We don't have much in terms of squad depth, but I'd much rather have the better starting eleven than the deepest squad. It's why Liverpool can challenge - and even beat - Man City. I think our starting eleven is clearly superior to Tottenham and Man Utd, and more importantly we have more points than they do. We're clearly favorites at this point.

It ain’t r%$&^*

I don’t know what r%$&^* is supposed to mean. But look at the possible points for each side:

Arsenal 84
Tottenham 78
Manchester United 77
West Ham 75

It clearly is in Arsenal’s own hands. There’s still a long way to go, there’s still a lot to play for, things aren’t safe, and there are difficult fixtures remaining for each club.

But how the expression is commonly used, it is clearly is in Arsenal’s own hands.

Stuffy moralising

Having just watched MOTD, I’m even more convinced about that I said above (post 544424, page 13611). I would expect a top keeper to keep Saka’s shot out. I’d be disappointed if either Leno or Ramsdale had let it in, and I’d expect Manchester United’s De Gea to as well (a great shot stopper, albeit other aspects of his game may not be at the same level as his shot stopping). Leicester’s Schmeichel and Chelsea’s Mendy too.

I think Martinez is a fine keeper with a very good all round game. But he could have done better with our goal today. Gladly he didn’t.

You call it stuffy moralising. I see it as using the expression ‘in your own hands’ how it’s commonly meant.

Happy for you and me

Spot on, that is the huge difference in this Arsenal team. No passengers, all fighters.

There is better understanding and communication within this defensive unit. Kudos to Arteta and Jover. It is pleasantly shocking that we have not conceded from a corner all season (what's the count now?). What a difference from when every corner was a worry for us.

Yes, it was frustrating. Cash should have had a card way before he committed his fourth foul.

Poor Pépé tried too hard, and got in his own way

Another sour grape. It was more than that, it showed the great team spirit.

Well said Bernard, it was but a simple expression commonly used. Why do we even need to debate the expression?

We have a decent amount of time to rest up and get our bearings before Palace. They will be a tough nut to crack

No one would be surprised if we got a draw. However, we are more than capable of getting all 3 points and I expect it given the circumstances and our current ambitions.

I don't know if anyone on the back pages have discussed the likelihood of it, but Liverpool's current form suggests its not that inconceivable they could run the table on trophies! All 4 competitions.

Has anyone done the domestic treble (league title, FA cup and League cup) in the same season? And if they win the CL, and the domestic cups and title?! Wow, not inconceivable and yes, a lot of luck would have to happen just like it did with Ferguson. Save for a Giggs run (we should have fouled him) and Bayern Munich not scoring a second time after hitting the post, once or twice was it? They'd have lost it.

It's crazy to think could happen. Did Milan do it with their great early 90s teams? I don't think Real Madrid or Barca has, but I am guessing. Maybe Juve? Or even BM?

He won't get it probably but Arteta should be in the conversation at least for manager of the year.
I think the short list should be:

Klopp
Moyes
Arteta
Pep
honorable mention: Lage

Absolutely correct.

https://languagecaster.com/languagecast ... own-hands/

If we’re looking to replace Xhaka in the summer for me it looks like the best way to do it is from outside the prem league. There have been lots of prem players names thrown around and unless we’re buying on potential (which I think would be wrong) I don’t actually see that many significant upgrades who are realistically getable. Xhaka is playing very well right now and his partnership with Partey is dominating central midfields up and down the country.

Weird sense of deju vu here.

I'm fairly certain you asked exactly this question about a year ago and received the answer.

Googling, or a memory superior that that of a goldfish, would also supply the answer.

I would prefer to see it happening organically. i.e. someone in the squad grabbing their chance when Xhaka is out. Trying to replace a player who is a first team starter is a big risk. Xhaka has his issues, but our midfield is working fine so why mess with it?

More generally, with the exception of striker, I reckon we will be looking to strengthen the squad with players with big potential, rather than buying players who would slot straight into the team.

Lokonga looks the only option organically, as you define it. Who else is there? AMN when he returns from loan? Still strikes me as more of a right back than midfielder. Elneny? No chance, although I think he’s a bit better than some have claimed.

Am I right in thinking the contracts of AMN and Elneny expire this summer? If I am then both their departures appear likely. Would we then be left with Lonkonga to cover not only Xhaka but Partey too? Or have I forgotten someone already in the squad, or am unaware of a bright prospect in the youth set up?

Lokonga’s first season arguably hasn’t gone quite as well as he and Arteta were probably hoping, and he doesn’t currently threaten Xhaka’s place as a first team regular. But I hope the potential is there for Lokonga to improve significantly.

EDIT: It seems AMN’s contract expires in 2023, so not this summer.

Partey is fast becoming our most important player. After a slowish, injury-interupted debut season he is now showing an increasing ability to consistently control the midfield in Vieira-like fashion, allowing others to play. He's a physical specimen which helps and together with his undoubted technical ability he really has looked the closest thing we've had to Vieira since he left.

I thought he was excellent against both City and Liverpool, we just didn't quite have the personnel to deliver on the measure of control he was able to give us in those games.

We seem to look slightly better balanced with Emile Smith Rowe on the left, he seems to float across the ground and his style of play seems to complement Tierney. However, it is difficult to drop Martinelli so its an interesting one for Arteta to work out. Not sure how we can get both in the side without dropping Lacazette, which would be a big risk so late in the season.

The last 3 prem games have had winners scored by arsenal academy players. Iwobi, Ayling, Saka

The biggest thing Emile Smith Rowe adds over Martinelli is making late runs in to the 6 yard box when the ball is on the right hand side (saka).
Emile Smith Rowe can be used to give Ødegaard a rest as well.

Striker is the main area to strengthen in the summer but a central midfielder who can play as an 8 or a 10 would be very useful as well

16 more points than last season at the same stage.

Rival fans will point to 1 game a week and the biggest spend in Europe. The biggest spend in Europe is almost certainly hugely wide of the mark when looked at in net spend and including wages which in a lot of cases rose far higher than the transfer fee itself. Man U have committed £52m to Ronaldo in wages alone. Varane would be even more over the length of his contract.

Rival fans will say anything they can to diminish what’s going on at Arsenal right now, even down to telling us we’re celebrating wins too much! We just need to keep our heads down, keep winning and see where we are at the end

Yeah. It’s not right for the team and the fans to enjoy themselves. How dare they.

Agreed. That is why I think its essential to strengthen the squad behind the existing first choice midfielders. More Lokonga types (I don't mean exactly the same attributes, but the same profile in terms of potential).

Roy Keane was (still is) big on Partey. He has taken far longer than I thought for him to show anything close to the player I thought we were getting. His shooting is way off target but he seems to be far more on target for Ghana and even for Atletico once in a while.

As for the left side, I agree that Emile Smith Rowe seems to work best with Tierney. I would like to see Martinelli as a lead center forward. I'd like to see him play a similar role Henry did. I'd like to see how that would work out. It might not but I'd like to see it tried.

I love Tierney's committment. I really do but I also seem him as a bit of a one trick pony. He's very uncomfortable on his right foot. he needs to work on that. He only seems to have one thing in his locker, use his pace to go left and cross. If he's over played left and forced on his right foot, he's stuck.

The fact that they clearly aren't enjoying it is not diminishing it for me at all. Long may they moan and gnash their teeth ... especially the ones who were laughing so hard after our first three games.

"No one likes us and we don't care"

I've adopted that mindset as well.

I see that cart horse lewandowski bagged himself another 2 goals yesterday taking his total to 45 for the season. Pathetic effort

*%^@ off Lewandowski stay away from our club !

Further to this point, I don't think it's fair to look at spending in just one window. We had a big rebuild on our hands, of course we're going to spend more than Man City who already have a finished squad. Their need to spend last summer wasn't very big, because they've already spent a fortune assembling their squad - I had a quick look at their starting eleven in their last game and the average cost of those 11 players was £49m. And that's with an academy player starting.

Aubameyang is scoring regularly now. Perhaps we should put a bid in for him.

I wouldn't expect anything less from Ashley Young who is a diving, cheating, cry baby, prat.

I’m not aware of anyone calling Lewandowski a cart horse. What I did is question the wisdom of signing a player who, depending on when the 2022/23 Premier League season starts, may well already be 34 before playing for us (his birthday is in August).

Considering the problems we faced in getting rid of Özil and Aubameyang when they had been given extremely lucrative contracts in their thirties, I really don’t think it’s unreasonable to express such doubts.

Especially as Lewandowski is on £369k a week, so £19.2m a year, at Bayern. Giving him a two year contract meeting his salary at Bayern would therefore cost £38.4m. Added to which his Bayern contract doesn’t expire until the summer of 2023, so you can be damn sure they’d want a transfer fee that’s significant enough to tempt them to sell. What would that be? £30m doesn’t sound an outlandish possibility. Taking account of wages and a transfer fee, for a two year contract it could thus cost Arsenal £68.4m to sign a player in his mid-30s, so inevitably on his way down.

I don’t think a remarkable scoring record for someone who plays for the biggest club and best team in what’s approaching an uncompetitive league (if Bayern win it, and they’re six points clear though Dortmund have a game in hand, this year will be their tenth Bundesliga title in a row), stops my question from being valid. Particularly as signing Lewandowski would contradict, if not reverse, Arsenal’s current transfer strategy of signing young and hungry players with the potential to improve.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thesun ... owski/amp/

I think you have that the wrong way round. Players like Lewandowski are why Bayern is so formidable. His records for Dortmund and Poland prove that. Also, he's been formidable in the champions league, against the best defenders in the world.

There is obviously the chance that his form would drop for us. However I would be surprised if he wasn't able to score upwards of 20 goals combining with Saka, Ødegaard, etc.

For me, the big issue would be whether we need the drama of such a high profile signing.

I would like to see us go with Emile Smith Rowe on the left, and Martinelli take on the Lacazette role. I'm optimistic, perhaps myopically, that it will work for us.

Nice gif going round of Rob Holding coming on the pitch and holding up his fingers....5....2....3 He's come on in our last 3 away games to beef up the defence and seal the 1 goal victory. It is a nice tactic for Arteta to have up his sleeve.