It is weird. Finely tuned engine I suppose? City on the other hand have a storeroom full of OM spare parts that can slot in seemlessly.

I have no idea what Arteta is going to do on Wednesday. I'm going to get well oiled before the game ... this is all a bit much for the nerves.

This Emile Smith Rowe thing is weird. There’s more to this than meets the eye, I’m sure. Call it a hunch.

Arteta doesnt trust him. He obviously displays a bad attitude in training or something. The comments about him not taking care of himself and diet are telling.

Expect him to be sold this summer.

Feels like a situation not dissimilar to KT

The light might be fading but it hasn't gone out. We might just win up there. Worse teams than us have done that.

It’s feasible but honestly dont expect it and since we lost saliba and Tommy it’s all fell apart.

If I was arteta and Edu I would offer saliba a contract that was simply financially impossible to turn down.

This 'collapse' (three straight draws isn't bad in any other situation) will teach us. It will haunt this side. And I presume they will not make the mistakes they have made much more. These with which we scored two goals so quickly (albeit one pinged around the six yard box like a pinball) made one think why couldn't it have been done much sooner. The fact that the game isn't a must win game for City any longer and a draw is acceptable changes things a little. They will go for the win no doubt to get the title sooner so they can concentrate on other matters. But if the score was even after 85 minutes or so otherwise, they'd be going for it full tilt when now they would be more inclined to play the game out to a draw with the FA cup and CL to contend with. There might be an opportunity for us to nick it in there possibly.

City are due for a slip up. They have a near perfect record in all competitions for the last couple months.

Anyway, we kept fighting at 3-1 down till late and that was admirable. I would love to know what Arteta has been saying to them.

Emile Smith Rowe doesn't seem like a bad egg so what's actually happened??
Last season Arteta was hanging his hat on him.
Following surgery he is being treated worse than a leper.
It's infuriating because Smith Rowe is one of ours and has so much quality.
Yet viera is dogshite and keeps getting chances.
I really hope it's sorted out because it will be a hard one to forgive Arteta for if he sells him in the summer and let's another team reap the benefits.

If City wins the treble it may soften some of the criticisms about us not winning the title. They have been on a tear. They haven't dropped points in the league since February 18th. Haven't lost in any competition since February 5th.

That is title winning form. We have nothing to be ashamed of. They have the size and deep quality to play on all fronts.

Question. We beat City.

1. We will go on to win the title.

2. We'll find a way to eff it up.

I think the main problem is he doesn’t suit our system. He’s a bonafide 10 and we have a system that needs 2x 8s and 1 main midfielder partey.

I see that city are being linked with kovacic. It makes sense right. If you look at city they have 1 pivot (Rodri) 1 bonafide playermaker (de bruyne) and a energy type who is slightly more defensive than offensive (gundogan,silva) and now kovacic who can muck in if the midfield is being over run but can be used more attacking against lesser teams

We are kind of missing the energy type as far as I’m concerned whilst having the Rodri and de bruyne positions covered and the imbalance seems our back up which is Emile Smith Rowe and vieira are 10s that don’t fit our system at all.

I hear what you are saying TG but there was space for him last season. He was accommodated last season so why not now.
Plus surely quality players adapt right?

Before the season started we would have bitten the arm off for champions league qualification.
THAT was the target.
We have achieved that objective barring a Brighton miracle where they win every single game and we lose all our games.
Literally need a point to be mathematically certain but we are there.
After what happened last season how sweet is it to see the likes of utd spurs and Newcastle all having to fight it out to the last day.
Love it!!!
So let's not lose sight of the fact that this has been a very good season.
We are still fighting.
Even if city win both games in hand and beat us the gap is only 4 points.
They still have to go to Brentford and Brighton.
Anything is possible

Last season most of his success came when he was playing off the left when martinelli was injured. The moment gabby came back he took the position.

Are you dropping gabby or trossard ? I wouldn’t. Then it requires him to adapt to the Xhaka role where he just doesn’t seem to have enough defensive instincts

Let's hope that prediction is about as sh*t as your "walk in the park" predictions.

You don't half talk some nonsense sometimes.

I wouldn't if I had medical info that the back problem was potentially a big issue.

Hear hear.

Keep the faith.

What you don’t think it’s over ? It’s done.

Btw the walk in the park “stroll” comments were an obvious joke.
Sort yourself out

Exactly. Look there are so many positives from the season ( which is not done and dusted but is on life support) but this is an area we struggle with and need to improve. We definitely dropped our head after their third, as did all of us. Even Arsenal radio commentary made mention of this lack of intensity. I equally cannot wait for the City game and live in total fear of it. No doubt we will give a masterclass in defensive play and we will win 1-0 and all be asking ourselves what happened in the last 3 games. I fancy Martenelli to get the winner.

Just those comments?

Even if if we somehow win at the Etiad I don't see us winning the title. Our defence is just too porous.

With Saliba's pace, strength and composure on the ball alongside Gabriel we can just about cope with Zinchenko going awol and his defensive shortcomings because of what he offers us when he moves into midfield. Without Saliba Zinchenko becomes something of a liability leaving us wide open to counters which we can't cope with.

Also, teams are finding it far easier to overrun our central midfield. Partey's one-man midfield heroics seem to have run out of steam.

We have Newcastle, Chelsea and Brighton still to play and even Forest away and Wolves on the last day are no gimmes given our current form.

Looking at next season if we could sell Partey and somehow bring in both Rice and Caidedo I think that would be the equivalent of when Liverpool brought in Allison and VVD. Gamechanging.

Rice and Caicedo for £200m, sell Partey for £50m. Clearly those fees are outrageous but they are top quality PL proven players. Sounds fanciful but it is the sort of radical reconstruction our central midfield needs if we want to truly compete on all fronts.

Sadly, I think both could well end up elsewhere given their quality and what they would give to other sides playing catch-up.

I think we also need another CF, CB, winger and RB, not necessarily instant starters in those positions but players who can properly compete for a place and can play without a massive drop-off in quality.

To do all this we would need a fair few decently priced outgoings which historically we have not been good at.

If we were to win, it seems like it would be both delaying the inevitable (not winning the title) because we'd have to negotiate 3 sides who are far better than West Ham or Soton but also a few 'what ifs' had we not drop points to clubs well below our present level.

No way are we selling partey. One of our best players this season and a couple of games aside has been class.

Were I Arteta, I'd tell the squad. Go for it, play with the freedom in spirit and mind of a Sunday morning pub league. All I ask is play the whole game, no lapses, no easing.

For Wednesday
Ramsdale
White Holding Gabriel Tierney
Jorginho Partey
Saka Odegard Martinelli
Trossard

Not 10 mins gone and Spurs 3-0 down. They will muller us if your team plays....

No matter what we will always have spurs won’t we. 5 down at half time.

I think I recall saying Newcastle away will be as hard or harder than going to Liverpool and getting a win.

Newcastle locking up CL football. The only question is if they can beat out Man Utd for 3rd.

Willock got an assist but I'd have liked to see him get a goal or two as well.

Saw Sting in the stands and (wrongfully) assumed he was a Tottenham fan.

Joe Sumner (Sting's son) wasn't born on Tyneside but Sting has ensured he is a Newcastle fan: “I grew up in north London, so it was a strange kind of cultural mix where all my friends were either Tottenham or Arsenal supporters.

I’m not sure about the deeper tactical observations but it feels like just the oppo launching long balls is suddenly really effective against us. You can’t really build a game plan if something as easy as a defensive clearance can cause you to immediately ship a chance. Is it just Saliba gone? Something seems off as a whole defensive unit.

I think it’s mostly saliba however losing Tommy was a big blow too as that would have allowed us to play Ben white at centre back. I think then really zinchenko should have varied his play more in recent games to account for the new defensive partnership. Look at his positioning for the Walcott goal. Just trying to be a midfielder.
Chuck in a few individual mistakes plus our total inability to defend corners and voila you have something of a perfect storm.

Utterly hilarious
... except we have to play them at Saint James' Park

Sounds about right.

I can't see Arteta dropping Zinchenko despite how worrying his lapses have been. Hopefully Xhaka will be back to give a bit more stablity on that side and hopefully Zinny and Jesus will be inspired by the occasion against City.

Glass half-full or half-empty?
Some like to see it half-full, while others like to see it half-empty
Well, that's why we differ in opinions
Live and let live
Why must some forum members always want to make their voice, and opinion, the right one?
It is a forum where the convergence of differing opinions make it a fun place to be
Stop killing the fun!

When Arsenal win, we all celebrate together
When we lose, we take it in different ways
It is all about the club
Onwards we go!

Sadly Holding is many notches below Saliba. Whenever he has the ball, he is too ponderous. Looks up, ponders what to do next. And it mostly ends up being a sideward or backward pass. I cannot believe Martinelli, Jesus, Ødegaard or Saka were standing still while the ball was with Holding. I am sure they were running into spaces for him to find them. Holding just does not have the confidence to play that ball forward, IMO.