Challenging City

Won't be many evening games at WHL next season. I like those the best.

Woolwich will be up there unfortunately, the other places are up for grabs. Spurs could surprise if they get their recruitment right and Chelsea have the squad. Newcastle have CL to negotiate which may affect league form. Varpool & Penited can never be written off, even though their squads are over rated and they have over spent on some ordinary players they will always have the officials dragging them up the league through benefit of doubt refereeing, and of course the media will be putting a positive spin on their darlings light night follows day

comment by sandy, golden boot winner fa cup 1901 (U20567)
posted 3 hours, 2 minutes ago
Don't fancy Liverpool at all. As bad as Spurs were last season, they still should have scored half a dozen at Anfield. How they lost that game is still a puzzle.
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Sandy not fancing Liverpool - the only thing that could rival that for predictability was him thinking Spurs could be the dark horses for the title!

The OP is spot on and i think 4th will go to Man U or Newcastle imo. people saying Arsenal won't challenge again this year are basing it on nothing but their hate for Arsenal, every time we have 'collapsed' ,history says we dust off and come back better the next year, we have improved our squad and have more experience with our young players, and it looks like we have solid cover for Saliba too, which was a massive factor in us slipping at the end last season

people saying Arsenal won't challenge again this year are basing it on nothing but their hate for Arsenal, every time we
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They are basing it on last five years, when Arsenal hardly set the title on fire? Dude, one good season cannot hide the disappointment of previous 4 seasons. Specially how Arsenal who started well last season with a reasonably not many fixtures/injuries to deal with and a favourable fixture list, collapsed when chips were down, and had to deal with injuries. Similarly, season before Arsenal collapsed to Tottenham and let Spurs get their CL place.
Last season saw Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs all have a bad one. That's not going to happen again.

comment by Taki Minamino (U20650)
posted 3 hours, 43 minutes ago
think so, this is last season of the normal cl format, actually gutted we arent in it now
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me too, m8

comment by He who Dares, waits for Trophies (U15748)
posted 6 minutes ago
comment by Taki Minamino (U20650)
posted 3 hours, 43 minutes ago
think so, this is last season of the normal cl format, actually gutted we arent in it now
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me too, m8
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The UCL is dead.

The new Club World Cup will supersede until we finally get the Super League we all crave.

comment by He who Dares, waits for Trophies (U15748)
posted 1 hour, 31 minutes ago
people saying Arsenal won't challenge again this year are basing it on nothing but their hate for Arsenal, every time we
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They are basing it on last five years, when Arsenal hardly set the title on fire? Dude, one good season cannot hide the disappointment of previous 4 seasons. Specially how Arsenal who started well last season with a reasonably not many fixtures/injuries to deal with and a favourable fixture list, collapsed when chips were down, and had to deal with injuries. Similarly, season before Arsenal collapsed to Tottenham and let Spurs get their CL place.
Last season saw Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs all have a bad one. That's not going to happen again.
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Arteta's only been here for 3 and a half yrs, and he was clearly cleaning up the whole house for about the first season and a half. The previous 2 years are irrelevant. We all have the same fixtures, so that's BS.
Both those season's you say we 'collapsed' we came back better the following year, so you can't just take the negative and dismiss the positive element that comes with it too.
Other teams supposedly having a 'chit' season is irrelevant too, every year someone has to (bar Man c) have a bad season in theory because there are only 4 CL spots, this weak excuse wasn't being used when we dropped out the top 4, or Man U etc.

Newcastle will probably challenge City for the title.
3rd and 4th will be between Liverpool and Chelsea.
The Europa and Conference league spots between Arsenal , Man Utd, Spurs and Aston Villa.

At the other end of the table Luton to finish bottom
Everton to be mid table. Sheff Utd and Burnley to be in a relegation battle along with Bournemouth

comment by AFCISMYTEAM (U14931)
posted 11 hours, 39 minutes ago
The OP is spot on and i think 4th will go to Man U or Newcastle imo. people saying Arsenal won't challenge again this year are basing it on nothing but their hate for Arsenal, every time we have 'collapsed' ,history says we dust off and come back better the next year, we have improved our squad and have more experience with our young players, and it looks like we have solid cover for Saliba too, which was a massive factor in us slipping at the end last season
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I think it's slightly dismissive to say any suggestion Arsenal wont challenge is entirely down to hate!

Couple of (imo) genuine benefits for Arsenal last year:

(1) League focus - went out of domestic cups in the 3rd and 4th rounds, 3 games total. UEFA made it through a pretty straight-forward group but out in first knockout round.

(2) Reliability of key individuals - 7 players played in 36/38 league games. 6 of those started 36/38. It was high levels of consistency and reliability. Arguably most of the highest performers were in that group

This is less tangible but I think Arsenal also played with a freedom in the first half of the season that came from minimal expectations. I think the first half of the season was akin to a 100 point full season (or close anyway) - that's phenomenal, City at their best levels.

To counter the above, I think Arsenal have improved their squad. Jorginho, Trossard and Havertz have/will add depth and cover, Rice is (or will be) a superb signing.

Personally, I don't think Arsenal are going away. Their team is too talented and the ages suggest either maintenance of level or perhaps improvement. But runs in domestic cups and the CL will impact. My guess would be comfortably top 4 but 5-10 point off the top (City).