Not writing this on the back of the 2-5 victory at Leicester as a knee jerk reaction, but just looking at our rivals who don't look any more likely than us to win the league. City look weak without Kompany and Aguero Utd are totally unpredictable Chelsea look like dropping loads of points Liverpool, well they are Liverpool I think we've got as good a chance as any of those teams. If we can put a good run together, we could really put some distance between ourselves and our rivals. Can we win the league this season ?
We are only 3 points off the top. Will we? I have no idea. I said a few weeks ago that we were targeting a title challenge. It may yet happen. Who knows.
In our next couple of games we play United, Watford (away), Everton, Swansea (away), Spurs. If we are looking to win the league, you'd have to say you're looking to get a minimum of somewhere around 10-13 points. City have dropped points lately, but still think they look good, and won't be dropping a lot, so when they do, you have to take advantage, and just keep on their heels.
As I've said in the CL thread, although I think we don't have a realistic chance of winning that, we do however have a very realistic chance in the league. There is no reason why we can't challenge for the league, especially when other teams will/are slipping up. If we can keep Coqs fit for most of the season, and have one of Flamini and Arteta providing EFFECTIVE backup, then we can maintain a consistent run., which is needed to win the league.
I still don't think he is the answer, but he was doing alright from what I remember. Made a few meaty tackles, but didn't see loads of the ball. He came off pretty early with an injury, though. Arteta, to be fair to him, was fairly solid when he came on, however, neither are reliable over the course of the entire season and this concerns me in the longer term.
Yes we can. So can all the other teams you mentioned! I think having a plan "B" is more important than people think and looking at those teams I can only see City and United having a plan B. Now when we are finally teaching Walcott the CF position we are also getting a plan B so therefore I think it is between City, United and Arsenal.
Can we? Of course. We are only 3 points off the top. However we need to be consistently better than chavski and man city. Man ure, the spuds and pool can fight for 4th, hopefully with Liverpool getting it (unlikely). However, we need key players to stay fit.
How are United any less predictable than Arsenal? We've got the joint best defence in the league. Lost less games. Conceded less and scored more. And in the cup competitions got the same results. But I will say both sides look like they're improving tbf. Sounds like the usual Arsenal rhetoric I'm afraid; at least try to keep it realistic.
We can. The question is will we? Nobody has particularly looked consistent enough to run away with it so its still anyone's title.
United have lost to the only decent sides they have played so far. They've played rubbish and out of form teams.. Villa, Newcastle (D), Swansea (L), Sunderland, Ipswich, Terrible Liverpool, very ordinary Saints team, boring Sp*rs (remember OG),Club Brugge. Yet to face anyone of note apart from Swansea.
For the first time this season I was watching some of our attacking play and thinking "yes, this is what we all thought we could do". However... (1) it was against Leicester and, whatever their start may have been, they don't have very many good footballers (2) whenever I get my hopes up Arsenal seem to dash them spectacularly very quickly (3) defensively we are still so susceptible so counter attacks it's unreal and against good teams we'll get punished
1) Leicester are a more than decent side whom we didn't manage to beat there last season. Tough ground and they'll claim a few top scalps. Wait and see. 2) We've no real way of knowing what will happen in the future... but we have today's result which was very good whichever way you look at it. 3) Again, Leicester exposed us because they have a very strong attack but a very weak defense. So goals were always going to be in order.
They finished 14th last season. They're a decent side in relation to all football clubs in Britain. In relation to us, their poor. None of their players would get into our team. Well yes Their attack is not 'strong'. They have Mahrez (and Vardy to a lesser extent) who are quite good footballers in the grand scheme of things. Let's not overstate things by overrating Leicester. They're a likeable team with players who clearly play for each other. But they're not particularly great at football and certainly nowhere near us. We should be beating them regularly.
