The Title Race 2022/23

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tolmie's hairdoo said:
Won't finish within ten points of City.

I expect both teams to drop a few points in January, but City are the only team equipped to bounce back from defeats and put a decisive sequence together when it matters.

I don't expect us to start closing the present gap and overhaul it until early March.

Liverpool, United and Newcastle will be of more concern for Arsenal, when it comes to it.

City fans would do well to relax and remind ourselves that the road will have a few more bumps yet.
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Agreed. We've been pushed to 90+ points a couple of times by a phenomenal Liverpool team - a team which has proven themselves to grind results out when not playing well. They're the scary teams.

Arsenal are winning games right now but they're playing brilliantly. I'm not being funny but you don't play well every single one of those 38 games across a season. I'm not sure they have the characters in that team to either;

1. Pull them through a match they're struggling in (Gabby being injured helps us there) or,
2. React well to a defeat and bump in the road

The league is ours. We're full of big-game and big-moments players. De Bruyne is the pinnacle of that and as long as Haaland is on the same pitch as KDB is when he's in that mood, goals will be scored. The whole team is equipped to win and stand strong/tall when needed.
 
blueste41 said:
Working on the assumption that we attain 90+ points again this season that would mean Arsenal need to gain 21 more points this season as compared to last (69 versus 90), I don't think that is statistically probable? Or do you think we will fall short of recent seasons and make up some of the gap for them?
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My concern is we have played 1 team in the top 4 up to now, that was Newcastle and we struggled against them, we have 2 games against Spurs who always seem to get something from us, we have yet to play Arsenal who are capable of getting something off us, still to play the dippers at home and the rags away, and Chelsea home and away, and Newcastle again, due to cancellations etc this season it has left us with some tough games still to play, Arsenal have played most of the top teams already
 
Mariosfireworks said:
My concern is we have played 1 team in the top 4 up to now, that was Newcastle and we struggled against them, we have 2 games against Spurs who always seem to get something from us, we have yet to play Arsenal who are capable of getting something off us, still to play the dippers at home and the rags away, and Chelsea home and away, and Newcastle again, due to cancellations etc this season it has left us with some tough games still to play, Arsenal have played most of the top teams already
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Arsenal next 4 games
Brighton a
Newcastle h
Spurs a
Man utd h
 
Not worried at all. 90 points may do it. The squad is looking very strong this year. If everyone is fit I really can't see a weak point. Give it 5 weeks & see how injuries have cleared up. Signing Akanji was a masterstroke given City's propensity for injuries at centre half. Phillips I'm sure will get up to speed now he's had a rocket up his behind. Lewis, Jwe, Palmer are real quality. Our strongest squad ever?
 
Mariosfireworks said:
My concern is we have played 1 team in the top 4 up to now, that was Newcastle and we struggled against them, we have 2 games against Spurs who always seem to get something from us, we have yet to play Arsenal who are capable of getting something off us, still to play the dippers at home and the rags away, and Chelsea home and away, and Newcastle again, due to cancellations etc this season it has left us with some tough games still to play, Arsenal have played most of the top teams already
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Arsenal have also only played 1 team in the top 4.
 
Arsenal have got a tricky next 4 games.
However, our first 5 games in the new year include Chelsea and rags away and spurs home and away.
We won't win all of them so hope arsenal drop a god few points or we could be well behind.
 
blueste41 said:
Working on the assumption that we attain 90+ points again this season that would mean Arsenal need to gain 21 more points this season as compared to last (69 versus 90), I don't think that is statistically probable? Or do you think we will fall short of recent seasons and make up some of the gap for them?
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No idea I just think it’s mental to write off any team who are 8 points clear at Christmas.

Even if we beat Leeds it’s 5 points.

I think the lack of nail biting is exclusively down to it not being the scousers or United.
 
Keepingthefaithsince1976 said:
Not worried at all. 90 points may do it. The squad is looking very strong this year. If everyone is fit I really can't see a weak point. Give it 5 weeks & see how injuries have cleared up. Signing Akanji was a masterstroke given City's propensity for injuries at centre half. Phillips I'm sure will get up to speed now he's had a rocket up his behind. Lewis, Jwe, Palmer are real quality. Our strongest squad ever?
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Agreed re Akanji but Philips has all the hallmarks of a dud to me.
 
117 M34 said:
Arsenal have got a tricky next 4 games.
However, our first 5 games in the new year include Chelsea and rags away and spurs home and away.
We won't win all of them so hope arsenal drop a god few points or we could be well behind.
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Arsenal are on course to break the 100 point record, and if they do that then as far as I'm concerned we shake their hands, congratulate them and move on to next season. I don't think they'll get over 90 based solely on the fact that it's fucking hard to do, having seen it close up, but if they prove me wrong then they prove me wrong.

I do think 8 points (with a game in hand) can do weird things to some supporter's pyschology, mind. Not the first time over the years I'm glad Pep and the boys are a bit calmer than some folks on here!
 
Johnny Mars Bar said:
No idea I just think it’s mental to write off any team who are 8 points clear at Christmas.

Even if we beat Leeds it’s 5 points.

I think the lack of nail biting is exclusively down to it not being the scousers or United.
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I agree that writing Arsenal off isn’t a great idea as they do look pretty strong. But one factor that shouldn’t be overlooked is that going into February, we’ll still have to play them twice. That gives it a slightly different flavour to previous title races and the opportunity to overcome a significant points gap.
 
Johnny Mars Bar said:
No idea I just think it’s mental to write off any team who are 8 points clear at Christmas.

Even if we beat Leeds it’s 5 points.

I think the lack of nail biting is exclusively down to it not being the scousers or United.
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I'm not writing them off but I'm a maths man and statistically the chances of a 21 point swing in one season are vanishingly small.
It's not really "Christmas" in the traditional sense, that would be 18 games we have only played 14.
 
Johnny Mars Bar said:
Agreed re Akanji but Philips has all the hallmarks of a dud to me.
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Hasn't that ship sailed? City don't buy duds anymore. Not since cheeky implied the players personality/mentality are the most important characteristics. I suppose time will tell but it's pretty disheartening for a fan when they fork out for a season ticket & their club buys a dud. I wish sometimes players wages were performance related. They may not always play but performance related could mean turning up fit for starters. It doesn't seem like Phillips was motivated to turn up fit for the last game....its a problem when a club has already committed to a 4 year deal on what is it.....100,000 per week?
 
Alfie Budd said:
I agree that writing Arsenal off isn’t a great idea as they do look pretty strong. But one factor that shouldn’t be overlooked is that going into February, we’ll still have to play them twice. That gives it a slightly different flavour to previous title races and the opportunity to overcome a significant points gap.
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Normally would agree but I don't think we've quite yet clicked as a team.

We have changed formation to accommodate Haaland and pushed KDB further forward to support him and provide assists. It's working in that we are scoring plenty of goals of course but with Haaland and an ageing KDB we don't seem to have the energy to be able to press high consistently and this is leading to the opposition having more time on the ball to play through us. Our overall team play seems a bit below what we have come to expect in recent years as a result.

I'm sure Guardiola will find a way to get it working but I'm not convinced that this will be our season.
 
blueste41 said:
I'm not writing them off but I'm a maths man and statistically the chances of a 21 point swing in one season are vanishingly small.
It's not really "Christmas" in the traditional sense, that would be 18 games we have only played 14.
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If you're talking about what Arsenal achieved last season, as opposed to what they could achieve this. Well, not very long ago Liverpool F.C. finished the 2017-18 season on 75 points. The following season, when they pushed us so very, very hard, they finished on 97. That is a monumental swing (which no-one saw coming, I think). That Liverpool team was a somewhat better one than this current Arsenal one, in my opinion, but we are not playing very well, really, for the minute. Will we kick into top gear? Will Arsenal start to fold as the season progresses? Who knows?
But a 21-point swing is at least possible. Since a 22-point swing has happened in recent memory.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
We beat United, they didn't.

And United will finish top four.
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I think our problems this season are defensive.. we've given up 14 goals.. the attack has been awesome.. even better than expected.

I think we need tightening up defensively and then we can get to 95+ points which is what I think will be needed to win the league this year.

Arsenal can lose 3 more times and still end up with a 100 points so it'll be a high points total to win the league this year!

A new LB in january would make sense.
 
Alfie Budd said:
I agree that writing Arsenal off isn’t a great idea as they do look pretty strong. But one factor that shouldn’t be overlooked is that going into February, we’ll still have to play them twice. That gives it a slightly different flavour to previous title races and the opportunity to overcome a significant points gap.
Click to expand...

Correct…assuming you win both games…
 
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