Opportunity

[Armor for Sleep]

A lot of people said they would be happy if we finished within 4 or 5 points after the Pool game. So surely if we draw with Chelsea and beat Liverpool most people will be reasonably happy with our position?

6 points isn't a mountain to climb although I have my doubts we will stay in that range over the next 2 games.

 

[Iloveyouarsenewenger]

A six point gap, having played, so many difficult games wouldn't exactly be disastrous. But, it will be a six point gap from two teams and not one and that would mean that we'd need both the teams to slip up and us to use them to the best of our advantage which might be a bit hard.

But, when was winning the league easy, anyway?

I would be quite pleased if we can draw Chelsea and beat Liverpool. Having said that, what will be important is to make sure we do not repeat the mistakes of the previous game and look a stronger and more resilient unit against Chelsea on Sunday.

 

[Accomplished]

Yeah, a win against Chelsea would be good.

Understatement of the decade

 

[USArsenal]

Well, obviously, since they're ahead of us in the table. It's not by much though, and the distance will shorten to within two points if we should win on sunday.

not to be pedantic or anything, but they are 6 points ahead of us.. a win on Sunday would bring us within 3 points, not 2..

:wink:

 

[lee1001]

Football can be so random sometimes.

Every now and again the underdog finds some inner strength and pulls off a historic feat and beats Goliath.

Why can't we have one of those days? Just once!

 

[Swish]

Football can be so random sometimes.

Every now and again the underdog finds some inner strength and pulls off a historic feat and beats Goliath.

Why can't we have one of those days? Just once!

AC Milan, Real Madrid and Inter Milan spring to mind. We've also beaten United and Chelsea in the past two seasons, we just seem to have given them too much respect in our last couple of meetings with them both.

 

[MAK 14]

Football can be so random sometimes.

Every now and again the underdog finds some inner strength and pulls off a historic feat and beats Goliath.

Why can't we have one of those days? Just once!

Probably because it's very rare that people class us as underdogs. That said, i can remember people said we would get thrashed by Chelsea at Stamford Bride and Villa at Villa park last season; and we all know what happened then. Attitude is going to be key in taking this 'opportunity'.

 

[truth_hurts]

Has to be a win. Don't care if we get absolutley outplayed and bullied around the pitch and score a 91st minute offside goal. If we get beat at home by united and lose to Chelsea back to back then we don't deserve to be in a title race.

 

[Swish]

Has to be a win. Don't care if we get absolutley outplayed and bullied around the pitch and score a 91st minute offside goal. If we get beat at home by united and lose to Chelsea back to back then we don't deserve to be in a title race.

If we lose against Chelsea and win more games than Chelsea and United over the rest of the season, we'll be more than deserved winners. As has been proven time and time again in this league, winning against the rest of the top 4 isn't nearly as important as beating the other teams consistently.

The league table come the end of 38 games never lies and I really do resent the notion that you have to beat the stronger teams to win this league. You have to have more points than anybody else come the finish line, that's what makes you deserved champions, nothing else.

If we lose against Chelsea, it will prove nothing if we go on yet another consistent run whilst Chelsea and United slip up come May. Far too many conclusions are being drawn before this game. It's favourable that we'll be in with a chance if we beat Chelsea, sure, but to rule us out of the league based on one result is a mug's game. Take Sunday 29th November 2009 as a prime example.

 

[Timleaf]

Y'know, I havn't got the first clue. This has been a bit of a weird season for the top teams consistancy-wise. The point totals are similar to recent seasons, but the top three seem capable of losing or drawing even when in the middle of periods of good form.

Wouldn't surprise me to see us lose the Chelsea game, then go on a run of wins and get back to with 4-5 points of the leaders in a month or so's time. It's been one of those years. The champions league starting up again will throw another spanner in to the works. And Chelsea are still in the cup, so not sure if that'll have an effect on them over the next few months.

 

[Swish]

It has been a very topsy-turvy season in the Premier League. Which adds further weight to the argument that to bring the entire hopes of the league on one game three and half months before the last, is just silly. But then much like the team, I think our fans do tend to have a self destruct button.

 

[graham_ka]

regardless of the result v Chelsea this Sunday I was also wondering when was the last time or if ever has the league winner got beat at home by the 2nd and 3rd placed teams in the table at the end of the year??

Has any league winner gone win less v the 2nd and 3rd place teams in the table during league play??

I think this is why initially thought we were pretty fortunate to even have a chance, but as klaus and others have pointed out Chelsea and Man U are great teams playing at a high level, and we are not too far of their pace. I just hope we can put the earlier results behind us and and realize that there is still plenty potential left in the season.

 

[banduan]

ya know what they say about opportunity

comes naught but five times

 

[Alfonso]

If we lose to Chelsea on Sunday then would you say that we even deserve to win the title this year? You could argue that a team which loses home and away to both of its two direct rivals should not be worthy of a title winning side. I always feel the league winner should be the best team in the league.

 

[Captain]

You could argue it, but you would be chatting ****.

 

[dyeruz]

The question isn't whether they aren't trying hard enough, of course the team goes out there and are trying to win all their games. The question is the way the team is set up, the players utilised within that set up and in eventuality that things go a certain way within the game can things be switched around tactically to countermand scenarios where the other team is gaining a significant upper hand in particular areas of the pitch or if a player isn't performing to immediately yank him and replace him with a player that can do the job..and if that player doesn't exist..why the **** not? A draw against Chelsea would keep us in there just..I have faith that there will be a few shock results and another long unbeaten streak could see us in with a shout.

 

[Swish]

If we lose to Chelsea on Sunday then would you say that we even deserve to win the title this year? You could argue that a team which loses home and away to both of its two direct rivals should not be worthy of a title winning side. I always feel the league winner should be the best team in the league.

We were the best team in 2002-03, yet we still lost it. We were probably also the best team during the 2007-08 season., yet we didn't win that either. This whole deserved to win it discussion is a pointless one.

The league should be the best team in the league over 38 games and that is quite rightly how a winner is determined. You only deserve to win the league if you end up on top of the pile come mid May.

If come mid May, we rack up the points more than Chelsea and United allowing us to creep into first, are you going to complain when we celebrate?

 

[graham_ka]

good point Swish... as fans it is hard not to over amplify the magnitude and importance of games versus Manu, Chelsea, and Liverpool, Spuds...

But when it all comes down to it, every team in the league is worth 3 points, and at the moment we are only 6 back with the opportunity to be 3 back by Sunday night.

I could care less how we win the title, but I think this game would mean a lot because of who we are playing, where we are playing, timing, and the confidence we can take going into final third of the season.

 

[Swish]

good point Swish... as fans it is hard not to over amplify the magnitude and importance of games versus Manu, Chelsea, and Liverpool, Spuds...

But when it all comes down to it, every team in the league is worth 3 points, and at the moment we are only 6 back with the opportunity to be 3 back by Sunday night.

I could care less how we win the title, but I think this game would mean a lot because of who we are playing, where we are playing, timing, and the confidence we can take going into final third of the season.

Just try not to forget the confidence we gained after the battering Chelsea gave us at the Emirates.

 

[graham_ka]

lol true, but we could really use these three points.