Mathieu Flamini has urged his teammates to ignore the 5 point gap at the top of the Premier League, and stay focused on doing the things that have got them there.
The 1-1 draw with Everton meant the Gunners extended their lead over Chelsea and Liverpool, but the midfielder wants to ensure that nobody gets carried away.
“Five points clear is positive but it’s only the beginning of the championship,” he told Arsenal Player. “There are lot of games to come and it’s important to win games, not concede goals and work hard. We have to stay focused.”
Flamini was also full of praise for an Everton side that provided the toughest test of the season in the league so far.
“They are one of the greatest teams we’ve played since the beginning of the season,” he said. “It’s a very solid team and they have some really good quality also, so it was a tough game.
“Of course there’s frustration when winning 1-0 and in the last 10 minutess, you concede a goal and they come back. You push and push for opportunities and you don’t win the game, it’s frustrating but football is like that.
“But a draw is not a bad result.”
Arsenal now travel to Napoli on Wednesday night where focus, and avoiding a 3 goal defeat, will see us through to the knock-out stages of the Champions League.
“I came in like wrecking ball” – Mathieu Flamini
We need to get this privillege of uploading pics too blogs! (not links ffs)
No chance!
And I say that because the comments section would be destroyed with huge GIFs, shit memes and probably some idiots posting pictures of their mickeys.
Can be resolved with a bit of javascript to load the image in an accordion/dropdown div effect which only expands if clicked, and so on-load the images are collapsed, and the end-user expands the div to view it if they want to which will preserve the comments section look and feel without being overloaded with static images.
very easy to do.
Haha @arseblog can’t argue with that. i had a shit meme waiting just so you know
Cheers Kermit but it’s not happening for the reasons outlined above!
well that is just fantastic
Hats off to Everton. That game was amazing. Don’t think I’ve felt happier at a draw.
If we absolutely can’t win then don’t lose either.
Flamini should have started. Yesterday was the first time in a long time that I’ve been enraged by a lack of effort from one of our players . Jacky boy looked lazy and disinterested from the start.
That said, The result was fair and it was a good game for “neutrals£
Wilshere didn’t play well, but to say he was lazy and disinterested is ridiculous.
I know you’re quick to quell hyperbolic reactions, but it was just my view on the day.
When you’re under the cosh, you need all players working their socks off, and he looked like he wasn’t 100% there.
Maybe you described it better by saying he lacked focus, but either way I wasn’t happy with his performance. It doesn’t mean I’m writing him off or saying he’s a crock of sh*t, he just had a bad game.
Special mention to Giroud. I’ve grown to like this HBF. His shot that rattled he bar made me remember his first performances.. was it against Stoke/Sunderland in the first two matches of last season that he got the ball in the opposition’s half. He could have passed it but then took a shot that went only towards the sky. Probably a good thing, those orcs might have found that ball in the streets and thus understand how round things work first hand and invent the wheel again for their own sake. Anyway, Giroud should have passed it then but took… Read more »
HFB*
I remember that match, i think Ramsey would have been though on goal if he’d passed. I think he was too eager to fill the boots of dutch skunk back then.
Now we’re seeing a player who is comfortable and has confidence in his own ability.
HBF – Handsome Bloody Frenchman?
That’s the beginning of being champions..show consistency and keep believing,in the end we’ll achieve what we wanted-TROPHY!
What a signing. What a gooner. Love the mathieu. His passion for this club is immense this time around
Fair result but what we need now is win win win. There is no room for error if we want to win the PL
Ha you draw and I win two game and score in both
I better than that pony tailed bastard..I happy with pulis he tell me to kick everyone on field not like Wenger who always say pass pass pass
we score more than man u
Oh look evilkagawa’s soul in chamakh’s body…
I keep forgetting that just a draw on Wednesday night will see us win the group. I wonder will he rest Ramsey?
So far so good. I’ll take three more draws in the next three games. That will ensure we win our Champions League group while maintaining top spot in the league. After that re-focus on grinding out weekly wins against ‘lower’ opposition. It’s all about consistency this season for us. Keeping clean sheets is imperative for that to happen.
You forget Liverpool, 5pts behind, they win those two games (and you gotta hope they beat spurs, even if a draw is best for us) and they’re top.
Nope, if we draw the games against Man City and Chelsea, we will have only dropped 4 points. We are currently 5 clear. I don’t think Liverpool will win both games, I think Spuds are on an upward curve at the moment, which is good for us if they take points from our rivals. (Although bad in every other sense.)
His passion when he came on for us yesterday…. incredible. Watching him scream shout and marshall that team is probably by favourte thing about us right now. COYG!!
I couldn’t see us scoring 2 goals yesterday and turns out that’s exactly what we needed. Mesut and Ramsey can’t keep scoring us the winners. Giroud has another 10-12 goals in him. Need the likes of Ox/Walcott/Sanogo/Bendtner to step up with the goals from now on.
You forgot to mention Poldi !
yea…our tired legs were very evident yesterday…but we cant afford to gas out now….we’ve gone too far to relax now…with more players shaking off the injury dust…then we are good to go…gimme poldi on the left and let Thor’s hammer do the rest…
Well, thanks a lot Blogs! (*shakes fist in Arseblogs direction)
I was gonna have an early lunch but I’ve lost my appetite after seeing that picture again.
I’ve gone through 5 kleenex already. What a woman.
@chamakh: english please u moron was the meaning of pass pass u blood clothe
Oh the irony….
Stage is all set for Lukas to step up and bang in a few winners against Citeh and Chel$cum
Poor Theo is looking a bit off the pace at the moment, though. We need him to find some form sharpish as well.
He’s spot on of course. The 5pt lead is lovely and all, but we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing, and eventually the games will run out.
And yesterday was a good reminder to some that it is sometimes ok (and allowed) to draw a game, a lesson The Invincibles learned as well as anyone.
I think i might burst with joy to see poldi back in the pitch for us. Started the season with so much promise and i expect that lethal left foot to be integral in any kind of title push we’re to make.
I hope he makes the bench vs Napoli.
Man city will be exposed Saturday afternoon. I predict flamini, arteta, ramsey ozil and cazorla. With rosicky starting against Napoli and also Walcott. I’d imagine the sensible thing to do would be to rest Rambo and özil, only to bring them on if need be.
Get the impression Flamini was rested to be 100% for Napoli, they have to come st us big time on Wednesday. I can see Theo starting too, pushing fullbacks the other way can really limit attacks..Theo’s pace will do that…
I think you maybe right. Certianly think Rosicky, Walcott, Flamini, Monreal were on the cards for Europe and Wenger did not want to derail that part of his plans in bringing them on against Everton later than he should have. Thereby his plans may be modified a little now having taken off Santi, Ramsey and Jack. Think we should play Walcott against Napoli as they will struggle to contain him. Monreal will also be a threat on the other flank. Flamini will definitely be slightly fresher than Arteta who may be saved for City. Either of Jack or Ramsey should… Read more »
Theo from the start on Wednesday will give him some serious match fitness, and will mean that he can exploit any spaces left in behind. I’m not sure how Napoli play, to be honest (no time to watch different leagues etc.) but we seemed to deal with them pretty well at home – just need a bit of Wenger’s favourite ‘efficiency’. (Which, by the way, we had plenty of on Sunday, that was a game we’d have lost last season for sure…)
They aren’t the quickest Napoli.
Walcott’s close control has improved tremendously as is his decision making. Should put him out there as we can hit them better on the counter.
Thought Giroud did very well holding the ball and distributing inventively against Everton. that shot was a match winner had it been slightly less cooked. tremendous effort (particularly if compared to Lukaku’s slightly earlier)
Flamini was great coming on. Pushed us forward. This was the sort of game with Arteta swamped early in the first half in midfield and Ramsey/ Jack not on their game, to bring in someone like Flamini to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Ditto Walcott with his pace to stretch the game out little for us. Whilst we could have profited from the 7 point gap, important to note that on 5 points clear, we have the largest lead if you consider any of the other big leagues (France, Italy, Germany and Spain) are tighter between… Read more »