Morning all and happy Sunday!
When I blogged yesterday that I thought Liverpool were our main rivals for the Premier League title this season, I was not expecting to be proved right by the time the sun set.
Manchester City do not look the team of previous years, and throwing away a 2-0 lead against Crystal Palace shows just how vunerable they are.
Their “demise” started 18-months ago, and whilst they won it all last season, the fact tha The Arsenal led the way for so long showed that maybe they Pep Guardiola was entering his “last dance” phase of his time in Manchester.
City’s issue is in the last 18-months, they have let a lot of experience go out the door. A lot of players that were leaders of men.
In 2022, Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, Olexsandr Zinchenko and Raheem Sterling all exited. They were proven winners and the types of players who would step up and put in a performance against a Crystal Palace. They were replaced by Erling Haaland, Kalvin Phillips, Manuel Akanji and Sergio Gómez.
Only really Haaland of those incoming has proven that he is better than what he replaced.
Than summer just gone İlkay Gundogan departed, alongside Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte. Laporte replaced by Josko Gvardiol, Gundogan by Mateo Kovacic and Mahrez by Jeremy Doku. They also signed Matheus Nunes following the failure of Phillips to sufficiently replace Fernadinho.
Losing Fernandinho and Gundogan in a period of 12 months, to be replaced by Phillips, Kovacic and Nunes is a huge drop off in not only ability but also leadership. The midfeild generals did the dirt work that allowed others to flourish.
Jeremy Doku is a raw talent, but Mahrez and Sterling were the finished article. And they certainly knew how to win things.
You also have Pep Guardiola who looks like he is bored, and that has resulted him trying to re-invent the wheel to prove his tactical genius. Playing defenders in midfield, full backs at centre back, and continuing to play Phil Foden and Rico Lewis despite neither really good enough. It is all to show he cares about youth!
City might prove me wrong. They might go on another 13 or 14 game run and win the league, but it does just feel different these days.
Maybe this is there off year to allow their bodies to recover from whatever the Manchester City doctors administer…
We now need to take advantage of Manchester City’s slip ups.
I have been confused in the last week when opposing fans have said “Arsenal are bottling the league earlier than usual this year”. Firstly, we can go top today. Secondly, I do not really understand where our reputation for being “bottlers” has come from.
We are the 3rd most succesful team in English football history. We have won the most FA Cups. We do not have the trophy haul of that supposedly regularly bottle things. But I guess that is the world we live in. All about impressions from memes without a care in the world if they are true.
Those same fans that are saying we have bottled it again are still talking about Spurs being in the title race. They are the fans who are talking about Richarlison’s sparkling form (5 league goals in 18 months), and Newcastle United being a force to be reckoned with (currently 6th). But I guess that is what happens when you are a team like The Arsenal. Higher expectations than tin-pot clubs.
Win today and we go 5 points clear of Manchester City. Certainly not a huge gap but we all would have taken being ahead of them on Christmas Day.
Liverpool are our main threat. But for now we just need to concentrate on ourselves. Get the 3 points. And then focus on Anfield. An early season title decider? Perhaps.
UTA.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 