flobaba if you fuck it up it can be pivotal, if you smash it maybe it's pivotal. But dropping 5-6 point in this run is about par and leaves us well in it. We'll have played 3/4 of the top 5 away. That leaves the schedule looking a lot rosier for the rest of the season.
If dropping 6 points shatters them mentally they were never in it anyway. It won't though, we've seen before that they are more resilient than that.
Qwiss 100%.
I would say that I realistically only see us dropping a maximum of 5 points in these games. The Villa game was a huge banana peel that we got through with 3 points. I know Brighton are 2 wins out of 2 to start the season, but we're at home and we should be beating them. Then Spurs and City.. I can see us getting at worst a draw at Spurs. Losing at City would be disappointing, but hardly earth shattering, most teams end up losing away to City. Who would have thought that our next 3 games would be against 3 of the top 4 teams in the table (with us being the 4th team)?
Brighton didn't impress me much against United. Maybe when they've integrated their new signings it'll be a different story but we should see them off easily enough imo. They can be dangerous on the counter but we should be able to completely dominate the ball at the Emirates and cut off their transitional opportunities. I could see our press having joy too if they field the same back four as against United. My main concern would be Partey against Joao Pedro. Wouldn't mind seeing Rice at 6 for that
Pepe LeFrits I think they will improve a long the way once their new signings bed in but this fixture will come too soon for them. We should win easily like last season, routine. No way 39 year old Milner can cope with our midfield
Annoying that we have a New England manager. Lee Carsley will probably call up and play Saka, Rice, White.
Claudius well Rice and Saka were gonna be called up anyway. At least we've strong cover for White now.
Qwiss you can see how Pep has just kept out Rodri and Foden. We still don’t have his depth. I was looking at his bench yesterday and thinking we are a season away from this doping fuck’s quality. But we can beat him with focus
Let's just beat Brighton, if we do that much we'll all be pissed if we don't get at least a couple of points out of City and Spurs.
Got these tough games out of the way now.
Must go on a run and not look back not too dissimilar to our post Dubai form.
11 out of 15 is fantastic and would have been 15 out of 15 had the referees not fucked us over.
JazzG yep. Extremely happy with not only our points but the performances to go with it.
We've got 3 easy games then Liverpool (h), Newcastle (a) and Chelsea (a).
Any chance of Ode being back for those? It's around 5 weeks away so here's hoping.
That being said, I think the Rice/Partey double pivot with Kai as a 10 is a good workaround.
goon That being said, I think the Rice/Partey double pivot with Kai as a 10 is a good workaround.
We're also hoping that Partey doesnt break down during all of this. Not a given. I don't love Kai as a 10, but with no other real alternative, its what we have to do. It leaves a little light up top this way, unless Jesus (and Martinelli) suddenly find some form.
I think Ode will be back by those tougher games. Just a hunch. He's already been out for a week and a half.
What’s the timeline looking like for Merino. Might be a welcome surprise boost to our chances to withstand the loss of Odegaard and give Partey some needed rest.
flobaba Merino should be back after the next international break. So he will miss 2 more PL games. Odegaard if it's just 6 weeks...maybe Liverpool? the last game in October, but it might be too soon. If it's 2 months ... then probably after the break in November.
One thing I am happy about from yesterday is how we went out and pulled a Sam Allardyce on these guys. We didn’t kick them like Gary Neville. Just played a fair, physical and muscular game. And they complained at every turn. Rolled around on the ground. I think other teams can look at that and stop this bullshit of it pitching up versus City.
All this crap City were saying translates to me as “Arsenal didn’t make it easy for us to play our game”
Think we all agree that under the circumstances, 11 points we've fought well for is not bad—and we took points from City as well so they're only two ahead of us. It hasn't been ideal but it's been a good, fighting start to the season.
Burnwinter Think we all agree that under the circumstances, 11 points we've fought well for is not bad—and we took points from City as well so they're only two ahead of us. It hasn't been ideal but it's been a good, fighting start to the season.
We've had an incredibly hard start to the season. Lots of away games and tough opponents. This is a very encouraging start. Glad to see so many players coming to the partey throughout the squad, even before guys like Merino and Odegaard are ready.
The return from this set of fixtures has been good, still in touch with the top and the matches should become relatively easier. Really important that we don't drop any silly points from now and can show greater attacking quality. You don't want to get stuck with a 1-0 against a team you need to win against and get undone by bad luck or some individual brilliance. We need to put teams to the sword and not get the 1 goal and start to get comfortable. Will be interesting to see how we go about that.
Next step in the refereeing anti Arsenal agenda is taking away our set piece strength. Just watch them begin to blow for fouls against us anytime we crowd out the goalie.
