You’re right!

Brilliant. Thanks so much for that.

And what about the Pépé effort that was saved?

VAR also getting some practice. 3 in our favour (correctly) now.

When it works properly VAR is excellent both for the game and the fans.

The problem when it happens is still nearly always a ref problem.

Fully agree with that.

Duh! A defensive mistake.

The ref is giving soft frees.

Raise your hand who knew they were gonna equalize.

Another lead thrown away

Yay!!!!

Ceballos!

Oooh yes - 2 - 1 !

Ceballos! great counter

Any news on Danny Mills?

Excellent. A much better performance. Improved throughout the game. Super result.

PS RVP unimpressed though.

It'll do.

Full time. The disappointment in the commentators voice in comparison to when Sheff Utd got their equaliser. Unbelievable.

Talksport making the whole narrative about officials being under scrutiny, Sheff utd rightly had 2 goals disallowed from VAR - why is that controversial?

The pundits were scratching their heads about it. An error perhaps. Which makes you wonder what else they get wrong.

I'm hoping for the best obviously but its probable we won't be in Europe at all next season.

That was probably the best performance that I’ve seen from Pépé for us. Which is hugely encouraging.

There is some light in there

I think Tierney and Pépé are decent players. Just need to find their vocation and play regularly. Maitland Niles did well and whilst willock is clumsy he gets in decent positions.

If only we had better give and go midfielders it would make such a difference. Paying Özil that huge contract and letting Ramsey go on a free was devastating for us in hindsight

With AMN behind him rather than Bellerin. I'd read an article questioning why the link up between bellerin and Pépé hadn't and doesnt work as well as the link ups on the left side. One theory was most of our centre-mids like to naturally drift left which leaves a gap on the right-centre mid to link between Bellerin/Pépé

That was welcome. We could have lost but we won. It wasn’t a great performance but again, I thought we were the better team.

2 away wins in a row. This one without Aubamayang. Hope we avoid City in the semi final draw (assuming they win their QF) I think we have an inferiority complex against City (and Liverpool) that makes it very difficult for us to beat them. In the same way I don't see that same mental block against Chelsea and Man U

Watch Saka for our winner, nice turn half way in our own half, drives 30 yards right through their midfield, picks the right pass for Nketiah and then keeps running to drag their entire defence with him and leave the switch ball to Pépé wide open. Pépé nearly messed it up but Ceballos was there to finish it

Wooohooo we're on a run maybe evn two runs............

8 goals and 8 assists from Pépé now for the season, If he could get in double figures for both by the end of the year there wouldn't be many others in the league who could say the same.

I also had the misfortune of hearing a bit of Danny Mills on the radio and as usual he was his chippy self about us. I agree with Rich that it probably stems from his playing career when unfortunately for him he had to face dominant Arsenal teams who often showed him up to be a journeyman footballer. As for the match, it wasn't a great spectacle and it showed up some of our weaknesses such as a lack of midfield creativity and vulnerability from balls lofted into the area. But on the plus side you can see the players are trying to be patient, solid and keeping control of the ball. I would be amazed if we won the FA cup this season given the teams still left in it, but I think there are some green shoots of recovery.

Not a single yellow car for Arsenal today, going by the league average we would have had 3 cards for our 13 fouls. Makes a difference when you don't have Atkinson and Dean reffing every game we play!

We have a very promising prospect - let's keep him!

Semi final draw is at half time of Newcastle v Man City on BBC1

Choices are Man Utd, Chelsea or Man City, poss Newcastle.

I'd rather face Chelsea in the final than the other two, so that's my choice.

*%^@ we get Man City.......................

Come on Newcastle......

The league campaign is done. We aren't going to do much better in the league than we already have been doing.
I am hoping we go for it all in the cup. if we can get to a final that would be fantastic obviously. Either Man Utd or Chelsea. I'd take a lot of joy in beating either. Tough to say who I'd prefer. I'd 'looov it, really looov it' if we beat ta Lampard managed Chelsea. But beating Man Utd in the final would be sheer joy. '79, '05, am I missing any others?

4 away games in 11 days. That’s a tough schedule.
Wilder complained about sheff Utd having to play 3 away games after his home game against us, said ‘I’ll leave you to work our why that is‘ it annoys me when managers hint at some sort of conspiracy against their team, the fixtures were set at the start of the season and the extra away game was due to a postponed game due to the league cup final. Why doesn’t the interviewer challenge them on it? Ask them to explain what they mean.

8th place will get a europa league spot this season if City’s van from Europe still stands.
Top 5 minus city will be champions league
6th will get europa due to city winning the league cup
7th or arsenal winning the fa cup will get the Fa cup europa spot
8th will then get the europa spot usually for 5th place

We can’t afford to sack off the league, we’re more likely to get a europa space via the league than the fa cup considering who we need to beat.

David Ornstein is suggesting Folarin Balogun could leave Arsenal this summer. He only has 12 months left on his current deal. Was only given an 18 month contract when he signed pro terms. The kids has scored bags and bags of goals for the youth teams. We turned down a £5m bid from Brentford in the winter.

Arsenal can't seem to work out what position the club sees themselves in. An absolute eleite level club who wouldn't let contracts constantly run down, or a second tier club who realise they won't always be able to keep hold or match the ambitions of their best players so ensures they are moved on at the right time for good money.

Malen, Gnabry, Reine-Adelaide would be worth a combined £150m at an estimate right now. Not one of them had a buy back or sell on clause.

Thanks. Hadn't realized it went that deep into 8th place. We should be able to squeak by the Blades but you never know.

Morning Rich. Many seem to see Ornstein in the context of whatever he says, happens. I’m a member of the AST. I didn’t go to many of their meetings before the lockdown (they’ve been done via zoom since, which I also haven’t bothered with).

Anyway, one I did go to in person had Ornstein as the guest speaker. I can’t recall the terminology used to introduce him, but it was something along those very lines. Little short of what he says about Arsenal is a guaranteed fact. This and other praise I’d seen of him made me do some research on his record for accuracy concerning Arsenal.

Assuming the stuff I read highlighting where he’d got things badly wrong were true, his reputation isn’t quite as deserved as some seem to automatically accept. I saw examples given where what he said had turned out to be completely off course from what did eventually transpire. Sadly I don’t recall these specific cases, but as long as what I’d read on his reports were right, it struck me that he is more than capable of getting things hopelessly wrong.

Look, it could well be that his record on Arsenal is better, even way better, than many journalists. My guess would be that he is, as surely his reputation must be based on something valid? But having said that, I saw enough from what I did read about him to strongly indicate that what he says isn’t always trustworthy. Maybe he isn’t as infallible as many appear to think?

Morning Rich

8th or 7th look the likeliest options and neither fills me with anything other than dread.

We'd be starting in the preliminary rounds so 2 or 3 weeks before the Prem kicks off. I think there are 2 or 3 Home & Away qualifier rounds before the proper Group games. We'd be schlepping around the poxiest backwaters of Europe - or bloody Asia - playing in empty stadiums with the barest of TV interest. Where's the financial incentive? What's the point?

I honestly think 9th or 10th would be far better for us.

I suppose it comes down to whether the guaranteed payday from being in the Europa League (£20-30m) is offset by any extra boost we get from not being in Europe at all? I doubt it considering each prem league spot only earns an extra £1-2m Then there is the factor of not being able to offer any European football at all.