Press Conference

Forget optimism and pessimism. This is realism.

 

I'd say touching distance would have to be 3 points or less. Any side in the league can argue that they've not been at their best, it's got no bearing on the future

I still think it's open for 3rd and 4th but us and Chelsea currently hold the advantage of having accumulated more points, whatever you think Arsenal have over us is guessing laced with bias for your club. It's understandable but for the argument of you guys improving there's a fair argument that not only are we improving but we already have. No one really knows what will happen from now until the end of the season, if records like Wenger's finishing top 4 counted for a lot then so would United's record against us, if teams that aren't playing "their best" are bound to improve then Newcastle are already safe. None of it's true though so whilst the confidence of you guys finishing top 4 is based on the expectation that Wenger's run of top 4 finishes will continue and that you will improve your results until the end of the season, I'll breathe a sigh of relief.

 

As they say, it's not over until the fat lady sings. When you're in pressure situations like this, experience is the most important factor. Although Spurs have a fine team, they still have to prove it. You was in a better position last season, yet finished below us. Yes i might be optimistic, but you simply can't ignore Wenger's record of getting top 4 finishes. We did not deserve to get 3rd last season, but somehow we pulled it out of the bag.

Until old chubby chops stops singing, ill place Arsenal in the top 4 place. Who knows, It might be Arsenal and Spurs who go through.....

 

It depends what you think was the biggest factor, I guess. I'd say RVP's form and 'Arry's mismanagement at the end of the season, for the second year in a row played a significant part too. Maybe at the end of this season I'll be blaming Giroud's and AVB's poor management but I think too much has changed to put too much weight on history.

It wouldn't surprise me if Chelsea finish outside of the top 4 again, to be honest. Rafa really isn't a great manager and with their fans so against him, if they fall out of the top 4 at any point I can only see it getting harder for them to get back.

 

Although I believe that we will finish top 4 at your expense, I do actually agree with your comments on last season. RVP form and 'arry losing the plot made a difference.

Remaining fixtures are interesting. Similar, but I'd say that Tottenham have the harder games left.

Spurs (current pos in brackets)

A - Norwich (13)
A - West Brom (8)
H - Newcastle (16)
A - West Ham (12)
H - Arsenal (6)
A - Liverpool (7)
H - Fulham (14)
A - Swansea (9)
H - Everton (5)
A - Chelsea (3)
H - Man C (2)
A - Wigan (19)
H - Southampton (15)
A - Stoke (10)
H - Sunderland (11)

Liverpool and Chelsea away and Man C at home are particularly tough.

Arsenal

H - Liverpool (7)
H - Stoke (10)
A - Sunderland (11)
H - A Villa (17)
A - Tottenham (4)
H - Everton (5)
A - Swansea (9)
H - Reading (18)
A - West Brom (8)
H - Norwich (13)
A - Fulham (14)
H - Man U (1)
A - QPR (20)
H - Wigan (19)
A - Newcastle (16)

Man U at home is obviously the toughest.

A lot will depend on the game between us, as well as games against the bottom sides fighting relegation.

 

Losing RVP has been a huge loss for Arsenal and has definately pushed us back as a team. But Wenger always seems to find ways of turning things around. Saying that i wouldn't be totally suprised if Arsenal dropped out of the top 4 either. For some reason, i favour Spurs over Chelsea this time. Again this is down to Benitez. The Chelsea fans seem to hate the mans guts and i'd be suprised if this didn't filter down to the players. If Benitez inherited the same team that AVB got, then he would have been up against a lot more opposition and he would have been struggling more in the league. Luckly, with new faces, a couple of Spanish players coupled with the old guard leaving and on their last legs, has helped him control the dressing room more.

 

The interesting thing with those fixtures is that Chelsea, Everton and Spurs all have to play each other in the last 8 games, so they will be taking points off of each other.

We're not even 2/3 through this season yet, so there's still a long way to go. We're 4 pts behind Spurs, so we could conceivably swap places within 2 games.

 

We lost RVP and replaced him quite succesfully. Everyone also seems to have forgotten that Jack is also back.

 

I wouldn't put Liverpool away in that catergory, they're no better than Swansea, who we both have to play. Ultimately we can gaurantee that both sides won't just drop points in those matches so it will be about who's the better side, which sounds obvious but when we look too much at previous seasons, who has who left to play at this stage of the season I think it's easy to distract from the only real key to finishing in the top 4.

 

The only reason I put Liverpool, is because they are also in the chase for top 4 and you have them away as opposed to us having them at home. Whereas with Swansea, we both have them away and Everton both at home. Same with West Brom.

If we assume that we will lose to Man U and you will lose to Man C and Chelsea then the Liverpool games and our game against each other stand out.

 

Todays Press Conference (can we sticky this and discuss Press Conferences in it?) :

Wenger on Gibbs: 'It will be four to six weeks [out]'...but...'can easily go to 8 weeks.'
Wenger on Monreal: 'Our scouts have followed him for a while and we had a blow with the Gibbs injury...He can play as a left winger too and he can adapt very quickly'
Wenger on Santos: 'He is the type of player who gets sharper from competition. Yes [some criticism he gets is unfair]'
Wenger: 'I believe Gibbs will be out for the Champions League. I [cannot] play Monreal. Santos could have a key role'
Wenger on transfers: 'We were close to one more signature. It didn't happen because of the desires of the clubs not to sell'
(That's not close then is it Mr Wenger!! You offered a fee, they said no!!)

TEAM NEWS: 'Monreal is available for the weekend game. Arteta could be back in the squad. Coquelin is out, Vermaelen is a doubt, Diaby is in the squad'

 

I had a feeling it was something worse. Wenger only acts if it's serious, and being out for a potential 2 months is serious! No way was he going to rely on Santos, no matter what spin he wants to put on it. Only other option was Vermaelen playing left back but that would weaken our CB options as Djourou has gone out on loan.

 

Do you want to post this on a new thread and i'll sticky it.It'll save people having to go through loads of posts