Champions League football secured – now for the title (and finishing above that lot)

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Well here we are.

Had we been offered at the start of the season that we would be heading to Edmonton with 4 games to go and in the title race, we all would have taken in.

Our little wobble over Christmas saw us go 5 points behind Liverpool, level on points with Manchester City (with them having a game in hand) and 1 point above Tottenham who were 5th. At this point there were worries that we might not even make the top 4.

Our form in 2024 has been nothing short of remarkable.

14 games played, 12 wins, 1 draw and just 1 defeat. It is title winning form and no other side has more points this calendar year.

That form has seen us leapfrog City (who still have their game in hand), and swing the gap behind to Liverpool from 5 behind to 2 in hand, with us having a game in hand.

Meanwhile, that lot from Middlesex have shown mid-table form and gone from a point behind us to 17. They have only won 1 more point than Chelsea in 2024, which is incredible when you consider how poor the team from West London have been and how great Ange Postiwhatshisname has been.

Following results over the weekend, Champions League football is now guaranteed for The Arsenal next season.

What has made me happy so much this season is not only the way we have fought our way back in the title race, but how we have maintained title chasing form whilst also playing in the Champions League. Many pundits expected us to struggle with the higher intensity games.

It also makes Tottenham’s position more laughable – they have had no mid week football and have played just 3 cup games. They look knackered despite being set for a 41 game season – just one more than the minimum. But they will always have thrashing the Lion City Sailors 5-1 in pre-season.

If we avoid defeat today, then we will secure finishing above Tottenham for the 23rd time in 29 seasons. Has their ever been a “hotly contested local derby” where one side has been so dominant?

However, as Everton showed a week ago against Liverpool, form can go out of the window in these local derbies, and Tottenham only need to play for a draw to spoil our party.

We basically need to win all of our last 4 games. We can not afford to drop any more points. Spurs will know that and set up accordingly.

In a little more than 8 hours time, we will either be ecstatic or miserable whilst waiting to get on a train at Northumberland Park.

Get the win, than it is head back to Islington to catch the Man City game. I do not expect them to drop points this weekend. Lose and it is head back to drown our sorrows.

And then it is a weekend off (for once) before Bournemouth.

UTA.

Keenos

The day before the day that could determine our season

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Afternoon! A very late blog from me today. Sorry about that!

The eve of our biggest game of the season. We will either be leaving the ground tomorrow on the highest of highs or the lowest of lows – there will be no in between.

Like Everton when they faced Liverpool mid-week, Tottenham do not need to beat us to spoil our party. A draw will be more than enough to derail our title challenge.

Things can change very quickly in this title race. It was only a couple of weeks ago that Liverpool were some peoples favourites. They are now 1-nil down to West Ham and a defeat for them today will end their title dreams.

Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour is coming to a limp end. We need to ensure that our season doesn’t petter out in the same way.

We have to win the game. There is no debate. We then have to win our last 3 games. But even 4 victories from 4 might not be enough.

Away from the North London Derby and are we seeing the development of the next great Arsenal striker?

16-year-old Martin Obi has just hit his 6th goal in an u18 game against Norwich City. Before this game he had already scored 21 goals in just 16 games for the youth side.

I don’t often hype young players up as stepping up from the youth team to senior is huge, and he is still only playing U18s.

Obi doesn’t turn 17 until November and he is clearly one to watch.

Back to the senior team. Win tomorrow and it will be a good drink up in Islington. Lose and we will be drowning our sorrows!

Martin Obi has just scored his 7th!!!

UTA

Keenos

Arsenal stay on trend with logo change

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On Tuesday, The Athletic ran with an exclusive that next season all of Arsenal’s kits would have the “new cannon” emblazoned upon them rather than the club badge – similar to this season’s 3rd shirt.

Now before I begin, let’s put away the debate surrounding it not being the old cannon, and it pointing the wrong way. We will never change the decision made by the club 20 years ago, and for many fan under 30, the current cannon is the real cannon.

This decision by the club is something that I can get behind.

Since we changed our badge to the cartoon version, most other clubs have followed suit – and they all must have used the same designer as they all follow almost the same spec.

Why are we changing?

Ultimately, top sporting teams are brands. Therefore, when it comes to marketing themselves, they will follow the trends of the time to ensure that they stay on top.

Modern logos, however, are simple. Designers would call them “minimalist”. Think the nike swoosh, Apple logo, McDonald’s M.

Arsenal are simply following suit by stripping back the logo on the shirt to its most basic part – the cannon.

Following in others footsteps

Liverpool currently use the liver bird with the letters ‘LFC’ underneath it, whilst Tottenham have just the seagull sitting on a beachball. Manchester United mimicked Arsenal by opting for a stripped back logo for just one of their shirts this season (a red devil on the away shirt).

In recent years, we have also seen Puma produce kits that contain no club badge, and instead have the names of the club across the front.

A stripped back logo rather than full club crest looks a lot cleaner and sharper, and creates a much stronger brand awareness.

Nothing is ever really new

I am a big believer that history just repeats itself when it comes to trends.

You only have to look at music and clothing to see what was once popular will become popular once more in the future.

This move by Arsenal will not be the first team we have gone with just a cannon. Infact, two of our clubs greatest moments came with a stripped back logo rather than a full crest – Anfield 89 and the 1971 double winning team.

Logo’s on shirts became a regular thing in 1967 (prior to that, a club would only really have their crest on a shirt for an FA Cup Final).

From 1967 through to 1990, Arsenal only ever had a cannon.

As the trends changed, clubs moved to badges in the 90s, and Arsenal adopted the Islington based crest (which was also the official club badge). This remained the case until the 2002 change.

So a cannon on the shirt is not new. It is just the trend returning to the minimilistic logos of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

And what is happening with the crest?

The cartoon crest is going no-where. It is still going to be the official emblem of Arsenal Football club.

Whilat it was not the style to have crests on shirts prior to the late 60s, Arsenal still had an official crest (the most famous being the “art deco”. The club changed this to the Islington crest in 1949 but still played without a badge on the shirt.

When it became common for logos to be on shirts, Arsenal went for the cannon in 1967 rather than the Islington crest, thus leaving us with a “shirt emblem” and an “official club crest”.

This change is just us going back to that era where we have a simple logo on the shirt, and then the official club crest sitting alongside it.

Final thoughts

I have thought for a long time that we should simplify our crest to just the cannon, so I am delighted we are making the move.

Now it will be interesting to see whether this is just a one-off, or whether the minimalist logo is here to stay…

Keenos