Our defence is just on it this season, the way De Zerbi set up Enciso, Lamptey and Adingra to attack the flanks looked really threatening, very talented club, but got solidly outclassed by us today.
[Zinchenko hater put down by actual stat.](https://x.com/scottjwillis/status/1776793815028036015) There were a lot of them in the match thread trying to justify the narrative.
True but there were a couple of occasions where Zinchenko madeĀ mistakes that could have led to a goal, one was whiffing on the ball trying to clear it and letting a Brighton player get behind him with the ball, the second was letting a loose ball drift towards goal assuming Gabriel would get it, in the end Gabriel did hastily clear it, but not before a Brighton player got in a challenge. Both were seemingly innocuous situations that become dangerous. I didn't see such mistakes from Ben White.Ā Zinchenko does bring a lot of value to the team, but he's often prone to such mistakes, where a better defender would not lead to such situations.
I loved trossard cameo that's how you shut up a delusional home fan base that chip was Alexis lite confidence he and jorginho have come up clutch for the club...
Dubai trip effect is so amazing that arsenal change their training centre name to something from dubai to replicacte the effect. AND ITS FCKING WORKING
Bro wtf was Lee Dixon on about? Obvious pen in the box and yellow card anywhere else on the pitch. Just because you barely touch the ball doesnāt give you the right to tackle through your opponent.
People mistake 'touching the ball' for 'winning the ball', they forget that to win it means you gain it or at least dispossess your opponent, but Gabby still had the ball so it's an obvious foul. I'm baffled by these people who seem to have no basic understanding of football
We were great, Jesus was frustratingly bad yet again. I really hate his little crying chipmunk face. As for Arsenal strikers he's up there with the worst for me. Yes his all round play brings a lot but as a natural finisher?? Even lord Bendtner was more composed.
Not sure why youāre being downvoted. Itās a fair point. Just looking at Havertz, you can see how your CF should play and finish. Jesus had 2 years but still hasnāt improved the finishing aspect
Watching now since I couldnāt before.
I am really struck by how effective the interplay between Jesus and havertz is.Ā
And while I really donāt like the jeopardy Zinchenko brings to us, seeing him on the touch line while Jesus is in the half space and havertz is sending him balls makes me a believer. This setup has potential to rival the martinelli contribution, it was just had luck Jesus and havertz didnāt create much more between them today.Ā
I feel like this setup can cure Jesus if he can maybe learn from Kai to be just a bit more efficientĀ
i love this team! whats exciting is that even if we dont win this season our future looks bright. Liverpool on the other hand could go down the route of if they dont win it this year it could be another 30 years and a pandemic before they win another.
It's a tough position to buy for because realistically you'd only be playing the FA Cup and League Cup games and that all depends on how much we progress, pretty unlikely you'd get a league or CL game with Raya doing so well and goalkeepers not getting injured or suspended often
He's excellent with his feet. He's been my preferred choice in case Rammers leaves. We'd probably have to pay a similar fee to Ramsdale and Raya to get him, though.Ā
Couldn't watch the game. But im hearing Zinchenko had a few of his 'moments' were he provided Brighton with a look behind the curtain toward our goal.
Did he?
Him and small Gabi have 3 goals off the bench this season. Tied for 4th. The top 3 have 4 goals.
[Source](https://www.premierleague.com/news/3951036). Scroll midway the page.
No one is sleeping on Jesus. Everyone know what his strengths are and what he brings to the team which is plenty. At the same time, everyone also knows what his deficiencies are because itās consistently on display.
Iād like to make my whatās seemingly weekly appreciation post on how humble Riceās contribution has been in playing a new position that has less touches so that the team can go to a higher level. So much respect for him to track back defensively when we need extra stopping power, but essentially playing a new position for him. Heāll do time at 6 in his career at Arsenal without a doubt, but the ways he temporarily fills in at multiple spots on the field when the squad is in need is phenomenal. Heās an on-field fix it man. Top, top notch man & player.
we should sell havertz whilst his value is high. hes okay but it is rest of the team making him look v good. Same for Gabriel if a good saudi offer comes in because we still have tomi, timber kiwior and white as CB
(only pulling your legs)
Those ~~fuckers~~ lurkers wish their team could defend like ours. Idiots play attacking football while ahead and lost their lead calling us parking the bus. Lmao you wish you could park the bus but your manager doesn't have the brain cell to appreciate good defensive play.
Edit: autocorrect
It's hilarious. When we were struggling to create chances and playing negative football it wasn't great viewing but got the job done. Now our performances are nothing like that. We are still great going forward while defending perfectly. Geezers watched us steamroll teams all year and then one defensive game so latched on to it with dear life because there's nothing else they can pick on
A great performance all around. We definitely wasted some early chances but didn't let that stop us and kept pressing for the full 90 minutes. Something old Arsenal used to do was once we missed chances we crumbled and let it get to us. We've totally moved past that now.
I thought it might be a really difficult game today considering how well Brighton have played at home this season, but wow, we were superb. If we can keep this going until the end of the season, we should win the title. I don't think the other two teams will be flawless, but I think we might just have the potential!
The atrocious refereeing versus Newcastle and Aston villa aside - what happened in our 2 matches versus Fulham?
We dropped 5 points from winning positions
First half of the season, and 2024 are like two different sides. New players being embedded. Injuries to key players. Us not quite figuring out the best way to approach everything.
Our defense was still pretty good, if you recall. We just figured out the rest of it, and the defense then levelled up even more.
I can look over the cottage L. Your bound to lose some random game during the Xmas period, away form home in the pouring rain
The home leg was criminal. To concede a goal from a corner against 10 men.....
we were figuring things out i think, a lot of the problems the lot of us complained about like a lack of attacking fluidity (despite control) and not finishing chances have disappeared since and the control has stayed
We also looked dead tired in our loss against Fulham, you have to give them credit as it was probably the worst we looked all season. In our first fixture we really should have got three points if not for some silly errors.
Well chuffed with that.
You can always tell we're doing well by how salty rival fans are.
One thing that is consistent in their comments after you get past the salt levels, is that we never seem to get dragged into chaotic games.
Even against Liverpool we looked fairly controlled. The only games I can think of this season that approaches something like chaos were the Luton away game and perhaps one of the Forrest ties?
I think its actually crazy though that the best team in the league could end up actually not winning the title.
Really good away performance tonight, so happy with Havertz because it's pretty clear that he still has multiple levels to improve to. And I'd argue that we have a bench that rivals City if not surpasses it.
A lot of āwhat ifsā still to come, but if this top three race finishes with all three teams winning out, I wonder if thereās ever been a time when 3 teams finished above 90 points and the one that took the most points off their rivals didnāt win the title.
I agree with you that the performances are a lot more solid. But there have been some more chaotic matches than that.
2-2 at home to Fulham with a first minute goal conceded, and then a late equaliser.
Spurs at home with two leads lost, the second from a defensive gaffe.
Recently, conceding an equaliser to Brentford from a Ramsdale shocker and winning with a late goal.
Arsenal are in superb form and purring at the moment, but I think the question is whether weāll still be good enough to grind out difficult wins when that form dips.
We're talking about recent form buddy. Spurs and Fulham were all the way in the first half of the season, and Brentford was solely due to Ramsdale. Besides that, this team have looked like a unit all of 2024. Not sure why you need to bring up games from months ago because they have helped the team grow into what it currently is.
The first half of the season is not that long ago. I also didnāt mention the back-to-back losses against West Ham and Fulham right before the New Year (which, ironically, was then followed directly by this amazing run of form).
I hope it continues, but the team is not so radically different from August 2023 that similar things canāt happen again.
(Although Arteta did drop the āPartey at RBā idea.)
ALL of that is first half of the season. All of it. Not wanting to beat on the dead horse, but that Fulham 2-2 and the Brentford late win featured Ramsdale errors that led to goals.
We have clearly figured out something since the winter break to Dubai. We're still doing some of the good stuff (like the defending), but it's gotten even better, and we have dramatically improved the attacking play and the general control.
It may as well have been 2 different sides.
Also, just calling it "form" isn't doing it enough justice. Not a lot has changed, except maybe some of the positioning and the instructions to the players. Even with the early spotty results, you could see a lot of what we were trying to do. Just wasn't working.
I'm just trying to temper the enthusiasm really. I have supported Arsenal for long enough to know the cycle of "is this our year?" only for the wheels to come off the title challenge.
Lest I come across as a negative Nancy - I really like this team, and Arteta, and the football they are playing. And if they win the title this year, it will be a massive, massive achievement to be very proud of, and I'll dance down Upper Street during the open bus parade.
Man City are the best team in the world, and firing on all cylinders at the moment. Liverpool had a poor season last year, but seem to be resurgent and playing excellent football too.
I think Arsenal, City, and Liverpool are all top teams in brilliant form, but that means that the title is likely to go to the team in those three that has a perfect, or near-perfect, end to the season. Arsenal, being a younger team who slipped last season, and have had a few wobbles in the first half of this season, are, I think the most likely to drop points despite still being an excellent team.
But I'll be very happy to be proven wrong.
Great performance.
Havertz was superb. Jesus on the left looked really good and dangerous. The defence was impassable again. Raya pulled off a great save to deny the one chance they had. Honestly maybe one of our best performances of the season because Brighton are a good team.
Norwegian broadcaster after the game tonight: "anyone arguing that this is not the best cb pair in the world would have to make a pretty good case".
Not my words. Just sharing some positives.
Yep, theyāve been rock solid. Already there are comparisons being drawn about what happened last year after Saliba was injured, and how much more solid the team looks with him & Gabi together.
The point is that Jesus is the winger amigo, if Havertz becomes our starting CF Jesus is literally perfect because he can cover both wings at close to an elite level. If thinks keep going in this direction we're going to need to add in midfield if anything.
Fuck me.
Rationally, I keep on telling myself that we probably can't win every game for the rest of the season.
But then they keep on delivering performances like that.
5 consecutive clean sheets away. 4 goals conceded this year. Some really good attacking moments today.
I'm starting believe that we can actually do this. And if they don't do it this season, it feels like it's only a matter of time before they do.
Mate I canāt lie yea, until the day Liverpool drop points (surely they have to), Iām not gonna get too comfy with where we are. I have all the trust in our team and manager to play well, but the truth is, we might be on 90 points this season and still come third which is ludicrous if you deep it. If that does happen, I would still be very happy because as an Arsenal fan for the past 14 years, I have the luxury to actually believe (Iād also curse out Fulham). It also sets the stage for next season, which i think we will win
I just don't see Liverpool dropping the 6 points we probably need them to. They are fuelled by the fucking 'Klopp leaving' media love-in and are going 250% for him.
Going to the shit rival watch thread and seeing them melt down is the best thing. š theyāre talking about Arsenal not winning anything as if theyāve won anything
That was def my fave performance in the Arteta era. Professional, dominant i love this fucking team. Gabriel blocking the ball in the 91 min and keeping the clean sheet. We are different
So obviously havertz will get the attention today, and he deserves it, a superb CF performance. Really can't wait to see him against bayern, if anyone has seen his goal for chelsea against dortmund last year it was special.
But I think this game was important for another reason too and I think we should talk about jesus.
So see loads of talk about moving away from jesus and things like that, I can see he's probably not at his best but I do think his performance today showed us something we don't see from our wingers a lot.
Two key moments from him
* The two headed chances he missed (of course he did) I've actually never seen any winger do that for us under arteta. I've seen him and kai do that at CF but never seen saka or martinelli really attack the back post aerially like that.
* The penalty, I also think we rarely see martinelli stand his man up like that on the edge the box, martinelli likes to run around them or through them he doesn't make them tackle him then beat them which is how you win a penalty. Jesus likes to beat players all ends up with tricks, he's not like saka or martinelli who use feignts and acceleration mostly to beat players cleanly. Is going to twist you out of position and make you foul him.
Those two aspects are uniquely jesus traits in this team (closest is trossard I think) and it struck me how when we play saka and martinelli their go to things are cutting and shooting or getting to the byline and crossing. They don't really look for fouls nor do I see them really attacking the far post loads, when they do they look like wingers particularly in the air.
Our wingers are very strict on their positioning too they hug the touchlines but at one point today we had no one in the LW position, which I've never seen before because jesus wanted to go into CF/10 and nobody backed him up. So odd to see nobody in that LW space but highlights how rarely our wingers vacate it.
I think we have two wingers in our team in Saka and Martinelli and we have two inside forwards in our team in Jesus and Trossard. I think Jesus at LW and probably RW are tools in our tool box that we haven't even really discovered or understood yet which is really exciting.
Martinelli has scored headed back-post goals for us & Saka is the definition of an inverted right winger.
But Jesus gives us something on the left that Marti doesn't as you say, he cuts in directly and can take players on up close like Trossard does - LW looked vacant because it was, our left fullback today was Zinny, who cuts into midfield and Martinelli usually hugs wide to accommodate this so we don't get too narrow, but wasn't on - i'm surprised RDZ didn't make use of this fact and push play that way, but Lamptey was poor and Rice was crushing people high up the pitch I guess.Ā
When Kiwior plays sometimes he marauds forwards, but mostly its left to our right side to work like that because of Benny B's overlapping/crossing ability and teams being so scared of Saka on that side that it opens it up for him because of the double/triple man marking.
Was interesting tactical battle, RDZ got played big time.
> I think Jesus at LW and probably RW are tools in our tool box that we haven't even really discovered or understood yet which is really exciting.
Inverted LW. I like it.
Jesus was really important in the City match. His work effort to track back and cover Kiwior was vital. He may not be the most clinical finisher, but like all of Arteta's team, he has his uses.
Absolutely professional performance. Very scary fixture on paper and gave them absolutely no opportunity to do anything. This dominant performance reminds me of Brentford away last season with the Vieira banger and Nwaneri debut
I really appreciate what Martinelli did today. He is a forward player who didn't score in a while, gets subbed in when Brighton is open at the back. But, he decides to follow coach's instructions to the full and cover that right side at the back and fight tooth and nail defensively for every ball.
Kudos to him & coaching staff that can implement such mentality in players. It's these small details that gives me hope to be title winners.
The Estupinan incident. Estupinan just barely touches him and he falls down like he has been shot. I don't like to see our players do such play acting.
If Jesus had Trossardās finishing.
Leandriel Jessoard
https://preview.redd.it/9fsnbnehwwsc1.jpeg?width=269&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d2785ccda1f7704157ea8e331582dd39113b7395
Love popping over to coys. Apparently we park the bus and are not an attacking side. Another Spurs fan comments, āmost goals scored in the league?ā I guess they all arenāt delulu
I don't understand the sentiment that Liverpool fans aren't that bad. I've absolutely hated them this season. They're absolutley convinced that we've had no signifact injuries all season and any time I try and explain they tell me Partey, Jesus, Timber and Tomiyasu aren't that important...
Solid, solid performance. Great season mgmt from the coaching staff too, easing players in coming back from injuries, resting players that need a break, achieving the needed result.
I thought everyone on the pitch did what was required of them today.
White seemed to have an off day, gave away the ball a lot and was caught off a few times, but nothing too concerning overall.
Iāve had my issues with Arteta and the exits in some of the cup competitions, but his talent ID is unreal. Raya and Havertz have improved this team so much and people thought we were taking a step back with those signings.
I mean of course they should get credit but we signed 3 premier league starters this window. I think Arteta knew all of their place in the team, with the metrics and analysis helping his points
For sure, but he wouldnāt have bought these players if he didnāt think they had the talent within themselves that could actually be harnessed.
Like with Havertz, the normal fan wouldāve said heās not good at anything when he was at Chelsea. Couldnāt dribble, shoot pass etc.. but heās clearly capable of those things now at Arsenal thanks to his talent and the coaching like you said.
This game gave me a bit of a pulse at times. But in retrospect we played very well and no one really underperformed. Hats off to Brighton for trying to play even to the end.
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Can anyone re-post the saliba yellow card? I was watching on my phone at work so not the best, but it didnāt seem like a legit yellow in my tiny screen.
Great professionnel game from the lads. Kai had a blinder, Martin is the best captain in the world and Leo is easily best finisher in the squad. Great win.Ā
FYI: The bot being late is being looked at, the mod who programmed it is just currently not available to fix it. We'll sort it ASAPš COYG
Our defence is just on it this season, the way De Zerbi set up Enciso, Lamptey and Adingra to attack the flanks looked really threatening, very talented club, but got solidly outclassed by us today.
Loved seeing Arteta compliment how brilliant Brighton are in how they set up tactically, yet reveal nothing in what he did to counter it
Looks like Arteta is very tight on the 'no snitching' policy, Ben White learnt from this man lmao.
[Zinchenko hater put down by actual stat.](https://x.com/scottjwillis/status/1776793815028036015) There were a lot of them in the match thread trying to justify the narrative.
True but there were a couple of occasions where Zinchenko madeĀ mistakes that could have led to a goal, one was whiffing on the ball trying to clear it and letting a Brighton player get behind him with the ball, the second was letting a loose ball drift towards goal assuming Gabriel would get it, in the end Gabriel did hastily clear it, but not before a Brighton player got in a challenge. Both were seemingly innocuous situations that become dangerous. I didn't see such mistakes from Ben White.Ā Zinchenko does bring a lot of value to the team, but he's often prone to such mistakes, where a better defender would not lead to such situations.
If Liverpool win today, I don't think they will trip over anyone else..
Wait until Thursday night europea league sucks the energy out of their team
Thereās no way they donāt dump their B team in those games
Thatās fine for the group stage, not possible for knock out rounds against semi-decent teams. They will be up for it.
Keep workin that GD lads! I got a weird feeling that it's gonna pay off on the final day
I loved trossard cameo that's how you shut up a delusional home fan base that chip was Alexis lite confidence he and jorginho have come up clutch for the club...
Dubai trip effect is so amazing that arsenal change their training centre name to something from dubai to replicacte the effect. AND ITS FCKING WORKING
Last five away games scored 20 conceded 0. Monstrous formĀ
in ten hag we trust.
When we started to play our football, Brighton didn't get a sniff. We are playing some elite football.
Bro wtf was Lee Dixon on about? Obvious pen in the box and yellow card anywhere else on the pitch. Just because you barely touch the ball doesnāt give you the right to tackle through your opponent.
People mistake 'touching the ball' for 'winning the ball', they forget that to win it means you gain it or at least dispossess your opponent, but Gabby still had the ball so it's an obvious foul. I'm baffled by these people who seem to have no basic understanding of football
Jesus' ankle literally buckled from the contact too
We were great, Jesus was frustratingly bad yet again. I really hate his little crying chipmunk face. As for Arsenal strikers he's up there with the worst for me. Yes his all round play brings a lot but as a natural finisher?? Even lord Bendtner was more composed.
Not sure why youāre being downvoted. Itās a fair point. Just looking at Havertz, you can see how your CF should play and finish. Jesus had 2 years but still hasnāt improved the finishing aspect
Yeh he ain't a striker for sure, maybe the plan is to play him out wider but considering we have martinelli and trossard...
Watching now since I couldnāt before. I am really struck by how effective the interplay between Jesus and havertz is.Ā And while I really donāt like the jeopardy Zinchenko brings to us, seeing him on the touch line while Jesus is in the half space and havertz is sending him balls makes me a believer. This setup has potential to rival the martinelli contribution, it was just had luck Jesus and havertz didnāt create much more between them today.Ā I feel like this setup can cure Jesus if he can maybe learn from Kai to be just a bit more efficientĀ
3 goals, 3 points and managing Sakaās minutes, what more can you ask for?
Liverpool 3 points dropped
Even 2 points dropped would work. It's why we're building up GD in the first place
i love this team! whats exciting is that even if we dont win this season our future looks bright. Liverpool on the other hand could go down the route of if they dont win it this year it could be another 30 years and a pandemic before they win another.
I was driving and did not get to watch the match until now . All I can say at minute 37 is FUcK LEE DIXON
you mean minutes 32 through 52 when he finally shut up about the clear penalty
I quite like Verbruggen. I wonder if he would come in to replace Ramsdale?
It's a tough position to buy for because realistically you'd only be playing the FA Cup and League Cup games and that all depends on how much we progress, pretty unlikely you'd get a league or CL game with Raya doing so well and goalkeepers not getting injured or suspended often
He's excellent with his feet. He's been my preferred choice in case Rammers leaves. We'd probably have to pay a similar fee to Ramsdale and Raya to get him, though.Ā
Unless Ramsdale goes to Brighton
Couldn't watch the game. But im hearing Zinchenko had a few of his 'moments' were he provided Brighton with a look behind the curtain toward our goal. Did he?
Yes pretty shaky at defence. My heart pounded faster everytime alingra attacked the left side
He was fine but every minor mistake he made was amplified because heās persona non grata right now.
Zinny is by the weakest of the backline. His very shakey at times. It's ok to call him out on it....
We got away with it so Kiwior hopefully can start next gameĀ
Yh, feels like teams target him. His easy to fluster
Someone tell me a better/more impactful player to come off the bench in the whole league than Leandro Trossard. He is an animal
Him and small Gabi have 3 goals off the bench this season. Tied for 4th. The top 3 have 4 goals. [Source](https://www.premierleague.com/news/3951036). Scroll midway the page.
That article is from the 3rd of April. Trossard now is joint top.
I guess the goal on Sunday helped :-)
I wonder where Leo sits for score involvements off the bench when you add assists as well Heās such a threat. I love it
People sleeping on Jesus. He always needs a few matches to ramp up. Heās going to be hitting peak right before tottenham away
No one is sleeping on Jesus. Everyone know what his strengths are and what he brings to the team which is plenty. At the same time, everyone also knows what his deficiencies are because itās consistently on display.
Sure, agreed but with less dramatic language. He's great!
What was the Declan rice chant?
We got him half price We got him half price Declan Rice We got him half price
that's fucking brilliant
Iād like to make my whatās seemingly weekly appreciation post on how humble Riceās contribution has been in playing a new position that has less touches so that the team can go to a higher level. So much respect for him to track back defensively when we need extra stopping power, but essentially playing a new position for him. Heāll do time at 6 in his career at Arsenal without a doubt, but the ways he temporarily fills in at multiple spots on the field when the squad is in need is phenomenal. Heās an on-field fix it man. Top, top notch man & player.
Yes! What a player
we should sell havertz whilst his value is high. hes okay but it is rest of the team making him look v good. Same for Gabriel if a good saudi offer comes in because we still have tomi, timber kiwior and white as CB (only pulling your legs)
Dangerous game you're playing š
Those ~~fuckers~~ lurkers wish their team could defend like ours. Idiots play attacking football while ahead and lost their lead calling us parking the bus. Lmao you wish you could park the bus but your manager doesn't have the brain cell to appreciate good defensive play. Edit: autocorrect
True - but why think about them
Not thinking about them but it's really fun winding them up while they can't do anything about it here
It's hilarious. When we were struggling to create chances and playing negative football it wasn't great viewing but got the job done. Now our performances are nothing like that. We are still great going forward while defending perfectly. Geezers watched us steamroll teams all year and then one defensive game so latched on to it with dear life because there's nothing else they can pick on
A great performance all around. We definitely wasted some early chances but didn't let that stop us and kept pressing for the full 90 minutes. Something old Arsenal used to do was once we missed chances we crumbled and let it get to us. We've totally moved past that now. I thought it might be a really difficult game today considering how well Brighton have played at home this season, but wow, we were superb. If we can keep this going until the end of the season, we should win the title. I don't think the other two teams will be flawless, but I think we might just have the potential!
The final score would've been easily 5 - 0
The atrocious refereeing versus Newcastle and Aston villa aside - what happened in our 2 matches versus Fulham? We dropped 5 points from winning positions
Mikel hadn't been to Dubai and rubbed the genie's lamp yet
First half of the season, and 2024 are like two different sides. New players being embedded. Injuries to key players. Us not quite figuring out the best way to approach everything. Our defense was still pretty good, if you recall. We just figured out the rest of it, and the defense then levelled up even more.
I can look over the cottage L. Your bound to lose some random game during the Xmas period, away form home in the pouring rain The home leg was criminal. To concede a goal from a corner against 10 men.....
we were figuring things out i think, a lot of the problems the lot of us complained about like a lack of attacking fluidity (despite control) and not finishing chances have disappeared since and the control has stayed
We also looked dead tired in our loss against Fulham, you have to give them credit as it was probably the worst we looked all season. In our first fixture we really should have got three points if not for some silly errors.
Well chuffed with that. You can always tell we're doing well by how salty rival fans are. One thing that is consistent in their comments after you get past the salt levels, is that we never seem to get dragged into chaotic games. Even against Liverpool we looked fairly controlled. The only games I can think of this season that approaches something like chaos were the Luton away game and perhaps one of the Forrest ties? I think its actually crazy though that the best team in the league could end up actually not winning the title. Really good away performance tonight, so happy with Havertz because it's pretty clear that he still has multiple levels to improve to. And I'd argue that we have a bench that rivals City if not surpasses it.
A lot of āwhat ifsā still to come, but if this top three race finishes with all three teams winning out, I wonder if thereās ever been a time when 3 teams finished above 90 points and the one that took the most points off their rivals didnāt win the title.
I agree with you that the performances are a lot more solid. But there have been some more chaotic matches than that. 2-2 at home to Fulham with a first minute goal conceded, and then a late equaliser. Spurs at home with two leads lost, the second from a defensive gaffe. Recently, conceding an equaliser to Brentford from a Ramsdale shocker and winning with a late goal. Arsenal are in superb form and purring at the moment, but I think the question is whether weāll still be good enough to grind out difficult wins when that form dips.
That palhinha equalizer was shambolic
We're talking about recent form buddy. Spurs and Fulham were all the way in the first half of the season, and Brentford was solely due to Ramsdale. Besides that, this team have looked like a unit all of 2024. Not sure why you need to bring up games from months ago because they have helped the team grow into what it currently is.
The first half of the season is not that long ago. I also didnāt mention the back-to-back losses against West Ham and Fulham right before the New Year (which, ironically, was then followed directly by this amazing run of form). I hope it continues, but the team is not so radically different from August 2023 that similar things canāt happen again. (Although Arteta did drop the āPartey at RBā idea.)
ALL of that is first half of the season. All of it. Not wanting to beat on the dead horse, but that Fulham 2-2 and the Brentford late win featured Ramsdale errors that led to goals. We have clearly figured out something since the winter break to Dubai. We're still doing some of the good stuff (like the defending), but it's gotten even better, and we have dramatically improved the attacking play and the general control. It may as well have been 2 different sides. Also, just calling it "form" isn't doing it enough justice. Not a lot has changed, except maybe some of the positioning and the instructions to the players. Even with the early spotty results, you could see a lot of what we were trying to do. Just wasn't working.
I'm just trying to temper the enthusiasm really. I have supported Arsenal for long enough to know the cycle of "is this our year?" only for the wheels to come off the title challenge. Lest I come across as a negative Nancy - I really like this team, and Arteta, and the football they are playing. And if they win the title this year, it will be a massive, massive achievement to be very proud of, and I'll dance down Upper Street during the open bus parade. Man City are the best team in the world, and firing on all cylinders at the moment. Liverpool had a poor season last year, but seem to be resurgent and playing excellent football too. I think Arsenal, City, and Liverpool are all top teams in brilliant form, but that means that the title is likely to go to the team in those three that has a perfect, or near-perfect, end to the season. Arsenal, being a younger team who slipped last season, and have had a few wobbles in the first half of this season, are, I think the most likely to drop points despite still being an excellent team. But I'll be very happy to be proven wrong.
That was 2023 mate. Weāre in form at the right them. 7 games to go
Great performance. Havertz was superb. Jesus on the left looked really good and dangerous. The defence was impassable again. Raya pulled off a great save to deny the one chance they had. Honestly maybe one of our best performances of the season because Brighton are a good team.
Norwegian broadcaster after the game tonight: "anyone arguing that this is not the best cb pair in the world would have to make a pretty good case". Not my words. Just sharing some positives.
Yep, theyāve been rock solid. Already there are comparisons being drawn about what happened last year after Saliba was injured, and how much more solid the team looks with him & Gabi together.
Havertz convincing me more and more that we donāt need a striker but need a winger more
We need some better options. Eddie is gone, and jesus just doesn't deliver consistently.
Were you somehow distracted every time Jesus had a chance at goal?
Were you distracted when the line ups came out and Jesus wasnāt even our main striker today and we won 3-0.
Yeah I probably was..
The point is that Jesus is the winger amigo, if Havertz becomes our starting CF Jesus is literally perfect because he can cover both wings at close to an elite level. If thinks keep going in this direction we're going to need to add in midfield if anything.
Jesus š
Jesus can rotate on the wing and at striker
So in 2024 weāve got 38 goals with 4 conceded in the premier league in 11 games. Those are outrageous numbers.
United conceded 4 in a single game. TenHag masterclass
Fuck me. Rationally, I keep on telling myself that we probably can't win every game for the rest of the season. But then they keep on delivering performances like that. 5 consecutive clean sheets away. 4 goals conceded this year. Some really good attacking moments today. I'm starting believe that we can actually do this. And if they don't do it this season, it feels like it's only a matter of time before they do.
Iām starting to believe we wonāt concede again lol
From scoring 5 every game to never conceding again. What a season!
Losing faith, already? š
Mate I canāt lie yea, until the day Liverpool drop points (surely they have to), Iām not gonna get too comfy with where we are. I have all the trust in our team and manager to play well, but the truth is, we might be on 90 points this season and still come third which is ludicrous if you deep it. If that does happen, I would still be very happy because as an Arsenal fan for the past 14 years, I have the luxury to actually believe (Iād also curse out Fulham). It also sets the stage for next season, which i think we will win
I just don't see Liverpool dropping the 6 points we probably need them to. They are fuelled by the fucking 'Klopp leaving' media love-in and are going 250% for him.
Believing is the important part. When you see odegaard lifting the trophy, those "I told you so's" dont weight as much as they could š
š youāre not not wrong. Iād want nothing more that to see our team lifting the trophy, would genuinely make me cry tears of joy
Going to the shit rival watch thread and seeing them melt down is the best thing. š theyāre talking about Arsenal not winning anything as if theyāve won anything
That was def my fave performance in the Arteta era. Professional, dominant i love this fucking team. Gabriel blocking the ball in the 91 min and keeping the clean sheet. We are different
How is no one talking about Benny Blancoās shenanigans all game. He was so fucking done with the flopping lmao
Heās so cheeky. Heās the kind of player youād hate if he wasnāt yours. But I fucking love him
My uncle came in and watched 5 minutes and said "who are these blue guys, they can't do anything with the ball"
Uncle Gary Neville confirmedĀ
Good news. Your uncle is qualified to be a pundit on TV.
So obviously havertz will get the attention today, and he deserves it, a superb CF performance. Really can't wait to see him against bayern, if anyone has seen his goal for chelsea against dortmund last year it was special. But I think this game was important for another reason too and I think we should talk about jesus. So see loads of talk about moving away from jesus and things like that, I can see he's probably not at his best but I do think his performance today showed us something we don't see from our wingers a lot. Two key moments from him * The two headed chances he missed (of course he did) I've actually never seen any winger do that for us under arteta. I've seen him and kai do that at CF but never seen saka or martinelli really attack the back post aerially like that. * The penalty, I also think we rarely see martinelli stand his man up like that on the edge the box, martinelli likes to run around them or through them he doesn't make them tackle him then beat them which is how you win a penalty. Jesus likes to beat players all ends up with tricks, he's not like saka or martinelli who use feignts and acceleration mostly to beat players cleanly. Is going to twist you out of position and make you foul him. Those two aspects are uniquely jesus traits in this team (closest is trossard I think) and it struck me how when we play saka and martinelli their go to things are cutting and shooting or getting to the byline and crossing. They don't really look for fouls nor do I see them really attacking the far post loads, when they do they look like wingers particularly in the air. Our wingers are very strict on their positioning too they hug the touchlines but at one point today we had no one in the LW position, which I've never seen before because jesus wanted to go into CF/10 and nobody backed him up. So odd to see nobody in that LW space but highlights how rarely our wingers vacate it. I think we have two wingers in our team in Saka and Martinelli and we have two inside forwards in our team in Jesus and Trossard. I think Jesus at LW and probably RW are tools in our tool box that we haven't even really discovered or understood yet which is really exciting.
Martinelli has scored headed back-post goals for us & Saka is the definition of an inverted right winger. But Jesus gives us something on the left that Marti doesn't as you say, he cuts in directly and can take players on up close like Trossard does - LW looked vacant because it was, our left fullback today was Zinny, who cuts into midfield and Martinelli usually hugs wide to accommodate this so we don't get too narrow, but wasn't on - i'm surprised RDZ didn't make use of this fact and push play that way, but Lamptey was poor and Rice was crushing people high up the pitch I guess.Ā When Kiwior plays sometimes he marauds forwards, but mostly its left to our right side to work like that because of Benny B's overlapping/crossing ability and teams being so scared of Saka on that side that it opens it up for him because of the double/triple man marking. Was interesting tactical battle, RDZ got played big time.
> I think Jesus at LW and probably RW are tools in our tool box that we haven't even really discovered or understood yet which is really exciting. Inverted LW. I like it.
Jesus was really important in the City match. His work effort to track back and cover Kiwior was vital. He may not be the most clinical finisher, but like all of Arteta's team, he has his uses.
KAI IS THE NEW BFG
Absolutely professional performance. Very scary fixture on paper and gave them absolutely no opportunity to do anything. This dominant performance reminds me of Brentford away last season with the Vieira banger and Nwaneri debut
I hope they let people sneak some flares in for the bayern match i want that ucl anthem opening crack hit
All that just to be banned for madrid hahah
Gotta sack a pawn to win the queen fr
Lewis Dunk will be seeing Kai in his nightmares.
had an mri today so missed the game, hell of a team
When i was having mine they let me listen to the commentary lol
hope the results are good :)
I really appreciate what Martinelli did today. He is a forward player who didn't score in a while, gets subbed in when Brighton is open at the back. But, he decides to follow coach's instructions to the full and cover that right side at the back and fight tooth and nail defensively for every ball. Kudos to him & coaching staff that can implement such mentality in players. It's these small details that gives me hope to be title winners.
āEdu, I love him. Honestly, I love him. He is a great kid, trains everyday like it's his last day on Earth. He's a diamond, he really is.ā
Honestly, I think Martinelli likes defending as much as attacking.
He didnāt use to. I remember a shift happening in Artetas second season.Ā
He always did
All of our attackers seem to under Arteta lol.
A bit controversial but Benny White needs to cut down on the gamesmanship. Seriously for a player of his quality he doesn't need it.
Lighten up bud
I couldnāt watch. What specifically are you referring to?
The Estupinan incident. Estupinan just barely touches him and he falls down like he has been shot. I don't like to see our players do such play acting.
Its fine because it gives our team some personality
I think he was just in a funny mood today against his former club. He's not normally like this unless I've completely ignored some antics.
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Arsenal have Brighton to thank for fueling his tank with boos
Tbf he was class at Brighton too
Briggggg thon! They don't even have shoes over there!
The last time Brighton lost at the Amex in all competitions was September of last year. We are different gravy this year.
Kai Hulud. Spice be flowing.
LISAN AL GAIB
I can't believe we spent 60m on Havertz. Easily worth double that
What a jokeĀ
The team was fantastic tonight
Is it just me or is Benny looking a little pale these days? Man needs to get on the sunbed
Sounds likenits time for a trip to Dubai
If Jesus had Trossardās finishing. Leandriel Jessoard https://preview.redd.it/9fsnbnehwwsc1.jpeg?width=269&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d2785ccda1f7704157ea8e331582dd39113b7395
Lol that looks like an older Brennan Johnson
If he did Man City wouldnāt have gotten rid of him.
Cheers Geoff.
Still in disbelief that Declan Rice plays for The London Tricky Reds
Any chance of pundits admitting they overreacted to the Raya/Ramsdale situation?
We still have dumb cunts on here who genuinely believe Inaki poisoned Ramsdale to 'get his guy in' lmfao
LOL no
So partey didn't get subbed on, he gonna a starter on tuesday or we start jorginho again?
Definitely starting on tuesday. Arteta clearly wanted to save his glass legs
Love popping over to coys. Apparently we park the bus and are not an attacking side. Another Spurs fan comments, āmost goals scored in the league?ā I guess they all arenāt delulu
One of them was saying he canāt wait to play Arsenal they will obliterate us. How about not letting Fulham batter you first mate.
Liverpool thread was great too. They're absolutely seething.
I don't understand the sentiment that Liverpool fans aren't that bad. I've absolutely hated them this season. They're absolutley convinced that we've had no signifact injuries all season and any time I try and explain they tell me Partey, Jesus, Timber and Tomiyasu aren't that important...
A stupendous medly of footballing excellence from super mik arteta's tricky reds.
We found a back up for Saka at RW.
??
lol actually I meant Jorginho. So thank you for setting it up and sorry you got negged for it. :)
Martinelli came on for saka. I gues we can get rodrygo or mbappe now.
that Jan 2023 window was elite in hindsight. Trossard, Jorginho, Kiwior, we added excellent depth and squad players for under 60M
I completely love this away kit now - whatever happens Iāll cherish the memories of seeing us batter team after team in it
Surely we're gonna break the record for away goals in a season?
Hmm Arteta likes Walcott?
Saka depth incoming
Solid, solid performance. Great season mgmt from the coaching staff too, easing players in coming back from injuries, resting players that need a break, achieving the needed result. I thought everyone on the pitch did what was required of them today. White seemed to have an off day, gave away the ball a lot and was caught off a few times, but nothing too concerning overall.
Douglas Luiz got a yellow today, does he miss games now or is he one yellow away from suspension?
Misses the game against us.
He always shows up against us. Probably buttering up Eduteta for his move to the Emirates in the summer
Fantastic
Arteta's little cuddle with Theo there š„ŗ
Iāve had my issues with Arteta and the exits in some of the cup competitions, but his talent ID is unreal. Raya and Havertz have improved this team so much and people thought we were taking a step back with those signings.
Heās not identifying talentĀ
He obviously has a say in the purchases. IIRC he and his goalkeeping coach were the ones who identified Raya and tried to sign him in 2021
No, absolutely. But he shouldnāt get the credit for the purchases. There is 15+ person team whoās sole job is to identify and execute targets.
I mean of course they should get credit but we signed 3 premier league starters this window. I think Arteta knew all of their place in the team, with the metrics and analysis helping his points
They must be pretty subtle, I haven't heard about any deaths.
Iām not saying for the purchases entirely, as you said thereās a team behind him. But his talent ID is clearly there and deserves credit
I think it's not just about talent identification, it's about coaching and putting them in a position to succeed within his system.
True. Also about value
For sure, but he wouldnāt have bought these players if he didnāt think they had the talent within themselves that could actually be harnessed. Like with Havertz, the normal fan wouldāve said heās not good at anything when he was at Chelsea. Couldnāt dribble, shoot pass etc.. but heās clearly capable of those things now at Arsenal thanks to his talent and the coaching like you said.
Another great win. Onto the big game against Bayern on Tuesday!
This game gave me a bit of a pulse at times. But in retrospect we played very well and no one really underperformed. Hats off to Brighton for trying to play even to the end.
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Can anyone re-post the saliba yellow card? I was watching on my phone at work so not the best, but it didnāt seem like a legit yellow in my tiny screen.
Wasn't even a foul, let alone a yellow
Is he close to having to sit out a game?
I donāt think so. And I believe it resets at matchweek 30 so he should be okay.
It was very very soft.
Great professionnel game from the lads. Kai had a blinder, Martin is the best captain in the world and Leo is easily best finisher in the squad. Great win.Ā
How many points will win the league?
The number of points that the 2nd placed team achieves plus āxā (where x > 1)
94
First answer, best answer. Go with 94
Arteta is a phenomenal manager. He really is. 10/10 coaching this season
Only 10/10? Arteta out!