Arsene Wenger says Arsenal should continue focusing on their own results and not worry about the form of rivals despite Manchester United slipping 12 points behind the Gunners after last night’s fixtures.
Quizzed on whether the reigning champions were now out of the title race, the boss refused to rule out the possibility of David Moyes’ squad bouncing back although he was quick to stress his side’s heavy fixture list means all eyes should be trained on their own upcoming games.
“No [I won’t rule them out of the title race],” the boss told press after last night’s 2-0 win over Hull City.
“It’s still early. It is a surprising defeat [to Everton] but it is still early. We have seen that before, 12 points, only on us.
“We have just to keep winning to have a chance, and not worry too much about the others.”
The Gunners now face three games in six days starting on Sunday against Everton before tough trips to Napoli on Wednesday and Manchester City on Saturday.
Confused by the scheduling, given Arsenal subsequently face a nine day break between the visit to the Etihad and the home game with Chelsea on 23 December, the boss hinted that things could have been better coordinated.
“We play Everton on Sunday, there is little distance between Everton and [the Napoli game]. We play Wednesday night in Naples and Saturday morning at Man City, so for us it is a very, very heavy schedule.
“It’s not fair or unfair, it is just no co-ordination between the television choices because you would say that we could have played on Saturday against Everton and we could play Sunday or Monday against Man City.
“It looks strange that we play Saturday morning and our next game after that is Monday night against Chelsea nine days later. Especially when there is little time between a decisive Champions League game on Wednesday night and Saturday 12.45pm.”
The way our next three games fall in quick succession really isn’t ideal but there’s not much we can do now.
In years gone by we’d have already qualified in the Champions League and would be sending the latest generation of Alberto Mendez (Mendi?) and Armaury Bischoffs to the land of mafia and ice cream triptychs. Alas, that’s not going to be possible this time given a 3-0 defeat could see us out. Time to knuckle down and hope we avoid injuries.
Remember, They are the FA. So no surprises there.
For the first time this season I disagree with Wenger.
I am sorry monsieur, but Man Utd is out of the title race.
12 points is four losses. There are 24 games left to play.
Utterly ridiculous that anyone can make any final statements on the destination of the title in early December. Say it in May.
I can confidently state that Spurs won’t win it.
To be fair, I can do that in August.
It just gets on my tits how that lot of under performing cunts can play like shit week in week out and still claim to be title contenders and the mainstream media happily agrees whilst our boys produce game after game convincingly only to receive the most begrudging compliments. Not saying we are a shoo-in for the title, i’m just saying united are being given credit for doing absolutely fuck all and that is infuriating.
isn’t it fantastic to see that now that fergie shithead is gone that Man U get’s called for all their disgusting cheating tactics and excessive fouling by the refs. And that they get far less calls for them than they used to.
It’s so much fun.
Spot on. I don’t understand why you’ve been thumbed down so much. Man United are not good enough to close the 12-point gap that we have on them.
It’s a three-horse race now: City are the best side in the Premier League, but we are the most consistent. Chelsea are just a bunch of cunts, but they have a few decent players who could do it.
United are now fighting for fourth against Liverpool, Spurs and possibly Everton.
ok I did it. I’ve thumbed Fatgooner up!
Credit where credit’s due. Thumbs up from me, too. I agree with almost every word of that post. I don’t think Schitty are the best side in the PL, I just think they have the best set of strikers. Our midfield and defence are better than Schitty’s, and we are a better team than they are.
Fat Gooner take a thumbs up from me. Wouldn’t say that Citeh have the best team though cos that’s us. They probably do have the best squad though.
As for the Chavs I just hope to God that if we don’t win it then its not them cos they are obviously cunts.
Stat alert: Only one team in Premier League history has amassed fewer than 23 points after 14 games and gone on to win the title. That was United in 1992/93, though the league season was 42 games then so more time to recover. They have twice won the league after obtaining only 23 points after 14 games. In other stat news no team in Premier League history has amassed 34 points or more and failed to finish in the top 3. Only one team has picked up 34 or more points after 14 games and finished outside the top 2.… Read more »
arsenal 08/09?
Us, 2007/2008.
You win. Choose your prize from the bottom row.
We acquitted the “traditionally woeful november” quite well. I think we can indulge in some optimism but like the boss said, the team need to continue to stay focused and grounded.
Would not be surprised if we send out a similar side as played last night, against Napoli in mid week. TGSTEL was okay, but think Giroud just needs to battle through the 3 matches in 6 days, and then rest. If we get a goal before half time in Italy…then take him off.
Pedant alert (and for this I am truly sorry) but aren’t we playing 3 matches in 7 days what with SUNDAY, Monday, Tuesday, WEDNESDAY, Thursday, Friday and SATURDAY all being, y’know, days and there being…seven of them.
Shower my with thy red thumbs!
You are correct that those are 7 days, but we do not play Everton at 12.01am Sunday morning and Man City 11:59pm Saturday night. Look at the kick-offs and you’ll see that we do indeed play 3 games within 144 hours (or 6 days).
Well played, good sir.
haha. Bottom line…’lots of games in a short amount of time’
Oooooh, I was SO going to live up to my name but you beat me to it!
Well played, damn you!
Stpuid 8-hour time difference, if I lived in England I’d have nailed that.
And then someone could just take it to the hours level and divide by 24 🙂
Ah Crap thats already there….sorry mate, didnt see ur comment before excitedly hitting the reply button…
we really need to win in napoli to top the group
I think a draw would suffice.
Yes, a draw will give us 13 points, even if BVB wins in France (max 12 points). Anyway, have a gut feeling that Marseille won’t fail AW and won’t want to be the club with ZERO points, after all!
a 2-1 loss and a marseille win would do too.
Dortmund are playing for their lives, so Marseille aren’t going to get anything out of that game.
The team last night could beat napoli. I think vermaelen should get some time against napoli at least. O
Vermaelen did not get a game at home to hull city…..hull city! so i doubt wenger is about to pick him from a crunch match such as Napoli away.
should have played yesterday in place of kozzer. hope he’s patient enough
gibbs and sagna were already being rotated so I guess Wenger thought changing 3 out of the back 4 would be too risky
Precisely. I expect Monreal and Sagna back and Vermaelen for either Koscielny or Per (probs Koscielny).
I think Per is in for a breather. Quite a few occasions, he was on his haunches, even in the first half.
He needs to get on his haunches because he is so tall he can’t see the play on cloudy nights.
he is one BFG and BFG’s never tire
*draw.
And cliched as it is, you have to beat the best at some point…
How we perform in December and March will have a massive bearing on how well this season turns out. Solid performances, a bit of luck and the right results in those two months and redemption can be ours.
Come on you Gunners!
& January, February & May
don’t forget April
There’s a job still to be done against napoli. A point is important. Any player in form should be considered over the next 4 games but no time to start start bringing players into starting eleven who have hardly featured.
A couple of draws and a win in next 3 league games would keep us in a strong position but to win those matches opens up a very tidy gap.
Wenger getting confused regarding fixture lists has left ME confused. He has been here long enough to know by now that those guys who make fixture lists are a bunch of nincompoops.
Good for us fans though! And I believe if we send a semi-decent team to Naples bar Ozil, Ramsey, Mertesacker Or Koscielny but with the right attitude, they can easily get a hard-fought win there. Especially cuz Napoli will go for it and most likely play into our hands.
Time for Theeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooooooooooooo ?
I don’t think we can go to Napoli and play for a draw – they did beat Dortmund at their stadium. It’s a tough place to be in but after watching us this season, I think we’re playing so well we can take on any challenge. I’m actually nervous about how good we are. It’s scary.
they did beat dortmund, a 10 man dortmund
And their first choice goal keeper at that
What do we need to do ensure top spot in the Champions league?
Not lose by 3 Guarntees we finish above Nippley (so at worst second)
Draw or better to win group
or Marseille draw or win and we go through regardless of our result in Naples,
Hang on. We are playing Italians who practically are starting the game 2-0 down?
Then start the usual back four, some midfield combo (not short of awsome options there) as well as Cazorla, Ozil and Theo upfront.
At end of first half, take cazorla, ozil, mertesacker off.
By which time we’d be 4-0 to the good!
we definitely want to be on the top of the group…. being first in the group usually gives a better draw, and a slightly more forgiving fixture schedule.
Or we can be as confident as Ramsey and just try to get the worst out of the way asap.
who knows…
Alberto Mendez Rodriguez. I wonder what ever happened to him?
Wenger’s desperately trying to get Moyes to keep his job at Utd.
I’m an italian gooner…and Italy is not only mafia and ice cream triptychs…i think that we deserve more respect,thank you!
Come on gunners!
tongue & cheek, my Mafioso friend
I can think of some other things related to Italy… The Glory of Ancient Rome, and how Asterix and Obelix always kicked their collective butts. The Pope’s House. A new Government every three months. Suitcases of money moving mysteriously between football clubs Meals which often include more than one flavour (Yes, it’s true, I swear it) Mount Etna. Europe’s most terrible drivers with many of Europe’s best cars. Non-payment of taxes as a national hobby. Up Pompeii, starring Frankie Howard. Attractive female football fans. Spaghetti Westerns 50% of Terrence Hill. All of Bud Spencer. Your country is shaped like a… Read more »
I think CL is a bonus this season and too much thought should not go into it. We’ve given ourselves a shot at the league and I feel we should go for it full throttle. Having said that, going into the next round surely is a necessity for AFC.
Wouldn’t mind the likes of gnabry, vermaelen and bendtner playing on wednesday..
We could easily see a line up like this in Napoli i think. Scez Sag – Mert – Verm – Nacho Flam – Ram Feo – Ros – Caz TGSTEL Wenger says we’ll be taking the game seriously but he knows that we have a damn good chance of winning the league this year and we can’t risk that for a shot at a competition we really don’t have much chance of winning. Cup competitions always have a large amount of risk in them. The best team doesn’t always win. But it’s rare that the best team doesn’t win the… Read more »
There is the money angle attached to qualifying for CL knockouts. And also the tradition angle – we’ve done it for so many years consecutively.
Also the group seeding angle for future seasons.
We have the best performing and most consistant Goalkeeper, Defensive Unit, Midfield and the 2nd best Attacking Unit (after Liverpool).
All round we are the best team and we will be popping corks by mid April.
St Totteringham’s day may clash with valentines so get your diaries sorted gentlemen.
We’re gonna win the league ™
“You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.” I disagree with your contention that we ‘really don’t have much chance of winning’ the CL. We are in a fine form. Why not aim for the Double? Treble? Even if we don’t get multiple trophies, why not at least aim for it? People outside of England who argue that we are not a big club usually base their opinion on our relatively minimal international success compared to our domestic success. Of course I disagree with them–come on, 16 straight CL!–but compared to our rivals, the likes of Real Madrid,… Read more »
i’d start wilshere for 60 min along flamini, ramsey needs a break, arteta on for last 30min, agree with the rest.
Game number 3 will do us. Everton we will win but they are no mugs. mid week we will need the win again we are not playing fools. but come the Saturday we will be out of steam and man city will beat us. plus we can not beat big clubs. you forget who we are. you can not take about Arsenal as if every game is a given, it can happen at any time. fantastic side would love to see them finish top. Man city top Chelsea 2ed us 3rd.
clearly your “seen it all” excludes the vast majority of Arsenal history…
Loving your confidence Double 98. Feeling the same. Can just sort of feel it in my bones.
Forget napoli, for now we must focus on everton.
Any news on sagna?
I love Sagna but if Jenks can cross the ball like he did last night, I’m more than happy to continue with Jenks again vs. Everton so that Sagna can fully recover his hamstring and be 100% ready for Napoli & Man City.
Last I heard Sagna would be available for Everton. We’ll find out for sure at the presser tomorrow, I guess.
Focus, focus, focus, that is all. Love our attitude and work-rate at the moment, so nice to see instead of the last couple of seasons where some cunt would lose the ball and then make no attempt to win it back while throwing his hands up in the air.
Send a strong team to Napoli. Don’t fuck around. If this team is strong enough to win the PL it’s strong enough to beat all those thundercunts at Bayern/Barca/Real and win the CL too.
Because we have the fucking Welsh Jesus, that’s fucking why!
Sorry for my optimism, but the weekend has started early.
In years recently past I would’ve agreed that we didn’t have much chance of winning CL. However this year seems different. The form of Szcz, Rambo, Ozil, & that HFB give us a helluva chance. All this winning without the like of Ox, Pod, Theo as well. I say believe it can happen! COYG!!!
I just want to see arsenal play football and I’m a Hammer, big up Wenger = class.
Looking at the next 4 games (Everton, Napoli, City, Chavs) then if we get W/D/D/W it will be a great result:
– Top of CL Group
– 6 points clear of City and at least 5 points clear of Chavs
– closest other PL team (in theory) would be Liverpool also 5 points behind
So while winning them all would be great it’s not essential.
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!