2023/24 - The Race For..................

[Marty]

Arsenal didn’t have a dip last season, they literally started like us and just carried on. Without many injuries

I’m not saying we will give it a good go, but it’s possible.

Arsenal did have a dip. They were only the fifth best team in the league over the last third (14 games) of the season and dropped lots of silly points in the run in. That was their dip.

 

[glospur]

love the way Flav and the fighting cock are approaching the question posed by this thread title.

Of course we can't win the league ...

... but could we?

 

[thelak]

Arsenal didn’t have a dip last season, they literally started like us and just carried on. Without many injuries

I’m not saying we will give it a good go, but it’s possible.

Apart from bottling the league when they were 10point clear you mean?

 

[easley91]

Arsenal, Newcastle, Man United all have champions league distractions and won't get much of a chance to rotate. Villa and Brighton also have Europe and I doubt they'll be rotating too much. Once the European fixtures kick in, it will be about how they all deal with it. Especially Newcastle, Brighton and Villa having not done it before or for a very, very long time. Brighton and Villa also have to contend with the Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday schedule with travelling on top. Yes Villa are in the Conference League, but I can't see Emery turning his nose up at it.

No Europe for us (and Chelsea) can be a huge advantage that we need to capitalise on. I didn't include Liverpool in the above as they're in Europa and I can see Klopp rotating in the majority of the group games like Arsenal did last season. But that said from what I have seen, they haven't impressed me too much, though we know they're capable of going on a long run,

I know West Ham have started well, but I am not worried about them and don't believe they'll be in and around European spots come April/May. Man City, enough said. They can rotate and there is barely any drop in quality.

City top, then it's a dog fight for 2nd down to 6th and 7th. Definitely an interesting season ahead, also at bottom with plenty I could see going down or fighting relegation.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

Arsenal, Newcastle, Man United all have champions league distractions and won't get much of a chance to rotate. Villa and Brighton also have Europe and I doubt they'll be rotating too much. Once the European fixtures kick in, it will be about how they all deal with it. Especially Newcastle, Brighton and Villa having not done it before or for a very, very long time. Brighton and Villa also have to contend with the Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday schedule with travelling on top. Yes Villa are in the Conference League, but I can't see Emery turning his nose up at it.

No Europe for us (and Chelsea) can be a huge advantage that we need to capitalise on. I didn't include Liverpool in the above as they're in Europa and I can see Klopp rotating in the majority of the group games like Arsenal did last season. But that said from what I have seen, they haven't impressed me too much, though we know they're capable of going on a long run,

I know West Ham have started well, but I am not worried about them and don't believe they'll be in and around European spots come April/May. Man City, enough said. They can rotate and there is barely any drop in quality.

City top, then it's a dog fight for 2nd down to 6th and 7th. Definitely an interesting season ahead, also at bottom with plenty I could see going down or fighting relegation.

I think Newcastle will fall short in all competitions this season. Their defence is not great and with Botman out injured, they have no pace. This weekend they had Target, Trippier, Burn and Schur... That's nothing special. They will limp through to January, when they are cut adrift in the league, out of the Champions League and Carabo cup

 

[danielneeds]

It's still early days. Other teams will make adjustments to how we're playing too.

The game at the Emirates will tell us a lot more about where we are as a team and where we can go this season.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

It's still early days. Other teams will make adjustments to how we're playing too.

The game at the Emirates will tell us a lot more about where we are as a team and where we can go this season.

Sure but I also think we’re going to be able to put away some of the weaker teams in ways we just couldn’t last year. Last season every game it seemed opponents thought their teams played really well against us (because we allowed them to play by sitting back and having no press) where as this year I’ve already seen Utd, Bournemouth and Burnley fans say they played terrible. Reality is we have been relentless and even if they’d wanted to try and stop us it’s difficult for them to hang in. I don’t think we’ll drop nearly as many of the silly points this year, even if we do get exposed by the better teams from time to time.

 

[hughy]

It's still early days. Other teams will make adjustments to how we're playing too.

The game at the Emirates will tell us a lot more about where we are as a team and where we can go this season.

For the first time in about 2 years I'm actually really looking forward to a big away game. I know there's a chance we will be brought back down to Earth with a thud, but fuck it if we go in to the game 13 points from a possible 15 the worst that can happen is we lose a game we're expected to lose.

A game like that wont define us as long as we get maximum points in the games we should be winning.

 

[easley91]

Sure but I also think we’re going to be able to put away some of the weaker teams in ways we just couldn’t last year. Last season every game it seemed opponents thought their teams played really well against us (because we allowed them to play by sitting back and having no press) where as this year I’ve already seen Utd, Bournemouth and Burnley fans say they played terrible. Reality is we have been relentless and even if they’d wanted to try and stop us it’s difficult for them to hang in. I don’t think we’ll drop nearly as many of the silly points this year, even if we do get exposed by the better teams from time to time.

This always irks me. We have never won because we played well and made them look poor, it's solely oh they had a really bad off day. Yeah sure the opposition do have off days where they are poor, but in the second halves in each game especially (Bournemouth for the majority of the game) I have seen us apply constant pressure on their defence and keeper penning them in.

 

[easley91]

For the first time in about 2 years I'm actually really looking forward to a big away game. I know there's a chance we will be brought back down to Earth with a thud, but fuck it if we go in to the game 13 points from a possible 15 the worst that can happen is we lose a game we're expected to lose.

A game like that wont define us as long as we get maximum points in the games we should be winning.

United could have beaten them yesterday. I do think the way we apply the pressure, if we get through the first 15 minutes, we can rattle them. Of course we can lose, I just want us to have a go and play the way we have done in these early weeks.

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

For the first time in about 2 years I'm actually really looking forward to a big away game. I know there's a chance we will be brought back down to Earth with a thud, but fuck it if we go in to the game 13 points from a possible 15 the worst that can happen is we lose a game we're expected to lose.

A game like that wont define us as long as we get maximum points in the games we should be winning.

I’ve done the math and whilst is very far fetched that we win all these games if we win all our games against teams outside the top 4 we would still end the season on 90 points.

We won’t win all these games, but losing to the top 4 teams won’t kill off our season either. We just need to consistently pick up 3 points as much as possible against the teams below so when we do drop points to our rivals it’s not going to derail our bid for CL football.

 

[vegassd]

It's still early days. Other teams will make adjustments to how we're playing too.

The game at the Emirates will tell us a lot more about where we are as a team and where we can go this season.

I can imagine we are going to take a thumping at some point, and unfortunately the timing of the Arsenal match could be exactly that moment. I know Arsenal haven't exactly been tearing it up yet, but in terms of them being settled into a way of playing, and with speed in their attacking play, it has the potential to be a car crash.

On the plus side, that's not really going to be a game that defines our season too much. Plenty of toys will be thrown from prams of course, but I would then be looking for us to respond against Liverpool. If we get a result in either of those matches I think it's a good sign.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

I can imagine we are going to take a thumping at some point, and unfortunately the timing of the Arsenal match could be exactly that moment. I know Arsenal haven't exactly been tearing it up yet, but in terms of them being settled into a way of playing, and with speed in their attacking play, it has the potential to be a car crash.

On the plus side, that's not really going to be a game that defines our season too much. Plenty of toys will be thrown from prams of course, but I would then be looking for us to respond against Liverpool. If we get a result in either of those matches I think it's a good sign.

We lay down for them last year both home and away, like we were scared of how good they were. I think we’ll be brave and take it to them this year, win or lose.

 

[djhotspur]

I can imagine we are going to take a thumping at some point, and unfortunately the timing of the Arsenal match could be exactly that moment. I know Arsenal haven't exactly been tearing it up yet, but in terms of them being settled into a way of playing, and with speed in their attacking play, it has the potential to be a car crash.

On the plus side, that's not really going to be a game that defines our season too much. Plenty of toys will be thrown from prams of course, but I would then be looking for us to respond against Liverpool. If we get a result in either of those matches I think it's a good sign.

Yeah it really does. Their front 3 and ode could tear us apart.
They do have champions league before they play us which hopefully has an affect as they can’t prepare for us as much and they’ll want to start their campaign off in style.

 

[danielneeds]

I can imagine we are going to take a thumping at some point, and unfortunately the timing of the Arsenal match could be exactly that moment. I know Arsenal haven't exactly been tearing it up yet, but in terms of them being settled into a way of playing, and with speed in their attacking play, it has the potential to be a car crash.

On the plus side, that's not really going to be a game that defines our season too much. Plenty of toys will be thrown from prams of course, but I would then be looking for us to respond against Liverpool. If we get a result in either of those matches I think it's a good sign.

They are a very organised and difficult to play team. I'm not gonna get my hopes up because it's so long since we've turned up there and put in a cogent performance. It's an acid test for me. Not necessarily going there and getting a result, because they could still beat us even if we play well, I just wanna see something that tells me we're up for the fight this year.

 

[djhotspur]

They are a very organised and difficult to play team. I'm not gonna get my hopes up because it's so long since we've turned up there and put in a cogent performance. It's an acid test for me. Not necessarily going there and getting a result, because they could still beat us even if we play well, I just wanna see something that tells me we're up for the fight this year.

Same. I hope that this is pretty much an entirely new team so no reason to fear arsenal,
I expect to lose but would be happy to just go to there, fight play we’ll go toe to toe with them.
We never get results tyere, even when we were a top side and they were struggling we never won there

 

[brasil_spur]

Arsenal didn’t have a dip last season, they literally started like us and just carried on. Without many injuries

I’m not saying we will give it a good go, but it’s possible.

What league were you watching? They had a massive dip at the end of the season.

At the halfway point Arsenal were 5 points clear of City with a game in hand.

Second half of the season Arsenal finished 3rd on 37 points, only 1 above Villa and 2 above Liverpool.

Their form across their last 10 league games (with no other competitions to play in at the time) would have had them finishing in 5th if applied across the rest of the season.

They got knocked out out both domestic cups pretty early on, round wise, and managed only 4 wins from their last 10 premier league games, suffering just as many (4) loses and getting 2 draws.

 

[RuskyM]

I’ll accept any result at the Emirates provided we put up a fight. Last few years have been embarrassing.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Kick city out the league, break the rules and sign a top CB next week whilst the window is now closed and with no europe and a bit of luck with injuries etc we could be right up there.

The top 6-10 will be very competitive and a lot of teams will be capable of beating each other on any given day so it’ll come down to consistency and some luck. Our brave attacking approach could serve us very well in this crazy season.

Id be happy with 4/5th assuming both are CL places but why not dare to dream if we have some luck with injuries etc we play just as good and nice football as the gooners and Liverpool and City at times it’s just how consistent can we be over the season, if we had CL/EL I’d wager we’d tail off in Ange’s first season but as we have no Europe or Carabao cup we could have a very strong league season, anything from 2nd-6th is possible imo.

 

[Cavehillspur]

Top 4 would be a great achievement this season but skys the limit hopefully we can just keep winning and playing well this group will keep getting better.

Also important to highlight that 3 of our opening 4 games have been away from home, that's a really excellent start we've made.