Match reaction v Watford away

[Marc Overmars]

I’ve not been much of an Arteta fan but there has been progress this season and I feel comfortable with the direction we’re heading in. We’ve got a young, hungry squad with players who want to play and have everything to prove. Beats having deadwood who’ve used Arsenal as a final big contract before retirement.

Playing behind closed doors probably kept Arteta in a job because there’s no doubt it was terrible at times and if there was a crowd they would have put a lot of pressure on the club.

As for this season, top 6 was the target so to be in with a shout of 4th is testament to the progress made.

Our games in hand on United are Liverpool H, Spurs A and Chelsea A.
The Liverpool match is also the game in hand on Spurs.

We will probably need to get results in all those games to finish 4th. So while the table makes for encouraging reading, don’t let it fool you into thinking it’s ours to lose yet. There are some huge games coming up and we’ve been falling short in a lot of those under Arteta, so let’s see how it goes.

[selassie]

I’ve not been much of an Arteta fan but there has been progress this season and I feel comfortable with the direction we’re heading in. We’ve got a young, hungry squad with players who want to play and have everything to prove. Beats having deadwood who’ve used Arsenal as a final big contract before retirement.

Playing behind closed doors probably kept Arteta in a job because there’s no doubt it was terrible at times and if there was a crowd they would have put a lot of pressure on the club.

As for this season, top 6 was the target so to be in with a shout of 4th is testament to the progress made.

Our games in hand on United are Liverpool H, Spurs A and Chelsea A.
The Liverpool match is also the game in hand on Spurs.

We will probably need to get results in all those games to finish 4th. So while the table makes for encouraging reading, don’t let it fool you into thinking it’s ours to lose yet. There are some huge games coming up and we’ve been falling short in a lot of those under Arteta, so let’s see how it goes.

Yep I agree with this and also realise our games in hand are absolutely brutal. In fact from now on till the end of the season we have some really tough away games outside of the ones you have listed, West Ham Away, Villa Away, Palace Away, Newcastle (in their current form) away, lots of possible dropped points there. The games above you have listed, Liverpool is a write off for me, but I think we are capable of picking up a point in either or each of the Spurs and Chelsea games if we put in a good performance, we have to go there and really put in professional displays. United at home is a bit of a lottery, we are just as capable of given them a good beating as they are us, even the current United in their crappy state.

The momentum is with us now and you can see how badly the players want CL so I think we will be ok, though it will no doubt be very stressful viewing!

[IBK]

Yep I agree with this and also realise our games in hand are absolutely brutal. In fact from now on till the end of the season we have some really tough away games outside of the ones you have listed, West Ham Away, Villa Away, Palace Away, Newcastle (in their current form) away, lots of possible dropped points there. The games above you have listed, Liverpool is a write off for me, but I think we are capable of picking up a point in either or each of the Spurs and Chelsea games if we put in a good performance, we have to go there and really put in professional displays. United at home is a bit of a lottery, we are just as capable of given them a good beating as they are us, even the current United in their crappy state.

The momentum is with us now and you can see how badly the players want CL so I think we will be ok, though it will no doubt be very stressful viewing!

Yes - it's good to observe that there is the confidence in our team right now for the players to feel that they can beat anyone. We need to remember that when the Chavs beat us at home at the beginning of the season, we were still a bit of a basket case. They won't find it so easy now. In our current 'form' we deserved to get a point at least from Citeh; drew at Liverpool with 10 men in the Cup and are on better 5 match form than Chelsea or Spurs. I kind of think that both fans and players need to believe more in our team to assist/compliment our current development. Without belief then we don't deserve top 4.

[selassie]

Yes - it's good to observe that there is the confidence in our team right now for the players to feel that they can beat anyone. We need to remember that when the Chavs beat us at home at the beginning of the season, we were still a bit of a basket case. They won't find it so easy now. In our current 'form' we deserved to get a point at least from Citeh; drew at Liverpool with 10 men in the Cup and are on better 5 match form than Chelsea or Spurs. I kind of think that both fans and players need to believe more in our team to assist/compliment our current development. Without belief then we don't deserve top 4.

Yep, right now there are two teams in the league head and shoulders above us, City and Liverpool. Chelsea are a better side than us, with better players and they are more consistent than us, but I don't fear going into games with them like I do City and Liverpool, I think we are good enough to get something in the game at Chelsea, not necessarily a win, but a draw is definitely achievable.

On current form and throughout the season so far we are better than both United and Spurs, but there isn't a great deal in it, we are all in the third group below the top two and Chelsea.