Tag Archives: soccer

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

Jekyll and Hyde Chelsea should not be taken lightly

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And just like that, we wake up and it is another game day.

Facing Chelsea is never an easy task, no matter what form they are in.

As Mikel Arteta said in his pre-game press conference, we need to “keep doing what we’ve been doing, focus on the game, on the task.”

Whilst some of us might already be glancing towards Sunday’s North London Derby, we need to get past this Jekyll and Hyde Chelsea team first.

Chelsea have lost just 2 games from 8 against Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Man U and Tottenham – 2 wins, 4 draws, 2 defeats. They certainly seem to up their game in these bigger matches.

Reports are that Cole Palmer and Malo Gusto are out injured, but my feeling is this is just Mauricio Pochettino being cagey on his team selection. And ultimately they have 3209572057 players to choose from so having a couple out will not make much of a difference.

Arsenal seem to have no new injury issues. It was only Jurrien Timber that Arteta spoke about yesterday, ruling the Dutchman out of Sunday’s game against Tottenham.

Last night, Timber played his first game since August – starting left back for the U21s. If you have been living under a rock, he opened the scoring within 9 minute with an absolute worldie.

Oleksandr Zinchenko has got some criticism this season for his defensive frailties, with many calling for a new left back to be signed this summer. This is wrong.

Arteta recognised last summer that Zinchenko would be better utilised further forward and centrally, and pushed for the signing of Timber.

I am fairly certain that had Timber been fit this season, the Dutchman would have spent much of his time at left back, and we would have seen Zinchenko replace Granit Xhaka in that left hand 8 position, with Declan Rice in behind. Who knows what we might have gone on to achieve?

Considering how long he has been out for, and how little of the season there is left, it is unlikely that Timber will start a first team game this season.

What is more likely is he gets on the bench for Bournemouth and Everton and has a 10-minute run out at the end of both games if we are comfortably winning.

With the focus back on today, we just need to start fast and maintain that intensity. Win and the momentum is back with us.

UTA.

Keenos

No more distractions, time to focus on The Arsenal

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That is the distractions out the way. Now to focus on the Arsenal.

We have 12 games left this season. Maybe 15. We are the in-form team in Europe. Players are returning to injury. We just need to keep focusing on ourselves and see where we end up.

Yes, we have some fixture congestion. But you can not be in the fight for multiple trophies at the business end of the season without it. If you do not want fixture congestion, then you are better off supporting someone like Spurs who are never in the race for trophies.

I will be delighted if we end up playing all 15 potential games we have left this season. That will mean we have got to the Champions League final at Wembley.

Teams these days have big squads, with 20 international players. It is down to the manager how he rests and rotates to keep players fresh.

Liverpool also potentially have 15 games left, and we are at the stage of the Europa League that Klopp will begin to take it more seriously – it is the only trophy Klopp has not won with Liverpool and he would not want his final season to end with just a League Cup.

Manchester City potentially have 17 games still play, with them still in the FA Cup. So fixture congestion really is not an excuse for any team (although I imagine Klopp will use it as an excuse).

Up first is Manchester City. Probably the hardest fixture to have after the international break. The positive from our point of view is that all of our players got through international duty without injury, even Declan Rice who played 180 minutes (was this Southgate’s revenge for Saka pulling out / Ben White situation?).

Meanwhile, they saw Kyle Walker limp off against Brazil and John Stones pull up injured in the opening minutes of Belgium. It is unclear the status of both but their worst case scenarios is their season could be over.

Walker went off with a hamstring injury. If it is just a twinge, it could be a couple of days (although if his muscles are on the brink, it is only a matter until his hamstring goes properly). If he has pulled it, that is 6-8 weeks out. Season pretty much over.

The way John Stones knee collapsed could mean it is a serious injury. The worst are always those that happen when an opponent is nowhere near. I would not be surprised if is a ligament injury and his season is over. It should not harm City as they have about a dozen centre backs that they paid £50m+ for…

I have enjoyed the conspiracy theories that both players hobbled off within 10 minutes as some sort of ploy to get out of international duty. Like England do not have their own physios and doctors who would have been able to assess straight away if they were “faking”.

Back to Arsenal. Arteta has had around a dozen or so senior players to work with this last week (they did get a few days off based on Ben White playing Uno on the beach!).

Of the 11 who have been away, 10 were in teams who played yesterday so today. With most of those playing at home, they probably got a flight back to England straight after their games and will report to training this morning following the same rehabilitation schedule as a Tuesday night Champions League game.

It will be massages, stretches and analysis work ahead of Man City today, so nothing to strenuous. And then Arteta will have 3 full days of proper training to prepare ahead of Sunday.

Of those 10 who were still on international duty yesterday, 7 started for their countries, and 3 did not play any minutes. That takes us to 19 players who either stayed at home during the international break or have not played this week.

As above, international duty will not be an excuse for whatever happens Sunday. Just 6 of Arteta’s first team were in action yesterday so everyone should be well rested!

Sunday is huge. It reminds me of Liverpool last season.

I said in 2022/23 that I will not start to believe that we could win the title unless we win at Anfield. We drew 2-2 and then fell away. It is the same this season.

It is so tight at the top. 90 points is what is needed to win it. That means 8 wins and a draw from the last 10 games.

With trips to Manchester United and Tottenham, and home games against Chelsea and Aston Villa still to come, we do not want to drop points too early in this run in. Beat Man City and I will start to believe we can do it. Lose and I fear we might fall away and finish 3rd.

Back the boys!

Keenos