The Gunners finally showed their teeth after a horrific start to the month of November. Eventhough Arsenal didn’t get the win and the three points, the team played much better than recent games and demonstrated they have the grit and the will to get back on track.
Mikel Arteta told Arsenal.com after the match, “Disappointed with the result because I think we deserved more and at the same time very proud of the team, the way they played here against this opponent, in this stadium, they have battered every opponent here and obviously it wasn’t the case today. But in the end, the team showed its teeth, how much they wanted it, they took risks, full determination.”
One would have to agree Sunday looked like the team we have seen this season prior to November. We thought the Bournemouth loss would be a one-off, however, it was just the start to a of very weary month. However, hopefully, Arteta and his squad can now rest and heal during the international break, regroup and be ready for Nottingham Forest on November 23rd.
With all of that said, let’s discuss Martin Odegaard’s performance v Chelsea. After a six month break recovering from an ankle injury, and after just one training session upon his return, the captain looked like he never missed a moment of action. He not only played the entire match, he brough the energy and creativity back to the pitch Arsenal so desperately needed. Now, I hope Arteta pulls the plug on any plan for Odegaard to join up with the Noway national team for this international break. The player needs more rest, and more to to totally get back on track. Let’s hope a rational decision is made to not only benefit the player but the Arsenal club as well. All-in-all, it was great to see him back on the pitch.
Then there’s Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka. Race played a lot of minutes on Sunday with a broken toe, while Saka came off the pitch with a possible leg injury. Both men are slated to go with the England national team today. However, there has been no word on what has been decided as of the writing of this post. Stand by.
So, at the international break the Gunners are 4th on the Premier League table, 9 points behind Liverpool, 4 points behind Man City, and -2 goals behind Chelsea.
With 27 league matches to play, this race is hardly over. Liverpool will also go through a dry patch. They will lose matches and drop points. It is my opinion that Arsenal will be chasing Manchester City again this season for the top spot. City has kinks in its armor as well, so don’t expect Pep’s boys to run away with the title either. I think this will be a three horse race, because Chelsea, and the other clubs currently in the chase, will falter as the season progresses.
For anything good to happen in the title race for Arsenal, the Gunners must play consistently better football going forward. Let’s hope the normal trash and burn the Gunners usually have happene in December happened this season in November.
COYG, we believe in you!
Cheers!
Gunner1953
Football journalist Rudy Galetti reports Arsenal are monitoring the progress of Serbian and Juventus forward Dusan Vlahovic.
Nov 26 – Sporting CP (A)
According to Arsenal News, the Gunners continue to explore options to expand Emirates Stadium capacity from 60,000 to 80,000.
In all cases were Arsenal lost points in the league this season, the Refs had been the key persons on those losses especially against top rivals vying for the top spot.
Let us take for example the game against Chelsea, the Ref allowed Chelsea players to foul Arsenal players now and again, without even cautioning them this was allowed to go on, only offering a card when cornered to do so. A slight touch on Chelsea players resulted in the whistle being blown even when there was a minimum contact. As a result several fouls were given on key attacking positions, giving Chelsea an advantage.
The Ref was pretty consistent from his performance at Man City to Chelsea. There is no doubt why Arsenal injuries have sky rocketed as they are not protected by the Refs, for argument sake just go back and watch the Chelsea Arsenal match, you will feel embarrassed for the Refs. All the facts are there. Just see how many fouls were committed by Chelsea and the Ref let go without a caution and in most cases not even blowing the whistle.
So the position were Arsenal is at the moment, has nothing to do with their form but more to do with the man in the middle who seem to have an Agenda.
In short, as long as the biased referring continues, Arsenal will not win the league.