via @Arsenal Instagram
The race for #Top3 is no longer a dream, it’s a fat slab of steak on an unguarded BBQ in a neighbors garden, can you taste it? I can…
I don’t care what anyone says about the quality of that Newcastle team, they set up solidly, they can beat big teams and before last night, they had conceded the same amount as us.
That was a banana skin and we absolutely passed it by without a slip.
We dropped a whopping 600 passes across the night, the manager elected to play MG and Ramsey at the base of midfield and the two of them controlled the game. I thought Mesut was menacing, dropping in and out of the game, adding that touch of class we missed earlier in the year.
The Welshman opened the scoring after capitalising on some lost control from Lacazette, his swept shot easing past the Newcastle keeper.
The last goal was a thing of beauty, a very messy one-two with Auba saw Lacazette slipped in on the 18-yard box, lobbing the keeper with a lovely half volley. He really has come on leaps and bounds. He does SO much dirty work for the team, he never stops, and he’s becoming more and more decisive as the season goes on. I love him so much. He’s also well cool… like, oozing in something I don’t have. I want to be him.
I thought AMN had a very solid game, he genuinely looks like competition for the injured Bellerin. What he lacks in final product, he more than makes up for in work rate and defensive work. He was savaged by some of the fanbase earlier in the year, I hope they are all scrubbing their DIRTY DAMN MOUTH HOLES… he’s a player.
Ramsey was a total beast. He’s wearing the captain’s armband and he’s performing like an absolute model professional. He’s the guy in the HR videos touching below the elbow. He covered the ground, he bombed forward, he looked out for MG and he produced the goods. What a good player we’re losing, but fuck it, I have to get over it and move on.
The only moan I’d have for the evening would be the empty seats on TV. Are people really not showing for Arsenal when we’re playing well? Seems very odd. But it might just have been my TV. If it’s not, is it a deeper issue with the oversaturation of football in an increasingly connected sports world? A question for another day my friends.
ONE MORE MOAN. Anthony Taylor was f*cking awful. He’s going to be shite, even with VAR. Terrible decisions all game.
The race for top 4 is well and truly on. Spurs have 5 games at home, 2 away, we are the reverse. United are prowling, and don’t write off Chelsea.
We have not been great away from home this season, our next batch of games are exactly the sort we could switch off in, so we’re by no means guaranteed to drive this home.
Now it’s all about the manager. How well can he motivate? How can he manage training to preserve energy? Can he bring maximum insights to all his game plans? Can he continue to defy the laws of hairstyling by using weapons-grade hair gel?
If he does, we’re looking good.
The great thing for us is we have two chances at CL. Europa and Top 4. I’d say top 4 is looking more likely, but let’s see.
A really great night for Emery, and super exciting that we’re in the mixer for this after such a drab post-unbeaten run.
COME ON ARSENAL! 10 PREMIERSHIP WINS IN A ROW! x
here
Here again
Hello
Trofee
Where
6th
That was fast guys…
Crazy mouse messed me up, lol! Now back to the post.
Optimistic that we can keep pace. Tricky fixtures but we should go into all of them believing that we can win. I’m sure there won’t be any complacency and we’ll plan for each game accordingly.
Hope we get 17 or more points from the remaining 7 games.
Would love that it last, No doubt about that.
But, our away form ist pretty scary.
We have 5 away features, don’t know which one is more difficult, and 2 Home ones. And the spuds the oposite, five Home and 2 away.
“Can he continue to defy the laws of hairstyling by using weapons-grade hair gel?”
It’s the same brand Giroud is using. Top qualidy.
” 10 PREMIERSHIP WINS IN A ROW! ”
Is it true that it’s the first time that it happens at the Emirates ??
I can’t wait for VAR to be in use next season. Some of the referees decision are just so baffling. I wish that referee could be miked like in rugby or the NFL, so they could explain to people in the stadium their decision. In the stadium, not a lot people knew why the goals were refused. With a microphone, the referee could just say “infringement by Red No X on Black and White Y. No goal.”. We may disagree with the decision, but at least you know why it was taken. Anybody knows whether the public will be able… Read more »
I think people are getting way ahead of themselves in terms of where we are going to finish. The reason we have gone from 6th to 3rd is mainly that we have had 4 of 5 games at home, which is something that pretty much never happens to any team in any season. Obviously helped by Spurs collapse. The problem is we now have 4 of 5 games away, and lets not forget we are the team that couldnt beat BATE, Rennes, Southampton, palace and Brighton away. We are also conceding an average of 2 away goals per game. After… Read more »
I thought I have heard it was our 10 consecutive win at home…
Well done. Some good performances last night. Lacazette, Mesut, Ramsey and AMN all did well. Nothing from Almiron on the counter, pleased with that.
Still think we’re third favourites for a CL spot because of our away form. Everton, Watford, Leicester all decent last few weeks. Wolves and Burnley are up and down. We’re vulnerable against wide forwards and wing backs who attack. Those teams will be more adventurous than Rafa’s Newcastle.
@gambon : we can’t win all our away games remaining, but if we can grab a few points by staying unbeaten, that would be pretty cool.
Although I must admit it’s hard to believe that it can happens…
Any news from Maitland-Niles’s injury ??
Words on a Blog
Still enjoy Wenger telling Anthony Taylor that he was “dishonest to his federation” last year. That was tremendous
UTD winning tonight would be a disaster for our top 4 aims.
Finishing ahead of UTD is going to require them dropping points against Wolves, Everton and hopefully being smashed at home by City.
Pedro, have you heard anything about Zubizarreta as our next technical director ??
Please tell me it’s nothing but bullshit… please!!
Can’t see Manure losing tonight, so I guess we’re in trouble…
They lost at Wolves literally 10 days ago.
They were well beaten.
Valentin
They tried miking refs once but Tony Adams blew that with all of his whining. The funniest moment of all was when he was whining away over a decision and the ref had to calmly inform him eventually when he got a word in that he had actually given the decision in his favour!
Yep. Zubizarreta joining Raul Sanllehi looks to be a possibility. The Marseille hierarchy mentioned that Arsenal are interested in him. Raul seems to be leaning towards hiring a Spanish right hand man.
United also come up against Chelsea so thats a game they’ll need to drop points in. I think they’ll possibly beat Wolves and Everton.
Utd playing at Wolves, West Ham and at Everyone in the next three. If they get nine pts, it means we’ll likely need to win two of the next three away games.
*at Everton
Brighton and Palace at home it’s essential we win those. The Burnley game may depend on they’re status at that point but that is one we need to target a win from. If we can win one of the remaining four games I think that’s enough for 4th.
Hard to predict but I’m optimistic. I haven’t baited the Spurs fans because it’s so close from 3-6th position that things can and will change a fair bit before the end of the season.
Dream10, Yeah enjoyed, Wenger’s words to Anthony Taylor too. The trouble is the Referees’ Federation, PGMOL, or whatever they call themselves is itself pretty questionable. You don’t have to subscribe to conspiracy theories about referees having an anti-Arsenal bias to know (with a 100% probability lol) that the standard of refereeing in the PL is shit. As Valentin has illustrated, The Organisation (PGMOL) is set up like the Chinese Communist Party: if you are a manager, you question its decisions at your peril. it’s inner workings (which referee gets in, criteria for appointing referees to matches, criteria for judging referees’… Read more »
If Ramsey stays fit and stays central I think we will get top four. His class and runs from central midfield will cause massive problems for teams of the level of Everton, Watford, Wolves, Leicester. These bot-like teams can’t cope with someone like him. However, replace Rambo with one of our holding mids and the landscape changes. Those teams can contain our flat-track front four for the most part, and our uninspiring central mids are not capable of consistently providing that extra attacking dimension from deep . The only hope is Torreira showing some of the devil he showed earlier… Read more »
Pedro, you gotta update the timezone settings so the time is correct again please 🙂
Paulinho
We have many matches in short succession and I don’t think he’s 100% healthy. Pulled out of the Wales squad last week. I don’t think he’ll be in the XI at Everton.
Arsenal 2 Newcastle Utd 0
Dream – Yep, he looked like he completely expected to pull up with an injury at some point. Without doubt his biggest problem, not this nonsense ‘discipline’.
Thanks Charlie.
Can’t believe that Rambo is leaving next season, while Pierre’s best pal is staying, ffs…
Arsenals match against Everton is arguably- the biggest game – we have played in our recent history .
A win here- means we entrench our top 4 position.
And enables us to play a very weakened team against Napoli and focus on the Watford and Palaces match..
Surely – the top 4 is our grasp. If we exit the Europa Cup in next round..
If we beat Napoli- paradoxically-it decreases our chances of getting top 4 via the league position….??
As I pointed out a few weeks ago, we have more away games than the others around us, our away form speaks for itself. I hope I am wrong but we are almost certainly going to need other teams to do us a favour, personally I think we will finish 5th.
I hate to say it, but Spurs look odds on to finish 3rd given their remaining games.
I pray that Zubizarreta is not joining Arsenal. His purchases there have not been a great success. Marseilles went for known names well paid and it did not work out.
They rejected a lot of young good French players for established name and outside of Gustavo, I don’t think that any have been good enough.
Most of Marseilles successful youngsters have come from their academy rather than smart focus purchase.
Words
Great post at 09:24:09.
Paulinho
Yep. Ramsey plus Xhaka our best CM pairing over the last two seasons. His injury last season hurt our CL hopes.
Pedro Arsenal’s away form in last 2 seasons has been a concern. However, as I wrote earlier today the remaining 5 fixtures away from Emirates are against teams where Arsenal have a good record in away fixtures. Everton have managed only two wins in last 20 games including just one at home. Leicester have managed only one victory against Arsenal in EPL. Wolves and Burnley have yet to beat Arsenal in EPL. The one exception is Watford who have won their last two home games against us. My conviction is that Arsenal need to play away from home in similar… Read more »
Valentin
Saw a tweet saying that Zubizarreta’s Marseille tenure has been poor because Rudi Garcia has a say on transfers. This true?
Dream10 – I would like to see Ramsey-Torreira together and have done for a while.
Think those two could be great together. Ramsey could re-light the spark in Torreira and get him playing with more fire and ambition higher up the pitch. Press as a duo.. Little bit pointless doing it now with Ramsey leaving but maybe we might see it for one game or two.
Emirates
By the time we play both Watford and Wolves one of them will be in the FA Cup final. They might just be distracted enough to make a difference.
What I think is noticeable during this recent good spell is that our attacking play is more varied. Our forward play had become predictable , it basically consisted of playing the ball inside the full back for Kolasinac…a lot of our attacks now are much more central. I think the introduction of Ramsey to the centre midfield position has given the team a new dimension attacking wise . He is supporting the attack but from a deeper position than previously as shown by his goal yesterday. He will occasionally make runs into the box if the opportunity arises but is… Read more »
Pedro
Re: Empty seats. I was at the match last night and whilst it wasn’t full capacity it wasn’t that empty. What did happen was people turning up a bit late for kick off, I have no idea what happened for the start of the 2nd half but it took almost 10 minutes before everyone was back in there seats. It looked as if half of those attending had gone home.
Marc
That may be a valid point, but I believe that Arsenal’s record against the five
clubs we have played away from home is more relevant.
Arsenal need to focus on the positives and not the negatives over last 2 seasons. I am confident that we will win both home games and hopeful that we can win at least three away from home and that should see us over line.
It is reported that Arsenal have made a loan-to-buy bid for Umtiti similar to the Denis Suarez deal, with a €5m fee followed by a permanent option set at €40m. Looks like Raul still have good contact with his old club. Who else can we get from Baca?
@Dream10, Partly true. Rudi Garcia has tried to rebuild his old LOSC team that won the league, however they have been found out as old and past it. However he was also tasked to find value in the market and he has not been able to do it. I think that he either lacked the knowledge of the French market or the conviction to really push for untried players. Maybe Rudi Garcia has a bigger influence that I think, but like I said outside of Gustavo, I really struggle to find a real success in their purchase. Maybe the mess… Read more »
@Marc,
Did you have trouble on the tube on your way in?
I think that some person got seriously sick earlier on the Northern line and that created a lot of late arrivals.
Emirates
“I believe now that a top three finish requires 78-80 points.”
I think 78-80 may be required to finish FOURTH. When I last looked at it, I saw United finishing with 77.
I’m with gambon that people might be getting lulled into a false sense of confidence about whether we are going to finish top four. Yes, we are in a good position, but we could play reasonably well and still get edged out.
Paulinho
On paper, Ramsey-Torreira sounds like a good pairing. In reality, I’m not convinced.
It will be interesting how Torreira does next season for us. Not sure he’s built to thrive under Emery, who plays with moderate defensive structure. We don’t dominate the ball, nor do we keep our shot totals low. Lots of end to end football.
Torreira seems the type to thrive in highly structured teams with less running. He’s not built to do big distances like a b2b. Atletico/Juventus would love him. If we finds it difficult, we should move him on 2020.
Valentin
There is a worry that Sanllehi is just forming an old boys club. Nice salary for him and his pals for three or four years, unimaginative signings from brand name clubs.
Arsenal are fond of Barcelona. Don’t have proof, but I get feeling that he might feel that we’re in awe in anything that comes from there and anyone coming from that club behaves like they’re doing us a favour.
@Dream10,
I agree with your assessment of Torreira. Both for Sampdoria and for Uruguay he plays in a much more defensive structured system than we currently do.
Regarding his stamina, the world cup, his late arrival, his lack of a full pre-season training, his discovery of a new more athletic league, his shock at a lack of a winter break may be bigger factors than we expect. Maybe next year his body would have adjusted.
@Dream10,
Wenger started that obsession of Barcelona. They saw us as the little brother they can nick the sweets from, but outside of Henry who was toward the end of his career and Fabregas I don’t think that they got a good deal out of our players.
Right now, it feels like Rahul is working for them rather than us. Buying or loaning player that they want to discard rather buying the players they want to buy.
Is Bellerin even that good?
Apart from adulating gooner, no one else believes he’s that good. He’s not even as fast as claimed.
Right now, Bellerin starter role is written in white chalk that’s being slowly erased away.
To get top 4, Mustafi mustn’t play, every time he gets the ball I expect him to fuck up.
‘My conclusion thus far is Emery is ok for a transitional manager to dig us out of the Wenger/Gazidis quagmire, but have real concerns about Emery taking us to realistic PL and CL trophy contention’
We finished 33 points behind the wires last season and 18 points behind second place.
We haven’t qualified for the CL quarter finals in eons and got a shellacking in our last game against Bayern
.…yet , some are still bloviating about goals that are currently unreasonable.Who builds a CL /league winning team with £70 mil summer spends?
That goal last night by Laca that was disallowed was punched into the net by the Newcastle goalkeeper, awful decision to call it a handball by our player.
Mustafi is a fucking disaster.
Spurs are playing 5 out of 7 games at home
Is it really going to be like playing at WHL?
That new stadium will take sometime to get used to.
Five home games doesn’t necessarily translate to advantage Spuds
Yes granted some might be getting ahead of themselves with respect to where we finish and who we finish above On the other hand a few seem to be overdoing the caution thing or in some cases out rightly predicting doom. We started the season reasonably well away from home before it all went bad, let’s just wait and see what gives. We are playing Leicester, Everton, Watford, Wolves and Burnley away from home, two of those are reasonably good teams nothing more, the rest we should fancy ourselves to beat. I still see us finishing in the top four… Read more »
On an unrelated note, with very good goal keepers like Keylor Navas and Courtouis at Madrid i really do not see any need for Zidane’s son in goal at the weekend, i hope Real have not panicked and handed him the keys to the kingdom in a bid to bring him him back.
@Danny,
Was the goal disallowed for handball or for Lacazette infringing on the goalkeeper when he had control of the ball?
That is further proof that we need VAR, but also a real time explanation by referees of their decisions.
@Receding,
Courtois was injured and Navas jetlagged and a late return from the international games. Zidane’s son is third goalkeeper so logical to play him under those circumstances.
We shouldn’t have started the mind the gap banter so early, since there are seven massive games left. With the level of officiating seen so far, I expect that refs will still play a major role in deciding who qualifies. The fixture list were really done to favor Spuds. How in the world did they have 5 games out of 7 at HOME?. They didn’t even get penalized for destabilizing the league schedule with the stadium delays. Why do we have so many Monday night games at the end, more so when the league knew we were playing on Thursday… Read more »
Don’t get the United love in here either RH
Bamford 10 I disagree with your prognosis and stick to my assessment of points required to finish 3rd or 4th in League. Here are the points of third and fourth placed teams in last 4 seasons. 2015 3rd Arsenal 75 points 4th Man Utd 70 points 2016 3rd Spurs 70 points 4th Man City 60 points 2017 3rd Man City 78 points 4th Liverpool 76 points 2018 3rd Spurs 77 points 4th Liverpool 75 points So no team has exceeded 78-80 points for 3rd place and only one team has exceeded 75 points for 4th place in last FOUR YEARS.… Read more »
@ Valentin
Just screams Nepotism to me. Didn’t like it one bit.
“We shouldn’t have started the mind the gap banter so early, since there are seven massive games left.”
It’s just banter
We didn’t expect we will be in a position to do it this season so why not do it when we can ..shouldn’t be taken seriously and shouldn’t affect our run in.
It’s just nonsense among rival fans
With the exception of Burnley, every team we are playing away are not under the pressure of relegation.
Contrary to the stated belief that this reduces their fight, I actually think it frees them up to just play football it always hard to play against an oppositio
Cardiff may well have been sunk by the time we travel to face Burnley which could go in our favour. Leicester won’t have much to play for either. These are decent sides of course but if we can’t win enough of the remaining games to seal a position in the CL next season then we probably shouldn’t be there anyway.
Myself and ES have said a few times, that 75 points should do the trick. We can get that, but let’s take it game by game.
Contrary to the stated belief that this reduces their fight, I actually think it frees them up to just play football.
It’s always hard to play against an opposition that has nothing to lose.
“Don’t get the United love in here either RH”
It’s fueled mostly by Bamford who has fallen in love with Ole. He sees them as some super football club intelligently set up by an excellent manager….in truth they are just a counter attacking team playing smash and grab football
Receding
It’s just banter when it’s fans
When it’s the players saying it at post-match media briefs then it’s a problem.
Just my opinion of course.
I remember when we set a goal of 75 points for Arsenal at the beginning of the season …and some people lost their god forsaken minds.
Footballers are only human at the end of the day though Dissenter. If there’s not much riding on games so late in the season we may find that the intensity from these sides completely drop.
I recall a few years ago we had to go to Stoke and S’oton in the end of season running B2B in games that we usually struggle in we won both convincingly. In fact that might be the year where we finished strongly and missed out on CL by a point.
Arsenal need to take each game one by one but I think that 12 points will take
us over the line of a top 4 finish.
Personally I don’t see all the other three clubs managing it factoring their fixtures and also current form. Moreover even if Chelsea and Man Utd were to
finish on same points as us I think that it is highly unlikely that they will close
the current goal difference with just seven games to play.
“When it’s the players saying it at post-match media briefs then it’s a problem.
Just my opinion of course.”
If you are referring to Ozil’s comments post match he was asked a specific question regarding being above Tottenham and he gave an answer.
“Footballers are only human at the end of the day though Dissenter. ”
Ozil is the exception, he can play to Fortnite all night long and be on the pitch the morning after.
@Receding, Me too, but he is still a young decent goalkeeper. I am not sure that you could get a player without RM connection to stick as third goalkeeper. Most Real Madrid U21 players have that kind of connection with the club. A parent working or having played for the club. I am sure that like Zidane’s older son, he will eventually leave RM, but he will carve a decent career for himself. At least he has not been bought on the recommendation of his father like there was rumour of Freddie Woodman was going to be bought by Arsenal… Read more »
http://africa.espn.com/football/club/arsenal/359/blog/post/3814530/good-times-coming-back-to-arsenal-after-win-over-newcastle-takes-them-to-third
Nice read
Totally unacceptable that Spurs are allowed to play 5/7 of their remaining games at their new stadium in total contravention of clear Prem leagues rules. Arsenal FC are being particularly supine in this . They should be demanding that the PL enforce their rules. And Spurs finish their games at Wembley. How can in a league format – has this allowed to happen…? If we finish outside the top4 ( and miss out on the £100 million bounty – the club will have no one else to blame). Us fans – deserve stronger leadership from the club to protect our… Read more »
“At least he has not been bought on the recommendation of his father”
I think you will find that the only reason he is at Madrid Valentin is because his surname is Zidane.
“there was rumour of Freddie Woodman was going to be bought by Arsenal from Newcastle on the recommendation of Andy Woodman his father the .Head of academy goalkeeping and U23 goalkeeper coach.”
I think the main question here should be is Freddie Woodman any good?? Would he be rushed to Arsenal’s number three and start a league game in the absence of Leno and Cech??
believe it or not, Everton is shit…. all 3points on super Sunday for the gunners..
I’ve more respect for Leicester city, whom I’m also certain we would beat, than for Everton.
after watching the Evertons game vs Chelsea, if Chelsea had scored early on in the match, after mounting so much pressure on everton, they would have had all 3points before HT…. Chelsea couldn’t score with all that chances they created, and as the match went on, they became frustrated on lacked ideas.
Receding
I thought that mind the gap comment was needless. It smacked of one trying to ingratiate himself with the fans.
No need to motivate your competition.
Charlie George
I am fairly relaxed about Spurs playing in new stadium. Their players have not
played on that surface and despite the crowd have no significant advantage against teams they play there.
At the moment Spurs are struggling to win a game both home and away. They
have lost four and their only draw was against us.
@Receding,
Yes nepotism may be in play, but Zidane’s son is far from a complete disaster. He played for France U19 ans U21, so he is decent.
Even without his dad’s name he may have been at Real Madrid books as a local boy. So he may have still reached the high position of third goalkeeper. Remember that because of restrictions on club squad, the third goalkeeper is likely to be a club trained player.
They should be demanding that the PL enforce their rules. And Spurs finish their games at Wembley.
————————-
I reckon its to our advantage that they play those 5 games at their new hole, it’ll take them a long time to get used to the pitch whereas the Wembley pitch they now know (not that its helped them!).
wow wow wow…. am I dreaming????
are those charlie Georges comments???
man, you rock. nice one. it’s the first time I’ve read something meaningful from your comments, and it was so pleasing to read something positive from your post.
now I think emery is doing more than so many people expected from him.
@Receding,
The fact that Freddie Woodman is going to be released by Newcastle from his position of third goalkeeper tell you the quality of the player.
That smacks more of complete nepotism than Zidane’s goalkeeper son.
There’s talk that Arsenal will renew the contract of Welbeck next season.
That’s the death knell for Nketiah’s Arsenal career. He will,definitely be out on loan.
The Welbeck extension makes sense. He gets a 2 year extension, regains his fitness Andis sold promptly next summer to a Turkish club. It’s mutally beneficial because no one will make a meaningful Bosman offer on him in his current form. They may make a cheap offer which will mean lower wages.
Michel Platini started at Nancy where his father Aldo was a former player and a club director. Initially people talked about nepotism, now Michel Platini credibility as a player is recognised.
It is possible that in the future even if he does not reach his father high, Zidane’s son get recognised as a decent goalkeeper on his own merit.
We finished 33 points behind the wires last season and 18 points behind second place.”
37
*depending of course what you mean by wires*
@Dissenter,
That may be the plan, but I can’t see Wellbeck agreeing vastly reduced wage, when he is nearly ready.
There will be club willing to offer bigger wage than that. Also that seems to be a very last minute reaction to we are broke and can’t afford decent English striker.
Any one of the clubs from 3rd -6th could still end up in the top 4. Ball is in our court though for sure.
Strong rumour that Joe Lewis has sold Spurs to
The Robert Kraft the so called cheese ? Family.?
Levy will remain in place for 12 months before taking
retirement.?
A press conference is exspected shortly.
This a seems to make sense with the design of the new ground.
Levy will be greatly missed.?
And exspected a few Cheesy jokes going round.
The only moan I’d have for the evening would be the empty seats on TV.
Agree. Not like we’re in a bad moment playing poor football we’re in 3rd winning 10 in a row where are the fans
The only moan I’d have for the evening would be AMN’s injury.
Empty seats == >> fans who have been wengerized.