Not so sure about it being the best result for us. I know City are odds on favourites to win it. Or if they’re not they should be. But I’d like to maintain at least a faint hope that we have a realistic chance of winning it ourselves for as long as possible. That means me welcoming City dropping points whenever it happens.

We missed out on champions league football by 2 points and some goals last year. We need teams around us to drop points. For motivational reasons I understand why people want us toe to toe with city to enhance our mentality but the fact is we won’t win the league and getting back in the champions league would be huge for us. They are a machine and at some point our injuries will hit. For them it doesn’t matter.

The fact it’s even being discussed as testament to our superb performance so far this year.

We missed out on champions league football by 2 points and some goals last year. We need teams around us to drop points. For motivational reasons I understand why people want us toe to toe with city to enhance our mentality but the fact is we won’t win the league and getting back in the champions league would be huge for us. They are a machine and at some point our injuries will hit. For them it doesn’t matter.

The fact it’s even being discussed as testament to our superb performance so far this year.

I don't see anyone getting near City if Haaland stays fit. He's the missing ingredient in an already very tasty recipe.

Of course if City were to suffer a calamitous injury crisis things could change but with two top players (at least) for every position they are probably the least likely team in the PL to be exposed by injuries.

I’m surprised that Bernard hasn’t taken exception to the recent raft of posts praising Haaland.

As I recall he was most upset at previous eulogies and described such views as “stomach churning hero worship for him”.

Nah, it's all a big act ltg, he's got a full size poster of Haaland on his bedroom wall, alongside one of Bananarama and one of Freddie Ljungberg in his Calvin Kleins.

I’m surprised that Bernard hasn’t taken exception to the recent raft of posts praising Haaland.

As I recall he was most upset at previous eulogies and described such views as “stomach churning hero worship for him”.

I don't see anyone getting near City if Haaland stays fit. He's the missing ingredient in an already very tasty recipe.

Of course if City were to suffer a calamitous injury crisis things could change but with two top players (at least) for every position they are probably the least likely team in the PL to be exposed by injuries.

I don't see anyone getting near City if Haaland stays fit. He's the missing ingredient in an already very tasty recipe.

Of course if City were to suffer a calamitous injury crisis things could change but with two top players (at least) for every position they are probably the least likely team in the PL to be exposed by injuries.

Maybe those who go to away games regularly can prove my thinking but for a long time I’ve felt Arsenal away fans stick with the team whatever the score. Even when we’ve had some bad defeats it seemed a bit of fallows humour or proving a point that we stay and sing and support the team. I thought about this this weekend seeing the huge empty seats in the spurs away end and the Man U away end.
Of course it’s horrible to get humiliated by your nearest rival and a quick exit seems a good idea but I think Srsenal fans stay and support far more than most.

I still find it stomach churning. But he’s a good looking lad and if people want to hero worship him, then who am I to say they can’t?

In the meantime pass me the bucket.

I think it would take a natural disaster to stop Haaland to be honest. A large meteorite or something like that.

See it was 6-3 in the end. Not the slaughtering it could have been. Sure, losing by a three goal margin isn’t good. But there have been much heavier defeats.

That 9-0 drubbing Aug 27 by Liverpool over Bournemouth was a killer.

Logically you are perfectly right.

But this is football.

Morning Soc,

This video although fairly long (9mins) is good, giving a take on what our plan was to counter the counter. Basically by squeezing up on purpose and smothering the ball if it goes loose, meaning they can’t play those balls. Problem is there so much space a first time lumped clearance - very hard to stop - basically can become a killer ball over the top.

Saliba being the deepest player seems to be our insurance as he has pace strength and composure. Ramsdale on the sweeper would be the other but he didn’t seem to venture outside his box very often.

I agree the balance didn’t seem quite right, but it worked and I think they snatched at those passes because they had so few of them.

Who’s to say he won’t get injured? He’s made of flesh and blood like everyone else.

You didn't mention Ramsfale standing closer to the centre spot? Is this wise, won't someone one day just lob the ball over him or is it a risk worth taking,

I'm not so sure of that. Looks more like a mobile slab of granite.

However he looks he is flesh and blood. According to the site linked he’s missed 36 games because of injury since and including the 2018/19 season. Only 3 of the 36 were 2018/19. So in the last three full seasons he missed 33.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/erling- ... ler/418560

Oh dear oh dear. We’re not going to get much of a fee if this continues.

When Nicolas Pépé left Arsenal in the summer to join Nice on loan, the move was something of an admittance from the club that their record signing simply had not worked out. Mikel Arteta preferred the young Bukayo Saka over the Ivorian and rarely gave Pépé too many chances to prove him wrong.

The move back to Ligue 1 was expected to provide the Arsenal wantaway with an opportunity to revive the form he showed at Lille that earned him the infamous £72million move. However, since making the switch to France, things have not gone smoothly.

He has so far scored just once in eight matches, his sole goal coming from the penalty spot too. Further to this he has no assists and has been outshone by the likes of Ross Barkley.

In fact, in Nice’s last game, Pépé was dropped for the match with Paris Saint-Germain. Instead, Barkley was chosen in place of the Arsenal loanee.

Nice manager Lucien Favre criticised Pépé after his debut, highlighting a lack of commitment in terms of his pressing and ball recovery. "He hasn’t played for a long time in England. He has done the pre-season with Arsenal, but he hasn’t played any matches," the manager said.

"He is lacking a bit of rhythm, intensity in his placements, in his pressing as well and in his ball recovery, because everyone has to do that. There aren’t any exceptions. "If one or two players don’t do the work, the whole team is in trouble. Everyone has to do it at the same time, everyone has to defend to recover the ball.

"We’ve already discussed this (internally). Tiredness was there, we had extra time (during the Conference League qualification play-offs), there are players who ran 17km, I understand (their fatigue). But we cannot put that as an explanation for tiredness."

Since this, the performances have not particularly improved which has seemingly led to the drop against PSG. In the recent win over Ajaccio, Barkley was brought off the bench late on and contributed more than Pépé had despite starting the clash.

Whilst this might be vindicating Mikel Arteta’s decision to move Pépé on, even if temporarily, it is not exactly helping Arsenal. The Gunners will want to get a good fee for Pépé next summer but with just one year left on his contract, a strong loan would have helped maximise potential value.

Oh dear oh dear. We’re not going to get much of a fee if this continues.

When Nicolas Pépé left Arsenal in the summer to join Nice on loan, the move was something of an admittance from the club that their record signing simply had not worked out. Mikel Arteta preferred the young Bukayo Saka over the Ivorian and rarely gave Pépé too many chances to prove him wrong.

The move back to Ligue 1 was expected to provide the Arsenal wantaway with an opportunity to revive the form he showed at Lille that earned him the infamous £72million move. However, since making the switch to France, things have not gone smoothly.

He has so far scored just once in eight matches, his sole goal coming from the penalty spot too. Further to this he has no assists and has been outshone by the likes of Ross Barkley.

In fact, in Nice’s last game, Pépé was dropped for the match with Paris Saint-Germain. Instead, Barkley was chosen in place of the Arsenal loanee.

Nice manager Lucien Favre criticised Pépé after his debut, highlighting a lack of commitment in terms of his pressing and ball recovery. "He hasn’t played for a long time in England. He has done the pre-season with Arsenal, but he hasn’t played any matches," the manager said.

"He is lacking a bit of rhythm, intensity in his placements, in his pressing as well and in his ball recovery, because everyone has to do that. There aren’t any exceptions. "If one or two players don’t do the work, the whole team is in trouble. Everyone has to do it at the same time, everyone has to defend to recover the ball.

"We’ve already discussed this (internally). Tiredness was there, we had extra time (during the Conference League qualification play-offs), there are players who ran 17km, I understand (their fatigue). But we cannot put that as an explanation for tiredness."

Since this, the performances have not particularly improved which has seemingly led to the drop against PSG. In the recent win over Ajaccio, Barkley was brought off the bench late on and contributed more than Pépé had despite starting the clash.

Whilst this might be vindicating Mikel Arteta’s decision to move Pépé on, even if temporarily, it is not exactly helping Arsenal. The Gunners will want to get a good fee for Pépé next summer but with just one year left on his contract, a strong loan would have helped maximise potential value.

I don't see any problem with Arsenal fans talking about challenging for the title - we're top of the leage, and we're there on merit, having dominated the game in all our seven wins so far. Even in our only loss we weren't exactly outplayed and could've very well have won it if it wasn't for some naivete in the way we attacked Man Utd.

Man City are obviously heavy favorites, if you look at the team they have and how consistently great they've been under Guardiola, and it's a long way to go until May etc. Injuries might hit us and see us fall away from the top, but what's to say injuries won't hit City as well? If De Bruyne and Haaland would miss significant time, they're all of a sudden a much less scary prospect, and neither of them has a stellar injury record. Haaland has never played 30 league games in a season.
ar
With Liverpool struggling to start the season, there's a decent chance to move up in the table. I still think City will win it in the end, but we're at least getting to a point where second place seems like a real possibility. In fact, I'd be disappointed if we only ended up in 4th place now because even if Liverpool find their way back to their world class form we're at the very worst the 3rd best team in the league and I'd put some distance between us and whoever you think is 4th best.

I cant get used to the talk of title challengers and would be happy with top 4.
Just sort of feels like we are not ready for a title challenge.

Morning Haz
I'm enjoying the ride at the moment and am loving the way we are starting games and on it from the off.
I cant get used to the talk of title challengers and would be happy with top 4.
Just sort of feels like we are not ready for a title challenge.
However the unmistakable fact is if we beat Liverpool we will be 14 points clear of them.
Lets just keep on as we are going and get ourselves into a strong position that 4th is more or less guaranteed then go from there.
Partey is absoloutely key to any thing we do.