This weekend was crucial in the Premier League title battle. Looking at the league table at the end of Match Day 6 action, Manchester City and Liverpool have carved themselves out as clubs that we, the Gunners, would have to beat to win the league title.
Manchester City proved they are the real deal this weekend, as they maintained their perfect start to the season with a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest, despite playing the second half of that game with 10 men after Rodri was sent off at the start of the second half.
After beating West Ham 3-1 to make it 5 straight league wins, Liverpool hasn’t dropped a point since dropping two in their season opener 1-1 draw against Chelsea. You can’t look at the Reds’ current form and claim they’re relying on luck. They’re back to their best
On our part, we hoped to win the North London derby but fell short, drawing 2-2. Nevertheless, in our upcoming Premier League games, we should strive to go on a long winning streak, possibly capitalising on Manchester City and Liverpool dropping points.
As Paul Merson recently stated on Sky Sports, it is now clear who we have to beat to win the Premier League title when he says that, aside from us, Liverpool can also beat Man City to win the league title, but he notes the Reds have flaws that could be exposed when they visit the Etihad and come to play us at the Emirates.
Merson said, “Liverpool and Arsenal are the only contenders for Manchester City this season. Liverpool were poor against Wolves first half, really poor. But they came out in the second half and blew Wolves away. The problem is, you can’t be doing that against the better teams.
“You don’t want to be going to the Emirates or the Etihad and playing like that; the game would be all over in the first half. You’ve just got to stick with Man City for as long as you can. Every game that goes by, you have to make sure you’re three points away from them, tops.”
We need to redeem ourselves after a sad end to last season by giving our utmost to win the league this season. We now know who we must defeat in the title race.
Now the question is whether we will be strong enough to defeat them when we meet or whether we will rely on us being superior and the results going our way. We can’t rely on luck. Defeating Liverpool and Manchester City in the league this season when we play them is something we have to do.
There’s no other way.
Darren N
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This is a very accurate take.
I think Arteta should allow Elneny play in the league cup game to gain some fitness.
I’m looking at the possibility of getting him match fit enough to feature in a double pivot midfield along side Rice(hopefully) when we play City.
The single pivot approach (without a Xhaka figure) is becoming ineffective. Our midfield looks weak and in disarray against a well oiled and organized opponent plus it exposes the sole pivot players (Partey,Rice) to alot of pressure, hence imo the constant injuries.
I still feel an Elneny won’t have cost us the Spur’s second goal.
Arteta needs to think fast and make the right changes.
Arteta also needs to start trusting the likes of ESR more we can’t just keep relying on players with obvious inadequacies.
Agree on ESR, gotta be given adequate game time not necessarily as a starter but as a 20-30 minutes sub to give us a different dimension along with Nelson.
City are set to be without Rodri against us next week which means they’d be left with Phillips. i expect them to drop points against us cos our injured players like Martinelli,Trossard and even Partey are expected to return by the time they come visiting. plus the club world cup commitment to get them distracted and jaded hence points dropped which we will capitalize on. Liverpool looks set to be our tittle rival……..Bring it on Scouse!!
Title? Have we been watching the same Arsenal this season? Name one impressive EPL match we’ve played so far. They’ve all been average at best. Please nobody say we are going to magically peak later in the season like Pep’s City. Arteta is and never will be Pep. He screwed up in the transfer market big time and we’ll likely get 3rd/4th. Respectable positions, but a massive step back from where we could’ve been going. When chasing a monster like City you can’t mess up. Especially not before the season even started.
Personally I have a more realistic goal. City won the league while in the champions league last season (which they also won), and we’ve just got back into it. The fact is they are still stronger than us.
So I think that remaining in the champions league is the first hurdle.
Obviously I think that we ‘could’ win the league, but I will definitely be happy with getting back in the champions league