February was not an easy month for Arsenal with a blip in our race for the title. We had a few shock results, and the first one was an away defeat at lowly Everton, which even the experts giving out the correct score tips at Midnite could never have visualised in their wildest dreams, considering the Gunners had not lost in any of their 13 previous League matches.
Thankfully we only have four EPL games in March which could be a big stepping stone on the way to the title.
The 1st of March sees us given a very quick chance to get our revenge over Everton, as they come down to the Emirates, and although Sean Dyche has made them harder to beat since his appointment, the fact is that the Toffees have either lost or drawn their last 7 away fixtures including a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa last weekend. I am sure the Gunners (and Arteta!) will be extremely keen to exact revenge on our managers old club.
Just 3 days later we are at home yet again, with Bournemouth being the visitors this time. The Cherries are finding it hard at the top level and are currently second bottom in the table, with just one win in their last 11 matches. Last week they had a shock win away from home at Wolves, but before that they had lost their last seven away games on the trot. This is one game that Arteta will surely be able to think about a few rotations as we have our big Europa League game away at Sporting Lisbon on the following Thursday.
With our next game just 3 days later with a dodgy London derby away at Fulham. The Cottagers may have only just come up from the Championship but are in a rich vein of form and haven’t lost any of their last six games, and are currently aiming for European football as they are sitting prettily in 6th place in the League. I am expecting this game to be our toughest fixture of the month, in the League anyway.
Hopefully we will have won our first three League games of the month by then, and of course we will have to have had a win or draw in Lisbon before they come to the Emirates. I am hoping that Arteta continues playing very strong teams in the Europa and is aiming to win that one as well and we make sure of making it to the next round when Sporting come to the Emirates on the 16th of March.
That game will be our 5th match in just 15 days, which is going to be tough for any side and will definitely require some of backup players to be trusted to step up.
Then just three days later we are at home again, in another London Derby with Patrick Vieira’s Crysteal Palace. They are very tough to beat as well with fice draws from their last six, so hopefully we will still be firing on all cylinders.
It is set to be a tiring month for the Gunners, but hopefully we can stay focused as we then have a chance to rest and recuperate with a two week break before we go again in April.
I’m hopeful we can stay at the top of the table, before our make-or-break month of April comes around.
Do you think all these games in March are winnable?
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All game we have on paper are winnable but the league in my opinion is the best the league in the world….open to debate.. because on any given day, any team can beat any other team
Pool last season went unbeaten from January. Draw 3 games a d still didn’t win it.
We will drop points and most probably against a team we feel we have the beating off.
We can only do our best And give 100% come the day. That is all we ask of our team as fans and do us proud.
Onwards a d upwards
I had a look at the fixtures for late Feb & March a while ago, and I thought the toughest ones looked like Villa & Leicester. Two battling performances and 6 excellent points from those games make me think that all the March games can be won. But of course you never know in this league. Partey coming back is awesome, although I think Jorg has done great, and Jesus getting fit would be a massive boost.
i said at the beginning of the season
25 wins 8 draws and 5 loses
= 83 points gets us top and CL
most i see us achieving is between 88 and 91 points with no defeats’ BUT where i see us dropping we might win and where i see us winning we could drop!
Arsenal 1 Mar, 19:45 Everton 3 points
Arsenal 4 Mar, 15:00 Bournemouth 3 points
Fulham 12 Mar, 14:00 Arsenal 3 points
Arsenal 19 Mar, 14:00 Crystal Palace 3 points
Arsenal 1 Apr, 15:00 Leeds United 3 points
Liverpool 9 Apr, 16:30 Arsenal 1 point
West Ham 16 Apr, 14:00 Arsenal 3 point
Arsenal 21 Apr, 20:00 Southampton 3 point
Man City 26 Apr, 20:00 Arsenal 1 point
Arsenal 29 Apr, 17:30 Chelsea 3 point
Newcastle 6 May, 15:00 Arsenal 1 point
Arsenal 13 May, 15:00 Brighton 3 point
Nottingham 20 May, 15:00 Arsenal 1 point
Arsenal 28 May, 16:30 Wolverhampton 3 point
total 34 points plus 57 points = 88 to 91 points
will that be enough?
We will need others to drop as well which and will happen has been one hell of a funny season.
onwards and upwards
With City being less consistent i think 85-87 could win it, max they can get is 94 pts and they AREN’T winning 13 in a row.
I see you have us dropping pts vs forest one of the ‘winnable fixtures’, probably add 1 or 2 more and a loss in one of the tough fixtures City or newcastle. Still enough to win the league.
So you don’t see us losing another game all season? There is optimism and there is also ridiculous red tinted glasses optimism!
Yea got to agree GB
What looks on paper an easy March atleast ,we saw what happened when we played Everton ,anything can happen between now and seasons end ,we could lose every game .
One game at a time .
alanball08
A nice rational way at arriving to those 88 – 91 points.
Barring no more injuries it’s an attainable tally to achieve, we are certainly to have atleast one more twist or turn and even then it could be in our favor..
To attain this feat our two recent addition Jorginho and Tossard is going to need to produce some of their best football yet in the league which from all indication is not beyond them.
@Gunsmoke
What is meant by being rational?
. A rational person is someone who is sensible and is able to make decisions based on intelligent thinking rather than on emotion.
No offence to AB but it was more of emotion
That came to that conclusion on his post .
DK
So disappointed in your reply.
Thought I had made a clear case on how I think we can achieve the points.
Will will lose a game
We could or we can drop points by drawing
Unlike some on here, unfortunately you included I don’t see it as a half glass empty
I stated my case on where I thought where we could finish at the start of the season and i am a lot closer to that prediction then your good self who wanted MA done and thrown out the door
Here’s to my emotions over coming your half glass full rational thoughts
Ps
No offence taken
Onwards and upwards
GB
very happy mine have always been red and white glasses unlike yous who maybe lilywhites 😃
Alan, You say 83 points “gets us top”.
That is plainly not going to happen and never would while CITY are as they are.
Did you really MEAN top, or AS I HOPE AND THINK, TOP FOUR?
Jon
At the start of the season I said 25 wins 8 draws 5 loses 83 points gets us a top 4 spot
That’s 3 more wins then last seasons
I see! Usually top four is achieved with well under 80 points let alone as many as 83. Spuds were fourth last season with, I think, only 72 or73.
Jon
My point total was to say we were going to be in a dog fight for 4th
4th is the last place we want to be fighting for but to end up 3rd , maybe 2nd o tat total but in the top 4
I should have explained better
Alan, thanks for the explanation, which shows how vital is correct use of English, in order to avoid basic misunderstandings.
Letters us go game by game. First, our rescheduled Epl home match against Everton this Wednesday nightl. After the Gunners must have fefeatd the Toffees in the match. Which they should do to claim all the 3 points at stake in it. And beat them and claim them unfailingly. Then, us will switch us focus to our next Bournemouth home match in the Epl next Saturday to start having discussion on the match.
Let us go game by game. First, our rescheduled Epl home match against Everton this Wednesday nightl. After the Gunners must have defeated the Toffees in the match. Which they should do to claim all the 3 points at stake in it. And beat them and claim them unfailingly. Then, us will switch us focus to our next Bournemouth home match in the Epl next Saturday to start having discussion on the match.
Yes… game by game please… mathematically,we have not qualified for champion league….go and defeat Everton for me please… . Arsenal is winning the league this season!
Jesus.
Trossard. Odegaard. Saka.
Partey. Jorginho.
Zinchenko. Gabriel. Saliba. White.
Ramsdale.
SJ WHAT DOES THIS TEAM MEAN?
Jesus will not be fit for a while yet, so what does it represent, as you dont actually say??
I’d say it represents that he has less faith in Xhaka and Eddie starting while Martinelli having a fight for his place, probably his top lineup if he could choose it
Good line-up against City especially because Jorginho seems to be good at moving the ball forward with better statistics than Partey in that one aspect.
We need to beat City at the Etihad
Nketiah.
Martinelli. Fabio. Nelson.
Smith-Rowe. Xhaka.
Tierney. Kiwior. Holding. Tomiyasu.
Turner.
That’s Europa I guess.
Though even this team can’t be feasible with the way trossard an Jorg are going
With 14 games to go and considering the fact that we have only lost 3 and drew 3 in 24 games. I don’t see us losing more than two games. We are likely to lose maybe 2 and get One draw and win the rest and finally ending up taking the league in my opinion
Not bad
All teams that are contenders in the league will lose points in the remaining 14 games and it’s up to who loses more points
We can consolidate over the next few games, in fact we MUST accumulate points before we face our April fixtures. I do think we have the squad to do it. We made two great January signings in Leo and Jorginho. Before April we will have Gabby Jesus back, and hopefully an in form ESR. If we beat Everton this week then a 5 point lead will spook Man City and Guardiola is already spouting Man City propaganda, because he is in truth not very sure and he is scared. With Gabby Jesus back we will have a ‘lift’ exactly when we need it. The hardest game we will have is Liverpool away. We can definitely get a draw against City. Fulham and West Ham away are tough but winnable. I am enamored by our January signings and expect to be right there at the end. Remember if City were to win the title by one point, they would be seen as EPL winners in name only, due to the VAR apology for illegitimately losing us 2 points against Brentford. In that case city will have the cabinet trophy but the whole seasons PL would become a mockery and we would be both the moral and ethical winners.
Brentford game is a spilt milk.
You don’t win trophies crying over the past and I hope Arteta stop talking about it even though he is trying to make a valid point .
The apology from the VAR is hard copy, not just emotion. It is a valid document that is not ‘spilt milk’. I still think we will win the PL as my post suggests. Hopefully it won’t end on ‘Mason-gate’ and corruption by negligence.
The FA have been completely unfair to us all the way. Given we are playing on Wednesday, we SHOULD be playing on Sunday, but the FA have made us play on Saturday. Everton have been given a Sunday slot, so we should be afforded the same courtesy.
Maybe in their officiation but not fixtures.
We saw United played Barca and then Newcastle so it happens ones in a while but then I think the boys are already aware and what a time for players to return from injury.
All Arteta needs now is good game and man management.
Its the broadcasts .They control fixtures and want serious viewership of that game
Where is Xaka please ?
And good some boys in Jesus, ESR n Nelson all back n fit now.
I think this is the first time in a long while that the boys ain’t rushed from injury and it’s a good one
Is the Everton match on Wednesday night our outstanding match?
Someone pls help
Henry, YES IT IS!
We should first target 10 wins then see what we can do to kill the season and pocket the EPL trophy.
I expect problems against Palace and Fulham. Fulham have been brilliant this term and deserve their position in the table but don’t pose so much of a threat when Mitrovic doesn’t play. Palace are rubbish but they have players that can cause problems. We SHOULD win all of our league games, but I’d be happy if we don’t lose any of them. The mere fact that both of these teams possess players I would take at Arsenal demonstrates that there are no easy wins in the league.
For those wondering…
From Palace I would take Michael Olise and Marc Guehi and from Fulham I would take Joao Palhinha.
I think Mitrovic as a squad player would give us something different as would Toney… if they both are happy to start on the bench but earn a lot more and have the potential for trophies which they won’t have with Fulham and Brentford
End of career the besr players want to know what they have won rather than what they earned !
Mitrovic puzzles me. I watch him play and can’t help but wonder how he scored 43 goals in 44 games in the Championship. He has no speed at all and he can’t dribble. He is, however, as strong as an ox and lethal in the air and he links up play with his wingers and midfielders really well. At Premier League level I think he’s good but no more than that. Eddie is good. We don’t want good.
We always win matches against weaker teams before we have played them. That’s why we struggle.
Arteta gonna take game by game. Believe that. Don’t promote unnecessary expectations and have a meltdown when things don’t go according ‘plans’.
Certainly all the games are winnable provided Arteta rotates the squad enough and the back ups repay the trust with good performances. The return of ESR will be key and hopefully all our players will be fit and firing.
I think the cobination of lyadro Tronsard as false nine will definetly take us to the other level.