OK, so there are 14 games to go, and ten points to be made up. In everyone's opinion, what do the Gunners need to do to retain the trophy? Regaining some of the spirit of "The Invincibles" would be a good start. Winning every match (or at the very least, not losing) is a must. And something needs to be done to stop Chelsea. Poisining the water supply in West London may be going to far in this case, but desperate times call for desperate measures...... Shoring up the defense would help too. 25 goals conceeded in 24 games is far below par. Look at Chelsea, only 8 in 24 games - unbelievable. It all starts against The Red Menace next week................
I don't think we can catch Chelsea, its kinda hard to drop points when you do not concede any goals edit: i know people will say that if Chelsea don't score and don't concede they will drop points, but they also do a good job of scoring goals
There's no longer anything you can do. We have to lose it on our own. You could play better than Brazil's 1970 side, and it wouldn't matter.
that used to be true until Robben came back from his preseason injury....now they're scoring rather freely.
thats kinda what my edit was about. They don't allow goals so if they don't score the game will end 0-0 and if Arsenal win they can gain some ground. However, as you stated, they seem to score at will now
You see this is what I'm wondering. I'll never give up on Arsene and the boys: "Never give up, Never surrender and all that. But is there really any way we can catch them? How many points behind were the Mancs when they overhauled us two years ago? You'll forigve me but I've blocked all memories of the end of that season from my memory. And weren't we trailing The Red Menace by a full 12 points in February of '98? Then we beat them up at Old Trafford and never looked back. Ten points: It's been done, but were there more than 14 games left? And were any of the sides playing quite as well as Chelsea?
I can't answer your other questions, but I can this one. No, mathematically there has never been an EPL team that has had more points per game than we do right now. We certainly aren't guaranteed to keep that pace, and given that we have two games against you and ManUtd left we likely will not, but there has never been a team winning at our pace. As to whether or not they were playing better than us, is a different question.
It's possible but is it probable? Wot u need is the greatest comeback of all time, infact if Manu went on 2 take the title that would b worthy of the accolade!
Every even game seems to go Chelseas way this season, just take their latest semi v Manu, and if that continues we wont catch them. We have not been as good as them in defence this season either and we have goalkeeping problems which may cost us against Bayern as well. What annoys me is, we should never have dropped points to the bottom 3 teams or lost to Bolton in which case we would be up alongside them. Anyway, life is great being an Arsenal supporter, we know what the future holds, but Chelsea fans don't, their fortune is down to a rich Russian who won't live forever.............. But I did enjoy Chelsea kicking manure's best team out of the carling cup and the media rubbing it in leaving purple nose embarrased.
You know, the defence on that free kick looked suspiciously like Arsenal defending a set-piece... We won't retain the title. Perish that thought. We have to reclaim the first spot, but as nicephoras put it, that requires the cooperation of the leaders. Man U overtook us in 03 because we kept dropping points in incredibly stupid draws, and lost to Blackburn Rovers and Bolton--not unlike the reason we're in second now, in fact, only the timing is different. Meanwhile, the Red Devils won every single game after Boxing Day except for one draw with Arsenal. Not unlike Chelsea, who will probably do the same. Who knows what fixture congestion and fluke injuries may do. Probably nothing, as the Blues essentially have two full first teams, but...we'll see.
I'm confident that we can begin to edge Chelsea now that we've locked up Sol and Lauren. I believe a lot of the pressure will be alleviated since some of our distractions have been lifted, like Edu. The X-factors are obviously Vieira Gilberto. My hope is that we'll overtake Chelsea, but honestly the likelihood is second place. A fight like the '89 season would be nice.
Hey! It ain't over, yet. I'm really trying to stay positive, but Chelsea needs to help us out a little and dump a few matches.
Yeah man! It ain't over until it is over. With 21 points. Palace can win the league if the top teams stop winning. It also means Chelsea are only a point or two safe from relegation if they run into a big ass blip while the rock bottom placed teams make one hell of a run.
We actually drew that match against Bolton...2-2...but Bolton acted like they had won after being down 2-nil with only 25 minutes left. Your point, however, still stands. United's run after Boxing Day in 02/03 was incredible but we certainly helped them out in every way possible by dropping points in the dumbest of ways possible. Chelsea look unlikely to do so.
Against any other team or manager, yes. Against Chelsea and Mourinho I seriously doubt it. It'd be nice to be still in with a shout in April. No pressure. A good run though will boost confidence for the CL.
If all Chelsea's remaining games were against Arsenal I would fancy Arsenal as they appear 2 b the only team in the EPL able 2 make inroads into their defence...other teams have 2 put the smack down, couple of losses and a draw...game on - even though the fat lady has returned from holiday!
Can we retain the title? In a word, yes. The odds are bad, but hardly impossible at this point. There are too many things yet to happen between now and APRIL let alone May. First off, Chelsea will be prone to a let-down during their European Cup clash with Barcelona? Why? Becuase its BARCA and not Bayern. It is THE glamour tie of the first knock-out stage, and the media will be all over it and the teams. Oh, and that little thing about the winner being one step closer to lifting the European Cup. Then there are the re-arranged domestic fixtures. Already one match will be moved because of the carling Cup Final. Yes, West Brom at home, but look what we did in the corresponding fixture in December. And if we do our job the media again will be all over Chelsea about us closing the gap, so they'll have to win their way back three points further clear. Who knows then? And what about if Birmingham get a draw tommorrow? It's hardly as simple as it seems yet. The real key will be in mid-April. Before hosting us, Chelsea are at ManU three days earlier. In all likelihood, ManU will be out of the League race and out in Europe, and might only have the FA Cup to play for. In any event, I suspect United will approach this match to prove they are still in the top three sides and even the top two in Ferguson's mind. Knowing they will face an Arsenal side hungry to prove their worth and perhaps get back into the Championship run-in three or four days later, Mourinho will keep it tight, like Wenger does at Old Trafford, looking to win late or take the draw, and also avoid disciplinary or injury problems ahead of playing us. And our problem of late at Old Trafford has been playing too tight, playing for the result rather than the win. You can't play a team like ManU for the result and be confident of getting it at Old Trafford, especially if say Mike Riley is the ref. Point is that Chelsea will be happy with a point there. They would also be happy with a point against us. But if we have our best 11 and healthy and in-form, we will win - full stop. I really sense that on April 24th we will be at worst four points behind, and possibly only two behind with four matches left. Goal difference could yet factor in, so we'd better start hitting the target, lads! Right now, ALL this really will depend on Tuesday, Beat United(and watching their defence today, mmmmmmmm....)will immediately give us tremendous momentum and place Chelsea on notice they HAVE to keep winning or else. And we have yet to see Chelsea cope with the pressure. I can't wait myself...
all good points there and anything CAN happen, but "Chelsea not yet coping with pressure", i don't know about that. This is what everyone was saying during the holidays where we had 4 matches in 2 weeks and how Chelsea would cramble. 12 out of 12, i think JM knows how to deal with pressure and if we keep winning in EPL, regardless of our result against Barca, what makes you think Arse will only be "most" 4 points behind us in April. It is really out of your hands now. It is ours to lose or win, simple as.