Arsenal

Can't wait to see how much piss has been boiled by one of the goals being an own goal. 

I thought Saka came off early, was he injured? 

he was subbed off for Gyokeres at the 46th no mention of injury.

Saka came into the starting lineup at the last minute as Calafiori got injured in the warmup - MLS was going to play in midfield initially.  Saka was probably initially only going to come on if needed and 4-0 at half time there was no point risking any injury with the game done.  

Just saw an article saying Odegaard out with a knock from Brentford game. Califiori injured in warmup this morning. White injured during game. Havertz out for a month. Merino out for the season. Could be worse but still makes me nervous.

Mansfield town in the next round of the FA cup. That helps. 

Makes a change from several season of getting Man City/Liverpool/Man United in the 3rd round.
Not wanting to jinx anything but think this is the first season since 03-04 (CL QF, FA Cup SF and League Cup SF) that we're still in contention for everything as late in the season as March. Can't think of any season since that we're still in everything at this stage but certainly many where we've been out of everything by now!

Good news on the injury front.
Calafiori and White are fit. 
Odegaard and Havertz will miss Wolves tomorrow, but hopefully available for Spurs at the weekend. 

The injuries are mounting and relieving as fast as they can! Apologies for the Trossard cock up, the podcast I'd listened to suggested he was set for a spell. TBF to our wingers the last few years they'd have had to play through the pain, but now we have depth we can afford to take them off as a precaution - nice change of pace! I'm delighted we've got an easy route through to the next round, but I would love to see us and Wrexham go through and square off at the Emirates!

Saka at #10 again. Keen to see how this goes. 

Interesting change to see Arteta playing Saka there lately. 
Not good for Eze mind you

Saka possibly injured so being subbed according to google. It never ends.

That's us. Something needs to change now for us to win the title. Ffs

FFS that was an awful one to concede.
Proper wobbling now then. Trip to City will decide this, which doesn't bode well for us at all. 

Hopeless.

Isn't it strange that if City, Liverpool, Chelsea or even United were playing away at Wolves, I would be confident that all of them would win but when it's Arsenal, I wasn't confident at all. 
I think that's it. Not clinical enough in front of goal and can't hold onto a lead.
Sunderland, Villa and now Wolves. Points dropped by conceding goals after the 93rd minute. Its an Arsenal thing.

I also don't get the Saka in the middle thing. Is Arteta trying to fit him and Noni in the same team as both look the most threatening? I'd prefer to have Saka out wide with Eze in the middle and then switch either for Noni/MO. 
Very disappointing morning. 

The one highlight was Gooners chanting "you're going down with Spurs". That was quite funny

Why can we no longer close games out?

We need to pull finger rapidly or this will end very badly.

FFS of course we drop points to Wolves!
oh well still 5 ahead of city and 8 ahead of villa.

I think Arteta is using Saka to fill the Odegaard void, especially with Merino out.
Onward!! Spurs on Monday - they are sharkehouse right now,.

Derbies are derbies though. Form often goes out the window. I am afraid. 
We were invincible in the first third of the season, now we're really shaky at the end of games, lost that steel. 
We need to recover it fast, or this will be over. 

Unfortunately that's the league gone for me. I know technically there's still a points gap but bus don't see how we withstand any pressure from here on the back of recent performances and a history of falling short at the end. Plus being up against a machine we know won't drop another point from here.  Spurs get their cup final this weekend too with the chance to put City in front and end it.

We just play really panicked and with no real belief. It just looks like we know we always fall short and don't quite know how to get over the line. 

Obviously I will be but almost feel like i just can't face watching the rest of the season just to see us crash out of everything again. 

I looked at the remaining games for Arsenal and City and I only see City dropping points against Chelsea away. 

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Looks like a pretty easy run to the end, except for the games against us and Chelsea.
Everton, Villa, Bournemouth could upset the cart by stealing a draw.

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our run doesn't look too bad either, with only Spurs and Chelsea appearing to be the big threats, Bournemouth has caused us issues in the past.

Triple arsenal defence and triple captain on Gabriel in the last two weeks has not been good for my fantasy FPL team

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At a quick Google this actually appears to be true 😂

Can't shake the horrible sinking feeling ahead of tomorrow morning. It's essentially Spurs cup final with having the opportunity to almost put the final nail in our title chance after having 2 whole weeks to prepare solely for it and with the new manager bounce.  We look panicked, lacking belief and out of ideas.

must win, 2 points ahead of City, this is the statement game of the season.

On paper this should be a clean sheet & multiple goals for us. They are the Tottenham. They can't keep a manager. They can't keep goals out, or their captain on their pitch. We are the Arsenal. We're top of the league, top of the CL, into the next round of the FA Cup, and in the final of the league cup. We can do this, let's fudgeing go.

Ahhh that makes a fairly sharkting football weekend not so bad. Always a pleasure Sp*rs

Where have those performances been lately? Hopefully the start of some consistency.

Great reflexes from Raya to keep our Richarlison’s back heel, and a brace has to do wonders for Gyokeres confidence. City don’t have the title just yet.

Performances like this are the ones you keep saved away for a day like today.
Sure there's no harm is smashing a team about to be relegated but I'd much rather do it against Spurs or a team challenging for the top prize.

Gyokeres and Eze finding some form just in time for a season defining month. We could either still be in front, with the league cup in our hands, and still progressing in Europe and FA cup. Or we could be down to just the PL and have lost the initiative. Squeaky bum time for sure, but glad to see the boys are going deeper than last year.

Side note, Timbers form is in the ditch and White is out with a niggle. Maybe Mosquera needs to start a game or two at RB?

Great result and great performance.

Gyok’s first goal a thing of real beauty.

Well it was all off and now back on again!
What a performance and result. Just didn't see anything like that coming. Great story for Eze. Dream move to his boyhood club and 5 goals against Spurs in his first season. Fun fact, he's already our 3rd highest scorer against Spurs in the PL. Only 2 behind Pires who always seemed to score against them. And what a day for Gyokeres to find his best performance. 

Also typically I captained Gyokeres in Fantasy PL last week with having 2 games in the round and he'd scored a few recently, then took him out this week.

Spurs are at real risk of relegation. Unbelievable.

Only West Ham could realistically pass them at this stage, and that requires Forest to improve as well.
Wolves and Burnley are almost locked in Championship teams next season

What a difference it makes when we actually continue attacking once we have the lead and don't sit back. We did the same away at Leeds.
Two great finished by Gyokeres but his laying off and first touch still need some work. So happy to see us smash Spurs. It certainly made up for the Wolves result. Just a shame Forest and West Ham couldn't get more points to close in on them this weekend.