I really don’t understand why there is all the doom and gloom from Arsenal fans ahead of the North London Derby just because the Spuds inflicted Chelsea’s first defeat at the weekend. It makes no sense to me at all! Yes they have played well this season, but they have certainly not gone 17 games without defeat, and they have lost to both Liverpool and Man City at home, and to Watford away. We have only lost to Chelsea and City all season in case everyone has forgotten.
Secondly Arsenal are at home with the fanatic Gooners behind them, and although we may have a gruelling trip to the far reaches of Ukraine on Thursday, we are free to play as many reserves as we like, while Tottenham have a crucial match against Inter Milan on Thursday, which could decide whether they join us in the Europa League after Christmas. They can’t afford to rest any players whatsoever.
Our German defender certainly believes we can match our local rivals. “I think we have to compete.” Mustafi said. “Then, of course, when you want to win against Tottenham you know you have to play at your top level. We did that against Liverpool at home, so we know how to compete, we can compete with everyone and I think that we are looking forward to this game. We have another Europa League game in between, so we have to focus on this one as well because it’s an important competition for us. Then the next game after that is Tottenham, a special game for us and for the fans. We’re going to try to get the win at home.”
Why on Earth should a team that hasn’t lost for 17 games (including Liverpool) feel any trepidation at home against our local rivals?
We may not win, but we will play our hearts out and we WILL NOT LOSE!
Sam P
You can look at stats, the league table etc etc but that all goes out of the window as the NLD bragging rights are up for grabs….we all know we’re better than them ? just have to show them on Sunday! Come on Unai & Arsenal, let’s do this ?
Too right Sue ? 3-1 you heard it here first ?
I’ll take that John! ?
Our form is beginning to wither on the vine a bit. We struggle in the first half of games and continue to do so, and we have nearly lost the sharpness we begin 2nd halves with. The lack of wingers is proving to be a problem for us, and will get worse as the season continues.
A larger concern for me is that teams above us in the table will strengthen in January while we adhere to our thrifty “self sustained” model. The reality is that you can compete for titles or stick to your self sustained model, but you simply cannot achieve both. I have little faith that Kronke will get us a top winger in the winter or summer, let alone the 2 wingers we need; considering Iwobi and Nelson as backups.
We need to win on Sunday; finishing below City, Chelsea, and Liverpool is understandable looking at their available talent. Losing to Spuds is another thing; especially as they did nothing in transfer window and we are still below them despite our new players. If we are to regain our rightful place, then Sunday is the time to remind the smaller fish their place is in the shadows. I don’t want to just outscore them, I want us to play them off the pitch and leave no doubt who the Kings of London are.
I want that sharp, sexy football we have seen several times this year, and not only do I want my Arsenal back, but I also want my North London Derby back as well. I believe Emery can provide the winning tactics, its up to the players to provide the winning performance.
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Hope Koscielny has a good game for the U23’s tonight
Right so a 5-0 loss & 2 sent off is definitely one to forget
While Spurs are a better balanced side than we are ,they depend a lot on Erriksen for creativity.Keep him quiet and you have a great chance We have the attacking players to hurt Spurs if they get enough of the ball.We need Ozil to perform on the big stage on Sunday and I think he will.Realistically we are unlikely to keep a clean sheet with our below par defenders but a scoring draw is definitely on the cards.
Agreed. Sokratis played like a Sunday league RUGBY player last week and that’s not going to cut it against the Spurs attack – more likely to get sent off. Surely Emery won’t select him if he has a choice so hope there’s someone either coming back from injury or showing up well for the reserves. If not I’d even rather have Elneny there and that’s saying something!
Same goes for Mikki – been hopeless all season so for me all this talk about Emery ‘being brave’ and dropping out of form players is just useless waffle. Even though he’d be playing further forward than normal I’d much prefer Guendouzi – at least he’d get some good tackles in, never stops running and is a decent passer. Not sure Torreira and Xhaka can cope with spuds midfield on their own.
In the meantime I hope Auba and Iwobi have been informed about how high from the ground the crossbar is. For sure it’s not 25 freakin’ feet! Sincerely hope Laca’s back!
@gunner jack -Why then was he not sent off? Was it a Sunday league rugby match?
dont expect a win but as long as we try our best…thats good enough
Why not ? Nothing special about that spurs team
Sure. Top teams do lose
But they are still favourites especially after our draw at home to Wolves and their destruction of Chelsea
But we can win if we play out of our minds and they aren’t at their best
If Watford can beat spurs then so can we! Keep Ericsson and Kane quiet then I fancy a comfortable win we just need the same tempo as the Liverpool game! They have an intense game on Wednesday and we play against Ukrainian minnows with possibly a weakened team so we will definitely be fresher ?
You mugs on here are unbelievable how much was Liverpool gonna score again kmt beaten them square on Sunday
Didn’t we beat them quite convincingly at home last season?
And Mustafi scored!!!
We beat them 2-0 last year and only lost 1-0 later on in the season. Don’t see what’s stopping us from getting a win here, we tied Liverpool and played well. COYG!
Come on gooners we are the bosses around.4-1 the score
The NLD is decided by the intensity and fighting spirit rather than form or better players. We have to be honest and admit our football has not been pretty for most of this season BUT never have i seen our team grind so many results the hard way this past decade. Maybe spurs are better than us on paper but if we fight like we have this season we will beat them.
Conte 1st season saw many many games where chelsea didn’t play well and grind out 2-1 wins now we are doing the same. the only difference is that we have 2 big teams on course for a super season in front of us. Man city and liverpool at this rate will finish with at least 90pts so if we finish 3rd with 82-84 pts i would be satisfied considering this is emery 1st season.
Totally agree with you.
“SATISFIED” ? ONLY SATISFIED? We had just 60 points last year under Wenger. Anything over 70 points would be a vast improvement. I think we WILL attain 70 points, just about. But 82/84 points is self delusional in the extreme. It would be a miracle and beyond all reasonable expectations.
Gunners for life
Urrgghhh Mike Dean is the ref 🙁