Burning Spear wrote:TAZ wrote:Marty wrote:What happened to Liverpool, draw at home to Swansea? Me thinks 4th spot will be a dog fight between Spurs and gunners..
After what i've seen in the last 4 or 5 matches i think Arsenal will finish higher than just 4th. Just take a look at the November fixtures involving the top teams, most of them face each other. Man City play Newcastle while Chelsea take on Liverpool....following weekend sees L'fools play Man City while Man Utd host Newcastle. I know you can never write off the likes of Norwich, Wigan and Fulham but i still think we have fairly easy matches coming up.
Come January we'll have a very strong team with Sagna and Wilshere (probably Diaby too)coming back from injury. Our backline seems to be ok especially with Vermaelen back to his best. I also expect Wenger to sign one more creative midfielder this January so the team will be strong enough in the second half of the season....thank God Cameroon didn't qualify for the AFCON 2012 because Song has really been one of our stand out players this season.
Arsenal will probably finish position three this season.Based on the last three matches ( comparing Arsenal and chelsea),gunners have proved solid perfomances unlike the blues. Spurs and Newcastle will finish fifth and 7th respectively.
Wilshere will be back in February,Diaby in December an probably sign a creative midfielder in January.This means Gervinho position will be well covered even when Park gets an English football pace.
It seems Wenger finally has the right ingredient, maturity was the asset that he identified as critical in his team's turnaround. The addition of experienced signings from the summer transfer window, added to the return of the likes of Thomas Vermaelen, has given Arsenal an older, and shrewder, spine. Against West Brom, the backbone of the team included Vermaelen (aged 25), Alex Song (24), Mikel Arteta (29) and Robin van Persie (28). what the gunners were lacking is the ability to hold on to a lead or to turn around a game at the dieing minutes which was part of their undoing last season which was evident in some results like at Newcastle 4-4, Spurs 3-2 & 3-3 draw, West Brom 3-2 lose and Liverpool 2-2 at Emirates where liverpool scored a disputed penalty to equalize in the 112th minute. The mix of young and old is working very well for the Prof.
You will all agree with me that we have not seen such slip ups after the Blackburn game where we lost better and is on the up. With the coming fixtures Arsenal will definitely climb places and the gap from the top will be largely reduced.I cannot say that we are back in contention but top three is now not a distance reality like it was 6 weeks ago with Liverpool and Chelsea struggling, Newcastle going to the usual position! Those who has written off the Gunners did so at their own peril.
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.