I am approaching this season with cautious optimism, as I do most seasons. Not expecting us to win the league but I am hoping we stay in the hunt right till the last week of the season. Do we have the players to do it, hell yes. Do we have the manager to do it, not so sure. I think if Arsene goes with his usual “I only care about how we play” approach to every game, then am afraid the story will be a very familiar, very boring one. However, if he tries a more tactical approach (am allowed to dream) when facing certain teams, he might just convert those draws into wins and those losses into draws and who knows. The biggest thing Wenger would have going for him, if he were to decide to change tactics would be the surprise element cause everyone knows what to expect from a typical Arsene Wenger team.
As for the season’s prediction, I would go with a top 3 finish. But that could change depending on what AW does between now and the end of the month in terms of transfers. At the moment, I think we have sold ourselves short again. We have an very talented and varied set of midfielders but we don’t have the striking force to complement them. I know we are probably going to sure up the defence with Mustafi, which is great,
Fifth for me. We are a frail squad lead by a manager whose past it.
Late signings of Mustafi and Mahrez wouldnt change my opinion on this now.
We dont have the leaders or character to respond to adversity to challenge for a title. We are very predictable and lack desire.
To much fresh change at other top clubs with more intent being shown.
City, Chelsea, united and Liverpool will be better. Wenger really had to go in the summer.
Long ways to go, I’m still confident. We have to get our spine back first of all. Wenger will also get a couple transfers over the line. The other teams will be dropping points in the next few weeks as well, amd we’ll be right in it.
I’ll move us up a spot and go for 3rd now. If Chelsea get their defence sorted then I would say its between the both of us for 3rd and 4th and could be very close!
Good that we’ve managed to strengthen the team in the right way, but we’re still going to fall short somewhere down the line. So still sticking with 3rd place.
Must say we’re witnessing some highly positive and promising developments from Wenger as a manager these last few weeks. Is he going to prove to the football world that he can successfully adapt?
So after an early wobble in the first few games, that’s 5 wins in a row and now right back in touch towards the top after City’s defeat. We really need to keep that run going as the fixture list is pretty favourable to us this month.
Obviously this is one of the most open PL seasons most people can remember, and there are four or five clubs with a chance of winning it.
Man U were my choice before the start of the season, and I still think spurs could be top three or higher.
Man City should also be top three, so it is quite precarious for us, Liverpool and Chelsea.
If spurs can keep there first team players fit, and only concentrate on the PL and CL, they could finish above us.
Man U could quite easily do the same, but Chelsea have an old squad and seem to lack the attacking players and depth in defence to get a top four place.
Liverpool are the hardest to predict, and I’m not sure they have the players to get top four either.
As for us, we should be ok for top four, but realistically we aren’t going to win the PL
I’m hoping for a decent run in the CL, maybe semi finals, or even the final, because we haven’t done well in that competition for quite a while, and it’s about time we did.
October turned out to be a very good month as expected. Only dropping points at home to Boro, but got the results we pretty much expected.
Tottenham drew a lot this month. Right now, it seems like it’s us, City and Liverpool who will do battle in the long run. Chelsea is a bit of an unknown. Tottenham have a strong defense, but lack attacking power. Mind you, it’s nice to say Man Utd are already 8 points off the lead and Mourinho is doing worse than Moyes stint so far
November though as always is a dreaded month for every Arsenal fan usually. I hope we can come away with a decent haul of points and few as injuries as possible.
