Quote Originally Posted by Letters View Post
How did Villa and Spurs get on in the week?
Neither are credible title contenders. They might score more than us but they both have worse goal differences. So clearly they concede a lot too. Conceding 4 goals at Brighton, being 2-0 up at Old Trafford and losing. They’re both doing well but they’re not credible competitors. They don’t have the squad in depth we do.
Again, I’m pretty sure you were declaring top 4 a doubt after a wobble last season. (Admittedly I can’t find the posts, maybe it was someone else, but you do have a habit of overreacting to results)


Rubbish. We’ve beaten City at home. We’ve drawn at Anfield. If those two are contenders, and they are, then those results tell me we are too. But I agree there are warning signs and if we don’t sign a striker then I agree the title is unlikely. But either way I can’t see us finishing outside the Top 4 because I can’t take Spurs or Villa seriously. A “you score 2, we’ll score 3” approach, while entertaining, is not the way to sustain a title challenge. And you need a squad depth they just don’t have.
How did we get on during the week? Our loss to West Ham means we’ve gone from first to fourth. The fact is the race for the top four is incredibly tight. And as I’ve said the other teams can do something we can’t and that is score goals. If we’d bought a striker instead of needlessly wasting money on Havertz and Rice (yeah he’s played well for us, but he lacks the directness of a Partey which helps the opposition with the deep block).
We’ve scored three goals in four games, the title was always unlikely given we’ve spent over 600 million largely in places where we didn’t need to spend money. Teams know how to play against us, so there’s no reason to think top 4 is anyway guaranteed.
For me it’s a dilemma, top 4 will allow us to spend in the summer. But top 4 also guarantees Arteta keeps his job when I think it’s time to move him on. As a lot of people noted that was a Wenger performance on Thursday and we don’t need years more of fruitless Tippity tappity because we don’t have the guts to move on.