Man City loss a HUGE help to Arsenal’s title challenge

Arsenal still have more more games to play before we reach the halfway stage of the EPL season, so there is a lot of water to go under the bridge and a lot of footballing twists and turns to come before someone gets to lift the big trophy in May, but our attempt to be that club is looking a lot better after the reigning champions Leicester City rose from their slumber to inflict a painful defeat on Man City yesterday.

I do not just mean that we now have a four point lead over one of our main title rivals, although any extra gap is good as I do expect Pep Guardiola’s talented team to bounce back. Even more important than the points could be the effect this game has on the clash between Arsenal and Man City next weekend.

If we can beat struggling Everton on Tuesday then the trip to the Etihad stadium on Sunday could see us end 2016 ion a real high and maybe even in top spot if Chelsea falter. Losing 4-2 to the Foxes will have done no good to a team already struggling for form and confidence and missing key players through injury and suspension.

With their captain and defensive rock Vincent Kompany out until the new year Guardiola will have been dismayed at how poor his back four were in Leicester and the keeper Claudio Bravo had a shocker. In midfield they struggled without Fernandinho who will miss the match against us because of a ban, as will Sergio Aguero.

The striker’s young replacement Iheanacho may as well have stayed on the bench for all the impact he had on the game, so while they have a game against Watford on Wednesday to rebuild some confidence they will not be looking forward to the the visit of an Arsenal side in full flow and if we beat them it will be one of the toughest fixtures of the season out the way.

Is it all going right for the Gunners at last?

Bob.

Tags Aguero Guardiola Kompany

11 Comments

      1. Agreed, for me I have him slightly above Aguero because he does more all over the pitch than Aguero. Aguero seems to score in gluts but misses a bunch of opportunities as well it seems.

        Costa is on top form at the moment.

  1. Man City’s poor form, and Aguero’s suspension, is great news considering we play them soon. But Chelsea are the league favourites now, they are our main threat, and have just won yet again. With no European football, Chelsea have a massive advantage over the other big teams, apart from Liverpool.

    OT – Just read the recently posted article “Arsenal are top of the League – proving Wenger’s long term plan was correct all along”, and I can completely debunk it.

    Here is a quote from the article “This year I think Wenger has got it right and I don’t see any Wenger Out banners in the stadium, and the comments from Anti-Wenger fans on JustArsenal have just about disappeared, surprise, surprise. I understand that no one likes to be proved so spectacularly wrong”.

    Well no one has been proved spectacularly wrong or right about Wenger yet, as the season doesn’t finish in December. It actually finishes in May, so let’s see where we are then. Even if Wenger FINALLY wins a major trophy, does that make up for a decade of failure? Not for me it doesn’t. For example, if Saddam Hussein was really kind to the Iraqi people in the last few years of his leadership, would that make up for the years of his brutal dictatorship? So bad was his dictatorship, that you could be executed, just for making a joke about him. I’m pretty sure the Iraqi people wouldn’t forget, or forgive, their horrific past under Saddam, and Arsenal fans won’t forget their past under Wenger (good, and bad).

    Even in recent times under Wenger, he still can’t win, or barely even compete for a major trophy, despite having the money, keeping his best players, adding WC players, and seeing the other big clubs struggle (mainly due to managerial changes in my opinion). I have no doubt, if Wenger wasn’t in charge, we would have won the league last season, and in the 13/14 season. Arsenal would have also done better in Europe under a different manager, because we have been awful in the Champions League. Having most defeats as a manager in the Champions League, and qualifying from a very easy group every year, only to be knocked out straight away at the slightest hint of pressure, is not a record to be proud of.

    As with every season, no one can make a proper judgement on Wenger until the season is over, but I refuse to forget his past failings, especially recently, when he’s had the tools, and fantastic opportunities to be successful. Less people are complaining, because we’re finally seeing improvement, but even if Arsenal win a major trophy, so many fans still want him to go. At least that would restore part of his legacy, before he destroys it even further. Despite the manager, I am still behind my team, and really hoping we can do something this season. It’s been positive so far, and just hope we can stay strong for once, and keep this run going.

    1. No disrespect to the writer but it’s a poor article. It seems to have been written completely without any kind of context or scope whatsoever.

  2. We are still in December,not yet in March,we should concentrate on our own game. There’s no need for this article

  3. Why did McAuley not just kick out for a throw in against Chelsea, try to turn inside? You work so hard for a point, then you dwaddle on the ball and Costa strikes.

  4. First and foremost EPL would easily find itself in the rank of other European league if not for the high rate of uncertainty around every game either played or to be played .
    I’m enjoying the fun and i think Wenger cuts it when he said no matter what happened between the Cheksi and Wastebrom Arsenal is still up there and the fight is on. Too early to slay anyone but rather focus on our performance taking it game after game and continue to expect our rivals drop some points.

    1. exactly. Just do our job and pick up 3 points. We beat Chelsea, we did our job, nothing else we can do until we face them again. And Feb-March will be what makes or break us. Repeat of seasons past, or have we finally learned?

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