The Gunners are currently sitting in Third Place with 51 points ahead of tonights match at QPR, and according to Arsene Wenger, Arsenal need another 21 to be certain of a Top Four finish. He was asked directly how many he thinks they would need. After careful consideration, he replied: “Seventy-two,”
“People have finished in the top four with 67 points, but if you look at this year we have 51 points now. So it will be in the 70s. It is a tough run-in but it will be similar to last year.
“Look, have you seen the quality of the teams behind us? Southampton, Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United. The best way is to look forward and go as fast as we can.
“It will be down to consistency because mathematically it is not impossible for the guys behind us to catch us, but also for us to catch the teams in front of us. You just have to focus on yourself and win the next game.”
So to be sure of reaching that total we need to win 7 of our 11 remaining games. I win tonight would be a good start as we would then only have to win six more, and we have six more home games!
Those games are against West Ham, Liverpool, Sunderland, Chelsea, Swansea and West Brom on the last day of the season. Okay the Pool and the Champions-elect may cause us problems, but surely we can win the other four given our recent form.
The away games after tonight are Newcastle, Burnley and Hull and ending with the (hopefully un-needed) trip to Old Trafford to face Man United. I will push my luck and say we WILL beat Hull and Burnley, and with the four easy-ish home games then 72 points should be a doddle! But first off all we have to win tonight to set up that scenario…..
I’m sick of certain top 4. Can’t we at least be certain top 2 or 3? At least with 3 rd place we don’t have to play Champions League pre-qualification match in the summer.
I sooooo sick of 4th place
Having Man City just a few points above us now is a great incentive. Someone to try and catch rather than the players thinking we’re safe in third, which we’re not. I don’t think we can catch Man City, but pursuing second place will hopefully give us some extra momentum.
The games we need to win are away at Pool and Man U, at home to Chelsea.
This is for top 2 and to get our pride back.
Liverpool is at home not away. Secondly we need to win any games that will give us enough points to make the top 4. What would be the use if you win against Man u, Liverpool and Chelsea and fail to make the 72 points? A win is a win regardless of who your win is against. The fascination with beating big teams is not useful for us now. What we need is to cross the line and then next year we can come back stronger and challenge in earnest
I disagree, the 72 points is not a finishing line, it is only an estimate of the points we need to get fourth. If we are two points ahead of pool when we play them then
1. if we lose they are one pont ahead of us,
2. if we win we are five points ahead of them.
Results against close competitors has a big impact on our relative position in the table, hence them being called six pointers.
Its our consistent poor performance against top teams which has kept us in fourth for so long.
Yes I agree we probably need at least 70 points to guarantee a top 4 spot. The teams behind us are breathing down our neck and there’s no room for error. Consistency is key and it will be nice to finish 3rd or even 2nd for a change. I’m personally sick of enduring those 4th place jokes year after year.
QPR – Arsenal = 3
Arsenal – Westham = 3
Newcastle – Arsenal = 3
Arsenal – Liverpool = 3
Burnley – Arsenal = 3
Arsenal – Sunderland = 3
Arsenal – Chelsea = 1
Hull City – Arsenal = 3
Arsenal – Swansea = 3
Man United – Arsenal = 3
Arsenal – WBA = 3
That is 31 points. Which will give us 82 points and 2nd place. Lets go for it. Lets beat ManU twice at OT
Ambitious, but I suppose you have to be
We have to last year we had 79 points and got 4th lets be better than that.
We got our 3 points last night but so that the competition.
the last time i checked, 72 points doesn’t guarantee Top 4 place……… Lemme explain…… What if there are 4 teams levelled at 72?……won’t you start depending on goaL differences?…… To make it clear, Goals win us games… Goals brings us points
Let’s forget about given mediocrity a chance to reign in our hearts. I impore every Gooner to be positive in their thinking and let us and the Gunners be audaciously ambitious and be hungry to win the title. It is still possible for the Gunners to win this Premeir title with Arsenal possible total of 84 points.
I think I posted a comment about points etc a few days ago re: Catching Man City. IMHO anything less than 79 points would not be considered progress. At the start of the season I thought progress would be:
a) > or = 79 points
b) >75 goals scored
c) <35 goals conceded
d) 1 Trophy
With 10 remaining matches – we need to yield at least 25 points out of 30. Which means 8 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw in the final 10 games. Winning all remaining games would give us a fighting chance to win the title!
We need to score at least 22 goals and not concede more than 5 goals in the final 10 matches.
We're still in the FA Cup – we can do Manure they don't impress at all..we can beat all the remaining teams in the FA Cup, there is ABSOLUTELY no doubt about that.
On the UCL…we can over-turn the deficit against Monaco – we can play with freedom and without fear…it's theirs to lose from this position…they will tighten up! And when we play with nothing to lose – we are at our best! After that who knows 🙂
This is achievable and should be the target for the team…we can measure progress here. Sure like all fans i crave the silverware and success but to me, as importantly, I love watching my Arsenal play beautiful confident faultless football…that's what I want to see. When they do…inevitably they win.
It's gutting when we lose and in reading the posts here I see lots of Gooners channeling their hurt through a blame game – angry fingers pointed at the board, AW and a selection of players. Understandable.
Arsenal are arguably one of the most frustrating teams in the WORLD to support (not just my opinion but it's been said by many respected pundits) – so much talent, so much potential, so much ability and yet fail to deliver consistently. At their best – unplayable…at their worst – easy pickings. Plagued by injuries year in, year out. etc, etc…we know it all too well.
But we stick by the whole CLUB through thick and thin…that includes the board, manager, staff and players….cos we're GOONERS through and through. That's what GOONERS do.
I'm not an AKB or anything to the contrary…he is the manager, he is an absolute professional, he has the respect of the players and staff, and while he's there I support him. Sure I don't understand some of his decisions but then again, I don't have all the facts or information he has. We just need to trust that he's doing his best for a club he clearly loves deeply. You'd be misguided to think otherwise.
I believe we can have a storming finish to the season and surprise a few folks.
First order of business – knock Man Utd out of the FA Cup with a comprehensive thrashing in their own backyard and fill the stadium with our song!