Category Archives: Arsenal News

Down But Not Out: Arsenal Still Have Plenty to Play for This Season

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“Empty Emirates Stadium” (CC BY 2.0) by wonker

Arsenal’s Champions League dreams may be over for another year but the Gunners are still in contention for FA Cup glory and a spot in the top four; supporters shouldn’t be hitting the panic buttons just yet.

While some fans are ready to draw a curtain on Arsenal’s current campaign, the vast majority understand that victory over Lincoln City this weekend will give Arsene Wenger’s men a real chance to win the FA Cup this season.

The Gunners suffered another embarrassing 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich earlier this week; their second heavy defeat to the German giants in the last month.

Wenger’s side must now turn their immediate attention to Lincoln; defeat to the National League outfit would signal the end of Wenger’s tenure at the Emirates Stadium. Just imagine how much criticism he will have to deal with if Arsenal slip up in that contest…

As of March 8th, Arsenal are fifth in the Premier League table – two points behind Liverpool, although the Gunners do have a game in hand on Jurgen Klopp’s side.

 

A top-four finish isn’t out of the question just yet and Wenger will be quietly confident of securing Champions League football at the Emirates for the 21st year in a row. Even when Arsenal seem down and out, they always find a way to finish in the top four; and fans will expect the Gunners to dig deep in the coming months.

Will a fourth-placed finish suffice? Probably not. Arsenal fans are sick and tired of settling for Champions League football – the majority of supporters want the Gunners to challenge for silverware.

Wenger’s men last won the Premier League title back in 2004 and it would be fair to state that the Frenchman has struggled to build a championship-winning side since the likes of Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and Ashley Cole left the club.

Should Arsenal, currently priced at 10/3 to win the FA Cup for a record 13th time in Paddy Power odds, defeat Lincoln City, they will be involved in a Wembley semi-final and from there, anything is possible.

The uncertainty surrounding Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil goes on but Arsenal have shown that they can win without these two men in the past and, with the utmost respect to fifth tier Lincoln, they shouldn’t have too many problems in that clash.

Wenger is under intense pressure right now and the Frenchman will be desperate to win the FA Cup in a last-ditch bid to save his job.

Fans are baying for blood after Arsenal’s latest setback in the Champions League but the Gunners boss deserves to see out the rest of the campaign at the very least. From there, the Arsenal hierarchy will have a difficult decision to make.

It is hard to be positive right now but Arsenal are still in contention for a top four finish and FA Cup glory. At the start of the campaign, fans wanted to challenge for the title but Chelsea have been by far and away the strongest team in the Premier League this year.

Keep the faith and hopefully, Wenger will deliver another FA Cup victory and a Champions League finish at the end of the season.

 

Other Clubs Could Affect Arsenal’s Destiny This Season

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With the league table very tight at the moment, the Gunners need all the help they can get to seize a commanding position heading into the final stretch.

Let’s get one thing straight – the Premier League is tough and winning seasons are not to be taken for granted, not even by large clubs. Finishing in the top five is a pretty successful feat, yet for Arsenal fans anything but the league crown seems like a huge disappointment. From that perspective, sitting in the fourth place more than a dozen points behind the leader is hardly a reason for celebration, especially since things could well take a turn for worse if the team stumbles again. However, with improved performance and some luck, the team could easily finish in the second place or even give Chelsea a run for their money if a few critical games break their way.

Because of this state of affairs, Arsenal fans are following the fortunes of their rivals very attentively. Outcomes of other matches have a huge impact on the delicate balance of the table, and any gains that one club gains may be entirely erased by an unexpected win of a direct competitor. Likewise, any slips by the team could be salvaged by good luck if one of the upper echelon squads surrenders points to a bottom feeder. Local fans are often switching from one match to another, trying to do the math in their heads in real time. This kind of tension will only increase as the season draws to a close, provided a cluster of teams are still very close in the standings. Tottenham, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool are all chasing the league leader right now, and these clubs will probably continue jockeying for position until the very end.

Of course, there is plenty of football left to play and Arsenal could well right the ship in the coming weeks. Anyone associated with the club would prefer it to be in full control of its own destiny, but that’s a very unlikely scenario given the situation. Recent level of play has been far under expectations, so any optimism emanating from the Emirates Stadium must be very cautious for the time being. As it appears, The Gunners will need to start playing much better just to remain in contention, let alone win the Premier League title this year. This looks like a season when all the bets are off and predicting the final placement for Arsenal or any other top-tier club is very tricky to say the least.

On the bright side, such a close finish will be interesting to watch, with success rate of rival clubs playing a significant role. If a few teams can approach Chelsea and create some drama, each remaining match between the frontrunners will become must see TV. It isn’t a stretch to say that fans across England and the world will watch with hypnotic focus, regardless of the side they support. Hopefully, Arsenal fans will be among those that still have something to cheer for, as their boys will be vying for one of the top spots in the best football league in the world. In any case, they will have plenty of reasons to watch a lot of football this spring, even games that don’t feature their own squad.

A lot of fans like to place bets on matches they are watching, so this situation plays right into their hands. There will be a lot of important games played over the last few months of the season, bringing numerous chances to guess the winner and pick up some profits on the side. That’s why it would be wise to identify the most capable Premier League bookmaker in advance of the season finale. With great odds on all Premier League games under one roof, William Hill is a great candidate for such a role that can be fully trusted to honor any bets you may win. It won’t take you long to open a personal account so you can regularly wager on football and other sports, and you might be entitled to some interesting bonuses as a new member of this well regarded gaming site.

 

Is Arsenal’s Season About To Start Unravelling?

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It’s been confirmed that Arsenal will be without the services of Hector Bellerin and Alexis Sanchez, two of our main starters this season. Bellerin looks like he’s out for a few weeks with an ankle injury, while Alexis apparently has a hamstring problem – meaning he won’t be back any time soon.

Arsenal have been playing well recently but stuttered against Tottenham at home last weekend, where we put in a somewhat subdued performance. No we have injuries to two of our most important players – so is this the start of our collapse?

There is always a time in the season, usually around November where we drop points and lose ground in the title race. Our first game back after the International break is at Old Trafford which could prove to be our season defining game.

Win and there’s confidence that we can actually challenge this season – but a defeat would mean the same old story and the belief that the best we can achieve is a Top 4 position once again.

It’s a game I am really worried about for several reasons. Firstly, it’s Old Trafford. Apart from the FA Cup game a couple of season ago, we haven’t won there in ages. And generally speaking, when we have lost there it seems to have sucked all the life out of us, affected our performances in the games following on from that match. Secondly, it’s Jose Mourinho. We all know what a sneaky cunt he is and tactically, he’ll have us sussed out. He also has a knack of shitting on your parade and we all know what he did to Liverpool with Chelsea, that season where the Merseysiders were favourites for the title.

The Manchester United game is one where I would love a win so so much but reluctantly accept that if we leave with a draw then it would be a miracle.

 

Vote Here! Can Theo Walcott Fire Arsenal To The Title?

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There’s no doubt that Theo Walcott is on fire for Arsenal at the moment.

He’s scored 8 games in 10 games which for a winger, is already an excellent return. Don’t forget his highest ever scoring season was in 2012-2013 when he scored 21 goals in all competitions.

The forward line for Arsenal has seemed to just fall into place this season. We all thought that Olivier Giroud would be the main man, with Alexis Sanchez on the left and then possibly Lucas Perez on the right. Alex Iwobi was just about breaking into the team towards the end of last season but it was thought that new signing Perez would be making more appearances than he has so far.

In fact, the forward line against Manchester City in our last away game of the season was Giroud, Sanchez and Welbeck.

So you wouldn’t think Theo had a look in.

But this season he has been excellent. And all Arsenal fans are thinking the same thing right now: the season has only just started and while Theo has been fantastic, he’s at the time of his career where he needs to perform at a top level for a whole season.

Alexis Sanchez as our main man has works wonders, and has brought out the best in not just Theo Walcott but Alex Iwobi and Mesut Özil. Those 4 players are taking on teams with some serious attitude (and pace), and with support from players like Cazorla and Coquelin, Arsenal are looking really good right now.

So the big question is this – can he maintain this level over the whole season?

Can Theo Walcott fire Arsenal to their first Premier League title in 12 years?

Cast your vote here and leave your opinions below!

bike trails

 

Mesut Özil Has To Be Careful The Arsenal Fans Don’t Turn Against Him

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[ Credit: joshjdss ]

It’s been a good start to the season for Arsenal – we’re joint top of the league (only behind Manchester City on goal difference) and the team is playing well. We had a jittery game against Swansea at the weekend but generally speaking we’ve been very good.

Theo Walcott is on fire for Arsenal (I couldn’t care less if he isn’t performing for England), Mesut Özil is chipping in with the goals, Alexis Sanchez is a real team player who everything good goes through, Alex Iwobi looks like a real player and defensively (again, bar the Swansea match) we’ve looked excellent.

In midfield we still have Aaron Ramsey to come back, although Cazorla and Coquelin have looked brilliant. Xhaka is having mixed fortunes, scoring some real thunderbolts but then seeing red against at the weekend.

So at the moment, things are rosey at Arsenal.

The only real issues at the moment are the contract renewals of Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez – two of our best players.

While the Alexis Sanchez contract negotiations are being kept out of the spot light, issues are surfacing about Mesut Özil. Essentially, the two main sticking point are a wage increase and our ambition to win titles.

Now don’t get me wrong, he is a top quality player. And look, he’s a likeable guy – if you follow him on Twitter or Instagram, you see he loves playing for Arsenal and has a real connection with the fans. And I like him. But there is a real danger that this situation could get sticky at the very least.

We all know players want more money and football agents are the driving force behind this, that’s just the nature of the game as it stands at the moment. And while this is nothing new this has the potential to ruin Özil’s relationship with the Arsenal fans.

In terms of ambition, again this is another thing agents bring up to increase their players earnings. But the ambition argument for me is something which is going to cause a problem the further these talks go on.

Because while he’s been successful for Germany, in terms of club football his honours list is modest to say the least.

He’s played at the highest level for 10 seasons and won the German Cup with Werder Bremen (in 2 seasons), La Liga and the Copa del Rey in 3 seasons at Real Madrid and 2 FA Cups with Arsenal in 3 seasons.

So he’s not like Paul Scholes or even Philip Neville in terms of trophies won.

So talking about Arsenal’s ambition is a little rich considering the titles he has won over his 10 years in football.

The long the contract talks go on the more it’s going to turn against Özil. Questioning the ambition of a club which has moved forward considerably in the last few seasons and is playing some excellent football isn’t always the best bargaining tool.

We’ll see what the next few weeks hold but hopefully, things won’t turn too ugly.