Yesterday’s win over Watford was an immense result for Arsenal in the race for Top Four. Roy Hodgson seems to have improved Watford in attack and defence and they made Arsenal fight right up to the final whistle. I am sure if they carry on playing like that they have a very strong chance of staying up.
Yet again, our rivals results went our way with both West Ham and Man United dropping points again. It must be said that Liverpool were not as dominant as usual against West Ham, but they still managed a nervy 1-0 win, which allowed the Gunners to leapfrog the Hammers into Fourth Place. We are now three points ahead with a massive 3 games in hand.
So our (biggest?) rivals are now Man United, but Rangnick’s side were soundly beaten by their neighbours Man City, and the 4-1 scoreline could be very demoralising to the players and fans, but they are still in the running, albeit they are one point behind but Arsenal also have that 3 game cushion.
Tottenham are currently six points below us with the same amount of games played, but could creep cloeser if they beat Everton tonight. If Conte can get them playing consistently they could be our biggest rival for the Top Four.
But right now the Gunners are in a very commanding position and are in amazing form with just one defeat in our last 11 League games. If we carry on playing with the fight and resolve we showed yesterday, surely Arsenal will be back where we belong next season…
Onwards and Upwards
Sam P
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Mikel Arteta’s FULL press conference after Watford win –
4th position with 3games in hand, CL qualification is ours to lose no doubt now, but with the way the boys are playing & giving it their all… I think we’ll smile come season end.
I believe!👍
Don’t care what the other teams are doing, it’s a must we win against Leicester.
Good spirits since we’ll be home, after that we play Liverpool.
I can only wish we can come out of that game with the three points.
Liverpool and City for the rest of the dey will both be even more deadlier than they’ve been. Only flip side is, United still have to play them too.
It’s all good signs for us.
I can’t stop thinking about how we’d be playing if we had gotten Vlahovic to this team. Arteta is yet to bring in any forward of his own, his defense and midfield signings all look good. Can’t wait to see how the attack will be.
Getting UCL is a must, though like Saka said we have to stay humble and keep fighting for it each week.
I’ve never been so proud of our team and manager for a long couple of years just as I am now
Eddie – every next game is a “must win”. Next week is tricky because its 3 quick games vs winning teams. Even Liverpool is a “must win” before kick off, even though I don’t expect us to!
We just don’t want the wheels to come off next week – always possible as there’s no recovery time. I’m looking for two wins from three, and if so barring a major implosion, I can’t see us failing to get fourth, even with average form. But looking at Chelsea’s incredibly easy run in I don’t think we will catch them for third.
3 games in hand is Liverpool, Chelsea & Spurs. When we play Utd is the big game take 4th spot because if we lose the games above we will still be a point ahead in 4th when are played, IF we beat the so smaller teams in between these fixtures.
If we can manage to beat Spurs, just dont lose to one of Chelsea or Liverpool then Top4 is in our own hands with the other 10 reaming fixtures in between or after being must wins.
We don’t have a better chance and I think everyone at the club knows this. It’s step up or step aside at the club this season which I am really enjoying & it’s working for Mikel.
Positive signs especially considering we aren’t suppose to be here according to most of us and every pundit after the 1st 3games of the season. Well done to all at Arsenal making this possible this season 👏 👏
Have we ever had all the fans so optimistic in the last 10years with how we are improving, the young stars we have made or bought & possibly back into the Champions League after 5years of hell not being init?
Whatever happens I’m very proud of the club.
Guys if we win lei, that liv game will b crakin. Liv we b after manc for d League nd Ars for top 4, and mind u day will b playin a strong Ars than d once they’ve played this season at d Emirates. I’m having a feeling it will b like d one against manc but this time we come out on top
We shouldn’t have been the favourite for the fourth place, because we still haven’t played against Liverpool, Man United, Spuds, Chelsea and West Ham yet. What if we lose those five games?
And what if Lacazette gets injured? None of our CFs has his playmaking abilities
Even if we assign Smith-Rowe or Saka in the CF position, I don’t think they can win the 50/50 challenges as often as Lacazette did. Top six should be the most realistic expectation
I agree GAI, as is I’d say we are favourites but if we get 1-3 injuries depending on the player we may really struggle. e.g. If Saka and Partey get injured I think we are paper thin squad wise and would really battle.
Saka could be replaced by Pepe or Hutchinson, but I don’t think anybody can replace Partey
Partey won more duels (8), completed more take-ons (3) and won more aerial duels (3) than any other Arsenal player against Watford, while also completing the most passes on the pitch (69)
Gai once again you got a point there👌We need to be realistic with Top6 as most visible. But like I always say anything can happen. Injuriess, suspensions etc also can happen to our major opponent. But it is a sin for Pathey, Lacazette and Odegard to be injured now. With our thin team, top5 won’t make our season bad.
👍
What a negative bunch you lot really are! What if? What if? Crikey!
Hehehehe. Arsenal has a good coach and probably will be one of the best coaches in history. Young team but I expect a challenge for the league trophy next year. We will make top 4.
I expect Chelsea to take 3’rd and I think only Man U, Spurs and us are realistic for 4’th.
I certainly see us as favourites. They also have tough games to play.
Yes, we are a bit vulnerable in the squad, but what about Spurs, if Kan gets injured??
And Man Utd, they seem to have imploded at the weekend.
But much can happen.
I’m not worried about Man United, because they have a lot of internal problems. The old Cavani is injured and Ronaldo doesn’t have the energy to do high press
But Spuds have become much stronger after signing Kulusevski and Bentacur. If Kane gets injured, Kulusevski can replace him
GAI
We should not be afraid of our opponents. ManU, Spuds and West Ham are currently below us in the league so whilst not push overs have less points and don’t have games in hand. Spurs are on equal games though but 2 wins behind.
I’m not advocating sitting back and waiting for the points to come our way, but either we believe that we can take 4th or it suggests there is no merit in our league position and we’re there by default
SueP, maybe we can get the fourth place if Lacazette, Saka, Partey and Magalhaes stay fit
I expect Man United and West Ham to lose a lot of points. But Spurs have shown they’re capable of beating the top four teams, if Kane is in form
Spurs still have to play Liverpool (A), Us (H), United (A) and West Ham (H) with 3 less points, inferior GD and 1 less game.
Similarly United still have to play Liverpool (A), Chelsea (H), Us (A) and Spurs (H) with 1 less point, inferior GD and 3 less games.
Kind of an irrelevant point if we have 1 more of those tough games when we have the points and games in hand isn’t it?
We are the form team for the last 5, last 10, last 25 or last 50 games out of the teams challenging for that spot.
We have the most settled starting 11 currently, It’s the most consistent and it’s the youngest so scope for further improvement. The rivals all have players they would struggle without just like us and in many cases the reason they wouldn’t miss certain players is because all their players in certain positions are misfiring which is hardly a good thing.
Of course we’re favourites. We are 8/13 best price with the bookmakers equating our chance of doing it at 61.9% which I think is tad low based on the recent form factor but close enough. Think the weight of money factor on United is keeping us a little artificially high. Plenty of room for a slip up but we are firm, firm favourites now.
Thanks for the great info. I didn’t know about the remaining games of Man United and Spurs
Warm favourite not yet hot favourite. 72 points will get top 4. We need another 24 more points.
Home wins versus Leeds Brighton Leicester Everton Man U. = 15 points.
So we will need just 9 points from 8 games.
7 points from Palace Southampton Villa and Newcastle . Then we will only need 2 points from Liverpool Spurs Chelsea and Westham. Looks very possible on paper.
thats a god way to look at it… everyone saying our games in hand are against the top 3 but its our overall remaining fixtures that count
Fixture difficulty overall matters. The fact 3 of our games in hand are against decent opposition is irrelevant if the other teams also have to play similar teams but without the games in hand.
We still play Pool, United, Brighton at home. I am fairly confident of us winning at home against Leicester, Everton and Leeds.
Away we got tough trips to Spurs, Chelsea, W Ham, Southampton, Newcastle, Palace, Villa. It seems like Spurs, Chelsea games won’t be rescheduled until April or even May which is good news for us. We are and can build more momentum and gap between other rivals.
No easy games in the PL though. Have to fight for every minute. I am silently confident that West Ham and Wolves are out of the top 4 race, which only leaves us with Spurs and United.
Spurs have Everton, United, BHA x 2, Pool, West Ham, Villa, Arsenal.
United got Spurs, Pool, Everton, Arsenal, Brighton, Chelsea, Palace away. If I had to guess, I would say fixture fatigue and the current form would drop United out of the race.
But overall we all have each other and roughly the same oppositions to play. I think our next 4 games will be very decisive (home vs Leicester & Pool, away vs. Villa & Palace).
spurs are our biggest rivals for top 4. All the musings and stuff saying we need this many points from these games and that many points from other games is pure ‘finger in the air’ speculation. We should aim for 3 points from every game, starting with Leicester. This is not doom and gloom, it’s realism. By the way does anyone realistically think Watford have a strong chance of staying up? They have gone as far as I’m concerned.
👍👍
Agree, Dec. Every next game should be our cup final. But I really don’t get claims that our games in hand are Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs as they too all have still to play at least 2 of those themselves. In that case we should consider THEY have played two more as well. I simply can’t foresee the freefalling Spurs or Man U improving enough to put a run in to catch us.
Only major risk for me as mentioned above?
– Injuries
The away matches vs Westham palace and Villa may decide our season… Surpringly this are the three games am not very confident with…. Our out standings do not really matter, there all feel like bonus at the moment…
It wouldn’t matter even if we lose to Liverpool and Chelsea but avoid defeat at Spurs will still remain ahead
It’s ok….All the teams above will also drop points….Arsenal will make top 4
Thanks buddy.!
Arsenal now is in 4th aiming for 3rd. Theirs no coming down the table again its either WIN Or DRAW.
Coyg!
Next 5 games will test us.
Not so much rest in-between games now.
And if our defence play like they did against Watford, we are in big trouble.
I pray for Tomi to be back cos I don’t trust Soares playing against Pool and Villa
Yesterday I saw our CB GM losing all his deep passes as usual that’s why am looking forward to the arrival of Saliba
We need to get rid of Laca collecting 180k per wk and get a proper striker
An interesting, albeit very brief, rallying cry from SAM P, in his piece. Many posts all saying much the same thing, broadly speaking, and predicting our coming games for this or that game etc.
Fine and thats what we would all expect from a fan site .
But I wish to look a little deeper into the right decision our club , made two and a bit years ago when they took a big risk and handed the job of manager to a “rookie”, though one who had already shown at City that he had naturtal authority and great respect for him, and that by real top players too; a point completely escaping the notice of the “fourth place this season or else” brigade.
There WAS a time whren the majority of “not having MA at any price” brigade and the “lets wait and see but we have doubts” brigade( where I sat back then)looked like making his position untenable, when results were not then going for us.
But increasingly over the last year or so, esp since the excellent bought n players last summer, when Kroenke FINALLY decided to back us properly for once, AND the increasingly exciting development of ouryounger players already here , those not having him and the doubters have changed tack, with a fewdeterminally blinkered regular exceptions on JA.
But I have noticed how even a number of those wilfully blinkered fans are slowly and subtly starting to back off in the negativity and are preparing thmeselves to be forced to see the light sweeping in from the darkness.
That same light that many of us saw way before the few laggards whoSTILL troll MA and who still deny the obvious improvement. Or who put it ALL and ONLY down to Kroenke spending last summer, but who will not give ANY credit to MA.
Such is life, as human beings have always been, in all walks of life , divided into those who quickly perceive , those who perceive but later on, and finally those who will never perceive, no matter what happens.
Let perceptive ones rejoice that we DO SEE and thus retain a natural optimism that makes us content in life, instead of seeming to loathe the very club we claim to love.
Some people, though ULTIMATELY very few, will always stew in their own self induced misery. Life shows that in so many ways. Sigh!
Hi Jon
Whilst I agree many of your comments above, the piece is about where we can finish, not about Arteta himself, so why should comments be about him? There are a multitude of other articles where we discuss nothing else!
In one of those other articles I would be interested on hearing your current thoughts re the Kroenkes, as much water has flowed under the bridge since I last heard them, and to be honest I’m not sure whether my own opinion has mellowed or not!
guy, I do not understand how you fail to see that where we finish depends almost entirely on MA, which is WHY he is important and massively so. I believe that we are very likely to finish fourth but only because we now have MA, having learned the job after the many mistakes he has undoubtedly made in his first two years or so. I surely should not need to remind you , of all people, that a manager is always the single most important employee at all clubs.
On Kroenkes, my thoughts are as they were when they first bought in. I loathe them and all they stand for. I loathe that we have an owner who has no love and no passion for the club. I accept that Josh MAY BE a little different from DADDY, but they are both arch capitalists where making personal money is their prime objective.
I believe it is far better for our game at elite level that all clubs are owned by owners who love the club, not the status of owning and as a rich mans plaything. Kroenke is not for me, I stress. Nor anyone of his disgusting ilk.
What is your view though, as I SUSPECT THAT YOUR QUESTION WAS BASED ON A VAIN HOPE THAT I MIGHT LIKE THEM?
I suspect that NOW perhaps you do, but pray I am wrong.
No – still not a fan Jon – I yearn for more modern day Jack Walkers or Sir John Halls, but they are few and far between nowadays and honestly can’t invest the huge sums required in the EPL. Alternatively the German club model that ensures 51% of a club must be owned by supporters doesn’t seem to do Bayern any harm!
Josh may be better than his dad, although that doesn’t say much, or he may just be a smoother talker (again not difficult). All of the time their agenda matches the fans’ (as it does now) it’s all rosy. But come the day when it’s a choice between making money and the welfare of our club, the divide will resurface, and we will feel as powerless and ignored as we have throughout the past decade.
Leicester – Win
Liverpool – Lose
Aston Villa – Draw
Crystal P. – Win
Brighton – Win
Southampton – Win
Man. United – Draw
West Ham – Draw
Leeds – Win
Chelsea – Lose
Newcastle – Win
Everton – Win
Total points = 24
Present points = 48
All total points = 72 points.
My prediction for the rest of our games.
Can 72 points come the end of season take us to 4th position??
Let’s see how it goes. I am hoping for the best and expecting the worst too.
I don’t see us loosing to chelski or sharing points with manure.
Check your facts properly before you post wrong informations. Our last 11 games in the league we have lost to both man City and Everton