Morning all.
Arsenal title contenders? 100% said Declan Rice after the game on Monday night.
They are a top team you can see they are coached incredibly well, have a lot of attacking talent, a young squad and they can go the whole way for sure.
Rice was in my opinion, West Ham’s best player. He popped up everywhere, often in defence to quash an Arsenal attack. He really would suit a red and white kit. If Arsenal really are looking for another midfielder, I’d rather it was Rice than Tielemans but I think when he moves, which he’s bound to one day, the clubs with a bottomless financial pit will snap him up.
I digress, there’s so much bitterness in this world, it’s good to hear/read a compliment. For Rice to tell the media how good this group of players are under Mikel Arteta, whilst praising the manager too, is really positive.
I think we’re title contenders but I’m not convinced we’ll win it. Newcastle Utd are flying, Man City are Man City and Liverpool won’t just fade away as I wish they would. There’s Chelsea, Man Utd and Totts to consider too, not that I think any of those three have a hope in heck of winning the league. The bonus we have right now is we have a lot of points in the bag and more than any other club.
Arsenal sit ten points and a game in hand over 4th place Tottenham which is a good place to be at this stage of the season, but, we’re yet to play Man City or Newcastle Utd and still have to play Utd at The Emirates and both Tottenham and Liverpool away. But of course, all the clubs below us (sounds good eh) have to play each other too so points are going to be dropped some/all of them at some stage. As will Arsenal I’m sure.
We play Brighton this weekend, it’ll be tough. They’ve already knocked us out of the league cup this season so they will be confident, regardless of the fact that Mikel Arteta will field a stronger side.
Then we go into January when the fixtures are just as tough, if not tougher.
This is when our so call ‘friendly’ fixtures at the start of the season could bite us on the backside but, they’ve given the manager and players a chance to gel, to gain momentum and build confidence as a team. During that time though, we beat Tottenham and Liverpool at home and Chelsea away. We’ve also beaten both Brentford and Crystal Palace on the road which is something we couldn’t manage last season.
Squad depth/strength might cause a few problems as we go through the remainder of the season but if Arsenal can agree a deal for Mykhaylo Mudryk and perhaps even Youri Tielemans/similar too, I personally believe we’d be one of the favourites to secure a top four spot. Of course the aim should be to win the league as that’s the aim from the off but are we as a club as well equipped to do so in comparison to Newcastle, Man City and Liverpool? All who are likely to strengthen their squad next month, two of which money seems to be no object. Liverpool have already done just that by signing Cody Gakpo and tonight, Sky Sports have announced that Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign Molde striker David Datro Fofana.
Anyway, at the moment, barring Gabriel Jesus, the squad is looking in good shape with Oleksandr Zinchenko back and both Takehiro Tomiyasu and Emile Smith Rowe to return very soon. Both will be a boost to the squad, especially with an FA Cup fixture to play next month as well.
Catch up in the comments..
23 games to go , if you throw Chelsea into the mix we have 8 games against the obvious challengers leaving 15 other matches .
I think on average to get 4th place a haul of low 70’s should be sufficient which means that we need an extra 32 or so .
The end of January should be where we know just how far we have to go , the four league games could well be the most important of the season , a successful points haul and we are set fair and it will be exactly half way through at 19 games .
Just keep collecting points see where we are at Easter when we have 9 games to before we start to get excited.
I think January is a big month, the Brighton game too. I think Chelsea are going to continue to go up and down as Potter changes things.
Newcastle is the game I’m looking forward to. Just hope we can knock them off their perch.
Looks like Leeds have rolled over , albeit having scored as I write.
City win was never in doubt imo. Shame though.
Contenders eh? Let’s hope it doesn’t end up the way of Marlon Brandon in “On then waterfront” a punch drunk, alcoholic muttering “I coulda bin a contender. 😕
Afternoon Rico and all,
I am looking forward to playing Man City as it will give us a guide to how much we have improved this season. Like most it would be amazing to finish first this season but I will be happy with a top 4 finish.
On being title contenders, I think we are already favorite to finish second. Any position below that I would consider disappointing. And with hard work, proper management and a lot of luck we can keep a point or two from our lead at 37% of the campaign. But it shouldn’t be an expectation, but the cherry on the top.
Re transfers, I am as happy to start the activities quite soon as the other fellas, but when it comes to Mudryk, I think the 40M+20M offer is already quite ridiculous for him. The Donetsk club management is the new Lyon (being self-centered, unreasonable negotiators), and I sincerely hope that their tactics backfire. The argument that Anthony and Grealish cost around 100M is completely irrelevant, as the 2 Manchester clubs were stupid enough to play crazy money well above their market value. If we prefer comparison, then we should put Gakpo in the center, as the Dutchman cost Liverpool €42M, and he is clearly the best winger of the 4. Paying twice as much for an inferior winger who will sit on the bench for the majority of the current campaign (and the subsequent ones unless we sell Saka or Martinelli for 100M+) would be humiliating big time, even though it’s not my money. But assuming that funds are finite I would rather see them being spent on SMS, who is best midfielder in the Serie A.
Hi Geoff, and hopefully, Haaland will be ruled out for a minor injury. Lol
21 year old Enzo Fernandez, if sold to Chelsea, could be for in excess of £100m. That’s something Shakhtar won’t have missed.. it’s their prerogative to push for as much as they can for their player…
R.I.P Pele
RIP Pele… Football has lost one of its greatest ever…
The common denominator on all of these deals is the riches of the Premier league . Man Utd , Man City , Chelsea are all famous for spending whatever to get what they want and the poorer countries look at England as a premium sales market.
If Stan and Josh are persuaded that Mudryk is what they want , then they will end up paying for him whether the fee is buried in add ons or hidden in other deals but Shaktar will be in no hurry to sell unless they have a reason to need the money
Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man and mining magnate, has been revealed as the buyer of a 14-bedroom historic villa in the French Riviera. Apparently he is suing Putin over the war , so we can deduce that he is unlikely to back down easily.
Despite the player wanting to join us it looks likely to be drawn out and no doubt will depend on whether anyone else enters the race.
Rest In Piece Pele
New post up now