So today will complete the first half of the season, and it is amazing that Arsenal are still in the race for the Top Four despite the massive shake up to the management structure after Arsene Wenger left the club in the summer. Unai Emery has come in and has achieved more than we expected after our first two matches and right now the Gunners are in the breakaway group of five that has pulled away and are currently 8 points ahead of Man United, who lead the chasing pack.
Chelsea and Arsenal are the two teams vying for Fourth place and are only separated by goal difference, but with both of us 5 points below Spurs in Third it looks like it is the Blues that we have to overcome to regain our Champions League status. But can we do it with our ongoing defensive problems? The Gunners legend Martin Keown is not convinced we are ready yet, as he told the Mail: “Arsenal need to add to their group and I can see them doing a lot of business in the summer. They are thin on the ground defensively and have had to rush back Laurent Koscielny. I did not blame him for those mistakes against Southampton. That was the second time he had started in the space of just four days, having been out for seven months.
“I feel Chelsea will be a big obstacle in the Gunners’ battle to qualify for the Champions League — both in the league and in the Europa League.”
But should Keown write us off so quickly when we still have a whole half a season in front of us? Let’s be honest not even many Arsenal fans thought we would be challenging for a Top Four place this season, but now we have got this far, should we now believe we can finish above Chelsea and finish in the Top Four?
ADMIN
Yes we can
I think Martin Known is not correct for writing us off from the top 4 race. I know we have had a couple of poor results but it’s because of our injury crisis. I believe that if our team of management staff including Unai, Raul and Sven can get their decisions right on a Torriera kind of defensive/winger signing this winter we can even push for the top 3.
I believe in Emery and I also believe with the trio of Unai, Raul and Sven we can spend 60 million every window and still get quality business done. I’m not saying this because I don’t like spending but this is what we have to deal with (stingy Kronke). Happy holidays gunners
I don’t think we can at the moment given how paper-thin our squad is. We’re down to the bare-bones at the back, and with Miki now out for almost 2 months, Ozil’s back issues, and no more Welbeck, we’re also struggling upfront. We cannot afford any more injuries right now!
The absolute minimum in January has to be: CB, RW.
We have a decent shot in Europe, it actually looks realistic if we can avoid major injuries and or bring in some quality in Jan. None of the CL teams we wanted to avoid dropped down, that was our first stroke of good fortune. A Madrid focked it up last season, if it wasn’t for that, we’d be in the last 16 right now ..because we are Arsenal I say we would’ve made it. It would be nice to win the Europa trophy, it’s actually a nicer looking trophy than the CL yoke.
We’ll need to keep pace in the league all the same, Che do look at the minute most likely to get dragged into a scrap than Spu do. That was some win from Spu, the confidence will surely be too high right now for them to drop points against non top six – eight teams.
Today is hugely important points, Liv coming up means nothing but the three points will do. That Sou game made a difference to our away form, we were doing well, you could write off the odd draw as unlucky, but then Sou changed it to a bit of a bad patch. Today we’re looking to bounce back, we got the job done on the weekend but it’s this game now ..that we try to turn it (form) around.
Good luck today lads, you’ll need to play with fire, but make sure someone extinguishes Torriera afterwards.
If it comes down to us and Chelsea for the last champions league spot am afraid we will be back again in the Europa League next season. Chelsea is very ambitious and is always after titles, spending and winning their last premier league title in the last 2 years. I love Arsenal but am aware of our limitations..I wasn’t absolutely sure with Emery but after losing nearly every big game this season I’d say we most probably can’t handle the pressure, at least not this season.
What big game have we lost what are you talking about
OT
When is the new spud hole due to be opened?
We should first worry about our teams performance and consistency instead of worrying about when our rivals will lose form.
Make all our players fight like the other clubs that are doing much better than us. We need consistency.
Spurs have now scored as many goals as we have, though conceding 6 less.
I have a feeling we will struggle tonight.
Yes and with City struggling at Leicester, spurs could be second tonight!
Meanwhile we are worried about losing to Brighton……
Let’s concentrate on getting all our players to keep fighting and grafting as a team.
No more passengers allowed in the team.
Come on Arsenal.
We are Arsenal. We should aim for the league and not fourth place. We need the consistency. We should sign an attacking midfielder in January . Anyone of Fekir Nabil/Dembele. A player who can take players on. We have to also sort out our defense. Get Cahill. Fourth place is not the target. Winning the league is the target.
Winning the League this Season is not or should not be target..
Leno
Amn lisch Sokratis kola
Ramsey guend
Özil Laca Auba !!
Coyg!?
The team is out Ozil Laca and Auba starts hence another win for us guarantee
I sarted the season saying Man City will find it difficult to retain the title – it is one of the hardest things to do.
What will be interesting now is to see if Liverpool can deal with Spurs if they continue to chip away at their heels. Liverpool would of focused on keeping up with City but now they will need to focus on being the masters of their own destiny.
Poch is doing a Wenger. Credit to him and them working on their project. Players are enjoying and believing in their plans.
Sarri is learning about the league, and with Chelsea willing to not settle on their current standards they can invest £100m and chance their fortunes.
This leads me to arsenal. We are in a new process after 22years under our old management and we have so far achieved only 22 games unbeaten and yet still 5th. We have an unbalanced paper thin squad and a manager learning what the league is all about…
Maybe top four is a task too far for us This year but it should not stop (and I don’t think it will) our desires to achieve the best we can. With these aims we can assess how far we are from the work really required.
At the moment our defence is our main issue but we also need to consider we are not so good across the pitch. Leno,bellerin,holding,sokratis Are our future but that’s not good enough! In midfield we are short beyond xhaka torriera and Guendouzi. Further up top we can be excited by Emile-Rowe Nelson Iwobi Auba ozil and laca but we need a few more additions.
It’s not a totel solution to just add Players, we need to allow them to settle and that takes time.
It’s frustrating to see spurs Liverpool city doing the business but we have to be patience and hope our manager knows what’s best. I believe he will succeed but I don’t want a one season triumph but a process that offers long term solutions. Unainwas at 4 Spanish teams that through one reason or another where rich poor and he achieve way beyond expectations.
I feel we are in good hands with Raul Sven and Unai.
not on our performance against Brighton, i don’t think we’ll finish higher than 6th place.