Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang says Arsenal’s new-look squad have what it takes to challenge for honours but he admits the first aim is qualifying for the Champions League again.
The recruitment of Nicolas Pepe, Dani Ceballos, Kieran Tierney and David Luiz has seen key positions strengthened and, after last season’s disappointment, bolstered the mood around the club both in the dressing room and on the terraces.
Ahead of Saturday’s game with European champions Liverpool, Auba, who has started the new campaign with goals against Newcastle and Burnley, is now expecting the squad to close the gap on the top four.
“I think as I said earlier we have made good signings, that will help us,” he told Canal+.
“Last season, we were not far away from qualifying for the Champions’ League.
“Whatever happens, that is the most important thing, the most important aim for us. To be back in the Champions’ League.
“Aside from that, to fight for the title, we know very well that the big guns are ready but we are also ready and in any case we are going to give our all to match the big guns if possible.”
It goes without saying that it would be great to head into the North London derby in 13 days time as the Premier League’s outright leaders, but for that to happen we need a win at Anfield.
Surely, Auba must be licking his lips for a chance to test Adrian between the sticks?
Hopefully Adrian will have another off day! 🙂
Or more importantly VanDijk who is still very good but hasn’t looked perfectly flawless like last year. Auba can score against anybody.
Above all else, I want to see us show a bit of mettle on the weekend. I am so sick of watching us rollover in fear every single time we go a goal down at Anfield. Just because we concede first it doesn’t mean we then have to absolutely piss our shorts through and concede another 3 or 4 goals consecutively in the proceeding 10 minutes. If we go a goal down early doors — lets not panic, just keep things tight for 10-15 minutes and feel our way back into the game. Lets show a bit of maturity for… Read more »
Or Arsenal F.C. play like warriors and beat them on merit.
What do you mean?
He means it would be nice to win because we’re good, not just because they’re shit
Pipe down, West Ham reject
Let’s just say that Adrian concedes the kind of goals Auba scores.
The Arsenal is getting it’s swag back! COYG!!!!!
Two single goal wins against relegation fodder does not give us our swag back. Love the optimism and things are looking good but let’s not set ourselves up for a fall.
In two games time some of you may be calling for Unai’s head on a plate.
“gettING”…it’s the gerund of the verb to get. It means it’s happenING now. I’d didn’t say we are back to the top, but we’re gettING there.
I’m flagging your comment Dave M. We’ll not be having any of that fancy optimism on here
But of course the word ‘is’ is the third person singular present of ‘be’. And ‘be’ is defined as “to occur or take place.”
Therefore your statement implies that the swag is irrefutably going to be returned and that this is an absolute.
You should have studied harder in English class.
It’s = It is
Its is the word you want there.
Since we’re making a grammar thread. ??♂️
You got me you bastard…
By the sounds of things, you should’ve just studied. Anything’s better than nothing.
Ouch! Get to the burns unit Dave!!
“to occur or take place”
the key word is to. It is going to, but not yet, thus Dave’s emphasis on the ING
I think we do not have much chance against Liverpool, but the sprs game is a must win to get into the top four. After two good win against the relatively easier opponents everything looks bright but we must keep calm and collected.
Or perhaps hailing him…
When you beat a team like Burnley and their keeper (who’s a decent quality) was easily their best player then it’s always positive.
“Auba shoots from 40 yards… Should be easy for Adrian… Oh wait, he’s too busy sipping a margarita to notice the shot! It’s an unbelievable goal from Auba!! What a strike lad!”
What’s this I’m seeing? Andy Robertson is texting during the game! He’s now lost Pepe, who is steaming down the right side. And Pepe cuts back and squares it for Lacazeefttttttte, who scores easily as Van Dijk is tying his ponytail! Unbelievabbbblllrrr *gary Neville orgasm*
Auba is very good at closing down goalkeepers so hopefully he can do that to good effect against Adrian who seems quite uncomfortable with the ball at his feet
auba pepe and lacazette cab all start for me. get that pace and shove it down their necks.
Agreed, but the big question for me is midfield. Do we go with the same one as Burnley, or is Ozil / Xhaka reintroduced? I mean it speaks to the performances of Willock and Guendouzi that I’m genuinely unsure.
Hold Ozil back until the last 30 minutes when the game opens up
Drop willock for torreira
So uncomfortable that he has to get rid to the nearest player, regardless of which shirt they’re wearing.
I hope both Auba and Pepe start, at least. Just sitting deep won’t do us any favours, but if we have real pace and danger on the counterattack I think we can beat Liverpool, who have looked vulnerable so far this year
Maybe the threat of Pepe would give Robertson something to think about when bombing on too.
I’d be pleased if Torreira was in but maybe a game too soon.. Deffo need him next week for another NLD winner!!
Are folk expecting a back 3 (5) like Blogs and James?
Auba / Laca / Pepe
?? / Ceballos
Kola/Monreal/Luiz/Papa/AMN
I expect Guendooozi will get the spot…
AMN vs Robertson and Mane strikes me the biggest mismatch, though of course Salah will cause some bother on the other side.
Will be a big ask for Pepe to support and track Robertson, but as mentioned he could exploit space behind, particularly with Luiz’s range of passing.
I agree it will be a back 5. But going for 5-3-2 rather than 5-2-3 with Ceballos a third, more advanced central midfielder so we can match them up 3 v 3 in the middle. Aubameyang and Lacazette up front can track Arnold and Robertson to a point, then the midfield will have to shuffle across. That leaves Pepe to bring on, which I think is better as a first start at Anfield might be a bit much to ask and he’s clearly not fully fit.
That would make us very narrow and make our tough to go on the counter. Personally I’d like to see us stick with more or less the same team, but I’d be very tempted to play pepe (in fact I would) . Put the clamps on willock and guendouzi and keep them deeper to break up Liverpool through the middle and disciple from our fullbacks so they don’t exploit us from wide, then hit them hard and fast on the counter.
I would say Salah up against Monreal will cause us more problems due to outright pace. AMN can hang with anyone for pace, Mane isn’t particularly tricky he just uses his pace to good effect.
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Two games I really want us to win more than any others, Spuds and Man U. Even with Sanchez gone I’m itching for the team the way it plays now to show United some masterclass.
This!!! I think these are the two worst teams in the PL, I know there are other unpleasant teams but these two really suck, not sure who I think is the most vile but it sure is a close call!!!
The over achieving Spuds had us on the backfoot last season but this year I want us to well and truly re-establish who owns North London. This is where we ride back in to town and retake it from the upstarts.
Surely Chelsea is in there too?! For me they are a very close to Sp*rs level scummery. Sure I fuking hate manure, but they’re 3rd for me and for some reason I don’t hate the filthy mancs quite as much, although I should. Them and chel$ea are the reason football is SO messed up right now.
I’m so with you on that but I’m sorry Chelski for me is top, then spuds and 3rd manure. Chelski were nearly relegated before the Russian gangster came on board and now all you hear is “we’re the best team in london.” Fuck off. Where is your history! I hope Lampard gets them relegation Cocky gits. At least the spuds know their place…beneath us!
Nah. They’re only a jumped up nasty bunch of racist cunts fueled by bent money, not T*tt*nham.
Chekski slipped a bit on my hate scale since Mourinho left though.
This is what I want to hear from the club and the fans. Fuck setting the bar at top 4. Let’s stop being afraid of ambition.
I think we can have quiet ambition. Arsenal players don’t need to be so open and positive on social Media. So many times last season we were “were going to give it our all” and then didn’t actually turn up. Plus I think top 4 this season is an ambition as we’ve been out of it a while. Get back in the champs league, more money to spend next summer and next season we can expect to challenge.
Big difference is fans are starting to believe them this season. The air of optimism is hella refreshing!
ordinarily a win away at anfield is obviously desired but difficult, with Adrian and us now having luiz i think we can be considered slight favourites
Did they lose a single game at Anfield last season?
did they have Adrian in goal last season?
We need to thrash Liverpool then the big guns will know that another big gun is reloaded !!!!
We are the gunners, no bigger guns than what we have in our Arsenal.
Liverpool will be very fast out of the blocks and really work hard to close us down in the first 10/15 minutes. It will be very important we don’t concede an early goal.
I believe you can get at Liverpool and our strikers will not waste the opportunities Norwich and Southampton did. It will be all about weathering the early storm. You can’t rely on players having an off day.
I worry about our play out from the back and Liverpool’s high press!
Even against Burnley, we had to work hard to beat the press but Burnley still got back into shape and didn’t let us test their keeper as often as we would have liked on home turf.
For me 4 points from the games against Pool and Spudd will be improvement.
I trust Auba when he says this.
we gun the big gunz coz we the only true gunnerzzzzzzzzzz
A point would be good, three would be great. It’s still early days for the new look team though. It may be a little too soon to expect too much but football is a funny old game as Jimmy Greaves once said (among other things). Let’s see.
We’re not going to know how good we are this season for a couple of months yet. In particular we need to see how Bellerin, Tierney, and Holding integrate with what we’ve seen so far. We’ve plenty of options everywhere on the pitch: Top third: Aubameyang, Lacazette, Pepe, Nelson, Mkhitaryan, Ceballos, Ozil, Martinelli Middle third: Willock, Torreira, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Elneny, Smith-Rowe Back third: Tierney, Monreal, Kolasinac, Luiz, Holding, Sokratis, Chambers, Mustafi, Bellerin, Maitland-Niles, Mavropanos The point is whether our back line is four or five (three) we’re still going to be stronger than last season. And if our front men… Read more »
I totally forgot about Elneny… Poor Guy !
There’s every chance that both Elneny and Mustafi leave on some kind of deal before the mainland shuts its window (2nd September).
The thing with Elneny is that he still could be useful in the minor competitions.
That said, if Emery has it in mind to option Chambers and/or Maitland-Niles somewhere at the base of midfield then even that might be wishful thinking.
I hope we are stronger. We are certainly better reinforced in certain departments Mslintat neglected to reinforce. Raul’s done well on most fronts being bolder with his transfers without the encumbrance of the German (even if some deals carry a bit too much risk for my liking) : 1) Up top we have finally added the wide player on the right we have been crying out for since Alexis was around. With the Chilean, all the attacking intent came from his side and we were predictable affording teams an easy containment. Pepe is exorbitant but as mentioned we have some… Read more »
Waffle
Mate, in the busy life we all have there is not the time in the day to read a post of this length from someone we don’t know..
Wish there was a “hide comment” button
I thought it was interesting. Don’t agree with all of it (think you’re way harsh on Luiz). But you make some good points. I agree midfield has been a source of our defensive woes… Fingers crossed these early positive signs are for reals. Big test this weekend. Don’t let the Debbie downers get you down @santori…stick to being you!
50/50 Wank
Could you repeat that. I havent heard that opinion before,
Jesus Christ, Santori, that’s longer than the actual article you’re commenting on.
Bless you Santori and your Mustafi b*ner… I’m just gonna leave this here… https://www.theblogstarter.com/
Your talents are wasted here, you should write a book.
Did anybody actually read that?
“Ad I mentioned before hopefully Luis is a strong enough band aid for this season but frankly, we kicked the problem once again down the road. Buying Saliba resolved nothing short term”- that’s a pretty contradictory couple of sentences! Though this can happen in long unedited pieces, I’d advise not to try big articles in a single train of thought. If you want to go long, probs avoid chat rooms and write the article slowly and submit it somewhere more suitable.
This was a big irritation last season, too much talk and then very little action. I think we’re all confident we can make top 4, but that’s more to do with united and chelski having clueless managers and weak squads. Let’s get a few wins before we get carries away. And less social media and interviews that will bite you in the backside!
Liverpool are definitely not quite in full gear so having them this early is good, and we could definitely get something.
Do you think we can have a leicester like season for the 2nd spot?
If we should have “leicester like season”, we would not only have to win the league but do it with 100+ points and undefeated.
Agreed Aubs. Let’s have it! ?
We can beat anyone on our day, I’m with Auba on this one, we’re good enough. Sometimes we give teams too much credit, instead of just getting stuck in and giving them a good game. I remember games against Barca and Yanited that we should have won, if we’d had a bit more belief. Leicester didn’t win the league by respecting other teams.
Obviously I’d love a win vs Liverpool but the one thing I do want to see is 100% effort and commitment. No dropping of the shoulders, throwing hands in the air and pointing fingers. I think if these guys run their asses off, play with passion and intensity then I can live with the result, no matter what it is.
I don’t understand how people are saying Burnley is easy/ relegation fodder. They might be the modern Stoke but they are going to be hard to beat while referees let them get away with their brutish behaviour and piling into goalies from corners and free kicks. Hope to see that we are at least competitive on Saturday and Auba looked like Thierry with that goal against Stoke/Burnley.
I think the big guns are coming a little early, we’re still conceding too many chances at the back. But we’ve had some awesome high scoring games against Liverpool so fingers crossed
We’ll probably concede quite a few chances throughout the season, though hopefully fewer than in recent seasons. Liverpool and Spurs have looked more susceptible than usual, however, so I actually prefer these early matchups. I know we’re not City, but they could have scored 6 or 7 against Spurs. 6 points would be surreal, 4 outstanding (leaving us level on points with leaders).
LETS GO, SMASH THOSE MUGS…
“Licking his lips to test adrian between the sticks” that’s just wrong! Haha
Looking forward to the battle of charades on the touchline by the two most excitable managers in the league
Such a tall order. But doable. This way glory lies, gunners.
Adrian just needs to maintain his current form and im sure we’ll win, even if it’s 4-3
PAL can compete with MSF! Bring it on! Just stick to the same 3CMs or have torreira come in for guensouzi or willock. We need work rate, speed and movement in midfield. No xhaka pls.
4 points from Liverpool and Spurs would be great if we can manage it..
How is this for a dilemma?
Win against liverpool and draw against Spurs?
4 points
Or
Lose agaunst Liverpool and win against Spurs?
3 points
Last season I similarly contemplated UCL and Europa League outcomes. And I realised that i would rather Arsenal and Spurs both lose, then both of us win. Even if it meant we missed out on UCL qualification. I believe that we will be able to overtake Tottenham again in the future. But I sadly can’t see us lifting the Champions League trophy in the future. Or at least not in this era of financial doping. And I couldn’t bear the thought of Spurs have one over us. It’s bad enough that Chelsea does. But how ridiculoua is it that Tottenham… Read more »
I think we can do better than that.
No point bandying around words like ‘ambition’ and ‘lack of’ if all we do, as fans, is be cautiously pragmatic.
We’ve had one of the most talked about transfer windows of any club for ages. We’ve effectively spun flax into gold. The time for crossing-fingers and hoping for the best just stomped its feet through the floorboards. (You see where I’m going with this?)
If ever there was a moment for a fairy-tale season it’s now.
a hattrick for auba
We certainly have the ability to beat anyone on our day, but I’d be a bit more confident if Bellerin, Tierney and Holding were fit and on form. Lets hope Saturday is ‘our day’.
How about we all just get behind our team and stop bitching for once……C.O.Y.G!!!!
Come on the gunners saturday lets beat liverpool…
Adrian will need to be at 150% performance Level to survive the PEAULA submarines coming to Anfield