Petr Cech says Arsenal need to take at least 50 points from their remaining 20 games if they are to challenge for the Premier League title.
The Gunners have amassed 37 points from a possible 54 in their first 18 games and currently sit in fourth place, nine points adrift of league leaders Chelsea.
After a couple of recent defeats Cech says Arsenal need to steady the ship and focus on winning as many games as possible before their visit to Stamford Bridge in early February.
“Overall you need to be consistent to get to 87 or 88 points and it doesn’t really matter how you get to that,” the keeper told Arsenal.com.
“If you have back-to-back losses then you have to go and make up for it in different games. Then you can catch up.
“It’s a long-term competition so if you have a period where you’ve not been particularly great, you can still make up for it.
“There are still enough games to make up for our blip and I also think it’s impossible for our opponents to not drop points.
“There’s still a big opportunity for us to close the gap now. Between now and the end of January, the table might look completely different.”
Realistically, having suffered three defeats already hitting Cech’s points target is going to be a tall order this season – we need the equivalent of 16 wins and a draw, with room to drop a further nine points.
Only the Invincibles (90) and the Double winning side of 2002 (87) have beaten or matched such a total target during the Wenger era.
So, no pressure lads…
When you put it like that…
i know some people are going to hate this but the truth is
no team who were finished fourth after christmas has went on to win the premier league. its sad but its a fact
Considering we still have away trips to Chelsea and Liverpool coming up, as well as another NLD and a M***inho led Manc shower of shit fixture to come I reckon that’s a bit overly ambitious, Petr.
Ambitious indeed.
But it takes ambition to win this league, right?
3 of those we can lose and draw 1 according to the logic. But then we must win all the other remaining fixtures..
If we manage to what you are suggesting, we will only have 49 points from 20 games. To get the 50 points which Cech is targeting, then 16 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses will do it. Having said that, even if we do have better second half of the season and get 50 points from next 20 games, we will still need Chelsea to drop 20 points to catch them – that’s the equavilent of them losing 6, and drawing 2 from their remaining 20 games. Sorry for the dose of realism but PL title is extremely unlikely for… Read more »
With the level of competition, I reckon even 40-45 points would suffice.
I’ve already said this before, we don’t need to worry about Chelsea, we need to worry about our target. 87 points give us a margin for errors of only 10. Considering there are still 20 matches to go, we would need a very good second half.
So, to win the title we have to perform the same as previous title winners? Fair enough.
Only way we’ll win the title this year is to get 87-88 points. He’s right about that. But I also know we’re not capable of that at the moment.
Setting targets is a good, pragmatic thing to do right now. Considering our form to now, an incredibly ambitious target is necessary. Bring it on, let’s hope the boys impress us, if they don’t, we’ll just have to accept we weren’t good enough.
Really? Pragmatic to set a target over 20 games?
I think you just wanted to use that word ?
I honestly believe that it’s a pragmatic thing to do yes. Very easy to get caught up in media and fan reactions and lose focus, setting a target helps you keep focus, therefore it is a pragmatic thing to do. Do you know what pragmatic means?
Well. Since you asked. It basically means problem solving…So maybe you can explain how setting a target over 20 games is solving any of our problems?
I would say that analysing our pitfalls (and addressing them) in games such as Everton and City is being pragmatic.. Not just setting an unlikely target with no idea how we’re going going to achieve it.
No, it doesn’t basically mean problem-solving.
pragmatic (adj.): relating to matters of fact or practical affairs often to the exclusion of intellectual or artistic matters : practical as opposed to idealistic
The latter part of the definition is what Me is referring to. It is certainly pragmatic to be setting an ambitious goal.
You better write to the scholars at Cambridge and tell them they’ve got the wrong definition.
Cambridge dictionary:
“Solving problems in a sensible way that suits the conditions that really exist now, rather than obeying fixed theories, ideas, or rules”
Lol. Love it
I believe the pragmatic thing to do right now is play it game by game, and not look at the end. Just take each game as it comes with a practical solution to overcome each opponent. The other thing to do is to play at our full potential with full intensity… something we have lacked over the years. If we do this and still don’t win the title, I will still be happy because all I want is for the players to apply themselves and not play like arseholes
Jez, I was using the Oxford dictionary definition (which is the one Arsependant provided) in anyway, the Cambridge definition doesn’t actually differ from the Oxford definition all that much. In any case, by either definition, I still believe it is pracmatic to set a target like Cech has. Now, if you don’t agree, fair enough. There is more than one right way to solve a problem. But this argument about whether I “just wanted to use that word” and what pragmatic actually means should come to an end.
Fuck, got a lot of typos in that reply. But you get my point
Genuinely believe we can achieve this.
Fuck your downvotes.
We have:
37 points from 18 at 2.05 points per game.
We need to get to 87:
50 points from 20 at 2.5 points per game.
If we had won against Everton and City we’d have:
43 points from 18 at 2.38 points per game.
We would need to get to 87:
44 points from 20 at 2.2 points per game.
Great perspective. But we didn’t win at city or Everton and we are culpable to slip up in the same way again in the remaining fixtures.
I think you mean vulnerable or maybe liable, rather than culpable (culpable means “guilty”). And while it’s true that we may slip up again, so may every other team. Chel$hit is not going to win another 20 games in a row. Liverpoop won’t score four goals in every game for the rest of the season. And if that 50-point goal intimidates you, then just consider the next game. We need to win just the next game. Worry about the rest of the games one at a time as they come up, not months in advance. Much easier to cope with… Read more »
Appropriate moniker, Arsepedant.
Hail Hydra!
Este Cech is muy cabrón here we see for the first time in a long time someone who has won the league basically telling the rest of the squad get your shit togethet and we can do this. Precisamente esto es porque consiguió Wenger a Cech.
This is shaping up to be a very interesting season.
Giroud’s goal was so important.
Sorry but let’s just take one game at a time….3 points at a time. Don’t get ahead of ourselves please.
Sadly as Wenger doesnt feel any pressure from board (and as we all know he couldnt care less about the one from the fans) to win the competition we never do that kind of runs to get to the top. Well unless when we need one to get a CL qulification (which seems to be the objective set by board for years now).
What rubbish you type…
Yeah lets see the season through once again. We’ll know the truth from rubbish. Again.
Cech is sounding the call to arms after a difficult performance. He knows the boys need to really be more clinical and a bit more cynical in their hunt for points.
We’ll see if they have it in them…
Chelsea do not have squad depth, they cannot possibly continue their run for much longer; they are bound to go on a points-dropping-spree pretty soon.
They have no European football to worry about. History tells us that’s a massive advantage – Leicester last season and Liverpool in Gerrard slip season.
Agree. It is kind of sad that CL football seems to be such a disadvantage these days. City, Tottenham and Leicester are also affected by the extra fixtures (Leicester was never going to cope with both competitions). None of them have looked sharp in the PL in many fixtures. Even united is starting to play better when they have a pause in the EL fixtures.
Chelsea have similar squad depth to us, it is just that you need less depth when you play one match a week, even injuries affect you less.
true, good point.
Gerrard slip season 😀
You’re a bit more optimistic than I am, but I agree they’ll drop points at some point, and I agree they don’t have great squad depth. The problem is they may not need great squad depth to win the league, as they’re not in Europe, so if they get a bit of luck with injuries (see Leicester last year) they could go through virtually the whole season playing the same side.
True, but because of their lesser depth they’re more vulnerable to key injuries than we are. Let Costa or Hazard miss significant time and they’re fucked.
Hopefully some other sides will figure out how to combat Chelsea’s 3-4-3 and they will drop points. In the meantime, we just need to take care of business one game at a time.
The five fixtures before we play Chelsea are very winnable. Chelsea have to go away to spurs, Liverpool & Leicester.
I could see us being within 3 points by the time we play them.
It’s not over yet
I think the title will require a little less, maybe 82 points. So much competition this season that the end title winner are more likely to drop points this season than any previous season in Premier league history.
But time will tell.
82 points?
You do realise Chelsea already have 46 points and haven’t even played half a season.
Whatever was done to get the team so highly motivated to play Chelsea the way they did the last time need to be duplicated for the rest of the games this season to win the league.
What season was it we had lost 4 by December and went unbeaten for the rest of the season to win the league
It was 3 in 2001/02 lost to Newcastle at home 18th December, then didn’t lose another game for rest of the season – 18 wins, 3 draws, maybe then?
Lets just try and get max points from all fixtures prior to the Chelski match up first shall we?:D
There is hope for a great finish as long as we qualify for CL and finish ahead of those slackers sp*rs the season is saved on a positive note
To think that we only needed 82 points to win the league last season. *sigh*
I’d settle for 1 nil to The Arsenal till end of the season!ala George Graham