A foul is a foul unless it is a foul on an Arsenal player, then it is not a foul

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Regardless of how the final 3 games of the season go, I am incredibly proud of what Mikel Arteta and the boys have done this season.

This has been the toughest the Premier League has ever been with quality from top to bottom. There are no easy games and very few opportunities to rest and rotate. Despite the slog of the season, we go into the final 3 games top of the league and on the Champions League final.

And all this whilst the media agenda has tried to paint us as Public Enemy number 1. Our crime? Daring to compete.

This narrative has led us to be every teams cup final. They do not aim to win the game when they play us. They aim to not lose a players hope to become legends by being the side that derailed us.

For fans of these clubs, it is easier for them to want Man City to win as they can then point to the 115 charges as the reason their side did not too the table. Us winning the league makes fans of Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham very uncomfortable as it shines a light on their clubs issues.

What sums up this season is the response to West Ham’s disallowed goal.

It was a foul all day long on David Raya. There should be no debate about it. Except there is now a debate because it is The Arsenal.

Had Arsenal scored a last minute winner whilst fouling the keeper, those in uproar now that the goal was disallowed would (rightly) be in uproar that the goal had been given.

It is laughable that pundits go with the narrative of “Arsenal have been doing that all season” without being able to show a single goal scored by us where an arm was across the chest of the keeper, hand pulling the arm down, and a second player pulling the shirt. It is much easier for them to just say “but Arsenal” without ever having to provide evidence.

Danny Murphy and Wayne Rooney have been SPO on with their analysis, pointing out that the only issue fans have is that it is a decision that correctly went for The Arsenal. That decision goes for any other club and everyone would be saying it was correct.

We now have 3 games in 21 days. That gives us time to rest and prepare for each game. We are in the perfect position. Everyone else is just jealous. We are The Arsenal.

Keenos

Arsenal lead way in “tough Premier League season”

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Well that was an interesting bank holiday weekend.

Even with Man City’s last minute equaliser, it is “advantage Arsenal” in what is turning out to be a tough Premier League season.

Whilst many of our detractors are going with the line that the quality in the league is “poor” this season because a team will likely win the league with low-to-mid 80 points, the truth is actually the opposite.

When teams win the league with 95+ points and relegated sides are not even reaching 30 points, then that is a poor league. It shows that the gap between the best and the worst is huge. And often it is not a case of the top teams being brilliant, but more of the bottom being poor.

In the last two years, the teams finishing 18th have got 25 and 26 points respectively. You have to go back to Newcastle United in 2015/16 for the last time a side got relegated with more than 35 points. This season the 18th place team, West Ham, already have 36 with 3 games still to go.

This season we will likely see a side relegated with 40+ points. It will be the first time a side has gone down with 40+ since, ironically, West Ham in 2002-03.

The strength in depth of English teams is also shown in Europe.

Of the 8 semi-finalists, 4 are from England. You would be surprised if 3 did not make the final (and it would have been 4 if Aston Villa and Notts Forest did not get drawn together), and it could be a clean sweep for English clubs. Last season English clubs won 2 out of 3.

Notts Forest, in a relegation battle, are favourites to win the Europa League. If they do, it will be the 2nd season in a row that a team battling to stay in the Premier League has lifted Europe’s 2nd competition. It is arguably now easier to qualify for the Champions League through playing in the Europa League than it is playing in the Premier League.

The fact is the Premier League has huge strength in depth. Every side is filled with internationals and top players and there are no real easy games – especially against that congested mid-table.

As Man City showed yesterday, you can not go away to an Everton and expect to pick up 3-points. they are a team that probably would easily finish top 6 in any other league in Europe. Both City and Arsenal have dropped many points against those mid-table teams this season.

And that does not mean City and Arsenal are not good teams. They are. Amongst the best in England. It just shows how good the likes of Sunderland, Bournemouth, Everton and Fulham are.

Whilst the likes of Bayern Munich and PSG can massively rotate throughout the season due to the vast difference in resources and quality throughout the league, top Premier League teams can not do that.

Arsenal or City could not put out a team of 50% “2nd string” against, for example, Notts Forest at home, and expect to win. But PSG and Bayern Munich can expect to do just that against Le Harve or Union Berlin. And it is not because their 2nd strings are better than the Premier League sides – infact Arsenal and City’s 2nd XI would be wipe the floor with PSG and Bayern’s – but it is because those teams lower down in the Premier League are a lot better than what German and France have.

I always laugh when I hear fans state “the league is poor” to try and bring down the achievement of Arsenal. If it is that poor, then why are the Champions, Liverpool, 4th having spent over £400m? Why are the “World Champions” Chelsea 9th? Why are “worlds richest club” Newcastle in 13th? And why are Tottenham in a relegation battle for the second season in a row?

If the league was as poor as fans of these clubs are trying to make out, then even playing average they would still be up there in the top 6. Instead, by playing 20% under par they find themselves in dissaray.

We may or may not win the league. We may or may not win tonight. But no one can tell me that the Premier League is not the toughest league in world football and that fact makes winning the Champions League even harder for English teams.

UTA.

Keenos

The “cheaters” FA Cup final

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It is quite ironic that the two biggest cheats i the history of English football will face each other in the FA Cup final.

Manchester City with their 115 charges, or is it now 130? The case concluded in December 2024, yet here we still are nearly 18 months on and still no result.

The conspiracy theorist in me actually thinks it is our fault the case has not be concluded. I think the Premier League hoped we would run away with the league and they could deduct Man City 40 points without it affecting the title race.

As for Chelsea, I have lost count of how many times the have been sanctioned since Ronan Abramovich took over.

From breaching financial rules, illegally tapping up players, illegally signing children, illegal payments to agents, and more in between. There latest case was “only” 74 charges against them.

So here we have the FA Cup final. Two teams who had nearly 200 charges combined hanging over their heads. The see cheaters never prosper? Well in football they do.

I wonder how much airtime Sky, BBC, ITV, TBT, etc will spend talking about the charges both clubs have faced in the run up? Likely none. They’ll be rolling out one of the Gallagher’s and a Hollywood actor to romanticise about their clubs recent achievements.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are the “most hated club in England”. The one everyone wants to fail. Every other teams cup final. The one TV companies are trying to make opponents into legends of the game for derailing us. The ones ruining the game for scoring goals from set pieces.

We might not have won the title for 20 years, but at least we are trying to do it the right way. And not a sports-washing or money laundering project for a corrupt billionaire.

Keenos