Yeah, a draw is fine - there is something nice about picking up 2 points on both teams - but we're never going to catch Man U. We might just catch Chelsea.
I'd take a draw with a few red cards and injuries. Not to wish injury on a player but a long term one to Bruno Fernandes would be very interesting.
Spurs get Kane injured and their form drops off a cliff
Liverpool get Van Dijk injured and their form drops off a cliff

City and Chelsea have huge squads and don't seem to have that single talisman that everything goes through. Man U are different though - Bruno is right up there for player of the season - his record is incredible. At the moment Dias at City pips him but only because City will probably win the league

I don’t think so. And I did say part of it not all of it. It’s true of all managers with players they sign and don’t sign. I’m trying to remember but did not Martinelli’s more electrifying moments come before Arteta arrived? And He wasn’t doing this in the u23s. He’s made it as far as I’m concerned certainly in terms of his basic value to the team, “great” clearly isn’t the bar looking at certain players performances over the past 6-9 months.

I just don't see fourth happening. Chelsea are picking up and I'm sure Liverpool will too.

Fifth or sixth of the other hand ... Leicester look to be in trouble with injuries and the hammers are likely to fade. Spurs finally making the most of Bale is a concern though.

I don't disagree with that.

Well that was a good all round performance. The fact Leicester were not defensive helped us.

On another issue - I thought VAR worked properly for a change. That is what it should be like.

AG,
Well being you did say Arsenal had never been relegated, did prompt me to post the "history" lesson.
That's your choice to choose ignore a 1913 reality. Also, my post was in response to another poster's suggestion for anyone to say Arsenal had been relegated.

In the VAR review for the Man U penalty yesterday there were a number of Man U and Chelsea players only a few yards behind the referee as he watched the replays on his pitchside monitor. This is not allowed in the rules. Both sets of players should have been moved away by one of the officials and then yellow carded if they didn't.

I see Man U are whinging that an article on the Chelsea website before the game influenced the referee - the website basically said Maguire was lucky not to concede a penalty when the two teams last played each other, which is absolutely true and of course very partisan as a club official website is going to be - does Ole really think that a) the ref read that article and if he did b) was therefore influenced by it to not give a handball against Hudson-Odoi?

Luke Shaw also complained saying the ref told Maguire he can't give the penalty because it would cause too much controversy. I think Man U and their fans have taken that to mean it would cause controversy because everyone already thinks Man U get too many penalties - whereas the more logical explanation if that is what the ref said would be that he doesn't think it is a penalty so it would be controversial to give it.

Since Arteta bought Smith Rowe in to the side at home to Chelsea Arsenal are 3rd in the form table, behind City who have 12 wins from 12 and also behind West Ham by a point.

First 13 games of the season - 14 points
Second 13 games of the season - 23 points

The last 13 games extrapolates in to 73 points across the season. Good enough for top 4.

So we are factually heading in the right direction. 2 or 3 new players in the right areas may allow us to push on next year.

Inconsequential details about the timing of substitutions and the like are an irrelevance.

Or details about whether our central midfielders passes the ball forward at a high enough rate?

No that’s pretty consequential

Well, apparently we're making progress anyway.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... s-23583442

There is Piers Morgan, who is quick to judge and rant. And then there is Piers Morgan, who is man enough to immediately apologise and admit he was wrong to judge too strongly.

Respect to him, to dare to judge without fear of being shot down from those differing his views. And respect to him for quickly admitting when he knows he was wrong.

We are all humans
We are all with our own egos
We all have opinions
We like our opinions to be heard
We love to be right, and know when we are wrong
We are proud of ourselves, and know when we are humbled
Live and Let Live!

It might be worth noting that four of those first 13 games were away to members of the Big Six, which was always likely to make our start to the season look disproportionately bad.

Interesting graphs to show the times in games when we score and concede.
It seems to struggle to score early or late and conversely tend to concede early or late and also that horrible period just before half time.

Things to improve:
Concentration to not concede at these 3 vital points in games
Motivation to hit the ground running in games and get earlier goals
Fitness levels to keep going late on in games

True, although this is any season has far less reliance on home-away bias for teams. In fact our away record is better than our home record this year.
The 4 big 6 games we played in the first 13 we picked up 3 points away to Man U (lost to liverpool, spurs and city). Since then we've played 3 top 6 games and picked up 4 points at home to chelsea and home to man U (loss to City) So I don't think there is too much weight to be added to the quirk of the fixtures.

Of course lets see where we are after 38 games if we want true half season analysis and improvement, but for me the performances now and then are so different even in games we are losing now.

No worries Zed. My response to you said 'in jest'. If anyone were to ask me if Arsenal were ever relegated obviously I'd say yes. 'Another poster' is obviously someone I have on ignore for a reason. Possibly the either of the 2 people you quoted, whom everyone knows I ignore BECAUSE of misquoting and trolling.

I said to ltg:
"I choose to ignore that (that being us relegated). We have never been relegated. That's the story I'm sticking with."
No one reading that would take that as someone who didn't know we were relegated. My jokingly not wanting to acknowledge it and any other person taking issue with that is silly. And encouraging others such as yourself and others to 'give me a history' lesson, is more about trolling than anything else.

Which is one of a myriad reasons I ignore them. Nothing honest, substantive, just trolling. And their intent is to get an argument going for attention from me. I'll leave it that. No more responses on my part on this matter as it will only encourage them and if I choose to continue ignoring being relegated for fun, I'll do so.

Cheers all the same. Burnley next on the chopping block...hopefully.

Have you changed your views on Xhaka? I reckon he's been very good and progressive this season.

I regret engaging with him. Lesson learned!

Live and let live, I generally agree with, but Piers Morgan? Seriously, he deserves little respect. Today he occupies a powerful media position and lives a priviliged lifestyle, a remarkable outcome for a man who turned a blind eye, even enabled, the phone hacking of hundreds of people when he was editor of the Daily Mirror. The Leveson enquiry found he knew, and did nothing about the criminal acts carried out by his journalists and investigators. And then we have him high-horsing about government failings over Covid, and criticising celebrities for breaking rules, only to then fly off to Antigua at Christmas when the population was advised to stay at home! As for football, Arteta knew more about the game when he was in nappies than does the "morbidly obese" Morgan. As you may gather he is not my favourite Arsenal fan...

Since Everton is above us and I'm not too fond of them, I'll go with Soton tonight. One day I'll delve into the old Pompey vs Soton rivalry which as I understand goes beyond football and into one city saying the other took their jobs. Not sure how much of that is true but seems interesting.

One of my favorite jokes from a couple decades ago when
Q: What does James Beattie and the Titanic have in common?

A: Neither one should have left Southampton.

First time I heard that joke I burst out laughing. Still gives me a chuckle.

No I haven’t. I thought he had a decent game yesterday though.

We know what he is and what he isn’t at this point. I don’t believe you can have a midfielder that immobile in the middle of the park if you have aspirations of winning the title. The introduction of Emile Smith Rowe and partey have helped him

Irrespective of Xhaka's qualities on the pitch - which are subjective. One thing that can't be argued is his robustness and fitness. In his entire Arsenal career he's only missed 18 games through injury and never seems to need resting.
From years and years of bemoaning constant injuries it does seem like we're over this problem - or at least no worse than any other team.
Given the amount of injuries teams have had this season we've actually done quite well in this regards

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/56236872

Oooops

Our first goal yesterday really was a beauty - it's rare to see teams even try something like that, and even more rare that it's so well executed and leads to a goal.

My favorite among such free kicks is Thomas Brolins goal against Romania at the 1994 World Cup. When you see goals like that, you wonder why teams don't try it more often.

http://youtu.be/48x5dX-x7r4

Xhaka is a conundrum. He has some good qualities. He appears to have leadership abilities and seems very respected by his teammates. He has had some decent games. I personally think we can and should do better. How many teams in the PL would he get in the first XI? Subjective question but valid one.

Anyway, one attribute he does have that rarely employs is that booming long range strike of his.

Wow, I didn't know all these about him.

haha, look at those shirt sleeves

I agree, blokes a snide.

I always thought his early appearance on have I got news for you showcased his true attitude and character. Basically the press out of control.

https://youtu.be/N6TcgfjcOPU

I honestly don’t understand how he wasn’t nicked for Leveson. He joked with ulrika Johnson about the content of her voicemail messages the former England manager left her.

Wow, now I am enlightened about Piers Morgan. As vile as Trump!

No, be fair to Donald...

Arsenal and Spurs were both drawn away from home in the first leg of their Europa ties. As Arsenal are the domestic cup winners our tie takes precedence and Spurs will now play at home in their first leg as they can't have us both playing at home on the same night.
Two points
1) given what nearly happened with Benfica, I'd rather play away in the second leg when there are no fans in the stadium as you potentially get an extra 30 minutes for more away goals
2) the NLD is sandwiched between these two games so we'll have a long journey back from Greece whilst Spurs will have played at home the week before

Switched fixtures. Advantage Spurs.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/cartilagef ... amo-zagreb

At times, yes. Depends on the topic

I don't think it should be underestimated just how impressive our performance yesterday was, considering Saka and Aubameyang didn't start. Looking at the teams above us in the table, the only ones I could see put in a performance like that with their two best attackers out are City, Liverpool and Chelsea. No way Man Utd would do it without Rashford and Fernandes, or Tottenham without Kane and Son.

If Pépé keeps his form up and Willian continues playing like that we have some really great options for rotation with the schedule being what it is. Aubameyang and Lacazette as central strikers, Smith-Rowe and Ødegaard for the no 10 position, and Saka, Pépé, Willian and Martinelli for the wide positions is easily top 4 level depth.

It would be great to get a '2 fer' and beat Sperz and Mourinho.

Is the thinking towards Pépé now moving more that he isn't a bad player he's just a player who needs the right tactics and team mates around him in order for him to thrive? Added to that his attitude, desire and workrate have definitely changed for the better in the last 2 months.

Some players can fit in a team and naturally shine and play to their best - someone like Fernandes at man U or I think just brilliant all round players like De Bruyne or Van Dijk will play well whether you play possession football, high line, low block etc. But some players (most players to be fair) need the tactics to suit them.

Pépé has played his best for us when he's had a full-back bombing on the overlap be that Tierney when he plays on the left or Cédric when he plays on the right. The link up with Bellerin hasn't really worked as yet. Also, having a natural 10 like Smith-Rowe and Ødegaard gives him that inside pass and players to bounce off.

We were used to seeing Pépé isolated on the right wing, usually passing backwards or taking on too many players and fizzling out. If we get players close to him he can use them and make runs off them or can use them as a decoy to create space for himself and drive infield.

For what it is worth Pépé frustrated me not because he was poor per se but because he really did have talent but he or we weren't using it to the maximum. You only have to see some of the tight skill, hold up and rolling of players or his ability to hit those first time shots on his left as the ball comes across him to see there is a natural talent that lots of players won't ever reach - but they were beating him in their effectiveness, decision making and effort. He's now added those things to his game and he's really enjoyable to watch. He had Thomas on toast in that first half, it is rare a manager has to sub a full-back at half time for fear of a) him getting sent off and b) getting torn apart - but that's what Pépé did to him.

https://twitter.com/TheSportsman/status ... 24579?s=20

Why can't this be implicated in the premier league?

Full and clear explanation for fans and players of what's going on. The worst that will happen is a few swear words will be heard early on - but that would soon stop when the players realise when they talk to the ref they can be heard by millions and any swearing is not going to put them in a favourable light. You don't need the ref's mic on all the time, just when there is a VAR review.

I also like the way in other sports the on field ref will confer with the VAR to get the decision and then say to him 'tell me when I'm on screen' so he then knows that everyone can see him clearly when he explains the decision.

Indeed, all of those are genuine first teamers. The other great thing is that they seem to be able to slot in seemlessly.

We have similar depth and ability rotate in the defensive positions. Clearly we could do with another fullback (or two if bellerin leaves) but Cédric is feeling more like a genuine first teamer.

Midfield is starting to feel pretty good. Even Elneny is pretty decent for 4th choice.

Overall, we are in a position where we can make 5 or 6 changes and not feel like we are putting out a 'second eleven' or in any way losing our cohesiveness.