Given that last season was an underperformance for the group of players that we have and that the squad is on the whole a little stronger than last year (although obviously not as much so as people would like) I think it’s fair to have aspirations for a higher finish than last season and certainly that would be the minimum to keep the manager in his job.
Looking at the strength of Manchester City and the strong position that Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea look to be in, I think top 4 is a very big ask, even with our additional advantage of not being burdened with lower calibre European football this season.
I do however, think a comfortable command on the EL place(s) is a realistic aspiration.
On the whole, I’m looking forward to supporting a team with more young, promising players in it. Obviously the window hasn’t addressed everything anyone would like it to but it was always likely to be so, not just for Arsenal but most clubs.
That should be our target though considering everything is on our favour this season for a league campaign. Pool will throw a wobbler and Leicester West ham don’t have the squads for it.
So I don’t think we will finish top 4, but that’s where we should finish.
5th/6th is where we should be aiming given our squad only needs to pip the likes of Leicester, Spurs, Villa, Everton and West Ham to achieve it. However, Leicester are the better side and Spurs could still keep Kane at the club.
I don’t trust our lot to max out the resources we have. I think the Partey injury is a real blow, the midfield is short in numbers, we have a gaping hole at RB, we are relying on Leno keeping fit and I’m concerned with how the manager is setting up the team.
Odegaard coming in would be a big plus. White needs to hit the ground running. Aubameyang needs to rediscover his old self. Lokonga needs to deliver too at a young age. If most things fall into place we can make top six.
Knowing us though, I think we’re in for a rough ride and what can go wrong usually will.
Dunno, 6 games in I haven’t seen 4 teams that are clear of the rest. All of them had their good moments and all of them had their bad moments. It’s a mixed bag from all.
Games are now racking up for our rivals with EL and CL having tough fixtures for them all. We have to capitalize on this.
We should absolutely strive to finish as high as we can and we shouldn’t give up on Top 4 till it’s mathematically out of our reach.
The reality is predicting 5th isn’t something to gloat about, the top 4 are superior to anyone so being best of the rest wouldn’t be a massive achievement.
I know it would, especially with a starting 8 of 11 players that are 24 >.
I’m not looking at the bad side, I’ve been more pro Arteta than 90% of this board, I was merely disagreeing with @DavidHillier comment about finishing 5th being blind optimism.
I said sixth, which I am more than happy to be wrong about.
But I also said that with no European football and the amount of time and investment he’s been given, Arteta has to get fourth place to should get another season.
So if he does get us in the CL places, I will back him next season because he deserves it.
Passed me by that we’re almost nailed on for at least Europa League football next season, certainly would have taken that at the start of the season, and a clear marker of progress in the league.
