when our main AIM IS TO TOPPLED SPUDS. This is why WE ARE BOTTLERS BECAUSE BEING ABOVE SPUDS KEEPS SOME FANS HAPPY..THE REAL ONES WANTS TITLES AND AT LEAST SEMIS IN UCL. OMG how to get there? getting what it has been obviously missing for 12 years and counting. WC ST and WC DN and WC CB. yes, It is a repetition but IT IS TRUE. Until we do not achieve htis then we will never be EPL winners. Do not come with the excuse Leicester did not spend and WON it because then this is FARCICAL. we never spent big and did not want, the main difference was GUTS, MENTALITY TO ACHIEVE GOAL ( their’s was survival..after achieved then was to see where they would ended up and kept them going ) WE ARE ALWAYS HAPPY TO HAVE 4th trophy..LOSERS PHILOSOPHY. forget about spuds and focus to be WINNERS.
As the official bottling company for the EPL my smart money will be on Southampton doing Spuds over and thereby giving us a chance to overtake them but we will end up doing what we do best and bottle it against City
Average manager………. Why didn’t he taunt the EPL title instead…..or why didn’t he pile pressure on 1st place?……seeing as his ambitions are finishing 4th and above the spuds…i’m not surprised!
Wenger knows full well that if we were to play against the Spuds tomorrow. … they would tear us a new one! ?
The longer the wenger regime continues, the more it will start looking like a one off…. ish lol ?
Hey fellow TRUE, REALISTIC GOONERS..WHAT DO YOU REALLY THINK DEEP DOWN OUR TEAM NEEDS TO DO TO BRING US GLORY BACK? WHO DO YOU WANT IN AND OUT AND WHY? I KNOW WE KEEP ON GOING WITH THE SAME BUT THE PROBLEM IS BEING THE SAME. ANY IDEAS? LOVELY SUNNY SHINY DAY..REMEMBER ALL THOSE SHINY DAYS AT HIGHBURY AND GLORY GLORY ARSENAL.
Firstly:
Replace the manager along with all the coaches,fitness and physio staff.
Bring in – Koeman or Bilic.
Sell all the injury prone player’s, who constantly miss large parts of the season:
Jack Wheelchair, The Ox, Walcott and even Ramsey.
Also sell the aging and underperformers:
Mertesacker, Debuchy, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Cazorla, Giroud.
With the money made from the sales,
Go all out … whatever it costs and buy two striker’s:
Lewandowski and Aubameyang = £100 – £120 million.
Just with the sales of Wheelchair, Ox, Walcott and Ramsey that should easily cover the costs of those two striker’s and their wages.. there could even be enough change left over to bring in Lukaku as well ??
Having a front line of Aubameyang, Lewandowski and Lukaku. .. with Ozil playing behind them ? you could afford to sell Sanchez as well and bring in Grizzly-man to replace him…. With this attacking force, you won’t have to worry to much about our defence ???
Spot on. I have been singing Bilic all the while. West ham did not lose to any top team all thru the season. Bilic is the right man for the job. WENGER GOES A FISHING, HE IS HAPPY HE CAUGHT NOTHING.
Replacing the manager I’m down for… But you want lewandowski lukaku auba n Grizzly-man all in one window. Pass me da good stuff ???
Spurs have beaten S’ton at St.Marys this season, I don’t know why they can’t repeat it at White Fart Lane..
We are under enough pressure ourselves as we can drop down to fourth..so we really have to look at ourselves and be ashamed that this is all our season has come down to..
Even if Spurs lose/draw,are we gonna win???
However,I want what is best for my club and right now,what is best is that we should finish in the Top3, so I wish us best of club and hope we come back from the Etihad with all 3!coyg!
Best of luck**
Second or third it makes no difference. Take one game at a time, main emphasis away to manc is DO NOT LOSE.