I agree it was a Must-Not-Lose game more than a Must-Win Newcastle won't beat Chelsea City and Everton 3 Points for them Spurs are shot ATM so not expecting anything from them The gap to Chelsea is to much so I still see us getting 3rd in the penultimate game so then we could play the youths vs Norwich
7 points might get us top 4 - we'll have to rely on Spurs and Newcastle dropping 3 points from their last 5 games. (Newcastle are winning the first of their 5 easily, so we'll have to rely on them dropping 3 points from the last 12. That would be a dip in form for them.) Top 4 may not even be good enough - if Chelsea win the CL. Throw into the mix that 7 points from 9 on our current form is not easy. We've taken 7 from the last 15. After the loss against Wigan, today was indeed a must win game for us, though some seem to be happy with 1 point from the last 6 along with two poor performances.
Jayram do you rely believe Newcastle will beat Chelsea Man City and Everton Do you really believe Barca won't hammer Chelsea at the Nou Camp Think about it for a moment We will make Top 4
4th , with Spurs in 3rd would be terrible. I admire your confidence that we'll pick up 7 points from 2 away games and a home game. That is far better than our form this season suggests. We've left the door open for Newcastle and Spurs with our last 2 performances and are in real danger again of missing CL football. It's been said by a few that we lack the character to play until we really **** things up and get a shock - i think this is true. By the way - Newcastle are quite capable of beating City Chelsea and Everton - they are in great form and those January signings are banging in the goals . Chelsea are also quite capable of blocking out Barca and getting an away goal. Just one goal for Chelsea in the away leg and Barca need 3.
ARSENAL TOTAL = 5 POINTS and 70 OVERALL NEWCASTLE TOTAL = 5 POINTS and 67 OVERALL SPUDS TOTAL - 10 POINTS and 69 OVERALL CHELSEA TOTAL = 9 POINTS and 67 OVERALL 3RD - ARSENAL - 70 4TH - SPURS - 69 5TH - CHELSEA - 67 6TH - NEWCASTLE - 67 - Chelsea to edge Newcastle with a better goal difference, thrashing Blackburn on the last day of the season. - We'll make it difficult for ourselves but we'll beat West Brom in a nervy away performance on the last day. That's what I think anyway.
This scenario would have us playing a one off game away to WBA to qualify for the CL. Under those circumstances, our team would fold. We need others to do us a favour so we can be safe before the last day.
A scenario like this would be really exciting. All 4 teams capable of over-taking depending on results. It'll be extremely close, that's for sure.
Back from the match, weird game to be honest. Our general play was not very good and we never looked like scoring, but somehow we did create chances. Hit the cross-bar and post. Van Persie also had a few chances. Special mention to Kos, brilliant defender who is getting better and better. Up there with the best in the league now.
Disagree - it was poor. Slow and lacked conviction against a very weak Chelsea side. Wenger said after the game we 'played with the handbrake on' and were nervous about losing. The players just didn't show enough considering the importance of the match.
We went into the Wigan game on the back of two good performances and look what happened. It can work the other way too.
That's what we need to hope for. I am worried because even in the two good performances we missed a lot of chances. With the pressure ramping up, the game against Stoke away (they have taken 10 points from the last 12 at home) is not a game we can expect to win. We can of course, but the odds are we will not.
I agree with this, we looked pretty good from a couple of set pieces, which is nice to see, but our open play wasn't too great. RVP frustrated me today and I can't help but get the nagging feeling he might be really out of form going into 3 crucial games to end the season. He takes far too much time to have a crack on goal which isn't like the in-form RVP. As for Kos, he was really really good today, really impressed with him.
