Have EPL rivals opened Top Four door for Arsenal?

Things could hardly have gone any better for Arsenal yesterday. Not only did we beat the team directly above us in West Ham, leapfrogging Sam Allardyce and his team into the bargain, but none of the other teams above us in the Premier League table won either.

That means that a win for the Gunners at Southampton on Friday along with a home win for Stoke City against Man United, could see Arsenal overtake Louis van Gaal and his Red Devils in the table as well, depending on the scores. Stoke are in very good form, especially at home and United are still struggling with injury problems all over the pitch.

Man City are still without their main striker Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko as well and they might not even be back in time to face Arsenal on January 18th. Jose Mourinho is showing signs of strain after his referee rant and his team are showing chinks in the armour as well.

And it is not just the teams above Arsenal that are making our Premier League situation look brighter either. None of the other rivals for a top four place did much either. The spuds drew with Man United and Everton lost. Liverpool take on Swansea tonight and despite Brendan Rodgers’ claim that they had turned a corner, I am not convinced and think that we just made them look good with our own performance.

Of course, Arsenal need to keep up the pressure and keep winning ourselves, but with the transfer window nearly upon us and with players like Ramsey, Ozil and Arteta back soon, I can understand why Arsene Wenger sounded so confident of another top four finish in his interview reported by Arsenal.com.

He said, “It’s vital for us.

“We have done it for 17 years, so we are entitled to the belief that we can do it. It’s all to do because when you look at the league everyone is fighting very hard for it. Southampton, Tottenham, Manchester United, so many teams who can fight for these positions.”

But can Arsenal do any better than fourth this season?

Tags United Wenger

39 Comments

  1. ramsey, ozil, theo all returning and a winter transfer window to bails us out (maybe) the season starts now b**ches!!!

    1. Perhaps the Premier league should allow top four finisher to jointly hold EPL trophy and be called champions…seems much more fairer and I am sure Mr Wenger and the board would give their unequivocal support to the idea!

    2. i’m not carried away by Westham or QPR kinda wins….infact i’m not moved……. Beat the big boys , finish above this accursed 4th and that will sweep me off my feets and take me to high heavens!

      1. exactly, we haven’t beaten anyone in the top ten aside from west ham anyway. We need to be at least aiming to come third this season, that would represent an improvement and would allow us possibly better negotiations with players looking for cl football come summer as well as avoiding those dreaded qualifiers

      2. @Soopa, I hope u do know that no-one goes to heaven without dying first. Bro, I don’t wanna attend no funeral.

        1. @ Kickassfan….. Not if judgement day’s one minute from now…. Quite sure everybody doesn’t need to die before experiencing that …L()L

  2. It all depends on the January window IMO. If we don’t sign anyone or pull of another “Kim kallstrom signing”, than may god have mercy on our souls.

        1. Why? You think we can challenge the 2nd? Because if we can do that then why not the 1st place? Thing is that with the form Chelsea and City have we can’t really think of something very close to the top. Our luck can change though provided Chelsea and City will advance all competitions. We are already out of League Cup. That gave us the needed break. I am sure that once team is fully fit we can really consolidate our position. But if with 5 games to play we will be within reach of the first and second place then … well, just to remind you that we were 12 points behind Manure in 97 and we beat them at Old Fartford. We ended up by winning the league. Never say never. Especially with Arsenal.

  3. Third place is there for the taking. Chelsea won’t fold, a few very minor blips maybe. Not a clue what City will do – could be another 9 wins in a row – but equally would be unsurprised to see them unravel a bit. We generally win and lose the games we are expected to – City can lose against anyone at any time. Arsenal chance for 1st place 0.1%, 2nd place 10%, 3rd place 40%, 4th place 90%.

  4. January is a key month to maintain this momentum.
    Southampton and City away + Hull in FAC and bloody Stoke at home.
    Get a decent haul here
    + decent back-up at CB and DMF in Jan window,
    + returning Walcott, Ozil , Ramsey
    and the second half of the season would be set fair.
    Return games against Liverpool, Chelski, and Man U don’t come round until April and May
    CYG

  5. I hate to hear wenger talking of 4th place like its a trophy datz why some fans want him out cuz he is no longer motivated to win major trophies. We need a new manager with fresh ideas

    1. Man u dat had a terriblelast season are looking better dann arsenal cuz our manager’s mentality is killing d players ability. We have a decent squad and should be doing better dan our current state. LVG dat just came to d EPL is doing better dan wenger is much evidence dat our manager no longer have motivation to succeed

    2. this is exactly what I mean, there comes a point in the season where he just resigns to the fact he cant take this team beyond fourth and he doesn’t seem too disappointed at that. He pointed to the fact we increased our points tally last season which showed an improvement, but we ended up in the same position. Even when we play terribly he explains that the spirit and great desire that his team have, but over these past 12 months I think I’ve seen some of the most uncommitted arsenal performances during his reign (bar the 8-2 at man u)

    3. the weird thing to me is: wenger’s obviously smart. and he sees that his philosophy of only doing the bare minimum trades & not paying much attention to defence (together w our injury history & referee attitudes) always gets us 4th. then why , if he had money & ambition, would he not have gone out 100% to give his team the best chance ? listening to him, i never hear urgency or drive. he may say he wants to win PL, but his actions say otherwise. I cannot understand a coach who would not do everything possible in his power to maximise chances of winning in summer TW. given our injury history, its not too surprising that we lost 2 defenders and thereafter we’re on the ropes. i dont believe him when he says he could not have forseen these injuries. how can he bear it? he used to have henry,bergkamp,RVP, fabregas: now we only have sanchez (ozil has yet to arrive).

  6. OT: I’m almost certain that Podi is on the way out now. In response to reports coming from Italy that podolski had met with inter representatives, Wenger replied “There is nothing concrete there”. Maybe Podi pulled a Zaha on Wenger.

  7. 3 things need to happen

    1. Wenger needs to sign big players in January

    I have read that Podolski may go on loan to Inter. I would honestly either him play more for Arsenal or sell him so we can sign a top striker

    We NEED minimum a defender and top striker like Cavani or Benzema

    A DM would be nice like Kondogbia, Carvalho but defender and striker is more important

    2. Need Ozil, Giroud and Walcott back.

    3. Wenger needs to be smarter technicallly

    A. Play Ozil in the middle.
    B. Rotate when possible
    C. Give Sanchez some rest (for example when we play Aston Villa at home)
    D. If Podolski stays, PLAY HIM

    1. Actually, if Cavani’s going to cost reported £50 million, I’d forget him. Also Benzema signed a new contract in the summer and has played in almost every match so far so I don’t think he’s available.

      If Alex Lacazette is available (Lyon are out of Europa League), we should get him immediately. He’s 23 and his goals per minute ratio is 99, which currently is bested only by Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar and Aguero of the top leagues. And that doesn’t include his assists.

      Would Lyon sell? If they get a replacement, then sure. They also have Benzia, massive talent from their own youth ranks. And I don’t think Lacazette would even cost that much, around £15 millions.

    2. I believe DM is the first position we need strengthening followed by a good CB. I personally don’t rate Terry and Cahill as that great of a defensive pairing. They are pretty efficient undoubtedly but it is Matic in front of them that keeps them screened so well. We need that kind of presence in midfield to put in quality tackles and stop counters with authority. Schneiderlin(though I doubt Southampton will sell) would be a perfect buy. I’m ok with Giroud alongside Sanchez and Walcott/Chambo on the wing. Everyone wants someone more clinical than Giroud, especially for big games where we always never use our chances but realistically I don’t think we would be getting anyone this window.

      1. i was astounded last jan TW when walcott got injured *during the TW* and wenger took that golden opportunity & obtained defeat from the jaws of victory. we were at #1 up to that point. i am sure getting kallstrom had a devastating effect on player and ozil morale. and after that we just drifted downwards. wenger has a chance to redeem himself this window. but given the bizareness of his beliefs & philosophy, i wouldnt be surprised at anything. most likely i expect he will buy some cheap CDM or CB from a lower team who would be the bare minimum solution to our crisis. where is his ambition ? does he not know that buying inspires players and supporters and takes us higher???

    1. to 99% of us, its logical we should get one of those two. but wenger is oppositional & over analyses things and he’s cheap. i would be over the moon if we got carvalho or schneiderlin or a world class CDM. i would be over the moon if he got a WC CB like hummels. i don’t think it’ll happen unfortunately. i hope i am wrong.

  8. For me to accept Wenger as Arsenal coach next season he’d have to:

    1)Retain FA Cup trophy.
    2)Go up to the semis if UCL
    3) Finish atleast 3rd in the epl,no more than 6pts away from the winners

    Then strengthen by getting a CB,DM,B2B and ST….otherwise WENGEROUT!!!!

    1. i’m less demanding: if he bought both world-class CDM or CB and we won nothing, i’d be “just ok” with him staying. ie he would have done the logical thing and if after that we have bad luck, at least we did the best we could. but to not do the best you can, and then act surprised and blame bad-luck & injuries & refereeing: that is the thing that really galls me.

  9. Wenger is diviing arsrnal fan, talking of 4th place like its d holy grail. We need a manager dat can do more dan 4th, wenger is no longer motivated to win major trophies its obvious though deluded fans will neva accept dis truth. We need a manager dat is hungry 4 major honours. Look what simeone is doig with a broke atletico madrid

  10. Mr Wenger, all I ask is to finish in 3rd place, Retain our FA Cup and go a step further in the UCL…. Dnt wanna knw hw u do it, dnt care abt ur method (whether u play OG in the middle and strike with Flamini and Defend with Sanchez), or whether u buy or not…… That’s all I require frm u Please *** Prove me wrong that u’re a Good Coach***

  11. Due to some couple of bad results, Arsenal got pushed down from the top 4. But results are now going their ways and a win at Saint Mary’s will definitely saw the Gunners back in the top 4. The boss never said he is aiming at finishing in 4 position but want to get back in the top 4. From there, he could be in the top 3 then challenge for the top 2 and ultimately challenge for the top spot. Gently..gently..gently..Gooners.

    1. top4 is likely for us .
      i’d say 3rd is 10-20% probability.
      2nd and 1st are very very unlikely and realistically impossible.

      the thing that upsets me is that when the inevitable & historically recurring injuries happen, he seems to act each year as if they are a surprise. no! they are not. plan for them! have more backups. chambers at CB was great as a quality backup, but you need a quality starter like hummels. arteta/flam should be 3rd and 4th for CDM. you need 2 world-class cdms and u need to pay over the odds unless u want to write off the season. so just f*ing pay over the odds and get carvalho/schneiderlin or equivalent . money in the bank, no WC purchases & 4th again: not progress.

  12. i would prefer wanyama to schneiderlin.he is a natural dm with physical presence.in the match vs chelsea he was every where at the midl of the field.what a beast!

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