In a replay of the Liverpool contest, we went up 2-0 with ease early. Then West Ham started playing, and they bullied us. The only real chance we had after that was the handball PK that Saka sent wide. Boy do we need a regular penalty taker with real quality, as Arteta was when he played for us. You'd think he would develop one. Even before this game, I was not confident that Arsenal could win the title. There were too many games this season we won when we could easily have lost or drawn on the balance of play. Leeds last fall. Bournemouth, Villa...well, it's catching up with us. It's those sucker punch goals from errors and missed assignments. Teams don't have to do anything spectacular to get a result from Arsenal--they just have to work hard and wait for their chances, and then take them.
Manchester City is a machine. They shrugged Bayern Munich aside, while we lost to Sporting. They can play in multiple contests and they expect to win them all. They just might. Arsenal can still win the league, but now they have to be perfect in their last seven games, including the one at the Etihad. No one will expect that now, including Arteta. I do want to note this, however:
Palace has made themselves safe. I would love to know what Vieira is thinking now.
I still think Arsenal has to be slightly the favorite, but their upcoming match with MC is now a must win game.
ReplyDeleteWhy has CP suddenly began scoring after such a long drought, even with Zaha injured? I don't know, but I'm glad they are showing signs of life.
We're only three points down to once mighty Chelsea. Not to knock CP, but WTF is wrong with Chelsea? They reclaimed our promising young striker, and he is striking out for them, but was flourishing for us, back in Viera days. Can we have him back, since they don't seem to get much benefit from his talents?
ReplyDeleteAre you referring to Conor Gallagher? He's not doing badly for Chelsea. They're a mess. Tuchel lost the dressing room and Potter was in over his head. A good manager could make a strong team out of them if he were given the time, but no one will get that time.
ReplyDeleteMaybe some of the young guys Vieira picked up were not responding to his management well, and he did not respond well to that. Eze should have started every game, but for some reason Vieira didn't do that. They were always too good to go down.
Arsenal isn't the smart money favorite anymore because their form is not great while City is sweeping all before them. The Gunners look a cinch to drop points, but City has an easier league run-in and they don't seem to be distracted by their cup runs.
Aston Villa also seems to be on a roll right now. That, of course, could change any time.
ReplyDeleteYes, I wrote earlier how Emery has transformed Villa. They have a tougfh run-in but have an excellent chance of playing European football next season. Emery won Europa League three times with Sevilla, so he wants the chance to do it again.
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