Arsenal need to forget about the title race after Fulham draw
Arsenal are under expectation to win the Premier League this season after throwing away our leads for the past two years, but have they been putting too much pressure on themselves recently?
The Gunners fumbled at Craven Cottage suffering a frustrating 1-1 draw against Fulham after winning four times on the bounce in all tournaments.
The hosts stole the lead in the first half through Raul Jiminez after 11 minutes, who scored from the edge of the right hand side of the box tucking his effort into the bottom left corner.
Declan Rice had a golden chance later on in the first half to pull Arsenal level, but missed with a left footed shot from close range.
Not long afterwards Bukayo Saka found himself in the box and after beating a couple of Fulham defenders had his effort saved by the once Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno.
Minutes into the second half, The Gunners hard work paid off through William Saliba, who scored for the second consecutive game from another corner, making it one a piece.
Towards the dying stages of the dual The North Londoner’s seemed to have found a winner after Gabriel Martinelli catapulted in a cross from the left wing which found Saka, who tidily tucked away his effort at the near side of Leno’s goal. However it was not to be Arsenal’s day, with VAR ruling out the strike due to it being whiskers offside!
In the end Mikel Arteta’s side would have to settle for a point.
Captain Martin Odegaard believes Arsenal need to avoid being distracted by the Premier League crown following the disappointing show today. The Norwegian explained: “We have to focus on ourselves. We don’t care about the other teams. We did a lot of good things.
“We have to do more and put the ball in the box more times, maybe be a bit more direct and aggressive, we could have won it in the end.”
He further said in relation to the end of the season:” It’s a very long way to go. We’ve said hundreds of times we have to keep going game by game.”
However, Arteta was less understanding and sympathetic after the match following a bitter draw which sees Arsenal now potentially nine points off Liverpool at the top of the league, if they win their game in hand against Everton which was postponed yesterday due to bad weather.
The Spaniard declared in terms of the result: “Gutted that we didn’t win because I think we deserved to win from the beginning to the end. We did almost everything that we had to do to win it. This is the quality of the opposition and the league. For millimetres we could have been here with a really dominant win.”
Arsenal need to take it one game at a time and forget about the bigger picture for the time being so that they avoid dropping more silly points.
If Arsenal are supposed to be 2024/25 Premier League Champions then they will be, but if they’re not then it is what it is and we move on.
All we can do is do our best, and to a certain extent we were at Fulham!
Liam Harding
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We just don’t seem to be able to get ourselves going. We keep getting opportunities to do something season after season and we just keep not taking them.
Can’t seem to have that final attitude to push on across the finish line..
We looked nonchalant like we did not know what the game meant for us in terms of our title aspirations. It’s frustrating and irritating.
🤦♂️
Swear I read that when are backs against the wall we ‘ always ‘ deliver ?
Silly question but at this moment. Yes forget about winning the league, we are not coping. We are so inconsistent.
Maybe we should stop counting how many tough games Liverpool will have for start.
In daydreaming world Liverpool will lose all tough games while we win all our easy ones. Unfortunately we live in a real world.
Arteta will keep on self sabotaging himself playing players out of position unnecessarily. We have seen this season after season with terrible results.
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Fulham fan here. Arsenal played the better football but didnt create enough clear cut chances at all and didnt have anything attacking wise off the bench.
When you look at liverpool, there is goals all over the front 3 (Diaz, Salah and Gakpo) and the subs as well with Nunez and Diaz. Arsenal dont have enough in the front 3 to win a league title, in comparison to Liverpool. Martinelli doesnt bribng enough goals and assists, Trossard is an impact sub, Havertz is good but not a league winning striker and i love Saka but again not sure he scores enough. Only 10 goals from open play in the league last year isnt enough for a club to win a title. Poor transfer window in the summer in bringing players that don’t really improve the team (squad yes, team no). A goalscorer was badly needed, Ivan Toney was available and gobsmacked you didnt go for him.
Looks like choppy waters ahead with Edu going for you guys but genuinely hope you can get over the line and lift the title.
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With 23 games left gore our own dear Arsenal to play for a maximum 69 points collection. And after having garnered 29 points in their last 15 games.
The Arsenal are definitely still in the title race this season. And are still in contention to win the coveted Epl Frown this campaign.
I sincerely believe that Arsenal will respond strongly with emphatic win over Everton in their next match at home.
And from there on, the Gunners will no more allow themselves to go through the kind dropped points that they dropped at Fulham in their last Sunday’s match at Graven Cottrttage.
But henceforthm they will strive harder than they have been striving harder before to be collecting points. To start collecting points maximumly in their subsequent matches in the Epl up to the end of he this campaign. And would win the title and keep their doubters quiet..
Rice didn’t have a shot just after Fulham scored, he just failed to connect to the cross into the box.
As for giving up on the PL title, we were in a worse position in the 97/98 season and still won it. Never give up.
But we had a better manager then HD
He also had a lot more experience DK.
Not that old chesnut.
Whilst we all believe the same thing that we dropped 2 points on Sunday and especially having the goal disallowed for off side i think we have to give fulham credit for there display which we ha e forgotten.
I thought they defended really well and at times looked very dangerous on the break.
They will certainly do damage to some teams who we expect them to roll over.
Annoyed yesterday but after the dust has settled and on reflection it is a point more then we got out of the master season
Onwards and upwards
There’s no way Liverpool will sustain their projected points ratio, that said, we look very unlikely to capitalize, as we saw this weekend.
The injuries are obviously the main issue here, but Arteta is not helping himself at all, with the Fulham game being a perfect example of this.
Now we know Tierney must be fairly fit as he’s been back training for a while, so why not use him on the left? Of course Arsenal will look to offload him in January, but playing him in this game gives us balance. This would keep Timber at RB, and Partey at DM.
Yet time and time again this season, Arteta’s preferred option when dealing with injuries is to upset the balance of the team first because he believes in the versatility of his squad.
Partey has actually done well at RB, but if he gets caught, he’s catching no one, and he cannot make those overlapping runs to support Saka. If you’re going to move Timber, then why not put Rice at RB? He has the legs to defend and provide Saka with support, and his starting position at RB would be perfect for crossing given he has the best delivery of anyone at the club. Coupled with the fact Rice hasn’t been great in midfield this season anyway.
Same issue with Havertz as well. Second half of last season he was on fire, and started great this campaign until Odegaard’s injury, when Arteta then changed his position.
I have to say that I am gradually warming to the idea of a new manager, especially if it’s another trophyless season.
I’m afraid I have to disagree with much of this.
The way our team is structured Arteta needs to believe in the versatility of the players he has, particularly in certain positions.
We don’t actually know how fit TIerney is. Even if he is fairly fit that does not mean that he is ready to start a PL match. Moving Rice to RB would remove the cover he provides centrally.
Where I would agree we have an issue is with creativity up front and the striker role.
The fact that our Captain suggests a “more direct” approach with a view to getting the ball in the box more often seems to be at odds with the tactics deployed by our Manager who has an obsession with inversion and possession.Significantly,the new Liverpool Manager has carried on with the simple 4-3-3 system used by his predecessor which involves full backs getting to the byline and crossing on a regular basis.Whenever I heard Partey was being used at RB, I thought we might struggle, and in that respect the result did not surprise me.
Grandad simple systems break down less easily and are not too complicated to go wrong. Liverpool have coped with their injuries, we haven’t and haven’t in the past.
Reggie
Perhaps you missed my post to you earlier about the difference between the level of injuries faced by both teams.
Level of injuries? Injuries to first team are just that. Liverpools are all first teamers and with the exception of Chiesa who is a European cup winner, would start. I don’t get what you are trying say. If it is ours are more important than Liverpool, then ask a Liverpool suppoerter. I did and he put me straight. I didn’t realise their level of injuries.
Sue Arsenal have lost most hours of any team this season due to injuries but the players that boost our hours so high are Tomiasu, Tierney, Zinchenko and Merino. We have never had more than 6 players out, at the moment we have 5. Liverpool were upto 7 but now are 6. Including their no1 keeper, Central defender and Striker.
I will also ask you this Sue. Will Liverpool be worse off, if/when they get their injured players back.
7 first team players out? I think not. Liverpool’s injuries aren’t and were not as significant as ours and I’m not sure you’ll agree with me on this but having a goalkeeper and a fringe player out isn’t as significant as missing a handful of first choice defenders, best midfielder and attacker.
I am sorry you do not know what you are talking about. Yours is opinion which i dont agree with. Mine is fact. And how many of our injuries are “fringe”?
And i have named 6, just add Elliott to that. Count it on your fingers 6+ 1= ?
Reggie
I think that timing plays a part in how a team can manage its injuries- so while I agree that numbers out is relevant it doesn’t always show the whole story.
Both Bradley and Tsimitas are not yet above Robertson and TAA but neither are fringe players either. So when TAA got injured and Bradley replaced him it was a win win situation for Slot. Bradley gets injured – as in now, but TAA is fit again.
I’m not suggesting that Arteta made the wrong call in not playing Tierney – I wouldn’t have played Tierney- but when Zinchenko, Calafiori and Gabriel are injured- not forgetting White either, who has played very few games and will now be out for months, then the defensive situation was dire at the weekend and has been on other occasions and maybe again
I haven’t done an in depth analysis of other injuries to Liverpool players but have they been hit as badly all at once? I think of Chiesa as a cheap ish punt who hasn’t achieved the same success since an ACL injury & doesn’t count as a true first team player. I have omitted Tomi as he hasn’t made any meaningful contribution at all this season
I did though use Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori and Timber, Odegaard, Rice, Merino & Partey, plus Trossard, Jesus Saka, Martinelli and Havertz as our examples. For Liverpool it was TAA, VVD, Robertson and Konate. Followed by Gravenbirch, Szoboszlai, Jones & MacAllister. Up front it was Diaz, Jota, Salah, Nunez and Gakpo. In terms of hours played, in defence and midfield, Liverpool were able to field the team I picked out more frequently in terms of hours. In attack, overall we had more hours used.
This doesn’t account for Becker who has played much less than Raya but Kelleher has done a pretty good job in his absence with Becker now on the brink of returning. Neither does the hours played account for Liverpool’s postponed match.
I hope my method withstands your scrutiny. 😬
Well Sue, Arsenal fans will always find a story to suit. Probably best not look towards the real reasons Liverpool are doing better than us. Lets just say, their injuries are well timed and ours are the worst possible. I am sorry, we are poor at managing without players. End of. Liverpool have managed so far, we haven’t.
Reggie.
To suit what? Your view being right? It is well known to both of us that we are either side of the middle when it comes to our views on Arteta (I don’t think he is Mr Perfect) and I spent ages trying very hard to put a balanced picture across which I feel that I have, but you have poo pooed it and you come up with ..End of.
I am not on about Arteta, i am on about the excuses for Arteta and how he has managed the injuries and how Slot has managed his. The point is people are saying Liverpool have managed without injuries. That is a blatant non truth.
It is worth noting that quite a few neutrals have noted Arsenal’s injury problems.
The fact is that some people will be all too keen to be extremely negative where Arteta’s Arsenal is concerned whenever we drop points.
I agree with you as disappointing as the loss of 2 points were, you would have thought we’d been blown over by a rampant Fulham team by several goals
It was a match that we could easily have won but the intensity of the reaction to the game has surprised me
I don’t know about the title so I won’t comment about it. I just want to point out a few things I noticed. I was disappointed with how Arteta set the team up.
Firstly,I didn’t like the lack of left-footed players on the left. Right footed players just take a little longer to find the correct pass. A good example is our disallowed goal. Timber just took a little longer to pass it to Martinelli,by which time he was offside. This isn’t a criticism of Timber by the way. We needed someone(Myles,Tierney,Merino) on that LHS.
Secondly,Saka and Odegaard are our best chance at scoring goals. This means you do everything you can to give them support. Partey,who has been excellent in midfield,can’t give Saka/Odegaard the support they get from Timber/White. I personally would have done everything to keep Timber at RB even if it meant playing one of Tierney/Myles at LB.
That said,we shouldn’t focus too much on our rivals-we can’t control that. We’ve got to bounce back and put a run together. We also need to address our away form which has been nothing like last season.COYG!
In an ideal world what you have said about the left side is true. However, consider the circumstances of this game. Our main left sided CB was out. This meant Kiwior who has not been a regular had to be drafted in.
MLS is inexperienced and we don’t know how fit and prepared Kierney is. Kierney himself has previously admitted being uncertain at times in Arteta’s setups. KT has not played a serious game for Arsenal for a long time so surely it makes sense to be cautious about when you put him back in.
MLS has done fairly well before but without Gab would it not be a significant gamble to put him in there alongside Kiwior?
Pragmatism rules, so yes. However, we should never stop dreaming.
Agh! Here we go again! 😪😴
My answer to this question, rhetorical as it sounds, is a resounding “yes”. And so it has always been for me since we failed to beat Liverpool at home.
The realism is that our team is not good enough for the title. And that is ironic because we still have the players who took us to the brink of the title twice.
The reason is that many of our top performers have failed to reach their levels of previous due to injuries or lack of form. And the club failed to strengthen the squad in the right places that would have provided more cutting edge.
When and if we recover from this south-ward movement, Liverpool would be so far out of sight as to be untouchable.
While they shouldn’t give up hope on the title front, what’s making it difficult is the fact that Arsenal have to win most if not all their games just to keep in touch, let alone overtake Liverpool.
Something that’s highly unlikely. For that to happen you need practically everything to go your way, again highly unlikely.
That’s why I think they should go all out for trying to win the League Cup or FA Cup.
With our lack of success in recent years, were hardly in a position to be picky are we.
Talking about the title now is either foolhardy, opportunistic or outright madness! There are still 23 games to go which means there are still 8 more games than what has been covered. So unless one is an angel, one can’t predict what is going to happen. At the moment, Liverpool is leading the pack but can anyone bet that they will sustain the momentum to the end? There are still a lot of twists and turns ahead. I agree with those way say that four teams, namely Man city, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, are still in the title race and it is difficult to predict who will emerge victorious.
As for Arsenal which is our major concern, I think a few unfortunate incidents ranging from injuries, suspensions and outright bad luck have conspired to disorganise our season so far. However, these are not a reserve of Arsenal and can afflict any team as has been experienced at Man city as well. Thus, only an imbecile can rule Arsenal out of the title race at this stage.