Spurs to win the league...

[Whitechapel]

I feel this is a good time to remind everybody about my prediction

It was bullshit then, and it's bullshit now. They'll finish 3rd or 4th.

 

[JaseTheVillain]

I do wonder why no one is discussing them as in the running to win it, but Man City are? They have as much chance as anyone else up there imo.

 

[Whitechapel]

I do wonder why no one is discussing them as in the running to win it, but Man City are? They have as much chance as anyone else up there imo.

As much chance as Leicester, which is just behind Arsenal. City are finished.

 

[JaseTheVillain]

I'm not writing any of the top 3 off, I did say Arsenal would win it at the start of the season though, and I'm sticking by that prediction, I'm just saying that Spurs look as good as anyone at the moment.

 

[M Dogg]

As it stands they have as good a chance as anyone.

I can see Arsenal imploding at OT in a couple of weeks.

Leicester or Spurs for me.

 

[rudebwoyben]

As it stands they have as good a chance as anyone.

I can see Arsenal imploding at OT in a couple of weeks.

Leicester or Spurs for me.

How can you seen Arsenal imploding there, by being bored to death by Van Gaal's style of play? Is that the cunning plan?

 

[M Dogg]

How can you seen Arsenal imploding there, by being bored to death by Van Gaal's style of play? Is that the cunning plan?

It's the cliche that is easily banded about but as a club they really have no bottle. It's been there for years and stems from the fact that they have, single handedly, the most self-entitled and fickle fanbase on the planet. They put so much pressure on their team it is unreal. Add to that the fact that Wenger has made a rod for his own back by constantly refusing to strengthen in the transfer market and you have got a dangerous combination. A set of fans who need the slightest excuse to call for Wenger to be sacked, Ramsey dropped, Giroud shot etc. Just look at twitter yesterday, in the micro environment of one 90 minute match it went from ''Wenger out'' to ''Dat Guy is gonna win us the league''. I know all fans are fickle, but theirs are something else. The pressure they put on their team (which Leicester and Spurs will not be putting on theirs... Mind you Spurs fans aren't far behind Arsenal's..) is unreal and it has, for years, manifested on the pitch. If Simpson hadn't got sent off yesterday they would not have won that game, they probably wouldn't have even scored. There was no composure, players diving all over the shop and skidmarks across the back 4's underwear everytime Kante won the ball and crossed halfway.

They will go to OT next week and the players will get inside their own heads. Man Utd, in whatever form they are in, are a huge mental obstacle for Arsenal and they will go there with so much psychological pressure that something disastrous is guaranteed to happen. It's the reason they could never beat Mourinho, haven't won a league for years and only managed to win the FA cup against absolute fodder.

Believe it or not I want Arsenal to do it. I think they are overdue it and Wenger really is a good man and great manager. He deserves it.

 

[Whitechapel]

It's the cliche that is easily banded about but as a club they really have no bottle. It's been there for years and stems from the fact that they have, single handedly, the most self-entitled and fickle fanbase on the planet. They put so much pressure on their team it is unreal. Add to that the fact that Wenger has made a rod for his own back by constantly refusing to strengthen in the transfer market and you have got a dangerous combination. A set of fans who need the slightest excuse to call for Wenger to be sacked, Ramsey dropped, Giroud shot etc. Just look at twitter yesterday, in the micro environment of one 90 minute match it went from ''Wenger out'' to ''Dat Guy is gonna win us the league''. I know all fans are fickle, but theirs are something else. The pressure they put on their team (which Leicester and Spurs will not be putting on theirs... Mind you Spurs fans aren't far behind Arsenal's..) is unreal and it has, for years, manifested on the pitch. If Simpson hadn't got sent off yesterday they would not have won that game, they probably wouldn't have even scored. There was no composure, players diving all over the shop and skidmarks across the back 4's underwear everytime Kante won the ball and crossed halfway.

They will go to OT next week and the players will get inside their own heads. Man Utd, in whatever form they are in, are a huge mental obstacle for Arsenal and they will go there with so much psychological pressure that something disastrous is guaranteed to happen. It's the reason they could never beat Mourinho, haven't won a league for years and only managed to win the FA cup against absolute fodder.

Believe it or not I want Arsenal to do it. I think they are overdue it and Wenger really is a good man and great manager. He deserves it.

Possibly the worst thing I've ever read. If you search twitter, you'll find nearly every opinion from every fanbase. If you pick and choose you'll find the drivel you quote to have seen. I don't want Wenger to be sacked, I want him to stand down within the next couple of years, Ramsey is relentless and I love Giroud. My point being my opinions are different to what you've seen. Tar us all with the same brush, but you'll be the one that comes across as foolish.

 

[M Dogg]

Fair play, I call it as I see it.

 

[rudebwoyben]

In their last two visits Arsenal have won one and drawn one. While I agree that Arsenal will have to overcome some mental obstacles to win the league, I don't think the trip to Old Trafford is anywhere near their most daunting assignment.

 

[Renegade]

How can you seen Arsenal imploding there, by being bored to death by Van Gaal's style of play? Is that the cunning plan?

Arsenal have a pretty atrocious record at Old Trafford in the past fifteen years, I know United are useless at the moment and nearly all of those losses came against Ferguson, but it's still a tough mental task for Arsenal. They could easily drop points.

 

[Whitechapel]

We have a secret weapon, the best striker the United academy has produced.

 

[oakroader]

March the 5th....title decider day north London is Lilly white!!

 

[johnnytodd]

Have Spurs ever won the league? can't be arsed googling

 

[JaseTheVillain]

Have Spurs ever won the league? can't be arsed googling

Yes.

 

[Mustard]

It's the cliche that is easily banded about but as a club they really have no bottle. It's been there for years and stems from the fact that they have, single handedly, the most self-entitled and fickle fanbase on the planet. They put so much pressure on their team it is unreal. Add to that the fact that Wenger has made a rod for his own back by constantly refusing to strengthen in the transfer market and you have got a dangerous combination. A set of fans who need the slightest excuse to call for Wenger to be sacked, Ramsey dropped, Giroud shot etc. Just look at twitter yesterday, in the micro environment of one 90 minute match it went from ''Wenger out'' to ''Dat Guy is gonna win us the league''. I know all fans are fickle, but theirs are something else. The pressure they put on their team (which Leicester and Spurs will not be putting on theirs... Mind you Spurs fans aren't far behind Arsenal's..) is unreal and it has, for years, manifested on the pitch. If Simpson hadn't got sent off yesterday they would not have won that game, they probably wouldn't have even scored. There was no composure, players diving all over the shop and skidmarks across the back 4's underwear everytime Kante won the ball and crossed halfway.

They will go to OT next week and the players will get inside their own heads. Man Utd, in whatever form they are in, are a huge mental obstacle for Arsenal and they will go there with so much psychological pressure that something disastrous is guaranteed to happen. It's the reason they could never beat Mourinho, haven't won a league for years and only managed to win the FA cup against absolute fodder.

Believe it or not I want Arsenal to do it. I think they are overdue it and Wenger really is a good man and great manager. He deserves it.

The reason Arsenal haven't won a league for years is because we couldn't keep up with our rivals. It's alright saying we bottled it for years but were teams that featured the likes of Almunia, Silvestre, Squillaci, Denilson, Bendtner, Eboue, Gervinho, Djourou, Chamakh, Arteta, Flamini etc ever actually good enough in the first place? You look at the squad our rivals have had, and then us, and there is no comparison, and it's pretty clear that Wenger never actually had the resources to strengthen the squad in that period. It's only in the past 2 years or so that we've been able to add real quality to the squad rather than lose it every year.

You don't win the FA Cup twice in two seasons by being bottlers. It's not our fault that our rivals for the competition lost it well before the final, that's if they weren't knocked out by ourselves already (a very good Liverpool side in 13-14 who the week before had smashed us, and United at OT last season). That's quite some spin trying to use winning the FA Cup twice to support your argument, you can only beat what's in front of you, and you can bet most neutrals were dying for us to bottle it.

You say Arsenal fans put more pressure on their team but I think the reason for that is pretty obvious, the expectation on Arsenal is far greater than Spurs of Leicester, and this goes hand in hand with the sentiment from neutrals I have seen that it would somehow be embarrassing for Arsenal to miss out on the title this year, as if that would somehow be more embarrassing than the likes of United and Chelsea coming nowhere near to the title, and to a lesser extent City who should be walking this league with the resources they have.

I don't think Arsenal fans are much better/worse than other fans when it comes to being fickle on social media. Arsenal is massively represented on social media, more than any other club in the league, so of course you are going to see more of it. It doesn't help when people think every other Arsenal fan is Piers Morgan, and that he somehow represents the majority of the fan base when everybody hates him.

Your observations of yesterdays game are very different to mine. I've seen it suggested in a few places that Leicester somehow played 'like champions' and that Arsenal were lucky to win. Now I know this won't fit the narrative, and Leicester could well go on to win the league in spite of this, but they didn't (bar the keeper and Kante), and we weren't. We dominated possession, chances created and barely gave them any chances on the counter which was clearly their game plan. It took an excellent Schmeichel performance for us to not score our 2nd goal a lot earlier. Leicester finished with 10 men on the pitch through their own fault, were lucky not to finish with 9 given that Drinkwater should have been sent off, won a penalty that should have been called for a foul on Özil well before and gave away a cheap free-kick at the death which ultimately cost them. That's on them, not us. Ultimately, in our two biggest matches so far this season (Olympiakos away, and yesterday), under immense pressure, we've delivered.

 

[JimJams]

We dominated possession, chances created and barely gave them any chances on the counter which was clearly their game plan.

In the first 45 minutes you had 68% to our 32% which isn't unusual for us. What is also not unusual is that in that half we had 5 attempts on goal, 3 on target, you had 4 attempts on goal 0 on target.
People tend to look at turning points like sendings off almost as two seperate games and assess whichever suits their agenda. 11v11 though we were good value for our advantage, despite seeing less of the ball as we always do, we were better with it. But Simpson fucked up (successive games now - getting back to his old self) and Arsenal took advantage, and there can't really be much argument with that.

I think the reason Arsenal fans get accused of putting too much pressure on their side is because you're almost bi-polar! If you do well you build up the players to incredible highs which can often be unjustifiable, then a poor result and 'this players fucking useless' 'they're just not good enough' and several OTT attacks rather than just accepting that a player or the side has just had an off game.
After the 0-0 with Southampton loads of Arsenal fans were berating the side, saying they'd blown it, all doom n gloom then after yesterdays win (also partly in the manner of winning with the last kick) it's a stroll to the title.

One factor as well that Arsenal are not used to, and neither is anyone else really is that for just about every season for a while now Arsenal have been the side the neutrals wanted to win because really they've been the underdog. Chelsea and Man City with their billions injected into the club essentially paying their way, and Man Utd just being evil obviously, Arsenal were the side that could show that if you build properly you don't need massive cash injections to spend hundreds of millions of pounds to compete. But Leicester are doing the same thing on a waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay smaller scale. For all the financial comparisons on the squad made when Leicester beat City, Arsenals team costs a shitload more than Leicesters side. And rightly so, but when it comes to neutrals there are more of them that can relate to Leicester as a club as it's probably a closer representation of their own club and therefore what they could possibly achieve themselves.

 

[Reaper]

If spurs can keep Kane, Erikson and Alli fit for the rest of the season then i think they will win the league imo, they have the best coach in the league and they play better as a team than anyone else atm, i think Leicester also play well as an all round team but i think the lack of quality will let em down at the end of the season but they will get champions league place which will be an amazing achievement.

 

[M Dogg]

Alli is brilliant. I love watching him play. I think Pochettino is a young players dream as he gives them the chance and a lot of responsibility straight away. If Alli had gone elsewhere he would be warming a bench and getting cameos IMO. He has got a great career ahead of him, brilliant footballer.

 

[SALTIRE]

If Alli had gone elsewhere he would be warming a bench and getting cameos IMO.

He was on his way to Liverpool when he got nicked on the drive up from Spurs. He'd walk into Liverpool's side. Another player it hurts seeing who they missed out on. Good luck to the lad though, he is something special.

 

[PDS]

Whether they bottle it or not, we can all agree it would be bloody hilarious to see Arsenal balls it up now with their best chance to win it in a decade.

Even funnier if they miss out to Spurs.

 

[Whitechapel]

Whether they bottle it or not, we can all agree it would be bloody hilarious to see Arsenal balls it up now with their best chance to win it in a decade.

Even funnier if they miss out to Spurs.

IF Spurs won it over us, then they'd thoroughly deserve it. They've played fantastic football, given English youth a chance and been consistent all season. As much as I'd hate for them to win it, it would be a disservice to them to laugh at us, rather than congratulate them wouldn't it?

 

[SC49]

Whether they bottle it or not, we can all agree it would be bloody hilarious to see Arsenal balls it up now with their best chance to win it in a decade.

Even funnier if they miss out to Spurs.

Somebody's bitter. I can't wait for all the hate that'll come our away again if we win the league, it'll be glorious.

 

[JimJams]

Hate? Again? When did you get hate? Obviously you'll get it from Spurs fans and other rivals, but you get that regardless of what you win.

 

[Whitechapel]

Hate? Again? When did you get hate? Obviously you'll get it from Spurs fans and other rivals, but you get that regardless of what you win.

We'll have smashed the Leicester fairytale, the footballing world will be incensed.

 

[JimJams]

Footballing world?
The sporting world mate. Admit it, you'll even hate yourself a little inside.

 

[Whitechapel]

Footballing world?
The sporting world mate. Admit it, you'll even hate yourself a little inside.

You mean more than I already do?

 

[smat]

Spurs are worse bottlers than us, and have choked every time they've looked certain to finish above us in literally more than 20 years. LONG way to go yet. Even City are far from finished.

 

[Stevencc]

The real question here is whether we will see St. Totteringham's day or not this season.

 

[Whitechapel]

Spurs are worse bottlers than us, and have choked every time they've looked certain to finish above us in literally more than 20 years. LONG way to go yet. Even City are far from finished.

This is a splendid point, 12 games to play. 36 points to play for. Anyone would think we're a couple of weeks away from the final day.