Kiernan Dewsbury Hall: “They all work hard for each other, that's the reason why they're top of the league. A couple of times we were on the counter & we looked up and just saw a sea of red.”

There are a couple of great clips ding the rounds that show this - 5-6 Arsenal players sprinting back when Leicester were on a counter, a 3v3 suddenly became a 4 v 9.

Dermot Gallagher confirmed (in his opinion in which you can count the number of times he disagrees with the infield decision on one hand)...Foul on their GK was the correct decision and Saka SHOULD have had a penalty

Trossard as a false 9 was quite refreshing and surprising. He is maybe a more natural fit with Martinelli on the left. He can drift that side and allow Martinelli to move in to the striker role.

Even with in his short time with us he’s shown himself to be a Swiss Army knife of a player and very good indeed.

Kiwior and Emile Smith Rowe start for the U21’s tonight v Chelsea

here's a link for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNME69yK9_g

https://youtu.be/nDvIeXHGzFc

Going back to fouls on GK it’s worth revisiting this shocking decision to allow this spurs goal v Leeds for one of the clearest fouls on a GK you’ll ever see.

How is a ref on var deciding there was absolutely nothing wrong with this? Helped spurs win this game.

https://twitter.com/kimmoFC/status/1630 ... 16960?s=20

Here is the clip to go with this

Word is Tierney off to the Toon.

I’ve seen Graham Potter is the latest manager to play the ‘Arsenal we’re patient with Arteta’ card. Managers do it so their bosses are patient with them but by doing it they’re also saying they can be as good as Arteta and that the circumstances are in some way similar at the start - it’s this part that stretches things too far.

Arteta walked in to an absolute horror show. Disruptive players and clearly not good enough players all over the squad, and the key difference is Arteta has little choice but to play these players and middle through it because there wasn’t an alternative in the squad and he was quite limited in what he could bring in in his first transfer windows - 2 loan signings in the winter and even in the summer the budget was just £75m to bring in Partey and Gabriel (plus Willian on a free and Ødegaard on loan) Potter has a mixed bag of players, not good enough ones and disruptive ones I’m sure but he’s got about 40 of them to choose from and spent the thick end of £300m in the same winter window Arteta got a couple of loans!

If any serious interest comes in for a player not considered 1st choice then it would be no surprise for the club to listen. I’d keep him but if you’re not first choice then you do have a price. £60m for Newcastle

Double that so it piques Chelseas interest ....

Absolutely. not remotely the same.

Potter has absolute main stays for their national sides like Felix, Havertz and silva. Arteta would have that squad in the top 4 I reckon.

That said the dim ones in our own fanbase wanted Arteta booted as well. There were notable meltdowns. When we signed Ben White and Ramsdale who were over priced English rubbish apparently as an example. People saying we had no style of play when now it’s totally evident our style is very linked to Artetas system. Absolute crayon munchers

Watched Kiwior for the u21s last night. Only played the 1st half, as planned, and had very little defending to do but his long diagonal passing is sensational.

Of course, until we see him tested defensively against PL quality opponents it is hard to judge just how good he is but his passing is top drawer.

I still refuse to contemplate winning the PL just yet. There are just too many really difficult games to go.....City, Liverpool and Newcastle away, Chelsea at home for example.

If we went into the last 10 games with a 10 point lead (very unlikely) I'd start to believe but we all now how quickly things can change in this league. Every game brings with it a certain degree of difficulty as we saw with Everton away so I take nothing for granted.

I was at my most confident after the Man Utd win. Right now, I fear we'll end up not only second, but looking at Man Utd with a wary eye towards the end.

That being said, finishing runner up would be fantastic and we'll do the 'what if' game about it for years to come. I also think we may end up playing Man Utd in the Europa cup final. That will cause my nerves to get frayed.

I watched a bit of it to. I came away thinking how far off the U21's are from the first team - that is no slight on them, just a reality check. Maybe there is a case of playing better with better players but it was the decision making that was the biggest stand out. So many poor decisions on the ball that comes with youth.

All fans get excited about young players but the reality is hardly any of them will make it at Arsenal - the bar is so high.

Agreed, We're too far out with too many games to go and not enough of a points gap.

I can't see anyway we win the league without getting something from the game away to City.

City have a few away games where they have been dropping points consistently so far this season (brighton, fulham, and brentford on the last day)

Continuing to talk to workers about the perks of his new agreement, Rishi Sunak emphasises that once the Stormont executive is back up and running, Northern Ireland will have "privileged" access to the UK and EU markets.

The prime minister hails it as the "world's most exciting economic zone".





…. Great terrific! It’s just the rest of the UK that remains utterly shackled then.

If Man U are still on our coat tails after their next 4 games they are a very serious threat.
Man U play, Liverpool (a), Saints (h), Brighton (a), Newcastle (a)
We have 5 games in the same period: Everton (h), B'mouth (h), Fulham (a), Palace (h), Leeds (h)

We need to be picking up 15 points from those 5 as tougher tests lay ahead.

Man U picking up 10 points from their 4 would be a very good set of results for them but would still leave them 10 points behind us if we win our 5.

I don't think Man U will win the title on the basis that I don't think they can catch both teams above them - they may catch one of us but I don't think both us and City slip up enough.

At the start of the season I would have been very happy to get into the CL, don't think we will win the league but how many more points would we need to qualify for a top 4 position. My guess would be approx 23/24 points

Beating Barcelona and winning the league cup against a side that has less league losses than anyone (I think, not sure), within striking distance of City are a huge boost and their fans and even some neutrals would argue are signs that they are back.

They have a rough league schedule over the next several matches but with their recent wins its not a stretch to say they could go on ANOTHER string of victories.

I don't think they'll win the league this season but they get close to either us or City if the stars align. And I don't think its a stretch they can be runner ups either.

Thought the Forum would like to know that my Villa tickets arrived in this morning's post.

Bona.

Is there any real difference between finishing second and finishing fourth? If there is, it is outside the set of thing that I care about (in descending order: winning the league, winning the Europa, coming in the top 4, finishing ahead of Spurs)

Hi Decaf

There is quite a difference, actually. TV and participation payments are graded - highest for the PL winner and successively lower for the other places.

I believe there's also the requirement for the PL 4th place to pre-qualify for the Competition proper.

https://www.football365.com/news/johnso ... tain-title

Pundits lining up to shift the goal posts all the time with us. We've been through:
"you're not a big 6 club anymore"
"you won't make top 4"
"you won't win the title"....and now
"if you do win the title, you won't retain it"......
"you won't compete for the title for 4 years straight"

Comparisons are made with Leicester which is a disservice to both us and Leicester. What they did was a miracle, 5000/1 outsiders and it was true that every other big team stumbled so they won the title on 81 points and were 10 clear of us. 71 points for 2nd place is unheard of.
This year Chelsea and Liverpool are underperforming but how often do all 6 of the big 6 perform at their best/title winning form. City are not at their 100 point level but that is literally the best any team has ever done, they're still pretty relentless. To say Man U are underperforming to aim a dig at Arsenal is a bit of a stretch as well. And where Liverpool and Chelsea have underperformed you get very good sides like Brighton and Brentford who have taken points off top 6 sides.

Newcastle are currently 5th with 41 points and 15 games remaining - if they won them all they could get to 86 points - so strictly mathematically we need another 30 points.

You're prediction of 23/24 points would mean Newcastle getting 38 points out of 45 available to pip us

Maintaining their 23 game form to the end of the season puts Newcastle on 67 points - which I'd say is pretty bang on what a 5th placed team gets. Which would leave us only needing a further 11 points to be above them.

Usually 70 points is a pretty solid benchmark to secure 4th. Top 4 really should be in the bag

I've said the same in my posts (that they won't win the title). But I don't think anyone can be dismissive of the past several days they have had. Again, beating Barcelona, winning the league cup over a side with the fewest losses, and beating City as well a few weeks ago, they seem on the verge of another run. They put together a run a couple months ago to get to touching distance of City.

My bigger worry is next season. They will buy in the summer. They seem back. As for the rest of this season, normally I'd say they will lose ground of either us or city. The previous week or so, says they could put some good results up. Two things that may continue to happen though that I'm hoping will happen. They being inconsistent in results against sides one would think they should be beating relatively easily and their having to get late goals for a win, which should backfire at times.

Hahaha.

Toney has accepted breaking the FA's betting rules for the 232 charges against him - expected to get a lengthy ban. So he scores an offside equaliser against us when he should/could have been banned and now he'll likely be banned for their games v Man U and Man City. Can someone remind me when we get our bit of luck in this title race?

When the ball bounces of the cross bar then onto Martinez's noggin into his own net in the 92nd minute?

I think 4th place teams in England gp straight into the group phases now?

I can't work up any excitement about prize money, important though it no doubt is.

My point is that it will be a massive disappointment if we don't win the league, and coming second rather than 3rd or 4th is just not going to be any consolation whatsoever.

Our first choice 11 (you can probably guess what Arteta would name) hasn't lost a game in the league.

The ball that hit Martinez's bonce?
Edit - I see Decaf got there before me!

Casemiro being suspended for United's game at the Emirates was quite helpful.

Saka's miraculous avoidance of major injury despite concerted and largely unchecked efforts to the contrary is another ... touch wood.

More than balanced out by Jesus injury for the same game and Martinelli’s good goal being ruled out at old Trafford against the same team

Is it lucky for players to remain injury free? I suppose if they’re getting hacked repeatedly it’s lucky for them to avoid those impact injuries….but staying injury free is an attribute just as important as any on pitch skill for me. Diet, lifestyle, training, recuperation, stretching can all contribute. Probably no coincidence that the two best players of the last 30 years have barely had an injury between them.

That’s fair enough. But compared to City and Man U I haven’t seen much of this.
I always go back to de Bruyne’s dive to win a penalty in the 95th minute at home to Fulham to win 1-0. When you see the penalties we’re denied every week that is a terrible decision.