A Start of a Golden Age!
By Hartwick89.
So with 11 games left the maximum points for the top three is 33. The table for the top three post Saturday’s fixtures is;
- Chelsea 61points;
- Manchester United 57points;
- Arsenal 55 points.
And the remaining fixtures are as follows;
Manchester United Chelsea Arsenal
| 1.Everton A | 1.Wolverhampton A | 1. Sunderland H |
| 2. West Ham H | 2. Manchester City H | 2. Stoke A |
| 3.Wolverham A | 3. Portsmouth A | 3. Burnley H |
| 4.Fulham H | 4. West Ham H | 4. Hull A |
| 5. Liverpool H | 5. Blackburn A | 5. West Ham H |
| 6. Bolton A | 6. Aston Villa H | 6. Birmingham A |
| 7.Chels H | 7. Man U A | 7. Wolverhampton H |
| 8. Blackburn A | 8. Bolton H | 8. Tottenham A |
| 9. Man City A | 9. Tottenham A | 9.Wigan A |
| 10. Totts H | 10. Stoke H | 10. Manchester City H |
| 11. Sunderland A | 11. Liverpool A | 11. Blackburn A |
| 12. Stoke H | 12. Wigan H | 12. Fulham H |
I suspect the War-Room at the clubs will certainly look like the above. Each management team trying to figure out where can they win, draw, and lose.
But, what is now becoming obvious is Arsenal have a distinct advantage in the remaining fixtures!
Here are my predictions week to week. First, the Fixtures. Second, team result. Third the points. (Italics is difficult fixture.)
Week Results;
Manchester United 57 Chelsea 58 Arsenal 52
| 1.Everton A (L) 57 | 1.Wolverhampton A (W) 61 | 1. Sunderland H (W) 55 |
| 2. West Ham H (W) 60 | 2. Manchester City H (D) 62 | 2. Stoke A (W) 58 |
| 3.Wolverhampton A (W) 63 | 3. Portsmouth A (W) 65 | 3. Burnley H (W) 61 |
| 4.Fulham H (W) 66 | 4. West Ham H (W) 68 | 4. Hull A (W) 64 |
| 5. Liverpool H (D) 67 | 5. Blackburn A (W) 71 | 5. West Ham H (W) 67 |
| 6. Bolton A (W) 70 | 6. Aston Villa H (D) 72 | 6. Birmingham A (W) 70 |
| 7.Chelsea H (W) 73 | 7. Man U A (L) 72 | 7. Wolverhampton H (W) 73 |
| 8. Blackburn A (W) 76 | 8. Bolton H (W) 75 | 8. Tottenham A (D) 74 |
| 9. Man City A (L) 76 | 9. Tottenham A (W) 78 | 9.Wigan A (W) 77 |
| 10. Totts H (W) 79 | 10. Stoke H (W) 81 | 10. Manchester City H (W) 80 |
| 11. Sunderland A (D) 80 | 11. Liverpool A (L) 81 | 11. Blackburn A (W) 83 |
| 12. Stoke H (W) 83 | 12. Wigan H (W) 84 | 12. Fulham H (W) 86 |
This year has shaped up to be a contentious one and here is how I see it moving forward.
Manchester United have 6 fixtures in which at the very least they have extreme difficulty with opponents. Chelsea have five fixtures with the same level of difficulty. Arsenal have three maybe four at best.
I see Arsenal winning the title by the slimmest of margins and on the last day. So that said, it seem that the Doom and Gllomers will have lost their voices and Arsene will have been completely correct in regards to many things including this team.
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UNTOLD RUMOURS
The next week will see thousands of new stories about Ashley Cole released as national newspapers empty their vaults of all the stories surrounding Mr C. The stories were put on hold after the loss of the court action to Mr Mosley of Formula 1 fame. But now the super injunctions have started to be thrown out by the courts the press think that Mr Cole is fair game. The Sun today had a picture of Mr Cole “injuring himself”.
If you type “Ashley Cole” into Google it gives you a list of the most popular searches. Top of the list in terms of hits is Ashley Cole Phone Story with 1.8 million hits.
Today on the Web site “Football Rumours”: “Arsenal will not be spending heavily like most people think in the summer!Targets are already in place in the form of Marouane Chamakh, Gregory van der Wiel and Mesut Ozil.Mamadou Sakho has also been identified but will only come in if Gallas does not sign a new contract.”
Notts County FC have made a bid to buy Portsmouth FC. “I think we understand each other,” said a director, while busking outside Charing Cross tube station this morning.
Palle Rasmuissen has agreed to buy Chester City. However at a press conference he said, “I know that the Vaughan family have put it about that I am going to buy the football club, but why would I do that?” He also reported that the local law established in 1312 that Welshmen could not be on the streets of the town after sundown would be more rigorously enforced in future, and that he was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Edinburgh.
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News from the darker side
Untold Arsenal invented rotational fouling
The England captain we signed from Kettering Town.
Why did Arsenal move to Highbury, and not somewhere else?
Arsenal in 1910 – the complete story in the most wonderful book about Arsenal ever written by anyone, ever, honest, I am not kidding you.
Rumour of the day:
Mr Gold of the Hammers has stated with finality that spears will not be thrown at the Olympic stadium post 2012. Unless West Ham are playing Millwall……..
looks very promising. lets hope the lads are focused and they dont become complacent. man u and chelsea i reckon are looking at us hoping we slip up, knowing they wil drop points. cant see why we cant win al of them with a 100% focused team. of course certain officials will be on certain payrolls for certain things. (did you see the offside defoe goal?) seems like someone wants them in the top four? anywho. go gunnerz.
Certainly I dont agree with certain results, but the end has a high probability to be as you predicted.
I would love to see that happen Hartwick89.
oops to soon.
We just have to start every game with the intent to win the game at all cost and to keep the focus. We can win them all if “they” let us. And then we would be champion.
The others will drop points anyhow. It will be down to us and to take it game by game.
There is the issue of the accursed injuries – I think I noted the list of them in the last past or so… Gallas, VP, Djourou, Gibbs, Diaby, Eduardo, Arshavin. Some of these guys won’t return, and some will come back very late, but what we have to hope is that those who do come back don’t take a while to adjust.
Injuries willing I agree that we will make it. I just keep finding various parts of my anatomy crossed.
I also meant to add a word about Nasri on Saturday. I thought he was incredible – an amazing ability to turn away from two, even three defenders and just stroll off in a different direction. Now who was it who used to do that. What was his name? Th, Thie, Terry Enry, that’s it.
That would be an incredible finish, the boys do need to remain focused and RVP back for the last 4-5 games would be an added bonus.
Yes Tony I think Nasri is finaly coming good after his long injury spell. How many times in a season we have to write these words in fact ??? Far to many times if you ask me.
I really think that if we don’t lose any more players and have Gallas, Diaby, Eduardo and Arshavin back in the coming days (or weeks) we can do it.
Back to Nasri as he was named the new Zidane. Well in fact he never will be the new Zidane. In 10 years time we will speak if a young French players comes through the ranks: “Oh he might be the new Nasri”. Okay I admit, I like him. 😉
Tony, I find myself agreeing with you again re Nasri. He is great at holding onto possession as he rarely loses the ball and his twists and turns and general trickery is amazing. As he grows in confidence he will become more and more incisive with the ball too. I thought he had one of his best games of the season on Saturday and long may it continue.
The other player I’m looking forward to seeing more of is Carlos Vela. Like Theo, his season has been wiped out by injuries, but I was looking at some of his goals from last season on You Tube earlier and reminding myself of what an exciting talent he is. I would love to see some more of those ‘chips’ of his – hmmm tasty!
I am absolutely loath to predict the outcome of any Arsenal game because (irrationally) I feel like that might have an impact on the outcome. So I didn’t do that in my similar article today.
That said, if you think Steve Bruce (former United player, played under Fergie for 10 years) is going to let Sunderland beat United in the penultimate game, with United in the title chase, you are absolutely dreaming.
@Tony Nas..sr..ri.. That’s the name. I love him as well. Him & Rosicky, injuries apart, are exactly what we need to ensure a strong finish to the season.
@Hartwick89 Babes, I’m praying.
You know they will still moan even if we win. there is always something to moan about! after all this is arsenal
Tim, I think you are right about Sunderland. I’ve lost count of the times ex-mancs, players or managers gift Fergie the points he needs at crucial moments. If Steve Bruce thinks he might be in with a shout for the job when Fergie retires, he will give him exactly what he wants.
Hartwick, I predict that in the next round of climate change talks, the developed countries will come to their sense and agree on strict carbon-emission reduction targets, go back to their parliaments, get bills passed to initiate the conversion from fossil fuels to green energy, invest heavily in solar, wind and geothermal energy research, reduce our reliance on cars, and share our technological advantage with the developing world gratis, so they can improve their countries without having to use dirty techs.
Will it happen, though? Predicting something isn’t going to make it happen. 11 games to go, you’re predicting ten wins and a draw? I find it hard to see which of our two predictions is more optimistic.
I would have predicted 11 wins 🙂
I think Hartwick is to friendely for MU and Chelsea.
I think that Tottenham will hand us the title as they will win against MU and Chelsea. Now you can laught at it but MU has struggled a lot against the Totts in recent years and has some lucky escapes. I remember Webb giving a ridiculous penalty last year for MU ?
And Tottenham away is not easy for Chelsea aswell. They will draw over there.
Walter, I wouldn’t be surprised if you predicted 12 wins.
I think the only thing we know for sure is that the final period of the season will NOT go as predicted above. All the teams will drop points when they shouldnt and I am sure at least one of the three contenders will be “out of it” as far as the media is concerned and still get back in the race.
I actually think it is terribly bad luck to publish an article like this.
First, thanks Tony…. For allowing me to contribute. Nothing better than rolling in from work checking out the site and reading quality! Ha! HA!
But, seriously the one take away if not the opportunity for Arsenal is the sheer difficulty for the other two. This is the real fixture list and I like what I see. Will the results happen this way? probably not… But, why not?
As for Global warming or climate change I leave that for the true D&G er’s.
You have Chelsea dropping points at home and to be fair they are pretty good there. stoke, westham, Birmingham, man city, and spurs are difficult games make no mistake, if we get a win at stoke we may have the momentum it is no longer a marathon now it is a sprint so the team witgh the momentum may just pinch it I am glad we are out of the domestic cups that is very good because our players are getting a little rest while the competition is playing these mickey mouse games.
Has any one considered it coming down to goal difference, I would hate to lose the title on goal difference because of those unnecessary goals we still continue to concede, I would love us to win and my heart will be beating every kick of every game, if RVPcomes back for the last games the boost just might take us there
I think you’re being pretty optimistic on all three counts. All three teams will drop more ridiculous points but i do agree we can nick it at the end and win this.
Gents, Let’s be real. We have seen what has happened in the past and let’s not forget all of the key injuries. Losing too many matches that should be wins just recently makes me wonder what Hartwick89 is basing if knowledge on. Be fortunate if they remain in their current league standing. Predictions…Predictions, just enjoy the matches and pray for the best!!!
@Paul C,
As the Great Tina Turner says, “What’s Luck Gotta Do With It?
By the way Did anyone read the shite article on that shite blog ‘just arsenal’ saying bentner set a target of 6 goals for the season when he actually meant about 15? Sometimes i wonder about our ‘fans’. Could actually be the tottenham in disguise – Effing sabotuers!!
@don’t believe the hype
The last time he was able to do them a favor was the last day of 2008 when Man U won 2-0 on the Latics patch to take the title. It helped that Chelsea faltered at the last but I remember clearly that he took special umbrage against all who said that Wigan rolled over.
Which in my opinion, they did.
Just thinking about the whole situation, and the doom and gloom issue too, reminded me of the 2-0 victory against Liverpool to win the title at Anfield.
It was an amazingly impossible situation, and I think I spent the whole summer wearing an Arsenal shirt, just desperate for the new season to start.
With great anticipation I went to the first home game, and purchased the fanzine of the time that I used to buy – “1-0 down, 2-1 up” and was astonished to read the most negative pieces in it, in which the writers had re-written history so that we lost the match!!!!
Yup, instead of celebrating the most staggering victory in the history of the solar system, they were saying, well yes it was only just, and we nearly didn’t and we won’t manage it again because the squad is not good enough.
Twas ever thus.
I don’t believe in tempting fate – I believe in making fate do what you want it to do. All we have to do is focus on these results, and our dream comes true.
And if I’d been writing the piece I would have included our victory in the Champs League as well.
They absolutely did roll over Tim. I also remember they relaid the pitch just before that match after making Arsenal play on a potato patch after that CL match in the San Siro.
Tony @ 11.13 pm – the power of positive thinking! Unfortunately there is so much negativity around, I worry that these D&G’ers are like magnets attracting what they fear the most. It’s almost like they would prefer us not to win in order for them to be able to say ‘I told you so’. What sad lives they must live.
@TIM . YOU’RE RIGHT TIM I PREDICT THE MANCS DRAWNG AGAINST THE TOTTS AT OLD TRAFFORD(NOT THAT I WANT TO, BUT I HAVE TO) AND THEN BEATING SUNDERLAND.BUT STILL,LIKE HARTWICK89 WRITES,THEY STILL WILL BE 80 POINTS(3 POINTS ADRIFT OF ARSENAL)GOING INTO THE LAST GAME OF THE SEASON.MARK MY WORDS ,CHELSEA WULD BE 4 POINTS ADRIFT OF ARSENAL(79 POINTS ) ON THE LAST DAY OF THE SEASON AND WE WOULD ONLY NEED A DRAW AGAINST FULHAM TO WIN THE LEAGUE.IN ARSENE I TRUST
It’ll all be in the lap of the Great Injury Gods.
If Rooney is out for any length of time (join me now in praying…)Man U will be battling it out for 4th place.
The next 6 matches are most crucial:
1 – Stoke City
2 – Burnley
3 – Hull City
4 – West Ham
5 – BRUM
6 – WOlves
Our title challenge will come to nought if we don’t win it all.
By stringing togther a string of 8 wins – starting with Liverpool – we will get into our opponents’ heads to increase pressure on ’em to perform.
Chelski and ManIOU will be playign every game udner mental stress with Arsenal winning and winning and winning.
It will prey on players’ minds and they will not be as relaxed as playing without pressure.
Chelski will have matches postponed due to FA Cup qtr-final and semi-final.
Hopefully at least 2 league macthes to create a congested fixture during April/May.
Surprisingly, ManIOU does not have a squad in depth this season and overtly dependable on Rooney toc arry teh team, like we depend on Henry to carry the team from 2004/05 to 2006/07 season.
But there is a disturbing trend in Arsenal team – a goal drought with Fabregas misfiring and our strikeforce – Bendtner, Eduardo, Walcott and vela – impotent in front of goal.
Worst, Arshavin, Rosicky and Nasri are not scoring as well.
Our title challenge can end immediately with as sequence like 4 no. 0-0 draw out of those 6 games.
It happened last season when we were entering a goal drought – I think Cesc was out injured as well – and it was also in the midst of oru 21-game unbeaten run.
Adn if we repeat our dreadful Feb-March performance of last 2 seasons, we will be fighting for 4th spot in April/May!!!
Look at the dreadful Feb-March trend now:
1 – Fabregas lost his sharpness and miss more than he hit the target
2 – Extremely few clear-cut chances created, unlike 10+ at season start and 1st half.
3 – Arshavin, Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott and Eduardo are not contributing to goal tally in 2010. When was Arshavin’s last goal?
Once again, out title challenge credential lies in beating all those Bottom-12 teams.
Lest we forget, ManIOU won the 2008/09 title by collecting 70 out of 72 points from Bottom-12 teams.
Meaning, if we are to win the 2009/10 title, we must emulate ManIOU and collect 18 out of 18 points from our next 6 opponents…no “if”, no “but”, just do it.
‘So that said, it seem that the Doom and Gllomers will have lost their voices and Arsene will have been completely correct in regards to many things including this team.’
Arsenal may win the League (I give it a 70:30 chance) but Wenger is still wrong in many things. The reason why we are still in the thick of things is because of the luck of the draw or scheduling. Almunia, Fabianski and Denilson are still shite.
@Tim,
You had me at Jack(LOvely lady that on again off again croucher!) Strange that you think Sundie would surrender to Red IOU. Now that is corrupt. And, I thought I was a conspiracy theorist when that Jackyl MGR from Birmingham let Taylor lych Eduardo on behalf of SAF…
finally acknowledgement for nasri and his amazing possession play.
i know he hasn’t been playing his best but over the past weeks reading “walcott for nasri next game!” and things of the like, have made me absolutely sick.
i really like the spirit of this blog so i’m fairly sure it wouldn’t have been any of you but man oh man, he’s a top player isn’t he? it just feels like i’m the only who sees it sometimes
arsenal to push on for the PLT! nasri and co to take it to porto for the CLT!
i’m sure we can all agree have a returning and sharp squad will be a major factor for us. if we can PLEASE beat stoke then we will have that all important momentum and self belief after one of our hardest games remaining. also, for all the criticism which has been laballed at the team this season, by many of us fans, myself included, it’s hard to say that if we can have tv OR gallas fit for the rest of the season at least (if not both) then campbell is good enough to partner them if the other is injured. we have two excellent right backs (especially eboue now omg!) and clichy will surely refind some form. in midfield if we can have cesc song and diaby fit and playing the vast majoirity of the remaining games we have an excellent trio there and if we could keep arshavin fit and return him to the wing where he is happier and leave niklas up front to make space for him. that leaves nasri/rosicky (both) to fill the rw role and make the extra difference. as much as almunia has been bad this year, he’s the most experienced and best we probably have for now and if we could put a couple of clean sheets together he might regain some confidence and begin to look more solid like last year. i’ve pretty much written rvp out for the rest of the season, but i am half expecting him to play in the final 4 or so games. IF we are still within a few points when rvp returns then he will be the difference, no doubt about it. i read a stat yesterday saying with rvp in the team we average 3.3 goals a game this season, without him we average 1.7! mark my words, if he can play a handful of games at 70% sharpness or more then he will be a HUGE factor. he is absolutely special and we have to do everything in our power to hang on until he is back, then he can drag us over the line. first thing first though, STOKE!
I don’t believe in tempting fate – I believe in making fate do what you want it to do. All we have to do as Araenal fans is 2 focus on the coming match results, and our dream of claiming the title comes true.And if I’d been writing the piece I would have included our victory in the Champs League as well.letz b united 4 arsenal goal,arsenal goal………..
arsenal can rilly make it to the title.
All I can say is that it’s good to believe. 11 games in a row? Why not? As many here have said, if we get at least five or six in a row…
I pray it doesn’t rain at Stoke so we all don’t have to see Rory Delap use that stupid towel to take 10 minutes off the clock.
At his last press conference Wenger said something about Arsenal being in an ideal position at the moment….not so far behind the leaders so as to be out of the race…and at the same time in with a very good chance of catching up with the leaders. Point being that there is no undue pressure of being a league leader at the moment…we’ve seen how the season unravelled last time we were in with a clear lead in the month of December.
If you look at last season..in my opinion we were in a similar fight for 4th place…..at one time we were totally out of the 4th place race before stoke did us a huge favour and gave us a sniff of a chance….from that point on our boys chipped away at each game and put up a great run. The effect of that on Aston Villa (who had taken 4th place for granted till the stoke debacle) had to be seen to be believed.
Anyone noticing the start of a similar trend here….we were out of the race after the loss to Chelsea….but Chelsea’s defeat to Everton gave us that slight hope of a title shot….we need to keep chipping away at each game now….i believe that Chelsea will do an Aston Villa from now on 😀
I did this before the Sunderland game, and ended up with ManUtd to take the title on goal difference, and I had them draw with Everton. Suddenly, it all looks very good for us!
It will be intresting to see how Chelsea recovers after their CL game this week. For once I hope that Adebayor scores a few goals this weekend for City.
Chelsea’s win at Wolves was not as comfortable as the score line suggests and Wolves had enough chances to win the game but missed and Drogba didn’t.
Their old legs could get tired and they also can run out of steam.
United=Rooney and the moment he runst out of steam they will fall apart. If they would lose the Carling Cup it could be a mental blow aswell but on the other hand a win could help their team moral.
Was it the spuds that won the CC a few years ago and after that had a terrible run in the league ?
Now look at us all and look at the date on the calender.
With a team of 11 lightweight – no goods – not fit to wear the shirt players we are right in it and everything is possible.
There is a idiom in Dutch that says: when 2 dogs (MIOU and Chelsea) are fighting for a bone, it is the third dog (Arsenal) that will run away with it. Well I guess there is something similar in English, but impossible is nothing.
@Walter..Yes i agree the City-Chelsea match is very important. If City manage to beat Chelsea and we beat Stoke….the title race will be well and truly open.
what a ridiculous piece…..concentrate on ur present rather than building imaginary castles….
stoke away a comfortable win????
hull away a comfortable win????
tell me one thing r u sending this article to god? Pleading??? if that’s the case then it’s acceptable but u wrote as if ur sure….wake up from ur dreams, PL is not simple as writing a ridiculous article and praising it comments or criticising it.
All those away games you’ve given as wins for Arsenal are precisely the kind of games (along with home games against teams above themselves) which they lose.
See Stoke City in the F.A. Cup.
Hartwick…may your crystal ball be blessed and you take out a quid accumulator with your bookmaker. Should be good for a million and you can buy us all a drink!
i believe in that prediction i way,if i recal the past matches we had atight fixture and now we are safe coz our opponents are in the same position and our plane has spread the wings so we are better off
arsenal has to win
Critic, I can’t see where the writer said it would be comfortable wins. Any win for The Arsenal will do right now I think. I think no one is saying it would be easy. I would like us to win them all comfortably as it would be better for my heart. 😉
On paper we can win all those games. Now we just have to do it on the field. It will be hard work but if we just go sitting on a chair and say: we can’t do it, then you can’t.
Not only the players must have belief, but the fans also must have belief.
The bigger issue for me is not just that we have had our usual miserable run of injuries but that Chelsea have once again had very few in comparison to the other top clubs. Man Utd look creaky at the back and if anything were to happen to Rooney they would almost certainly crumble quickly.
The same is true of Drogba/Lampard at Chelsea.
I’m not one to wiish injuries but as the fixtures mount they become more likely.
Rooney seems to escape a red card almost every game.
Somethings gotta give to balance out all the unfairness we suffer season upon season through bad refs and ridiculous injuries!
Nice piece Hartwick89 and I prey that your prediction comes true. Certainly when it comes to the games we have remaining, the only ones that should really give us any worry are the two against Citeh, and the Spuds – but I will be 100% confident going into both of those games that we will win them – the spuds always bottle it against us anyway so I don’t see any changes there, and Citeh are still over hyped – and they were playing better football under Mark Hughes as well.
I still feel there are a few more twists and turns coming though. It will be interesting to see what psychological impact the ever closer World Cup has, with players becoming much more conscious of wanting to avoid injury etc in the next couple of months – what will be going through Rooneys mind after his injury last time? But I guess all the top three teams may suffer as players have it in the backs of their minds. ManIOU also have Ferdinand and Vidic coming back together now so they will be stronger and more solid, and Chelsea will have Essien driving them on in midfield again soon. So there are still a lot of if’s and but’s, and a lot of drama to come, but we will be there or therabouts whatever happens so I will be ultra positive about us as usual.
Rumour of the day:
Gilberto will return to Arsenal as resident psychologist.
Commenting on the appointment, Arsene said: ‘Gilberto has seen it all in football and still he is humble. His first assignment is to help the Irish contingent at the club (Liam Brady?) get through their distracting disappointments by helping Brazil to beat ROI fair and square on the pitch. His next job will be accompanying Eduardo to the premier of the new film ‘Fear of flying tackles’. After that, he will accompany Fabianski to Lords to teach him how to field at Wide Mid-On, as stopping the ball by throwing oneself to the left is a key aspect of that. Finally he will take Nicklas Bendtner to play beach football on Copacabana beach, as the young man still thinks he is better than Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton combined. With these minor alterations in mental focus, I feel confident that we will enjoy a great end to the season and the three treated players will play a significant role in bringing that about.’
Looks good to me as only Man.City might pose a problem that,s if Tevez is playing otherwise Arsenal should win their eleven remaining games and pip Chelsea to the Premier League title 2009/10?
We are shearing the same points of views after the analysis of the remaining fixtures:Arsenal is in good position to win the title race this season!The teams we are having look to cause less dangers comparing to our rivals.
If Arsenal do win the EPL this year, it will be a miracle, given injuries, referees, recent performances-in my view it is not likely-and requires more than blind faith in Arsene Wenger for it to become a possibility.
The crucial, and hugely overlooked, stat by many comments above is that big capital ‘A’ next to six of the teams.
That stands for ‘AWAY’.
That means ‘AWAY’ from the comfort of the big red-seated library with the prawn sandwiches fifteen minutes before half-time.
The bottom line is that this Arsenal team doesn’t fancy it much up north and 4 of those games are very much ‘up north’.
Ironically, the one I think Arsenal have most chance of winning is the one at lily-livered (something you can’t accuse Stoke of being!) Tottenham which you’ve put down as a draw.
A) It’s virtually a home game and B) Tottenham will be out of contention for the hallowed 4th place (4th!!!! what a rubbish league!) when it’s played.
Oh my God Sean, I was thinking that all those teams had changed their name in Stoke Athletics and Sunderland Hotspur or so.
Thanks for bringing the light to this site.
I think we are all down on the floor right now and trying to get ourselves together…the end of the world is near…
I’m going to try to give another vote to the biggest prat in football, this will do me good…
We have no threat up front at the moment and if we are going to win the league we need a striker to come good a.s.a.p.
Hmmmm. Easier said than done. I hope my lovely gunner win the league.
I believe that most people underestimated our performance upNorth.
It is that dastardly November Blip, horrendous injury list (from october to Feb)and fatigue creeping itno key players (Henry, Fabregas) during the busiest period of the month of March and April where the team is competing concurrently in FA Cup (qtr and semi-final) adnw ith matches coming in thick and fast within a period of 3/4 days.
The key element that is missing this season when we play those 4 UpNorth teams are – arctic conditions, hard foren pitch or muddy pitch resulting in a trench warfare with physical battles.
This weekend away to Stoke City is a good benchmark on our team in battling for a win in wintry conditions.
Win this game and we know this team has turned the corner and can mix it up with any team in physical battle.
And this team is geared towards playing on a dry and firm pitch during spring/summer/authum with the fluid and quick passing style.
Sunderland?
When we lose that game, it was raining, a slippery pitch, and we can’t play our quick passing game on a slippery and quick pitch. And of course, Lady Luck deserted us as well.
If we want to crown as champion, then we must play like champion for the next match and therafter, winning ugly when playing badly, grinding out results and a ruthless killer instinct to finish off weak opponent at Emirates with a cricket score – no more showboating please when 2-0 or 3-0 up.
I will observe Fabregas closely again, and see how he knit up the team into a cohesive unit. he is the key to our title challenge.
Man u drawing to sunderland in the second to last game contestin first place, im an arsenal fan and as much as i want that to happen…… it wont 🙂
Walter,
Check the comments above.
There are many on this site, and at AFC itself, that believe Stoke, Hull and Burnley AWAY to be easier fixtures than placid Man. City (check their recent cup performance away at Stoke and the league game at Spurs) at home.
Not true.
And that, along with 12 points lost to Man. U. and Chelsea means that, like Liverpool last season, Arsenal almost certainly miss a chance to win this tiresomely pedictable league.
Hartwick89, you were wrong on the Chelsea-City result. Great to be wrong on that. 🙂
Walter…Blasted! It is great to be wrong on that…..Watching Birms & Wigs…ZZZZZZZZ but I am doing a scouting report for Arsenal. All in a days work…Do you see me? (Front row behind Aspen Cool).
Is Carr on HGH? He looks like Tevez w/o hair….
Yes, I really hope that Arsenal can win the champion unless the 2 biggest obstacles Man City and Tottenham are cleared!
In addition, Liverpool will play a very very important role in helping Arsenal clinching the title. If Liverpool helps Arsenal to beat Chelsea and Man U in the coming matches, couple with Man U beats Chelsea, Arsenal will win the title eventually.
Seems that it’s still possible for Arsenal to win the title.
But the most important thing is consistency.
The Champion must have a consistency in all matches.
Keep build up your faith and never give up till the end..
I see Arsenal winning the title not by the slimmest of margins and on the last day but with a margin of 7 or 9 points with a game to spare.
arsernal in pole position to win the league. i pray God helps (us) arsernal to win the league this time around. arsernal needs prayers, and support from every one. i also pray there are no more injuries. arserna for life. may God bless Arsernal.
Badnews..
Since MU is keep on winning track and arsenal failed to win against Birmingham, now the chances is on MU or Chelsea (depends on this week matchday).
Just hope that the score will go to draw or Chelsea’s way.
And Arsenal, you must keep winning all matches.
Keep fighting.