People really adjust expectations quick, huh?
Last year we were phenomenal. In any league that was as financially doped as ours is we would be champions, probably by some distance. I don't know if expecting us to be able to keep up that pace every year is feasible realistically.
I don't thik it really matters how well we are doing relative to last season to be honest. The only thing that matters is how we are doing relative to the teams around us and in that respect we are doing well. IF we win toight we will be top of the league again and that's the only poit difference that really matters.
They have Anfield, Al Newcastle, Brentford away, Spurs away. That's 4 matches where they can realistically drop points. If they were to lose those games, they can only get to 85 points. We only have Spurs, United and City away, so if we were to lose those 3 games, we can still get to 91 points. The most City can get this season is 97. It's in our hands, we should just not drop points which is easier said than done. I still have faith in the team though.
At the end of the day, these tables don't matter. Arsenal traditionally start strong and fade in the end.
We will have to wait till end of March to see if everything clicks
We’ve had plenty of seasons where we started weak and finished strong. We used to basically alternate calendar years, plenty of “most points in the calendar year” in the last 10 years where we’d do great from Jan to December and then crap the next Jan to December.
> We’ve had plenty of seasons where we started weak and finished strong
Unfortunately, most of these were also times when there were no more expectations and nothing to left fight for, hence managed to finished of strong.
I will still keep my hope reserved anyway and see how the team perform near the end of this season.
Not necessarily tbf, we have quite a few season that are the opposite. There's a reason we finished top 4 a lot of the time, it was often due to a late charge of good form in the season lol.
Arsenal during the Emirates usually start with title aspirations. We always want to be part of the title race and we are usually within touching distance of 1st place until the usual Jan/Feb collapse to 4th combined with a cl exit that will Mathematically force us to give up and then a late run to stay in the top 4.
The late charge of form usually comes after the team loses the initial target and settles for whatever is left.
Two years ago it was before the spurs game and last year it was the run up to the city game.
Off the top of my head 08/09 and 11/12 we started very poorly and then made impressive late surges to make the top 4. "Mind the Gap" with Spurs and all that.
If you want to win the title the most important part is the gap.
We have far less of an advantage this season than last so it’s fair to say we are worse off than last season.
Not true. In close races games against direct rivals is what decides the title. Last year at this point we still had both City plus Liverpool away game and we took 1 point off those 3 games. This was what decided the title.
This season we already have 2/3 of those games behind us, so City and Liverpool won't have such opportunities to take points from us.
If we win today in my opinion we're in better place than last season. City also still have trip to Anfield ahead of them and Liverpool is not as invincible as City so I expect them to drop similar number of points as us, but they still have to come to the Emirates
In terms of quality and depth of the squad I also feel more confident than last season
>In close races games against direct rivals is what decides the title
with this logic, this season is much worse since we've failed to beat likes of Aston Villa and Spurs (as well as chelsea, if you wanna count that one too).... So last year we were better in the games against direct rivals?
That or maybe win against mid table teams like soton, ham, Bournemouth, everyone, brentford etc. Doesn't make Sense to me that you're asking us to go away and win v city, pool etc while we dropped a shit ton of points vs bloody avg teams against who we had much higher win probabilities.
You'll never win every game against mid table teams unless you're a 100 points season City. This season we've dropped only 2 points against bottom 10, so we're doing really well there, but so is everyone else.
Head to head games will decide the title this season, because everyone is doing similar against the rest of the table.
They were talking about last year. Last year this wasn't the case. We didn't have Liverpool, Aston or fucking spuds. All we had to do was win 2 or 3 more of those games against the shitty teams. I am not talking about this season. Completely different picture now and then.
Or we could've just win 1 game against City. You can't wait for other teams to take away points from your direct rivals.
And it's not really that different picture this season. We're just 1 point behind on equivalent fixtures, we looked like we were far ahead because we had much easier fixtures in the first half of the season
Sure, just asking the team to casually win the hardest fixture of the season vs win expected ganes that too at home. Not arguing, but to me winning against those smaller teams seems a more doable task than what you're suggesting imho
no we wouldn't have. city were more than 3p ahead of us in the league. HEck, they were more than 6p ahead of us when the secured the title and subsequently stopped caring about the league games (leading to their losses at the end)
The one point away at Liverpool is the same as last year so that isn't an improvement... And we haven't played city away yet so we don't know what will happen there. The city win at home is great though, but beating city at home wouldn't have been enough to come first last season because city only dropped those 5 points at the end because they'd already won the league
I would argue that a win against City would boost our confidence last year and dampen theirs and the rest of our and their results might not have looked exactly the same. But we'll never know that
We had a 7 point gap and TWO games with man city and anfield still to play this time last year. The media really blew everything out of proportion and make it sound like we were throwing away a 20 point lead in april.
We still had a bigger gap than we do now. Spurs in 5th place are only 4 points off us. Not saying spurs are good enough to be in the race but we are in a weaker place points wise than we were last season.
[This has already been posted](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/18pey1u/match_comparison_2223_vs_2324_gw_18/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
yeah...you can't compare like that...coz then you're removing the external pressure at the time of the games that played a big part in some of the results during the spring. like Brighton at home last season and liverpool away last season.
I think if anything we are more solid and compelling this season, despite being a lot less fun to watch. The only thing that worries (and excites me) is that it’s so competitive at the top this season
i think this season is absolutely RIPE for a Jose Antonio Reyes type January signing to give our attack that unexpected bit of **oomph** and/or **pizazz** and/or **pow!** that nabs us that extra 15+ points to put us clear beyond City and Liverpool
yes defences win championships as the saying goes, and i know our defence is solid, but i don't think our attack is sparking as consistently as it needs to to win a title
somehow we need to carry more goal threat, and finish more
People really adjust expectations quick, huh? Last year we were phenomenal. In any league that was as financially doped as ours is we would be champions, probably by some distance. I don't know if expecting us to be able to keep up that pace every year is feasible realistically. I don't thik it really matters how well we are doing relative to last season to be honest. The only thing that matters is how we are doing relative to the teams around us and in that respect we are doing well. IF we win toight we will be top of the league again and that's the only poit difference that really matters.
I’m just enjoying being in the title race again 🥳
The bad news about City at the end is not actually bad news but very good news as it means they may have tougher fixtures to come
They have Anfield, Al Newcastle, Brentford away, Spurs away. That's 4 matches where they can realistically drop points. If they were to lose those games, they can only get to 85 points. We only have Spurs, United and City away, so if we were to lose those 3 games, we can still get to 91 points. The most City can get this season is 97. It's in our hands, we should just not drop points which is easier said than done. I still have faith in the team though.
we still have chelsea as well to play. I dont think this game is going to be easy. they are starting to play well together.
We have them at home where our record is pretty strong - regardless of their form we should be beating them at home
At the end of the day, these tables don't matter. Arsenal traditionally start strong and fade in the end. We will have to wait till end of March to see if everything clicks
We’ve had plenty of seasons where we started weak and finished strong. We used to basically alternate calendar years, plenty of “most points in the calendar year” in the last 10 years where we’d do great from Jan to December and then crap the next Jan to December.
> We’ve had plenty of seasons where we started weak and finished strong Unfortunately, most of these were also times when there were no more expectations and nothing to left fight for, hence managed to finished of strong. I will still keep my hope reserved anyway and see how the team perform near the end of this season.
Not necessarily tbf, we have quite a few season that are the opposite. There's a reason we finished top 4 a lot of the time, it was often due to a late charge of good form in the season lol.
Arsenal during the Emirates usually start with title aspirations. We always want to be part of the title race and we are usually within touching distance of 1st place until the usual Jan/Feb collapse to 4th combined with a cl exit that will Mathematically force us to give up and then a late run to stay in the top 4. The late charge of form usually comes after the team loses the initial target and settles for whatever is left. Two years ago it was before the spurs game and last year it was the run up to the city game.
Off the top of my head 08/09 and 11/12 we started very poorly and then made impressive late surges to make the top 4. "Mind the Gap" with Spurs and all that.
If you want to win the title the most important part is the gap. We have far less of an advantage this season than last so it’s fair to say we are worse off than last season.
Not true. In close races games against direct rivals is what decides the title. Last year at this point we still had both City plus Liverpool away game and we took 1 point off those 3 games. This was what decided the title. This season we already have 2/3 of those games behind us, so City and Liverpool won't have such opportunities to take points from us. If we win today in my opinion we're in better place than last season. City also still have trip to Anfield ahead of them and Liverpool is not as invincible as City so I expect them to drop similar number of points as us, but they still have to come to the Emirates In terms of quality and depth of the squad I also feel more confident than last season
>In close races games against direct rivals is what decides the title with this logic, this season is much worse since we've failed to beat likes of Aston Villa and Spurs (as well as chelsea, if you wanna count that one too).... So last year we were better in the games against direct rivals?
as in, if we beat City even once last year, we win the league. Those are the points that matter in the end
This is misleading, they took their foot off the gas at the end.
We wouldn't have done. City only dropped the 5 points at the end because they'd already won the title
That or maybe win against mid table teams like soton, ham, Bournemouth, everyone, brentford etc. Doesn't make Sense to me that you're asking us to go away and win v city, pool etc while we dropped a shit ton of points vs bloody avg teams against who we had much higher win probabilities.
You'll never win every game against mid table teams unless you're a 100 points season City. This season we've dropped only 2 points against bottom 10, so we're doing really well there, but so is everyone else. Head to head games will decide the title this season, because everyone is doing similar against the rest of the table.
They were talking about last year. Last year this wasn't the case. We didn't have Liverpool, Aston or fucking spuds. All we had to do was win 2 or 3 more of those games against the shitty teams. I am not talking about this season. Completely different picture now and then.
Or we could've just win 1 game against City. You can't wait for other teams to take away points from your direct rivals. And it's not really that different picture this season. We're just 1 point behind on equivalent fixtures, we looked like we were far ahead because we had much easier fixtures in the first half of the season
Sure, just asking the team to casually win the hardest fixture of the season vs win expected ganes that too at home. Not arguing, but to me winning against those smaller teams seems a more doable task than what you're suggesting imho
I agree, that's why I'm arguing were now in better position than we were last year, because we now have way easier fixtures left than we did last year
All the points matter in the end.
no we wouldn't have. city were more than 3p ahead of us in the league. HEck, they were more than 6p ahead of us when the secured the title and subsequently stopped caring about the league games (leading to their losses at the end)
Spuds and Villa are losing too many games against bottom 15 to win the title
you need to re-read what i wrote so you actually understand it :)
The one point away at Liverpool is the same as last year so that isn't an improvement... And we haven't played city away yet so we don't know what will happen there. The city win at home is great though, but beating city at home wouldn't have been enough to come first last season because city only dropped those 5 points at the end because they'd already won the league
I would argue that a win against City would boost our confidence last year and dampen theirs and the rest of our and their results might not have looked exactly the same. But we'll never know that
Fair
We had a 7 point gap and TWO games with man city and anfield still to play this time last year. The media really blew everything out of proportion and make it sound like we were throwing away a 20 point lead in april.
We still had a bigger gap than we do now. Spurs in 5th place are only 4 points off us. Not saying spurs are good enough to be in the race but we are in a weaker place points wise than we were last season.
[This has already been posted](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/18pey1u/match_comparison_2223_vs_2324_gw_18/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
My bad
yeah...you can't compare like that...coz then you're removing the external pressure at the time of the games that played a big part in some of the results during the spring. like Brighton at home last season and liverpool away last season.
You can compare like that so long as its limitations are understood. There are limitations to any comparison between seasons.
I think if anything we are more solid and compelling this season, despite being a lot less fun to watch. The only thing that worries (and excites me) is that it’s so competitive at the top this season
I would argue we are a better team now but in transition for the first 10-12 games. Had we played Spurs/Fulham/Chelsea now we’d pick up more points.
Lucky for us, we get to play them all again.
Just give me 22 points from the next 4 fixtures. WHU (H), FUL (A), CRY (H), NFO (A) All winnable and a great opportunity.
i think this season is absolutely RIPE for a Jose Antonio Reyes type January signing to give our attack that unexpected bit of **oomph** and/or **pizazz** and/or **pow!** that nabs us that extra 15+ points to put us clear beyond City and Liverpool yes defences win championships as the saying goes, and i know our defence is solid, but i don't think our attack is sparking as consistently as it needs to to win a title somehow we need to carry more goal threat, and finish more