Review – Is November set to be make-or-break for Arsenal?

Arsenal have performed admirably in September and October with just one loss in 12 games, and the Gunners have clawed themselves back up the table to within touching distance of the Top Four, but can they maintain that run in November with some rather difficult fixtures.

First up we have Crvena Zvezda at the Emirates. Our reserves found it hard going in Belgrade but managed to come away with a hard-fought 1-0 win to keep our 100% record in the Europa League. It should be a little easier at home but they are definitely our hardest opponents in the Group.

The 5th of November gives us the hardest test of all with a visit to the Etihad to take on the runaway League leaders Man City. We will need to be at our absolute best to even come away with a point, but surely Man City’s run must run out at some point?

The international break gives us all a borefest, but when Tottenham come to us on the 18th we should be aiming for another record of 15 home wins in a row. The Spuds have already lost away at both Manchester clubs but are still one point above us in the table. This is the game all Arsenal fans want to win!

Five days later (23rd) our reserves are off to Germany to face Koln, but we should be well clear at the top of the Group by then and can play with freedom. Koln have 6 defeats and 2 draws in the Bundesliga so far, and have also lost all three previous Europa League games, so this should pose little threat to the Arsenal fringe side.

Sunday the 26th sees us travel to Burnley for a potential banana skin. The Clarets have not lost at Turf Moor since the opening day of the season and are amazingly sitting in 7th place in the table, on level points with Liverpool.

Weds the 29th gives us a home game against Huddersfield which should be a little easier and hopefully we will still be on our winning run at home, which could give us added confidence for the arrival of Jose Mourinho’s Man United side for the first game of December. We should be a little clearer about our League position after that run of games. Could we possibly remain unbeaten until then?

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17 Comments

  1. This is failure ideas, Imagine Monaco could have not given Mbappe playing time, and can you remind us how old was Messi when given the starting line-up at Barca?

    The same stupid ideas to those who think to be a successful Manager you must have some 30years in the role, forgetting what Pepe has done, Zidane and others. But here in Arsenal when when people suggesting our legends like TH14, Viera, Denis, etc to be given chance to manage the team, the same stupid fans blah blah blah, their not experienced.

    1. R Keane, G Neville, T Adams, D Hamann. There’s a flip-side and it’s allot bigger.

      Id want Vieira to get a shot, they say he studied Arsene’s techniques closely, and others as well as his own stature being someone you could fear/respect. Dennis Id say could be tactical, but he doesn’t want to manage and he’s a man of few words, prefers a simpler life. Henry I would be hesitant on, listening to him in debate does not fill me with optimism.

      1. I understand that some pople can find change scary but if we leave things as they are then we will continue to get slowly worse.
        If we are going to change I would want somebody with managerial experience but is still hungry for success and not too long in the job and stuck with fixed ideas. So I would take a gamble on someone who has shown they have some tactical and man management skills such as Sean Dyche, David Wagner, Diego Simeone. Actually ideally I would love us to nick Pochetino off spuds.

  2. November is our worst month, I hope we win at least 2 of those games (especially against the spuds) been too long since we had a win against them

    COYG

  3. I can not argue with what the article actually says, clearly. But to ask, in the headline, is November and obviously THIS November 2017, make or break is quite a different matter. Clearly Arsenal WAS BROKEN way back in April 2007, when the visionary and talented, devoted Arsenal vice -Chairman David Dein was disgracefully betrayed and forced out by the then board, some of whom were to further betray our club by selling their sizeable share holding to Kroenke. Thanks for NOTHING then, Danny Fitzman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. Or rather, thanks for ruining our club by selling to that “snake and odious money mad but care nothing for trophies” KROENKE, thus paving the way for the awful Gazidis and much later to appointing the dreadfully arrogant and Dickensian Sir You’ve had your Chips KESWICK, WHO SO HATES TRUE FANS AND LOVES HIS HORSE RACING FAR MORE THAN ARSENAL. So , April 2007 was exactly when Arsenal’s decline into mediocrity and dishonourably run custodianship demise dates from. Read and weep!

    1. Dein was probably trying to bluff them into selling to Usmanov, it looked like he was going with Kroenke but in the end the others did. They prob knew Dein too well, or else Kroenke partnered with them and Dein then went with Usmanov. It all seemed childish, they’ve ruined us, we were on good momentum until D day.

    2. Jon, I totally agree with your sentiments but add the following to clarify some of the dates and who did what at the time. Chips-Keswick joined the board in 2005 and became chairman in 2013. Dein was in fact the man behind a lot of our better signings back in the day but it was him who brokered the deal and introduced Kroenke to Arsenal and at the time the current chairman Hill-Wood declared that Arsenal did not want anything to do with ‘Kroenke’s sort’. Dein was subsequently sacked by the board for going behind their backs regarding talking to Kroenke and promoting him. Then for some reason the board did a u-turn and accepted Kroenke. Bracewell-Smith is I think, still an honoury president of the club but is a fierce critic of Kroenke and deeply regrets selling her shares to him. Fitzman is now dead and was the driving force behind the new stadium but it is believed he was not actually aware when selling his shares that it was Kroenke buying them and was annoyed to say the least.

      1. True Keswick joined board in 2005 but I did not argue with that, merely saying he was promoted to Chair much later. Whatever the true facts concerning Deins initial introduction of Kroenke , he must now bitterly regret it. But ultimately, Dein DID sell to Usmanov and the others to Kroenke. Including the “we don’t want his sort” Hill-Wood and his paltry shares. They are facts indisputably. It may well be Dein initially wanted Kroenke but saw the danger in time and chose Usmanov. Either way, Dein remains even now a life long true Gooner and who can truthfully argue that any other board member, Ken Friar apart, is the same and remember, Dein had by then fallen out big time with his former freind Fitzman. I reject your suggestion that FITZMAN WAS TOO ILL BY THEN TO KNOW THAT HE SOLD TO KROENKE. My understanding is that Fitzman was ill but fully able to know to whom and what he was selling. Fitzman and Lady Nina are the ones who betrayed us , NOT DD, WHOM MANY , ME INCLUDED, WOULD STILL LOVE BACK IN CHARGE.

        1. FURTHER , AND TO CLARIFY COMPLETELY, I ONLY STATED THAT KESWICK WAS APPOINTED MUCH LATER AND I SHOULD HAVE STATED APPOINTED, AS CHAIRMAN, WHICH WAS OF COURSE IMPLIED BUT ACTUALLY NOT CORRECTLY STATED.

          1. No need to shout Jon, I wasn’t attacking you or your post. I was just trying to add some balance with additional facts and agree that Dein is a for life true Gooner and sold his shares to Usmanov. But Dein will not be coming back and at 74 is fast becoming one the ‘old farts’ that need replacing with younger blood. And I did not even mention Fiszman’s illness in relation to selling his shares. It is believed he was duped and thought he was selling to someone else, nothing to do with illness.

            1. Sorry , But I just stupidly left the cap lock on , no more than that was meant. so sorry if I misled you. Yes, Dein is indeed 74 but he is very young looking and still dynamic . I would welcome knowing where you get the info on Fitzman that he was duped. That is not my understanding when he actually signed the share transfer, though clearly he was doped at some stage , as all cancer sufferers in hospital routinely are. I don’t think it is age alone that makes an old fart, though God alone knows we have plenty at our boardroom now. But I do certainly think we need much younger and pro-active, mentally alert and in touch with modern methods people at all decisions making level, very much including Wenger. All Wengers top level rival clubs have managers far younger and in touch than Wenger. He was once the one in touch but that was ages ago. Mental alertness is far more important in decision making than whether or not your knees creak,( as mine do). Wenger is physically still fit but mentally, NO WAY!

  4. As long as weegor make this money grabbing board money he will be in a job. We had this before. Say good by to winni g the premier league for another 5 years at least.

  5. So far in the league we have Won against
    1) Leicester (11th)
    2) Bournemouth (19th)
    3) WBA (15th)
    4) Brighton (12th)
    5) Everton (18th)
    6) (Swansea (17th)
    We then had our best result drawing against Chelsea (4th) and then lost against:
    1) Stoke (14th)
    2) Liverpool (6th)
    3) Watford (8th)
    So as we can see we are yet to beat a team in the top half of the table. Our seaon will make or break against these teams (Man City, Man U, Spuds, Burnley, Newcastle & Southampton). There are an awful ot of crap teams in the EPL this season so even at our worst we should finish at least 6th. My personal guess is we will finish 5th again. I know some fans are happy with that but as the 6th richest team in the world (4th in the EPL) if we play to the cost of the squad we should finish at least 4th and with Chelsea misfiring possibly 3rd.

    1. Exactly where I also think we will finish and 5th will again not be good enough. IF IT MEANT WENGER BEING SACKED BEFORE HIS TWO YEAR EXTENSION ENDS AT END OF NEXT SEASON, I WOULD EVEN TAKE 15TH this season.

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