Not another stroll in the park then?

Edit: I do intend to take your advice about getting plastered before the match however. Otherwise is it too much for for the nerves and heart, whether a podgering or a Top-Gun walk the park

My gut feeling is to stand a chance we need to start the city away fixture with at least a 5 point lead on the same games. We need to be able to lose that fixture and stay top. If we don’t reach that game with those points I just don’t think we will do it in the most heartbreaking way.

Unfortunately as depressing as it sounds I’m kinda expecting it to start falling apart this weekend as I’m not sure Klopp can afford to lose many more games and will possibly try and nick a home point or win. Sundays game for me is critical and if somehow we could win it then we would have a great chance

Maybe not to others but I found this kinda cool.

We are a better side than Liverpool. We will go for the jugular I'm sure and I reckon we'll do them.

I’m going to counter the jinxes in here. Klopp will be looking to next year and providing them with 6 doses of meth to the eyeballs. He’ll be telling them that they need to prove themselves worthy of competing against the top of the table. I expect nothing less than a full throttle opposition and an Anfield screaming themselves hoarse every time their players get near the ball or put in a tackle.

It will be bloody tough for the full 90 no matter what the score is.

Don’t you start going parkerknoll on us or I think we should offer you up to the podgering mob.

Interesting, last season Man U had 47 points at this stage, now they have 50.....and spent £200m+ in the summer for those extra 3 points. Now if they make the CL rather than finishing 6th like last year then they may say targets have been met - even more so with the trophy they won and may yet win another - but the talk of titles and the adulation ten Hag has received for 'turning them round' is a bit over the top. I still think they are a long way off us and City. The style of play to dominate games consistently just isn't there yet for me

Hard to see them dropping any points. They have a much easier run in. We are away to Pool, Barcodes and City. All very losable games. On the other hand these are all games we could win. If we did beat City it might knock the stuffing out of them.

Channeling my inner Rudyard Kipling here

If we have prepared well this week
If the team has concentrated on both their physical sharpness and mental toughness
If every one of them plays to their full ability
If the midfield sets the stage by dominating the ball
If Odegard has a Captains game
If MA and his team have prepared them for this moment

.....we may yet prevail

I tell you watching our League games this season has aged me. This one is going to be a tough watch.

Come on lads give it everything you've got!

Of West Ham get relegated how much (if anything) does it knock off Declan Rice’s price?

We got the monkey off our backs by beating Liverpool this season.
Unfortunately Anfield is a completely different proposition and we just don't do well there and haven't done in ages.
The whole atmosphere and the recent excellent Liverpool teams have just been too much for us.
Really would prefer Saliba was playing but holding has done well against palace and Leeds.
But the tricky and pacy players worry me against holding.
Even a draw is a excellent result but even so our 8 point lead will be cut because surely city beat Southampton.
Another factor is its also a must win for Liverpool for their fading champions league hopes.
Is going to be a horrible game to watch.

Those 3 away games are going to be key.
Liverpool City and Newcastle.
Come on Arsenal.
Holy jamoly. What if we actually win this title.
*faints*

Can you imagine the likes of Neville and Keane and that gimp Jamie o hara if we don't win it.
Bottlers.
Mentally weak they will call us.
The whole country will revel in it .
What these people conveniently forget is we were considered OUTSIDERS for top 4.
Sod the lot of them.
I'll be so proud of this team whatever happens and we fall short.
They have done us proud.

Seems to be a foregone conclusion by some gooners and pundits we'll be at 'Pool. Man for man only City and if you want to say us, a case can be made for us are better, man for man.

Man Utd may get an honorable mention. That being said, there are only two sides capable of beating Man Utd 7-0 and and one of them has already done it. 6-3 and 4-1 wins by City over them are nothing to sneeze at.

We've had similar defeats to Liverpool. If we win there, we have arrived. We haven't won there in a while and we've usually lost convincingly even when playing well for decent amount of time. This season is obviously different. The best Arsenal side for maybe 15 or 16 years. Still....


Is a draw good enough?


Lastly, if and for me its still a big if, we win it this season, its been 20 years. My guess is the drought from '71 to '89 seemed longer. I'm saying that because we had a lot more mid table sides it seems. This current drought doesn't 'feel' like 20 years in part because 2004 is so fresh in my memory but '71 would be fresh in gooners' memories in '89 as well. I wonder how gooners who have lived through both see any similarities or stark differences?

Hi david,

Totally agree.

A monumentous season whatever the outcome.

The level of performance, desire and heart has been incredible.

Unfortunately, the run-in looks a bit too much even for a team playing at the level we are. Peak City would struggle to come out of our run-in unscathed.

We would need to be almost perfect and enjoy a modicum of luck to prevail away at Liverpool, City and Newcastle. All three teams have only lost 1 game at home all season.

It's a really difficult run-in both home and away but especially away. If we come out of those last 9 fixtures still ahead of the pack then we will deserve to win the league 10 times over and it will be the 2nd biggest shock and achievement in PL history.

By contrast, City's run-in looks much easier and we can only hope that FA Cup and CL games create some physical and mental fatigue and maybe a few injuries that are enough to cause then to take their eye of the ball in the league fixures.

Morning Socrates. It would indeed be a monumental achievement, given how good City are, how good their record during run ins is, and the difficulty of our run in.

Isn't it strange that the bookies are not seeing it that way, and still have us odds on? 538 has it neck and neck https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/so ... er-league/

Isn't it wonderful to see Spurs pushed out of the Top 4? And possibly overtaken by BHA as well.

I think Brighton will turn them over this weekend.

As much as we’re looking at Liverpool away and Newcastle away the key one really is City away.
Come out of the Etihad with a point and we could afford to draw at Anfield and St James’ and still be ahead of City

Brighton game has been moved from Saturday 13th to Sunday 14th - 4:30 ko - SKY Sports.

Sky have moved our game with Brighton to Sunday 4:30pm. They’ve moved the city trip to Everton on the same day but at 2pm.

The week before they’ve done exactly the same thing
City v Leeds 2pm
Newcastle v Arsenal 4:30pm

It’s clear that sky are readying themselves for a close title race but how is it fair that we always play later than City? There is generally more pressure playing second in a title race because the likelihood is your rival has won.
If you wanted to ramp up the pressure then this is the way you’d schedule it, but why penalise is because we’re in front.

I know it’s minor but ask both sets of fans which way round they’d want to play and they’d say first every time

I don't see us as the favorites to win the title as it stands right now. We beat Liverpool and go into the City game with at least 4 point lead then yes.

That said, obviously if we win it, it would be fantastic. In 2002 we were the underdogs to win it. Same in 1998. 2004 we were the favorites having gone through the first half the season unbeaten, even though no one remembers that I think we were still in 2nd on Boxing Day I believe (if memory serves me right).

If we win this time it will be bigger than 2002 or 2004. Both seasons we were in an era where we were always a contender for the title. This one is out of the blue. I know we don't like comparisons to Leicester City but its similar in my opinion in terms of no one saw it coming.

If we lose, it will hurt. 1999 hurt. 2008 hurt. This will hurt if we don't win it. Even though it would have been a fantastic season otherwise.

Go BHA!

I'd agree with that, except I wonder if it might work the other way round sometimes, where pressure might be a good thing?

Maybe clutching at straws a bit but doesn't Sunday fit the bill? ... City have an 'easy' game against the bottom club two days before an absolutely massive CL game knowing there is a decent possibility that we won't get 3 points against Liverpool. Saints away fighting for survival are no mugs, so any tendency for the focus to slip could be fatal.

Compare that to a scenario where we play first and win (touch wood)... City facing an 11 point gap focusses the mind knowing they have to win to keep us within range.

Klopp's comment seems to be a 'mark in the sand' to me. He complimented us, but I notice he rested key players and asked when was the last time Arsenal won both league matches against Liverpool? Or for that matter even won at Liverpool?

I understand what your saying but playing second typically only allows you to restore the table to neutral. Your rivals win and close the gap you win and it returns to neutral. If we went first (which doesn't happen barely at all in the fixtures) we get to extend the gap (a positive) and it is all pressure on City to just return it to neutral.
It works exactly the same for penalty shoot outs. There have been studies done on the % of penalties missed by players who know if they miss they lose vs the % of penalties scored by players who know if they score they win and the results are clear.

The one area we have an advantage and we must take it is when we play Southampton at home in 3 games time, City have their FA Cup semi that day so don't play in the league. If we can match their points in the next two games we could then open up at 11 point lead before we then play City at The Etihad

I think we have to be positive about going there. The team this season are a completely different beast mentally.
Liverpool still have some good players but they haven't performed this season and the things that made them great previously are on the wane. They can't press like they used to. We need to be careful in transitions as that is where they can still hurt us.

I would expect us to dominate their midfield though. Their full-backs don't invert and their strikers don't really become auxiliary midfielders (Firminho possibly the only one who does that and I doubt he starts).

Win the midfield battle and get those right sided overloads in order to switch it quickly to Martinelli to go 1v1 against Trent (Salah won't track back and Henderson on RM will have a lot on his plate looked after Xhaka and Zinchenko). I think Martinelli wide left is where we can win this game

Very interesting, but I don't know why they left out our 8-0 win against Grimsby in 1948. Disappointing.

Martinelli gave TAA a right going over at our place.

My hope is we go there with the same mindset, we went to Old Trafford in 2002. We only needed a draw and I recall reading Vieira saying 'Let's go there and win'. And although Man Utd put on one of the worst fouling displays and the referees let it happen, we dominated. It was a rare time, Man Utd had a PL side who were not awed, were arrogant at their own ground.

I am hoping we go there with the mindset that we are going to go there and f*cking take it. We're going to be Sherman in the south during the Civil War. Methodical, but make no bones about it, efficiently ruthless.

We have it in us.

It feels like rival fans need to make their mind up:

On the one hand they say it will be the biggest bottle job if we fail to win the league, and on the other they keep telling us we won't win the league because City are too good.

True. There are plenty of non-Arsenal fans out there as well, though, who are hoping that our exciting young squad can win the title. Good for football and all that.

This sure jogged some memories.

Alan Shearer also scored 20-odd goals for Southampton between 1988 and 1992, which apparently don't count for anything. Actual Shearer tally: 283. And, for what it's worth, Jimmy Greaves: 357.

Just read we haven't won there since 2012! That said, this is the most capable side to get such a win in eons but still, this is still a very good and dangerous Liverpool side when they put their mind to it. They aren't lacking talent, its the mentality. I think we will come out to play. I won't doubt our commitment.

I think the result will be based on what Liverpool side we see. I'm hoping its the one that isn't mentally strong and not the one that beat Man Utd. We must score first, hopefully early and counter them when they go for the equalizer. Van Dijk is back I hear which I am fearful of.

The Soton result will also play a huge part. City drops points or wins will still motivate us but it will do so in different ways I think. If City wins we'll have a stronger sense of desperation for a win. City drops points we will play freer I think and see it as an opportunity to lock up the title.

It wasn't an easy game before and we were at home. This is going to be a TOUGH game. Again, I don't doubt for one minute we won't show up, but I think which Liverpool side shows up will say it all.

On closer analysis we were hammering them for that 3rd goal but it was a tough game.

Liverpool were the better side first half but we were 2-1 up. I think they had 60% of the ball. Thiago and Henderson played well and they went 4-2-4 going man for man against our defence.
We’re different teams now. Zinchenko didn’t play that game which is a huge tactical tweak for us.

If we go with the Zinchenko tactic then it will be interesting what Liverpool do with Salah. He rarely tracks back but then could have lots of space in transitions on their right - which Gabriel would come across and cover.

It’s almost a game of poker. One team makes an attacking tactical move and the other team has to decide to defend it or let it happen because they know that tactical move can also lead to their own attacking benefit.

It’s like leaving 4 men up front when you defend a corner. Does the attacking team make sure they leave 5 men back!?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65219020

Interesting that Guardiola says Walker can’t play the inverted full back role. So now he sold Zinchenko and loaned Cancelo who can play that role and now plays 4 CB across the back 4 with John Stones as the inverted RB.

I hear ya. This season, us, City and Man Utd are a better side. I'll throw in Newcastle as well but others might disagree with good reason.

Liverpool has beaten them all at home. The Toon they beat twice which is saying something because they've had their best home form in ages.

I just think expecting a win is a bit much. It's going to take a herculean effort.

The number of PL clean sheets is also interesting. Surprised to see van Der Sar higher than Schmeichel. Also, Schwarzer higher than Seaman especially with that back 4 for most of his career. David James at 2nd is a bit of a surprise as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-va_3qt2wLg&t=12s

Spurs are somehow beating Brighton 2-1. Brighton have had 2 goals ruled out by VAR for handball and had a blatant penalty not awarded by VAR. Brighton the better team - shows how officials can always influence a game