Morning all.
The fixture schedule for Arsenal over the next three months is bonkers. We go from playing Wolves on Thursday night to nothing until the 6th March when we travel to Watford. Then, we have three fixtures in ten days, Leicester City and Liverpool at The Emirates, Aston Villa at Villa Park. The Premier League are yet to rearrange the Chelsea and Totts but I imagine they’ll be squeezed in between two weekend fixtures, meaning we’ll have another three match in 8/9 days period sometime after the April international break.
The matches against Totts, West Ham, Wolves, Manchester Utd and even Chelsea, who mathematically we could still catch, are “six pointers”.
It’s that time of season when Sky Sports, the BBC and football journalism goes into overdrive, trying to predict who will which fixtures over the next few months, who will get top four and at the other end of the table, who’ll be relegated. Reality is though, they’ve no more idea than Scooby Doo.
The Premier League is so unpredictable now. Look at last weekend’s results for example. Who’d have given Watford a chance of getting a point at Villa Park, let alone all three? Burnley beating Brighton on the south coast? Not a hope in heck but they did 3-0. Newcastle securing a point at the London Stadium against West Ham was a bit of a surprise too. Mind you, I’d hope Eddie Howe’s team would snatch all three. As for Totts beating Man City at The Etihad, well I didn’t see that coming, in fact before the fixture, I thought it’d be a case of how many would City score against a Conte team which has been poor recently. Perhaps Kane just wanted to prove to City that they should have made a higher offer for him last summer.
Just because Arsenal defeated Wolves at their place, doesn’t mean we’ll beat them again on Thursday night. Every victory has to be hard earned in this League now. Every fixture we play between now and the end of the season will be a battle, just as it will be for every club around us. Points will be dropped where they’re not expected, victories will be earned when all the odds are against that team.
Whatever the odds are on Arsenal securing top four are, it matters not. Hard work, discipline and commitment is what’ll give the club the best chance of playing European football next season. Knowing how to play the officials too because you can bet your bottom dollar that Riley and his crew will do all they can to make it as difficult as it can be for Arsenal over the next few months.
All we know for sure is that we as a club have 15 fixtures left to play but the only one which matters for now it Thursdays against Wolves. The rest can wait.
See you in the comments.
Very Churchillian Rico..
‘We’ll fight them on the beaches…”
Or is it Nelsonian as a load of the old duffers on here live in the retirement home that is Norfolk…
“Arsenal expects that every man will do his duty…”
Ha ha Pete.
I take it you’re in Norfolk too?
Talking of Nelson, I guess he’s another player who’ll depart this summer.
I’m afraid so, Rico.
Reiss would have deserved more.
I am positive (which doesn’t mean jack shit) that if he was given the same minutes and opportunities as Saka then he would have a 50M market value today, as they came from the same level, but Bukayo got the nod as he could play at LWB, but back then Nelson was a clearly better player than a (bit younger) Saka. We’ll never know.
Like a few Pbarany, his chances have been slim. But I suppose we can only trust the coaches and what they see in training. Not that I do entirely.
Afternoon Old Duffers (including me) and Rico (who is eternally young).
15 more games of blood, sweat and tears from our midfield/attack and an iron curtain from our defence starting against the Wolves, yeah we can’t really look any further than those diving, cheating wanky, wanky wanderers but we do, it’s what fans do.
We have to try and max out against 10 of them and take what we can from the Hammers, Mancs, Scousers, The Rus and The Scum, would 35 points be enough?
Flo Balogun, is he gonna be what we want him to be, a realistic 1st team player for us or is he going to be more Eddie? He’s impressing at the Riverside and maybe one more year or even half-a-season on loan would be ideal as he’s under contract until 2025, but he’s not yet scoring at that level and that’s what he needs to do.
Almost Kev, the actual quote was “Blood toil tears and sweat”. Getting them in the right order is a well known quiz question, that I’ve used a few times.
Just pulling your leg Rico. Age is merely a number…
No I am based north of London. I have made the trip to Norwich City a few times. They’ve got a good set up there. And I’ve been to Great Yarmouth, not so great…
Other Norfolk stories: I’ve been on the train with Queen Liz on her way to Sandringham. She got a whole carraige, I had to stand with the rest of the serfs. This was back in the days of mindless commuting.
@PB I’m not convinced by Reiss (Haratio) Nelson. I’ve seen him a good few times and he doesn’t seem to have the spark that Saka clearly has. Nelson has a lot of pace, but little control to go with it.
Saka will become one of the best in the country, possibly the world. Nelson is nowhere near that level.
Nelson’s contract runs until the end of next season, then I reckon he will meet his Waterloo*
*metaphor mixing
Morning Kev, I hope so re Balogun.
Pete, I’m a soft southerner. Never stepped foot into Norfolk 😅
https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1496062208450703362?s=20&t=OU8eqKm342OXq_22O6lTDA
Love this!!
Martin Atkinson has reffed us 3 times so far this season . His stats are 5 yellows and 2 reds I believe
Never stepped foot into Norfolk 😅
Maybe you should efore it gets built over or flooded.
Or falls into the sea.
It’s on my bucket list Potter. Perhaps I should bring the bucket too..
Pete, you may be right that Nelson is well behind Saka.
My first point was that back in 2019 when Bukayo debuted against Vorksla and Qarabag in the EL Nelson was a better player than Saka. Based on his U23 performance he was simply more efficient, had more goals and assists (but probably didn’t have those defensive skills). I won’t say these being facts, but are well supported with statistics.
My main point is if Reiss would have given the same amount of support, training, first team minutes and opportunities, then he would also become world class. This is just an opinion, mere speculation, disagreement is welcome.
My conclusion though (if you accept my 2 points above) is to have an exceptional career in professional football – contrary to popular misbeliefs – talent, hard work and commitment plays less role than actual luck. Because the former 3 would well apply to Nketiah and Balogun too, as was communicated by Arteta and teammates countless of times. What Saka and Smith-Rowe had more than Eddie, Flo or Azeez was the first team vacancy after the departure of Monreal and the exile of Özil, which is basically luck.
And wellies at the moment , howver when summer comes better boil the kettle before you miss it .
Seems as if Mourinho has decided not to complete the option to sign Niles next summer.
Not sure where that leaves Ainsley?
Facebook I guess…
New post up now.
Never go anywhere without them Potter, unless it’s on an aeroplane…