By the time we get to the end of February Arsenal should be in the quarter-finals of the FA cup and we will also have a much better idea if we have got any chance of getting to the same stage of the Champions League as Barcelona will already have been to north London for the first part of our two legged tie.
But even though we are all desperate for the Gunners to do well in these cup competitions it is the prize of the Premier League trophy that we are really after. And Arsene Wenger reckons that the month of February is a massive one for Arsenal in the quest to regain that title of champions.
In a report on the Arsenal website the Frenchman explains that he is targeting a very positive month and that the return of key players like Alexis Sanchez and Francis Coquelin from the injury list should help the team to push on and take control of the title race. He admitted that January was not the best month in terms of points gained but he also thinks that the performances have not been too bad and that as long as the players can cope with the pressure of expectation then we should end the month in a very good position.
Wenger said, “The [coming weeks] can be pivotal but not decisive. They will give a clear indication of the strength of the teams and who can cope with the importance of the games. At the end of the day somebody will win and the team who will win has to go through the important games with strong performances.
“It’s a big month for us. I am quite confident, having everybody available, that we can do very well. What is important now is for us to be capable of focusing and coping with that kind of expectation level.
“I don’t feel that we have really struggled recently because we had two difficult away games with Stoke and Liverpool and we didn’t lose. We had a bad result against Chelsea and of course, if you put the three results together, it looks like we’ve struggled but overall the Chelsea result is under special circumstances.
“If you take the history of our season, we started with a defeat against West Ham and the way we responded and where we are today shows that this team has the capability of responding under pressure. I’m sure that we will show that in February.”
The schedule for Arsenal this month is Southampton at home tonight, Bournemouth away on Sunday and then a week off before Leicester come to London the following Sunday. Then it’s Hull City in the FA cup the next weekend, Barcelona at home on the Tuesday and the month ends with Man United away.
How happy do you think Arsenal fans will be after all that?
Mertesacker has played 18 Premier League
matches this season compared to Gabriel’s nine appearances.
They have an identical 55 per cent win rate when they play, but with Gabriel on the pitch the Gunners concede a goal every 244 minutes an astonishing record and far better than the 86 minutes per goal conceded with Mertesacker in the team. Gabriel also makes 1.6 tackles per game compared to 1.05 for Mertesacker, while the Brazilian makes three interceptions per game compared to 1.3 for the German defender., Goal,com
And that’s why wenger keeps picking mertesacker! ?
How Stubborn can you get? ?
Mertesacker is Gabriel’s “senior”
Flamini is El-Nenny’s “senior”
Walcott and the OX are Iwobi’s “seniors”
Chambers and Debuchy were Bellerin’s “seniors” only recently too
See how it works? 🙂
Mertesacker as had his day he is a back up for the next 12 months, he needs to be replaced and sell him off to get some money back from him, Maybe sell him to MAN UTD they seem to be buying so donkeys the last few years
I think if we do go with that then allot of supporters will be surprised to find that we will still make odd silly errors and still on the end of bad results, whether it would be less or more often I cant say. I think Per still has a place, I would like to see us maybe dropping him against a handful of teams even though I’m one of the fans who thinks you should never tinker with defence unless injury/rest. For Per to be at his best Arsenal need to be switched on, and when that happens Per can be our best defender.
@cliff.
thank you.
The 55% percent win rate – Pers is that after 18 games while Gab has his in only 9 games, thats bad reading on Gabs behalf and could go some way to proving Per might have leadership skills gone unnoticed. All depends on the quality of the opposition too. That 244 minutes before conceding doesn’t sound right with a 55% win rate in 9 games, we should have done allot better.
whatever the hell is wrong with Wenger
must be spiritual!
Let’s wait and see how happy we will be at the end of today, let alone, the end of the month! ?
It all depends on what arsenal team turns up to these games, The real arsenal can beat anyone on the day, But the other side of arsenal are a bad of s_it and struggle against even crap teams
What happened to one game at a time.
Different note altogether, I am delighted that the last remnants of that Che team the Tinkerman built is all but gone. But he has built a new team, at least no Abramovic money thank god.
Wengers likely starting 11.
Cech
Bellerin
Koscielny
mertesacker
Monreal
Ramsey
Flamini
Ozil
Sanchez
Campbell
Walcott
ot…
canelo alvarez vs amir khan.
wtf khans chin cant deal with welterweights. gd luck with a middleweight like alvarez
There isn’t likely to be much change to the starting lineup. The only question about today’s lineup is whether it’s Walcott or Campbell for the right wing. Mertesacker will start, Giroud will start, Ozil will start, Ramsey will start and Gabriel will be on the bench.
Elneny can’t even get in the squad. Why did we sign him?
Its 9pm here in Zimbabwe .. just finished work now i have to rush home to watch my beloved Arsenal. COYG!!!
THAT TOUCH from Özil 😀
Arsenal fans world wide dream on there is no way these lazy booms will defeat Barcelona not with the likes of Messi, Nemar, and Suarez. I cannot wait for Arsenal FC losses to leave Champions League so we will watch good soccer oh before I forget let’s see if they will make to the quarter finals of the FA cup local club.