The chase for 4th place (not top 4)

I really can't remember Wolves having 3 or 4 great chances. I can only remember Hwang having a great chance at the start of the second half to make it 2-0. The only other decent chance I can remember is Neto dragging a shot wide.

Shots: Arsenal 26-6 Wolves
xG 2.7-1.1

Yes wolves could have won..if they pretty much converted 100% of their chances and we missed all our ours. On balance of play they didn't deserve to get anything out of this game. Something their own players even admitted. Ruben Neves: "We didn't deserve to win to be honest. We had some good chances to score, but we didn't play well. They took us back all the game after going 1-0 up & we just defended. When you don't have the ball against these kind of teams you will suffer"

the two you mentioned plus neves aswell had a few

arsenal deserved to win 100% they were superior & showed character
 
Not counting any chickens before they hatch.

Only a few weeks ago it was everyone else had games in hand, whilst we were slightly ahead. Now we have the games in hand - but they will come thick and fast, and our depth (up top in particular) is worrisome.

Laca and Eddie are a bottom half of the league kind of forward group. We risk burning out and of Saka, ESR, Ødegaard and Martinelli. Thankfully Pepe is back, as he is going to have to step up in a big way consistently now.

You have about 1 game a week and haven't been in Europe all season. If those players get burned out from that schedule then your fitness and nutritional teams need sacking.
 
You have about 1 game a week and haven't been in Europe all season. If those players get burned out from that schedule then your fitness and nutritional teams need sacking.

Saka in particular has had a long season, given his involvement in the England side. You just never know with the younger players, it may not be just physical but mental fatigue too.

Though having said that, I think Saka already went through that mental fatigue faze earlier this season.
 
Arsenal are not going finish top 4. Just not enough goals in that team. It’ll be either us or Spurs, Ronaldo and Kane will prove to be the difference. if we get a win and a draw against city and pool then we should be huge favs, but I have no faith in us either so it’ll go down to the wire.

It's their only problem at the moment, scoring goals, and I think Arteta really wanted to address it with Vlahovic in January. He would have definitely been the missing piece of their puzzle. It's actually the first time in many years I've seen Arsenal without a top striker during a period of the season. They always had defensive and midfield shortcomings. You really can't say that Arteta doesn't have a clear plan.
 
Saka in particular has had a long season, given his involvement in the England side. You just never know with the younger players, it may not be just physical but mental fatigue too.

Though having said that, I think Saka already went through that mental fatigue faze earlier this season.

As you indicate, Saka seems pretty switched on and made from the right stuff. I cannot see him get too fazed mentally. Additionally, a 20 year old body recovers a lot quicker than a 30 year old one.

For me, Arsenal are in the driving seat. One of the easier schedules out of Man Utd, Spurs and Wolves and have played the less football than two of them.

Goals are an issue, but you're playing relatively well defensively for the first time in a decade. Honestly, unless some injuries really hit or Utd/Spurs start becoming winning machines (not likely) I can't see past them.
 
Arsenal have a leisurely 1 game a week and are in 1 competition. They can focus 100% on the PL and can play a consistent XI every match now.

We are in 4 competitions and have been plagued by injuries all season long, including to arguably our 2 most important players Reece James & Chilwell who have missed months of the season.

Despite that, we still have a little breathing room between ourselves and Arsenal, have a +20 goal difference advantage on them, and have a considerably softer remaining fixture list than they do.

The only thing that’s embarrassing is that we’re so far behind City and Liverpool. We still have a chance to win 3 more trophies this season having already won 2. A situation Arsenal fans could only dream of these days.
Hold on, I thought you were a United fan?
 
As much as I hate to see it, I think Arsenal are going to get there ahead of us. They dealt with the dressing room drama, the egos, the discipline issues and are just focused on the task at hand.

United have a lot more BS drama around us. Shit players not wanting to sit on the bench, dressing room leaks, Ronaldo must always play and cannot get subbed, Maguire and to an extent even Rangnick and his big mouth. The other big issue is that we're in the midst of a change in how we play while Arsenal have been getting used to Arteta's methods for > two seasons. Every player knows what their role is.

I believe we still have the better players overall, so maybe that'll be enough to overcome the drama, but I just don't see it.
 
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Arteta a fraud? You clearly dislike the guy, nothing to do with his performance as manager.
You clearly don't know the facts. Stick to what Celtic are doing, maybe try getting Brendan back.
 
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It's a bit misleading as Chelsea fixtures are straightforward from here. They've played City, Liverpool and Spurs already. They'll finish 3rd comfortably.

how is it misleading? They dropped points to Everton, Wolves and Brighton
 
Arsenal have a leisurely 1 game a week and are in 1 competition. They can focus 100% on the PL and can play a consistent XI every match now.

We are in 4 competitions and have been plagued by injuries all season long, including to arguably our 2 most important players Reece James & Chilwell who have missed months of the season.

Despite that, we still have a little breathing room between ourselves and Arsenal, have a +20 goal difference advantage on them, and have a considerably softer remaining fixture list than they do.

The only thing that’s embarrassing is that we’re so far behind City and Liverpool. We still have a chance to win 3 more trophies this season having already won 2. A situation Arsenal fans could only dream of these days.

Chelsea fans moaning about injuries given how big and how much money has been spent on that squad :lol:
 
how is it misleading? They dropped points to Everton, Wolves and Brighton
Arsenal wouldn't be within 5 points if they had already played Liverpool, City and Spurs.

Anyone can drop points to Wolves and Brighton, they are decent sides.
 
I agree. That's actually shocking. Tuchel had a really bad league season. His title bid collapsed early and at this stage of the season Arteta is only 5 points behind Chelsea, with a game in hand over Chelsea? I could never have predicted that.


Mate we have Arteta. It ain't gonna happen with him. I would have been content with whatever happens this season if we got rid of him. But now that he's staying, his only option for me to get top 4. And even then, I'd still probably want rid of him.

I knew this guy was a fraud when we imploded against Villareal last season, not to mention his atrocious league finish last season.

Arsenal are like the mirror image of United. When things go badly wrong at United, it's always the managers fault. But when things go badly wrong at Arsenal, it's always the players fault.

The Board would rather get rid of Ozil, Saliba, Gendouzi, Aubameyang etc. for falling out with Arteta (they all fell out with him), than get rid of Arteta. Now Auba is banging the goals in for Barcelona.

If Arteta is going to be a dictator, he better have the results and the football to back up his arrogant stance.
The treatment of Saliba is a head scratcher for sure, what happened there? Hows Guendouzi doing now?
 
Yes White did dive there. So this is controversial and an outrage but when a Wolves defender in similar position went down after he lost the ball it is ok? Or when Samedo took out Martinelli inside the penalty area when he was about to shoot at goal it wasn't a penalty?

If you only start looking at the decisions that went for us but forget about the ones that went for Wolves, then of course you would think this was a controversial win.
A lot of decisions went for you i thought, but you deserved the win overall. We inexplicably shit the bed after going ahead, especially given it’s the first time in 45 games that we’ve lost after taking the lead. I don’t think we played well in either game.

4th is between united and arsenal in my opinion
 
The treatment of Saliba is a head scratcher for sure, what happened there? Hows Guendouzi doing now?
He's doing good and often in the Ligue 1 team of the week with Saliba. But you just know that sooner or later he will overstep and cause problems. There was already small rifts rumors at the start of the season.
 
He's doing good and often in the Ligue 1 team of the week with Saliba. But you just know that sooner or later he will overstep and cause problems. There was already small rifts rumors at the start of the season.
Saliba was always highly rated, I was surprised at his treatment at Arsenal. Do you know what he fell out with Arteta over, or was it playing time?
 
I had thought that it would be Spurs and perhaps it still will be, but Arsenal are looking pretty good for a 4th place finish now.

I don't see United, West Ham or Wolves quite making it.
 
Saliba was always highly rated, I was surprised at his treatment at Arsenal. Do you know what he fell out with Arteta over, or was it playing time?
Ultimately, Arteta deemed him not ready for PL action so he went on loan and got 2 full playing seasons as a 20y old CB + some European experience.
Arsenal clearly messed up the way it was communicated to him and made him losing 6 months but it could be for the best. They will try to renew his contract with a raise and Marseille won't be able to match it. He could sign, "fail" at Arsenal and still be a very promising young CB not short of suitors. Win win for him.
 
All over for United.

Well done to arsenal or spurs.

Europa fecking league again FFS.
 
Even finishing fifth is far from a sure thing for United. Ronaldo has been woeful since the new year
 
Can we finish 8th? I don't want EL or conference League
 
I'll say it again. Arsenal easily because they don't drop points regularly against dross like Watford.
 
Feel like its ours to lose. However, our squad is pretty thin, an injury to Laca, Partey or Saka and the wheels will come off.
 
Well done Arsenal od perhaps Spurs if they can get better.

This was our last game in the easy number of fixtures since December. Got just another draw. Shame.
 
I wonder what varane is thinking, multiple CL winner and how confined to the EL
 
Arsenal are not going finish top 4. Just not enough goals in that team. It’ll be either us or Spurs, Ronaldo and Kane will prove to be the difference. if we get a win and a draw against city and pool then we should be huge favs, but I have no faith in us either so it’ll go down to the wire.

Ronaldo has been the difference for all the wrong reasons though
 
So many results in favour of Arsenal. Never saw that coming.
Next 4 games for United will determined their season.
 
Arsenal will get the 4th place and make no mistake about it, it will have nothing to do with Arsenal being good and everything to do with us and Spurs being so incredibly shit. We have gift wrapped Arsenal the 4th place.