Will we win the league this season? No

[Coatigan]

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Is that real?

 

[CWAC blue]

Is that real?

Probably not given the source but amusing

 

[Bald fraud]

Another worry of mine is we will be playing against at least 12 every game.

Nowt new then

 

[Goater101]

A few months ago the talk was about how Pep is leaving. How this era is finished. Now the conversation is about 115 and how much money we’ve spent in January. They hate the fact we’re not going away. Let’s keep the piss boiling rolling. 6 games to go

 

[City_Sean]

Still have work to do but we've put ourselves in an incredible position. I think as long as Pep sticks with the XI that he's played recently we'll get over the line.

 

[Horlocksleftpeg]

Their fixtures look more straight forward on paper no doubt. But both sides are more than likely to drop points again

Arsenal haven’t put 5 league wins together since the end of December

 

[uptheblues]

Arsenal have only won one of their last six games , they are not going to win 5 in a row , the title is ours , believe Blues!

 

[noseve]

Arsenal with 1 win in 6 are convincingly beaten by City twice in the space of a month and not even 24 hours after the 2nd victory we have blues on here saying they’re not confident and the title could easily go either way.

Make it make sense

'convincingly' is a stretch, for yesterday?

 

[adelaideblue]

Arsenal have only won one of their last six games , they are not going to win 5 in a row , the title is ours , believe Blues!

thought they played quite well yesterday with their pressing and created chances. they should beat the teams in the bottom half comfortably so plenty of work ahead of us given we have a much harder run home

 

[Marvin.]

Still have work to do but we've put ourselves in an incredible position. I think as long as Pep sticks with the XI that he's played recently we'll get over the line.

I would be careful with NOR. He had pain in his hamstring at Chelsea. Semenyo also had a very poor game vs Arsenal.

 

[Marvin.]

thought they played quite well yesterday with their pressing and created chances. they should beat the teams in the bottom half comfortably so plenty of work ahead of us given we have a much harder run home

Did you watch Carragher's analysis on Monday Night Football? He showed that they pressed City very hard but that their passing game was defensive. I think they set up to be difficult to beat, and to time waste but were forced to attack because of the scoreline.

 

[Danny Tiatto]

'convincingly' is a stretch, for yesterday?

If Donnarumma hadn’t kicked the ball into his own net to give Arsenal a completely undeserved lifeline we would have seen out that match comfortably 3-0

 

[Claytop]

Don't really want it to go down to GD, they have Newcastle, Fulham & Burnley all at home where if Arteta actually lets them they could rack up a few. Whereas we have to go to Everton & Bournemouth where you imagine they'll be tight games, I know we have Burnley next which is probably our easiest fixture left on paper.

 

[feedmpenzaandhewillscore]

Psychologically City winning on Sunday it dents Arsenal but the pressure then begins to ramp up on our players too. It’s a tight rope now to the Villa game. We shouldn’t be nowhere near Arsenal with the poor January and March we had, they should have been miles out of sight by now.

Those two draws against Forest and West Ham and then getting knocked out of the champions league by Madrid felt like the wheels were coming off the season. The league cup win feels like it’s brought some renewed energy and belief to the team.

The remaining 6 games are going to be painful to watch until we get a first goal in each of them. The end of the season against Liverpool in 2019 wasn’t enjoyable until you knew the result was there in each game. Should be a different approach to this season as it feels like a free hit where we shouldn’t be no where near the title race but over half way through April her we are.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Don't really want it to go down to GD, they have Newcastle, Fulham & Burnley all at home where if Arteta actually lets them they could rack up a few. Whereas we have to go to Everton & Bournemouth where you imagine they'll be tight games, I know we have Burnley next which is probably our easiest fixture left on paper.

Where is the cavalcade of goals for them coming from? Eze can't do 90 minutes, they have a striker who can't score and a striker who can't hold the ball up, their wingers create fuck all, Saka is done for the season, set pieces have stopped working, and their entire pattern of play is built around winning on small margins and being hard to beat. Arteta can't just say "right lads, go and score some goals" and they all say finally and turn up and score 8.

 

[Maccblue]

If Donnarumma hadn’t kicked the ball into his own net to give Arsenal a completely undeserved lifeline we would have seen out that match comfortably 3-0

Said exactly the same

 

[alexmcity]

Psychologically City winning on Sunday it dents Arsenal but the pressure then begins to ramp up on our players too. It’s a tight rope now to the Villa game. We shouldn’t be nowhere near Arsenal with the poor January and March we had, they should have been miles out of sight by now.

Those two draws against Forest and West Ham and then getting knocked out of the champions league by Madrid felt like the wheels were coming off the season. The league cup win feels like it’s brought some renewed energy and belief to the team.

The remaining 6 games are going to be painful to watch until we get a first goal in each of them. The end of the season against Liverpool in 2019 wasn’t enjoyable until you knew the result was there in each game. Should be a different approach to this season as it feels like a free hit where we shouldn’t be no where near the title race but over half way through April her we are.

It didn't feel like the wheels were coming off since we played well, especially at Newcastle, 2nd half at W Ham and the 2nd leg vs Madrid.

I think the good performance vs Madrid at the Etihad helped us win vs Arsenal twice and smash Liverpool and Chelsea. The general level of performances matters more than results here and there, and the level in March was good.

Arsenal competing on 4 fronts cost them energy and some poor results in the league. The claim we shouldn't have been in a title race is premised on Arsenal's being too good for us, which was never the case.

Teams (can) win the league with pts in the low 80s: has happened multiple times and is likely to happen this season too, unless City or Arsenal win all their games and finish on 85 pts. If you abstract from several abnormal pts totals by City and Liverpool (100, 99, 98), 85 pts is about the average for winning the league.

 

[Chris in London]

Arsenal competing on 4 fronts cost them energy and some poor results in the league. The claim we shouldn't have been in a title race is premised on Arsenal's being too good for us, which was never the case.

This is absolutely right.

Arsenal went like a train from the beginning of the season until Christmas. They came through the first 4 months of the season and the CL group stage with almost perfect records. There was very little squad rotation but it gave them a healthy lead in the league and they came through the CL in first place.

Now they are paying for it. Saka is out. Timber is out. Odegaard and Rice are being held together with sticking plaster. Eze can just about manage an hour. Madueke can't do more than a half. I was surprised at their energy levels on Sunday but generally they are running on fumes , and I wonder how easy they will find it to go again at the weekend. There has been a lot of talk about Arsenal's squad depth, but I did think in October/November "so why isn't he rotating them?"

When Pep swapped the whole first 11 in that CL game in December (?) against Leverkusen many on here were up in arms about that. But he knew what he was doing. If you want to go deep in four competitions, you need to manage your squad. Too much football in the first 6 months of the season and you have nothing left when the trophies start getting handed out.

On the balance of how they have performed over the season so far, Arsenal should be out of sight. That they are not is down to Arteta. Now they may still do it, they may win their last 5 at a canter and we come up short. But they have won one in six, they have seen their lead evaporate, they have watched us go past them twice in the last three years, they have some tricky fixtures, they have a bruising pair of games against Atletico thrown into the mix and their first 11 isn't getting any fitter.

And given they know goal difference could be crucial they are going to have to throw themselves into their last 5 league games.

Maybe they will be able to reinvent themselves as a goal machine. Maybe they can play their kids and get a result against the odds against Newcastle and Fulham. But they have got some real problems.

 

[noseve]

If Donnarumma hadn’t kicked the ball into his own net to give Arsenal a completely undeserved lifeline we would have seen out that match comfortably 3-0

Ok - so 'convincingly - if things had gone differently'.

How many titles have we won in your world? :-)

 

[Cobwebcat]

This is absolutely right.

Arsenal went like a train from the beginning of the season until Christmas. They came through the first 4 months of the season and the CL group stage with almost perfect records. There was very little squad rotation but it gave them a healthy lead in the league and they came through the CL in first place.

Now they are paying for it. Saka is out. Timber is out. Odegaard and Rice are being held together with sticking plaster. Eze can just about manage an hour. Madueke can't do more than a half. I was surprised at their energy levels on Sunday but generally they are running on fumes , and I wonder how easy they will find it to go again at the weekend. There has been a lot of talk about Arsenal's squad depth, but I did think in October/November "so why isn't he rotating them?"

When Pep swapped the whole first 11 in that CL game in December (?) against Leverkusen many on here were up in arms about that. But he knew what he was doing. If you want to go deep in four competitions, you need to manage your squad. Too much football in the first 6 months of the season and you have nothing left when the trophies start getting handed out.

On the balance of how they have performed over the season so far, Arsenal should be out of sight. That they are not is down to Arteta. Now they may still do it, they may win their last 5 at a canter and we come up short. But they have won one in six, they have seen their lead evaporate, they have watched us go past them twice in the last three years, they have some tricky fixtures, they have a bruising pair of games against Atletico thrown into the mix and their first 11 isn't getting any fitter.

And given they know goal difference could be crucial they are going to have to throw themselves into their last 5 league games.

Maybe they will be able to reinvent themselves as a goal machine. Maybe they can play their kids and get a result against the odds against Newcastle and Fulham. But they have got some real problems.

I hope you are right. They played very well against us. They have either turned a corner or used everything they had left against us. I hope it’s the latter.