Im not really an Arsenal fan btw, Celtic, cheers for stealing our best players! I like Arsenal because the football they try to play but im far from an actual Arsenal fan. I loved Southampton last season, ive been saying for a while now that Ward Prowse and Luke Shaw should be in the England team, they should have been at the World Cup, Wanyama is a beast, Schneiderlin is quality and you have a load of other good players. My point is look at the run of games you have had, and then look at say Aston Villa, they have been slaughtered but in their last 8 games they have played Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Everton, Tottenham and one of the in form teams West Ham, thats quite a horrendous run of teams to come up against and while id expect Southampton to do much better than Villa in the same kind of run, ive no doubt they would be dropping more than a few points. All it takes is a small run like that and everything could look very different, I think it would be unbelievable if Southampton got into the Champions League, what a story it would be, but just saying its way too early to be getting your hopes up and it will take a herculean effort and a lot of luck to achieve it.
It took 2 seasons because we had a handicap in the first one. I looked on an odds website and our odds on Top 4 are currently shorter than Liverpool, Spurs and Everton. Quite something
Arsenal got CL football last year by beating only teams outside the top 4. Saints have beaten those teams and let in fewer than 0.5 goals per game doing it. We were told we were getting relegated this season by a nation of deluded "big club" fan boys and lazy journalists, so forgive us if we scoff at the idea we have somehow had it easy in a league which, until we do well in it is famed for having "no easy games". The big clubs have struggled against teams we have brushed aside. Aston Villa are doing badly because they are ****. We are doing well because we are good. Simple, really.
Just had a look at Southamptons upcoming games, away to Villa who will be fighting for their lives, then Man City, Arsenal away and Man Utd. Also you have a run at Christmas/New Year of Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd. So next 10 games you have Man Utd and Arsenal twice plus Chelsea and Man City, as I said, you have had it nice so far, the real test is about to come. Maybe you should be getting carried away while you can
He's just avoiding Scottish league talk as Celtic have no opposition at all but still only lead by goal difference.
If Arsenal, City, United or Chelsea were top 4 after our run of games, no one would be mentioning which teams had been played. It's an achievement to win 11/14 games (all competitions). We may not get the same number of points from the next tranche of games, but neither will we get no points. We will have to lose a lot and the teams behind us win a lot to pull us back into the pack...and then we will probably get passed those games and start winning again. Better to be in a position of strength. Same thing happened last year (though less strikingly)...we had a good run, then lost games over Xmas, before hitting our straps again. We must be the happiest fans in the league at the moment.
Wait a minute....just seen United in that list. Are we seriously supposed to be scared of United...we used to beat them in their pomp when we were in the PL before.
So far this season Arsenal have lost against Chelsea in the League and Southampton in the League Cup. Man City have lost against Stoke and West Ham in the League and Newcastle in the League Cup. We have beaten all those sides, twice in the case of Stoke, and we have yet to play Chelsea. Man Utd. have lost against Swansea, Leicester, and Man City in the League and MK Dons in the League Cup. We have beaten Swansea and Leicester, and we have yet to play Man City. My point is that apart from Chelsea, every "top" team in the PL have lost at least one game, often against teams well below them in the league. Apart from Chelsea, we have no need to fear anyone at the moment.
Is that the same arsenal who couldn't beat leicester, or hull or - ahem, us? Would that be the same man city who couldn't beat west ham, or qpr, or stoke? Would that be the same man utd who couldn't beat swansea, or sunderland, or burnley or the footballing giant known as milton keynes? I only ask because saints have beaten all the teams mentioned apart from milton keynes and burnley (we haven't played them) so your logic is a bit confusing.
People in the business are hardly mentioning the quality of our opposition now as they realise that you can't keep winning on luck alone....after all, we have played 11/19 PL teams. They can't all be relegation fodder.
I think it's an advantage to play the 'big teams' all in one month. We can work on the tactics we need to play against stronger sides, and improve on them week by week, rather than having to keep swapping what our plans are becase the opposition vary so greatly each week.
Fixture list is true. However you could also argue playing Man United and Arsenal early in January and getting the games out of the way before they have significant time to strengthen their defences is a positive. I just don't see Man United having many/any signings wrapped up by 10th Jan
