Arsenal Banter Archive October 07 2013

07 Oct 2013 19:46:20
As has been said over the weekend a lot, there are no easy or guaranteed wins in the PL only ones you might expect to win. No disrespect meant but Place look to be the weakest side to me and they will cause at least a couple of shocks during the season as will the teams above them. The league is won by the team who avoids the most banana skins every bit if not more so than the team that beats the top teams and WBA was a really good point especially when we were not at our very best on the day.

Yes G62 but if we win our next 31 league games than we will be champions. simple lol

Good point mate and if that happens,? I will be drunk and eat only kebabs with extra chilie sauce through out May and early June and watch every minute of the season over and over again

Sounds like my kinda week lol

DG, Com'on i'd be happy with 30 wins and a draw! lol

337, ok we can draw against palace so they avoid relegation lol

07 Oct 2013 18:47:12
Just heard on if flamini picks up another booking will be out for 1 game. So next game is Norwich and after that palace then Liverpool & Man U .needless to say we all know which games we need him and the ones we don't! Wink wink COYG

If Jose were our gaffer a yellow v Norwich would be nailed on. Wenger is far too honourable to suggest it. Doesn't mean that Matthieu won't do it anyway.

He will pick up a yellow, that boy loves a tackle he can't help it!

07 Oct 2013 10:05:27
great draw yesterday. considering west brom just came off the win with Manchester United at OT, it was looking more likely we would struggle to take any points from there.

im happy with a draw. its a long season, and any point counts.

we have won at sunderland away, stoke at home, swansea away, west brom ( draw) spurs at home. not easy fixtures. still not much of a gap between us and the other teams, but the way I look at it, we have always struggled to start well, but we finish strong.

now that we have started well, let's cross our fingers, hope none of the boys away on international duty get injured and we can come back and put 3 points on the board against norwich.

one game at a time, and people forget, we are missing, Ox, Poldi and Cazorla. key players for us last year.

we have reason to be optimistic.

also in regards to ozil, his spatial awareness is just mesmerising. he starts as a CAM, but moves all over finding pockets. I read recently that the only two other players who successfully impact a game by movement more than any other attribute, are messi and muller. so its a very rare quality to have.

just gutted we did not win, when we could but, I think we would take being top, at this point in time.

key games to come and we will probably drop points, but the main thing is to stay within 5-6 points from the leader by december, if the leading team is us then even better, but the key would be to keep within that point gap.

there's 31 games to play, there are champions league games, league cup, fa cup games.

we have already seen how it has effected spurs, let's hope it does not get the better of us. especially at the crucial time, when the schedule gets packed right after this international break.

i reckon wenger is not going to put out the A squad against chelsea in the carling cup. and I reckon Jose won't either. I expect Cazorla to play but I think ozil, giroud, ramsey and wilshere will be a bench players.

Lakerville - I almost always respect your posts and largely agree. Small point about your last comment.
I don't want to be negative about how things are: our first team can take on ANYONE and our cover - when the whole squad is fully fit - is pretty hot too (although we probably all concur that we need some back-up for Giroud outside of Walcott and Podolski, however much we love them and want them to be brilliant up-front), but Chelsea's team they put out for the Carling Cup was way stronger than ours and there is no love lost between Mourinho and Wenger, so - and I acknowledge it is a minor issue - your point about the Carling Cup doesn't stack up too much.

Yep, I've got too much time on my hands!

MF

Perhaps max. I understand your point of view. but the carling cup clash with chelsea also coincides with a very difficult run in.

Norwich, Dortmund, Palace, Chelsea, liverpool, dortmund, man utd, southampton, marseille.

hypothetical.

if we can win the 3 of norwich, dortmund and palace. wenger will feel we have established a position in the league, we have gained 9 points from the champions league and to keep a foothold of our position ( considering he prioritises EPL and CPL over other competitions, it may just come down to fielding a relatively weaker team against chelsea compared to the full team.

im not saying play reserves, but more likely scz, jenks, verm, kos, monreal, arteta, flamini, cazorla, rosicky, bendtner, gnabry.

im not sure if he would risk playing giroud, ozil, wilshere, ramsey, gibbs, sagna, as by that point they would have played quite a few games, and its more likely they will be on the bench rather than start.

even the squad I have mentioned is no push over. if we need a change we will have options.

im not sure when poldi is back, but I reckon he will get the nod in that situation as well.

Wenger has to manage his team for the season. I understand our commitment is to win a trophy. and I would take the league cup if that was our option. but he has to take risks, and that is where I feel he will take such a risk. hoping chelsea will do the same, knowing they have a run of games too.

but to be quite honest. if we come out and win our next 3 games. even with the team named above, I would feel confident of taking on chelsea at home.

and perhaps you will agree with me that besides norwich and palace ( no givens) which we should win. the other games including southampton are very very big games for us.

07 Oct 2013 18:08:21
Laker, Max,

This is the latest from physio room and I can't remember the last time I looked on their and we weren't in the top 2 of that table. We're currently top.

ARSENAL 7

B Sagna Hamstring Injury 26th Oct 13
T Walcott Abdominal Strain 26th Oct 13
S Cazorla Ankle/Foot Injury 19th Oct 13
Y Sanogo Back Injury 19th Oct 13
L Podolski Hamstring Injury 2nd Nov 13
A Oxlade-Chamberlain Knee Injury 10th Nov 13

So barring any other injuries we should with the exception of
Diaby be up to a fully fit squad. The Chelsea game onwards we'll be getting there.

Think I agree with laker.
if we are going to "lose" a game than I think it should be the chelsea carling cup match.

Id be more comfy resting players against palace, inbetween dortmund and chelsea, testing teams who require top performaces to even get a draw.

palace signed chamak this season and wanted nicky b. no disrespect to a PL side but I think were safer putting the arsenal 0.75 team out.