Arsenal were the only team in the top half of the Premier League table to lose at the weekend, meaning that we lost ground on all of the teams fighting for the title or for a place in the Champions League for next season. While that added to the misery of losing a local derby, it could have been a lot worse.
Because apart from the league leaders Chelsea and the gloating spuds, no other team in the top half won their games either. That is why Arsenal fans are not alone in having very real fears about whether we will finish in the top four.
Not only have Man City all but blown their chance of retaining their status as champions of England, their terrible run of form has left former Gunners Samir Nasri seriously concerned. As an ESPN report reveals, the French midfielder thinks that Man City could actually be in danger of dropping out of the UCL places unless they get cracking soon and tomorrow’s tough trip to Stoke, still without Yaya Toure and Wilfied Bony is hardly the easiest game to do it.
He said, “We have to wake up and do the job now before it’s too late. Chelsea, with no disrespect, are not Liverpool who can drop points. They are really solid.
“We have to catch them as soon as possible if we want to be champions. But at the same time we have to look behind us. Southampton have won, United are getting close.
“It will be tough at Stoke. It’s not ideal on a Wednesday night during the winter, but we have to win it.”
The same sort of concern is creeping up on the red half of Manchester as well, with Juan Mata explaining that their home game against Burnley tomorrow is now a must win after their draw with West Ham. And although the Spaniard did not say it in this ESPN report, their poor performances must be just as worrying as their result.
Mata said, “We play at home against Burnley and we must win this one because the race for the Champions League spots is now very close. We have to get the three points at home, we know that, and that’s what we are working for.”
So although Arsenal fans have every right to be unhappy today, there are a lot of clubs in and around us in the same boat. And if we do manage to beat Leicester tomorrow, our situation could look a lot rosier.
every team is taking it seriously…..and wenger still thinks we can finish top 4….
same shit every season and the fans juz love it…
yep we sure do,
were lovin’ it ba da ba ba baaaa.
Hey I’ll admit it – I’d rather be in the UCL than on the outside looking in. But no doubt, we should be looking for more than that
the top 40% of the EPL can compete for top spots, thats unlike any other EU league, its a new reality, and it makes for exciting football, would you rather be a bayern fan watching you spend your way miles above the comp every year… yawn… speaking of the bundesliga, where are all the fans that have been begging for Klopp, now that he dwells on the bottom of the Bundesliga table?
still quite alot of people asking for him fella.
youd be surprised.
hes not my first choice but id have him.
2 bundesliga titles in last 5 years beating best team in europe to it (fc bayern munchen)
consistent competing in champions league- one final and few semi’s
all this on a small budget- like we had
so i ask u this- whats better
4th place an 1 fa cup in – 10 years
or
2 league titles doing a double an few fa level trophies- an one very poor start – in five years
im not sayin wenger out but klopp is still a good manager
this experience will improve him
I agree with you muff – atm I would take Klopp as a replacement over Simeone or latest bandwagon favourite Koeman every time. A little unfair to compare his and Wenger’s recent achievements though; 2 league titles and CL finalists etc. Hasn’t Wenger been there and done that before? What Wenger certainly hasn’t done though is be in a relegation battle within 18 months of the successes.
i agree but your comparing 18 years to 6 years
wenger has been here 3 times as long as klopp at dortmund!
Wenger’s first 6 or 7 years are remarkably similar to Klopp’s achivements in a similar timeframe. But whilst we know what happened next to Wenger (rise of CFC and MCFC, budget constraints, best players leaving etc) and how he dealt with it (or didn’t depending on your point of view) my point is what can we expect from Klopp after his successes – the immediate signs are not great.
G-u-a-r-d-i-o-l-a please for me!
Perfect for AFC. Successful, doesn’t take shit, and knows the game.
why would he leave bayern for us?
u might aswell say ancelotti
you can do better than obvious names like that bro
Urh money, personal goals, to f@ck off Mourinho, because he likes the (old) Arsenal style of play and le oils like to live in London etc…
‘He would like’ to live in London
Different era. Wenger hasn’t proven he can win in the era of the sugar daddy clubs that we have now. Klopp has won the league twice, won domestic cups, and went to a CL final and semi…..all on small budget.
This year his team have tanked, but why isn’t he allowed all the excuses Wenger gets like injuries, players not performing responsibly? All those things have occurred to his Dortmund team, and arguably worse given their lack of depth. Gotze sold, Kagawwa sold, Lewy sold, Reus/Hummels/Subo injured long term. Sahin going from Bundesliga player of the year to his passing accuracy being below 70% compared to his usual 88-92%. Tell me all that’s Klopps fault and I’ll apply the same standard to Wenger and we can discuss if things are good.
His achievements almost exactly mirror Wenger’s first years – don’t see any meaningful difference in the impressiveness of both their feats. Don’t get me wrong, I love Klopp and not berating him in the slightest, but even with the problems he has – bottom of the league etc, that is some drop-off dude! Be interesting to see how Dortmund goes in the CL – seems like a different team but the last 2 months must have dented their confidence.
Different era! If you can’t comprehend that Idk what to tell you, in 5 years Barca have went from good to one of the greatest to decent – THAT is example alone of the ever evolving nature of football. Wenger hasn’t evolved since 2005 and, shock horror, we haven’t been competitive since.
In player terms Wenger is Samuel Eto’o, a once great striker who is still in the team despite being a shadow of his former self. Enough’s enough, we need a young player with greatness AHEAD of him like Reus (Klopp).
With Giroud upfront????. Can anyone let me know what was he doing on the spud game? The team was set to counter and the man he can’t even run one yard with the ball (remember his goal against Aston Villa almost squandered the beauty from Ozil, he was alone and failed to run the ball). I expected a fit Wellbeck to play instead and Walcolt on the right wing if the plan was to hit them on the break.
Um let’s see he came up to the half with his back towards goal, recieved the ball, flicked it to Welbeck, then turned beat his man to the top of the 18 and placed a really nice pass to Ozil.
That play is beside the point, game in and game out he wins balls with his head all the while getting elbows to the face and clipped from behind.
That is what he does.
Dayot Upamecano anyone?
no thanks ive already ate
We are the only team that gets the piss ripped out of us for seeing top 4 as an achievement. In truth it is more a media construct than what Arsenal fans actually believe. Because we do it every year it has unfortunately become so entwined in to our club fabric that even sections of our fans use it as a stick to beat other fans with – this “loser mentality” crap. Whilst I can live with this what I cannot stand is the pretence that all other teams other than Arsenal can take it or leave it – that they are not too fussed whether they make top 4 or not. Absolute colossal b**locks of the highest order.
Also laughed the other day when I thought of the fuss made about us “overreacting” when winning that non-event called the FA cup. You would have thought Chelsea would have been a bit cooler after coming through their semi-final league cup tie against Liverpool for an even more mickey mouse cup. Did you see the whooping and hollering, relief and elation?
Guys I have calm down and just re-watched the game right now…. OMG, I think we are blaming the wring player, RAMSEY was our best midfielder in the first half, he only gave the ball away once in the 44th minute when Giroud did not react to the pass..
I’ve change my mind and calm my emotions down now.. RAMSEY was the only player that kept the ball and hardly lost it in the first half, CAZORLA was the problem in this game, he gave the ball away or passed it straight to a spuds player.. His tackling was weak and looked disinterested..
Guys go back and re-watch the game again, Cazorla was absolutely poor..
Welbeck was like a second striker in the first half, he was always in the middle and had to run a long distance from striker position to RB position to help out Bellerin, and Welbeck was the worst player in possession too, in the first 26 minutes he gave the ball away 4 times, I counted, his first touch and lack of dribbling ability was the reason.
Ozil was not too far off, he did nothing at all apart from being in the right place at the right time for the goal, after that, he just disappeared, Walker was taking a pisss out of him, he just kept attacking and leaving him for dead, it was so easy for Walker on that Left..
Giroud was sluggish, lethargic and slow as hell, could not link up or keep the ball without throwing himself to the ground..Every ball was in slow motion to with him.
Bellerin for some reason was so tucked in and left so much space for eriksen and Rose while Welbeck was on his usual walk about in the oposition no10 position..
Cazorla was the worst player on the pitch and he made our midfield weak due to him being off his game..
RAMSEY was the best player who kept the ball well in the first half..
If you can just go and re-watch the match now that you have calm down, you will see what I am saying.
We were reactive rather than proactive.. It was a big problem…
That the biggest lie you will ever say.He only lost the ball once.
Would you rather say he only pass well once.
No hating on the lad but he has been poor lately and should be benched to help him refoccuss
Ramsey fan boy maybe? That you disslike Ozil with all you have is known to must of us.
Hats off to you dude, revisiting the scene of the crime so to speak. I go in to TV/media shutdown when we lose, delete MOTD, Sunday Supplement, PL Review, MNF etc etc from my Sky planner. Don’t watch SSN and I normally give this site 48 hours cool down period before I log on again and avoid speaking or meeting with my football buddies if I can. But apart from that losing doesn’t affect me.
We are still in the race, lets keep the faith we can do it even 3rd spot! Coyg!
Let Pool and Spuds draw tomorrow. We can reclaim 5th position. Southampton have 2 though games at home against Westham & Liverpool. They will lose at least 2 points.
Man City have Stoke away. The same Stoke that beat them at home.
ManU have winnable games. The one against Burnley is winnable, Swansey away is tougher.
We need to win our next 4 games.
Giroud Still has difficulty with top teams. I like Giroud and he has scored many goals for us but seems to still be bullied by teams in the top third of the table.
I expect Giroud to score against Leicester but I think it’s better not to play Giroud against top teams anymore. Even though Welbeck isn’t as good a finisher as Giroud, he is faster and may be more useful against top teams or play Sanchez up front against top teams.
Giroud is vital for us though
The game has changed in that having someone to put a head on a cross is just as important as a well slotted shot. Probably more so because keepers have a harder time picking up the ball from a players head. Look at Kane’s header this week and OG’s last week against City. OG must play until there is another threat from a cross. He is miles ahead of DW in those terms.
Jim with Giroud around against big teams it always seems that we play with 10 players. Good teams do not have pushovers of defenders. They keep Giroud quit with ease everytime.
Hey there KS I feel with Theo and Alexis on the sides his game will take off. No he is not beating anyone off the dribble but he is outstanding as as passer. The pass to Ozil this week is point.
I do agree with you every time that Ozil should be in the first 11.
Listen Wenger has done this before and he’ll get us into top 4 AGAIN!! My only issue with this team is the lack of rotation leading to some serious injuries. I know AW wants to give his players consistency but at the expense of serious injuries year after year? rotate them every game, sub after 50-60 mins plain and simple.
The thing about dortmund is that the club has lost his soul. The fondation is gone and the stars who are currently playing the game are eager to leave. Dortmund has not the financial power to pay players with good money.
Reus wants to leave and will leave. Gundogan wants out. Hummels wants out but wants to stay for a bit to help. Mkihtarian wants out. Subotic wants out. and and who knows how many others want to leave.
i knew that dortmund would fall the moment they failed to win the cl. I predicted a same fate to them like to us, but they got hit harder bec not like us, they do have less money.
Klopp is a fantastic manager who makes teams play champion matrial football and not mediocre standarts. I wonder if you people understand fotball at all? Wenger want be around forever, and you guys should remember what Klopps team has done to us and to the likes of Real not so long time ago.