city have two away wins all season in the league. its the middle of december. chelsea have 2 about 2/3 away wins all season too and have been very dodgy at home against the smaller sidesOriginally Posted by Letters To Santa
city have two away wins all season in the league. its the middle of december. chelsea have 2 about 2/3 away wins all season too and have been very dodgy at home against the smaller sides
And they're 2 and 3 points behind us respectively
true however as much as we have been poor in the big games, they have both been shit in the other games. everyone says we won't win the league because we don't beat the big teams (they have point) however, there are a lot less big games then small games. if you can't beat the small teams like city and chelsea have failed to do so far, they won't win the leagueAnd they're 2 and 3 points behind us respectively
We're leading the league because out rivals are in transition. If we can add more quality in January we'll be in with a serious shout. Wenger knows this is massive opportunity. The players are aware too but it depends on if they can hold their nerve and we add numbers.
A few stories like this we're bouncing around during the summer.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...s-8845281.html
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/...on-for-arsenal
No, we're leading it because we've been in great form and had a great improvement since last year.
We've got 35 points, at this stage last year (after 16 games which was a bit earlier than Christmas) we had 24.
Liverpool have 33, last year they had 22
Chelsea have 33, last year they had 27
City have 32, last year they had 33
None of those clubs seem to have been greatly affected by 'transition'. As I said the only club who have been affected are Utd who have 25 points compared with last year's 39 ()
Whether we can sustain that improvement as the fixtures pile up remains to be seen. My money's on the super-rich clubs who have assembled much better squads than us.
interesting city stat here. against the top 8 sides, they have played 6 games and taken 15 points out of 18. however they have only played one of those game away from home. chelsea and they lost. and given their away form so far this season, they have to improve big time IMO.
chelsea have been shaky all season and we have been the best team so far. we know our weaknesses and thats squad depth and big game tactics. right now we have the advantage by 2 points. january will be huge, get that month right and i think we will win the league purely because we have shown more consistency then either chelsea or city
We've kept our great form up for a year, we have got the most points in 2013 for any premier league side. Hopefully we can do it for another 6 months
The optimist in me says if we could sort ourselves out in the big games and nick 3 points here and there and a point here and there we would finish as Champions.
Despite the above, if City sort out their away form which unfortunately looks more likely they will walk away with the league this season.
Chelsea are totally inconsistent, they are actually probably our equal despite ploughing millions more into their squad. Don't see them finishing as Champions unless they sort out Central Midfield and Attack, they have work to do, their defence isn't great either TBH.
The 'Dark Horse' is Liverpool, I am beginning to take them very very seriously because they have been thrashing the smaller teams and don't fair too badly in the big games either.
Put it this way, Liverpool's record against the likes of City and Chelsea/United is a darn sight better than ours.
Last edited by selassie; 18-12-2013 at 09:28 AM.
Liverpool have a shown a massive improvement as well and it's down to them having stability. There have been some shock results at City and Chelsea this season and I can't imagine them starting off this slowly this time next year. The points tally doesn't tell the full story because it doesn't say whose played who and where they dropped points.No, we're leading it because we've been in great form and had a great improvement since last year.
We've got 35 points, at this stage last year (after 16 games which was a bit earlier than Christmas) we had 24.
Liverpool have 33, last year they had 22
Chelsea have 33, last year they had 27
City have 32, last year they had 33
None of those clubs seem to have been greatly affected by 'transition'. As I said the only club who have been affected are Utd who have 25 points compared with last year's 39 (
Whether we can sustain that improvement as the fixtures pile up remains to be seen. My money's on the super-rich clubs who have assembled much better squads than us.
Mourinho even ruled out Chelsea's title hopes for this season. That's a mind game he's playing but he even realises they're not the title favorites by default. Again, if you're saying those teams are too strong for us now with all these blips, it won't be much better for us next season when they have their teams assembled.
It's a very simplistic way of looking at things to say that stability = improvement.
It helps I guess although only if the set up is good to start with. If a team has a crap manager and squad then stability isn't going to make it better.
On the one hand you attribute Liverpool's improvement to 'stability' but when I point out that Chelsea have also improved and City done about the same you dismiss it.
Of course Mourinho was playing mind games. They're not favourites by default but with Fergie gone - again, I think Utd are the only major contender to be affected negatively by 'instability' - and with Chelsea having a fantastic squad and now one of the best managers around they've got to be one of the serious contenders. City too have chucked enough money around that they've got a ridiculous squad. All City and Chelsea have done is got better managers in and as I've said it doesn't seem to have affected them too badly. City's away form has been curiously poor but at home...well, you saw what happened to us and they've won every single game, most of them by large margins. Despite their 'instability' they're both up there as most people expected them to be. Both clubs already had their teams expensively assembled and even if it did take a while for the new managers to get their feet under the table I don't buy it takes a whole season to do that, we're half way through now and half a season is enough to get it together.
I agree that next year will be no easier but I'm not convinced it will be much harder - there's only so good a squad can get and City and Chelsea's are about as good as it gets. There is certainly room for improvement in our squad and we do the right things in the transfer market then we could be more competitive next season, or this season if we do the right things in January, which I doubt.
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