It's been a really odd weekend for me. On Friday I attended the funeral on the South coast of one of my oldest mates. He was a lifelong Gooner and we'd been going to The Arse together since our teens. We went to the Forest game recently. He had lots of kids and grandkids, lots of siblings, nieces and nephews, and lots of friends, so the church was bursting at the seams with Gooners.

Moving on, yesterday was one of those great days that burn themselves into your memory. I don't when I was more elated after a match - maybe Anderlecht or WHL in '71. The stadium was absolutely rocking. Not many in that crowd started the day believing we could win the PL. That game has changed all that.

And then today, I went to Bernard's memorial gathering. I confess I have found Bernard's death really difficult to process. This was a man I'd known for maybe 25 years, exchanging views and opinions often daily. And yet I met him only once and we'd never had a proper spoken conversation. I had no idea of the circumstances of his death and I wasn't able to offer my condolences to his family because I didn't know them and I had no contact details. Thankfully, today has filled in a number of those blanks for me and I have been able to meet and talk with his wife and one of his daughters. Today has been helpful. I can confirm that Bernard was a remarkable man.

Plenty of Gooners including representatives of The Supporters Trust and The Gooner; both were important to Bernard and he was to them. There was a smattering of Forumites there though not many active contributors. Chapeau to truegooner, Gaz ( B/Wood ) and Pete on the beach. I think Pete is going to post something here soon so I won't spoil his thunder.

It's been a really odd weekend for me. On Friday I attended the funeral on the South coast of one of my oldest mates. He was a lifelong Gooner and we'd been going to The Arse together since our teens. We went to the Forest game recently. He had lots of kids and grandkids, lots of siblings, nieces and nephews, and lots of friends, so the church was bursting at the seams with Gooners.

Moving on, yesterday was one of those great days that burn themselves into your memory. I don't when I was more elated after a match - maybe Anderlecht or WHL in '71. The stadium was absolutely rocking. Not many in that crowd started the day believing we could win the PL. That game has changed all that.

And then today, I went to Bernard's memorial gathering. I confess I have found Bernard's death really difficult to process. This was a man I'd known for maybe 25 years, exchanging views and opinions often daily. And yet I met him only once and we'd never had a proper spoken conversation. I had no idea of the circumstances of his death and I wasn't able to offer my condolences to his family because I didn't know them and I had no contact details. Thankfully, today has filled in a number of those blanks for me and I have been able to meet and talk with his wife and one of his daughters. Today has been helpful. I can confirm that Bernard was a remarkable man.

Plenty of Gooners including representatives of The Supporters Trust and The Gooner; both were important to Bernard and he was to them. There was a smattering of Forumites there though not many active contributors. Chapeau to truegooner, Gaz ( B/Wood ) and Pete on the beach. I think Pete is going to post something here soon so I won't spoil his thunder.

Lovely post DHD

Heard a stat on Kelly and Wrighty that before yesterday the last time we had scored a LAST MINUTE winner in the Premier league was in 2007 when Thierry scored against utd.
Surely that can't be right???
We have won late against villa and Fulham this season alone but maybe they weren't in literally the last minute?
Astounding stat if true.

Heard a stat on Kelly and Wrighty that before yesterday the last time we had scored a LAST MINUTE winner in the Premier league was in 2007 when Thierry scored against utd.
Surely that can't be right???
We have won late against villa and Fulham this season alone but maybe they weren't in literally the last minute?
Astounding stat if true.

Wonder how he will treat the fa cup Friday.

Can see some changes but not massive rotation. I would make big changes personally

Could see something like this ….Turner, Tommy, holding, Gabriel, KT, Partey, vieira, xhaka, trossard, Eddie, saka

Yesterday was incredible.
I'd give anything to be in the stadium experiencing that atmosphere.
It was rocking from watching on TV and we were relentless.
It was my Dad's 13th anniversary of His Passing last Friday The 20th and He was a massive Arsenal fan.
I started following The Arsenal because of my Dad and I know He would be so chuffed and proud of what we are doing this season.
That win yesterday was for him.
I know you are watching Dad.
Love you so so much and God Bless You xxxxx

Read some interesting thoughts on Arsenal’s identity. At the start there was a lot of Pep-lite and thoughts that Arteta was just modelling Arsenal to play exactly like Man City. But this has revolved beyond that. There are traits of how Liverpool at their peak played as well. Liverpool play very direct football as they have workhorse midfielders rather that creative passers. So they go direct to a very athletic front 3 and pick up second balls in the final 3rd. Arsenal have elements of that particular from Ramsdale who goes long more than you think.
I also think we play forward faster than City tend to, we go for the fast counter attack a bit more than them and are potentially more pragmatic in terms of getting back in to a defensive block.

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It's been a really odd weekend for me. On Friday I attended the funeral on the South coast of one of my oldest mates. He was a lifelong Gooner and we'd been going to The Arse together since our teens. We went to the Forest game recently. He had lots of kids and grandkids, lots of siblings, nieces and nephews, and lots of friends, so the church was bursting at the seams with Gooners.

Moving on, yesterday was one of those great days that burn themselves into your memory. I don't when I was more elated after a match - maybe Anderlecht or WHL in '71. The stadium was absolutely rocking. Not many in that crowd started the day believing we could win the PL. That game has changed all that.

And then today, I went to Bernard's memorial gathering. I confess I have found Bernard's death really difficult to process. This was a man I'd known for maybe 25 years, exchanging views and opinions often daily. And yet I met him only once and we'd never had a proper spoken conversation. I had no idea of the circumstances of his death and I wasn't able to offer my condolences to his family because I didn't know them and I had no contact details. Thankfully, today has filled in a number of those blanks for me and I have been able to meet and talk with his wife and one of his daughters. Today has been helpful. I can confirm that Bernard was a remarkable man.

Plenty of Gooners including representatives of The Supporters Trust and The Gooner; both were important to Bernard and he was to them. There was a smattering of Forumites there though not many active contributors. Chapeau to truegooner, Gaz ( B/Wood ) and Pete on the beach. I think Pete is going to post something here soon so I won't spoil his thunder.

What’s weird is when zinny or xhaka run off galavanting into different parts of the pitch the team always has the awareness to cover the person. I always think we will get caught upfield but it never happens, it’s a team working in cohesion

Hi DHD,

Thanks for the lovely post.

I still miss Bernard and I've never met the fella. He was a constant on here and really part of the fabric of the forum for two decades. Almost every time I logged on there was a fairly recent Bernard post.

He was definitely a one-off, slightly eccentric, very idiosyncratic and as stubborn as any mule you'd ever find. We all loved him for it, though.

I've said this before but he had this endearing way where whenever he was losing an argument he'd keep moving the goalposts every so slightly until he could swing the argument back in his favour.

I think everyone misses him.

I also miss Arsenal Fishbar and Mee, what wonderful people and I am sure there are others we've lost without even realising it.

I think everyone misses him.

I also miss Arsenal Fishbar and Mee, what wonderful people and I am sure there are others we've lost without even realising it.

Hi DHD,

Thanks for the lovely post.

I still miss Bernard and I've never met the fella. He was a constant on here and really part of the fabric of the forum for two decades. Almost every time I logged on there was a fairly recent Bernard post.

He was definitely a one-off, slightly eccentric, very idiosyncratic and as stubborn as any mule you'd ever find. We all loved him for it, though.

I've said this before but he had this endearing way where whenever he was losing an argument he'd keep moving the goalposts every so slightly until he could swing the argument back in his favour.

I think everyone misses him.

I also miss Arsenal Fishbar and Mee, what wonderful people and I am sure there are others we've lost without even realising it.

I'm sure your dad would be absolutely loving this run.

I think that the statistic refers to last minute winners against Man United.

Here’s one that put us top of the table in 2017.
https://www.premierleague.com/news/522119

Teddy Sheringham. “It’s Arsenal's to throw away!” “Pep will make sure his team hunt them down, and I certainly hope they do!” Haha we’ve got so so many fans, pundits and ex players terrified and bitter they’re literally begging the neighbours to win the title instead of us!

That second half exemplified that. We were throwing the kitchen sink at United and yet almost completely nullifying the risk of them breaking out.

I read something that many people are getting wrong, and I’ve been guilty of this as well. There is a lot of talk of ‘Arsenal having to pick up 4 points v City’ the reality is actually ‘City need to beat Arsenal twice’.

I know people are saying this because they expect City to come strong and we need more of a buffer but the reality is we could still lose to City twice and win all our other games and be champions and there is nothing City can do about it

True, but does anybody really think losing twice to City in the league would not have a major impact on our progress? To get the poor league record against them off our back we need a draw at least in one of those games.

Lets see where we are when we've played 30 games.

Two draws would be absolutely fine. But, I think we are getting well ahead of ourselves with talk of winning the rest of our games. We are only half way through the season. Points will be dropped by both sides. Our lead could disappear very quickly. Remember the season when Man Utd were 8 points clear with 5 games left and they lost it. And that's not to mention the impact of injuries. We are in a great position but there's a very long way to go.