But less so now. Sigh.

Not sure that should've stood, looks like he scored with his arm? Anyway, a draw hurts Leicester more than us. Two points dropped for West Ham is still a good result for us if it stands.

I therefore perceive each of Arsenal, West Ham, Tottenham and Manchester United as all having five really difficult matches left. Of course, they are all likely to drop points in games against others in the league. But as things stand, numerically I don’t perceive there being a material difference in the difficulty of those four clubs remaining games.

I’ve seen mentions of the difficulty of each club’s remaining games. I’ve put together what I consider the hardest fixtures of those clubs who I perceive as having a good chance of finishing fourth. I’m sorry but I’m not looking at Wolves as having a good enough chance of a top four finish to be included. People may well disagree with me writing Wolves off like this, for reasons I understand. But I just don’t see them as having a good enough chance to look at their remaining matches.

What I’ve done is taken the games each of Arsenal, West Ham, Tottenham and Manchester United have against Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham, Tottenham and Manchester United. Once again, I’m not including any remaining games against Wolves as worthy of inclusion. Again, some may disagree with me on that, but it’s the decision I’ve taken, wrong or right.

ARSENAL
Manchester United (h)
West Ham (a)
Tottenham (a)
Chelsea (a)
Liverpool (h)

WEST HAM
Liverpool (a)
Tottenham (a)
Chelsea(a)
Arsenal (h)
Manchester City (h)

TOTTENHAM
Manchester City (a)
Manchester United (a)
West Ham (h)
Liverpool (a)
Arsenal (h)

MANCHESTER UNITED
Manchester City (a)
Tottenham (h)
Liverpool (a)
Arsenal (a)
Chelsea (h)

I therefore perceive each of Arsenal, West Ham, Tottenham and Manchester United as all having five really difficult matches left. Of course, they are all likely to drop points in games against others in the league. But as things stand, numerically I don’t perceive there being a material difference in the difficulty of those four clubs remaining games.

If anything, our set of top fixtures look slightly easier in comparison. We've played City twice and have Liverpool at home. Chelsea away is a tough one obviously.

Both Man Utd and Tottenham have to play both City and Liverpool away, while West Ham have Liverpool and Chelsea away and also a home game against City. The head-to-head fixtures among the challengers for top four will be hugely important this season.

If anything, our set of top fixtures look slightly easier in comparison. We've played City twice and have Liverpool at home. Chelsea away is a tough one obviously.

Both Man Utd and Tottenham have to play both City and Liverpool away, while West Ham have Liverpool and Chelsea away and also a home game against City. The head-to-head fixtures among the challengers for top four will be hugely important this season.

I've made a call. Leicester will get a result.

4th place very much in our hands right now…..and if only to demonstrate how good a position we’ve put ourselves in that actually 3rd place is in our own hands. Far fetched I know but win our games in hand and beat Chelsea and we’d be ahead of Chelsea

This would be my hastily put together team of the season so far:
Ramsdale
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dias, Rudiger, Cancelo
Bernardo Silva, Rice, Foden
Salah, Jota, Bowen

Subs: Sa, Laporte, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Rodri, Gallagher, Raphinha, Dennis

From an Arsenal perspective you could make a case for White, Emile Smith Rowe and Saka as well

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-united/startseite/verein/985

And then on to Man U. They have the ability if they want to spend their way out of this, but looking at their squad, the majority of their main players are 27 or over. Greenwood may be lucky to play professional football again, wan-bisaka is not good enough, Sancho should come good but has gone backwards, ditto rashford. McTominey would have probably been moved on if he wasn't home grown - not good enough.

Then I just look at their players and set up every game, it was particularly damning that Hassenhuttel said something like "It is well known Man U are not good going in reverse" ie: tracking back and without the ball. It is totally true, Ronaldo can't press - he's from an era where forward pressing wasn't a thing. and Rashford, Sancho and Greendwood are all poor defensively and off the ball. There was a reason Southgate was picking Saka ahead of Sancho for England at the Euros - Southgate is a conservative manager and he demanded that protection from his wide men.

Defensively De Gea may make saved but he's not a modern GK, he's not great with the ball at his feet, doesn't sweep up and stays glued to his line any time the ball is in the box so can't relieve pressure. Every other country in Europe is laughing at the fee paid for Maguire. The guy is simply not a top CB for a club with trophy ambitions. He's slow, immobile and can't defend high up the pitch so you can't compress space with him in the side. Wan-Bissaka is another example of Man U almost being lazy in the transfer market and simply purchasing the flavour of the month from another prem team. He's good at sliding tackles but adds nothing offensively. Man U can't even try the lop sided formation we have that allows Tomiyasu to tuck in and not have to do the traditional overlapping full back role because Wan-Bissaka is so poor on the ball generally. Man U's central midfield has been pretty woeful for years, and now they are relying on two strikers with a combined age of 73 years old. Signing Ronaldo was a complete vanity signing with zero thought behind it.

We may still end up not pipping Spurs or Man U for 4th but when I look at the state of the squads and the general play, systems and tactics - and potential for all 3 squads we are absolutely miles ahead.

Hey Rich. Did you write this article?

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/ ... Jzu9SwdHv4

The incidents didn’t even rate a mention in the Times report on the game. We do seem to draw the short straw repeatedly.

Interesting analysis, and I agree the future looks bright, especially if we do manage to get back into the CL. CL football, and a sense of a club on the rise, should make us a lot more attractive to the kind of player we want.

I still just fancy United to pip us for 4th because of their squad depth. One could imagine that injuries or having to rotate a couple of their 'star' players might actually improve them.

Interesting analysis, and I agree the future looks bright, especially if we do manage to get back into the CL. CL football, and a sense of a club on the rise, should make us a lot more attractive to the kind of player we want.

I still just fancy United to pip us for 4th because of their squad depth. One could imagine that injuries or having to rotate a couple of their 'star' players might actually improve them.

I’m a little more confident than you about us getting fourth rather than Manchester United. Our biggest problem is not finding a striker from somewhere in January. At his best Lacazette wasn’t a top level player, and he’s now even worse than he was at his best. Nketiah is even worse.

Maybe Martinelli or Smith Rowe could do a job up front? For all the deserved criticism of Ronaldo being a past it has been, he’d still walk into Arsenal’s first team.

It's all to play for. I'd be most worried about Man Utd as they have the best squad.

I keep reading this but I disagree. There are many average players in their squad. I think their large price tags is causing people to overestimate them.

I’m a little more confident than you about us getting fourth rather than Manchester United. Our biggest problem is not finding a striker from somewhere in January. At his best Lacazette wasn’t a top level player, and he’s now even worse than he was at his best. Nketiah is even worse.

Maybe Martinelli or Smith Rowe could do a job up front? For all the deserved criticism of Ronaldo being a past it has been, he’d still walk into Arsenal’s first team.

The bump in the project getting CL this year could do for us is immense. I can't think that was the target this year but certain things have aligned to make it a real opportunity. If we did get CL we have key contracts for Saka, Martinelli and Saliba coming up to 2 years left, CL would surely persuade them all to sign on. We're also going to need a couple of strikers this summer, offering them CL would be highly beneficial. And there is the guaranteed income that those games bring. CL, contract renewals, 2 strikers, a central mid a back up RB, Saliba back, and a few extra faces to build depth and things look very exciting.

but if we lose two of our central midfielders we seemingly have to resort to playing Ødegaard and Smith Rowe, which I don't think has actually worked yet, or moving White to midfield..

Starting Smith Rowe and Ødegaard together didn’t work too badly against Tottenham. .

I keep reading this but I disagree. There are many average players in their squad. I think their large price tags is causing people to overestimate them.

I forgot that one.

Ya. But Tottenham employed a very odd tactic of putting nobody in central midfield for the first half of that game. The two lads are forwards. You could throw one of them into central midfield if you were stuck, but not both.

I’ve just never seen Smith Rowe as a central midfielder. Ødegaard as a central player, yes. But Smith Rowe as a central midfielder? No. I’m sure he’s played the majority of his games in a wide position. Probably the big majority. With Smith Rowe wide and Ødegaard central, I just don’t see why they can’t play in the same side.

Crossed wires here, Bernard. I was referring to having the two of them in central midfield due to our lack of cover there, in response to Decaf's point.

The two of them in the same team as attackers is absolutely fine. I'd have Emile Smith Rowe ahead of Martinelli. I think that Arteta should rotate between Ødegaard, Emile Smith Rowe and Martinelli.