Arsenal

What the actual fudge is that non penalty decision for Sommer’s punch on Merino.

This run of form is proper shark. Need to beat Chelsea away this weekend and get ourselves going again. Fudgeing dire at the moment.

100% would have been a penalty and red at the other end.  I'm almost surprised they didn't review it and send Merino off for making contact with the keeper's hands. 

City lose, Liverpool win, we need to beat Chelski on Monday morning to stay in touch with the top three (Forest included)

...

Good game and we showed more than recent times. But not enough to win it. Yea, can't see us recovering this gap now. 

little disappointing not to take more from that, we didnt lose which is good, but Liverpool and City are spreading the gap.

Liverpool are spreading the gap but we closed it marginally on City and I’m more worried about them.

That final chance of the game summed up our luck at the moment, you can see the lads are all just tense under the pressure and not flowing with creativity etc. Hopefully Odegaard, Saka, Rice all sit out the internationals. If so, it'll be a huge bonus knowing they're recovering + more time for White/Tomiyasu/Timber/Caliafori to recover/closer to returning.

loyalgunner

Liverpool are spreading the gap but we closed it marginally on City and I’m more worried about them.

The fact that City have lost their last 4 games (all comps) and Haaland seems to be losing his cool a bit is promising for mine - it'll either mean an almighty collapse or they'll have this stutter and sort it out and dominate until the courts decide they've been funded unfairly.

Knowing January needs to inform our window in the summer, here's where I think we're looking for upgrades:
St: Havertz/???
LW: Martinelli/Trossard
RW: Saka/???
Left 8: Merino/???
Right 8: Odegaard/Nwaneri
CDM: Rice/Parety
LB: Caliafiori/MLS
LCB: Gabriel/Kiwior
RCB: Saliba/???
RB: White/Timber
GK: Raya/Setford/???

That means we're in the market for a striker, RW, left 8, a CB, and a Neto profile GK. 

It also means we're going to need to sell or release Tierney, Zinchenko, Jesus, Jorginho, Tomiyasu + deal with the likes of Nelson, Viera, Marquinhos, and possible Tavares and Lokonga.

There is plenty of salaries tied up in there for us to go big, and I'm hopeful we'll go after the likes of Williams/Wirtz and Gyokeres/Sesko up front, and invest in youth for the left 8 and CB - and maybe knick an old bugger out of contract on a free....

That kind of upgrade surely would put the squad into title and CL winning space - but would also increase pressure on Arteta to deliver.

The million dollar question is how do we do any of this in January? If we can get one of the forwards we can move on from Jesus, and I'd argue we can let Zinchenko and Tierney move on without any major risk for the squad. 

Great win today, the boys thoroughly deserved the three points. We looked so much sharper with Odegaard back. Thought Arteta was wise to swap Jorginho at half time given his yellow, but man what a strike from Partey. Great to see Nwaneri get his first PL goal, Arseblog pointed out he has 5 goals in about 280 minutes of football this season which is wild. MOTM for me though was Saka, he was outstanding from the first to his substitution and had his full back on toast. Good to see Arteta rotating the team too, especially since it met Sterling got an assist!

That was a nice return form the international break, 3-0 and convincing over a decent Forest side.
Amazing to see City drop more points against Spurs! Thats 5 losses on the trot.

Just feels a bit typical after waiting all this time for them to have a bad run we had one at the same time and it's someone else who's taken advantage and pulled away.

I was away on a tramp for a few nights so was great getting back into reception to hear we won comfortably. City losing makes it all the sweeter.

City up against Liverpool next in the League. I’m not sure what result I want. Liverpool are pulling ahead but we all know what City are capable of.

We need City to beat them.

City are not capable of that type of run without Rodri.

ajc28

Just feels a bit typical after waiting all this time for them to have a bad run we had one at the same time and it's someone else who's taken advantage and pulled away.

The Arsenal way

I didn't realise how far ahead Liverpool are until I checked the table this morning. Surely it's theirs to lose now. 
As for us, just happy to see us clicking again. And I think that's the MO effect. He just sets the rhythm in both attack and defence. Awesome to see him back. 

Might also suit us to be the team in pursuit, given back to back charges out front for so long have ended in disappointment. 

Might also suit us to be the team in pursuit, given back to back charges out front for so long have ended in disappointment. 

What a first half against Sporting!

We were the best we’ve been all season.

Sign Gyokeres.

/ends

Stay humble Erling.

Having Odegaard back really makes a night and day difference to how well we play

After 5 of the 8 group stage rounds we're firmly in the top 8 with our destiny in our own hands. Home games to Monaco and Zagreb, plus an away game to Girona gives me confidence we can avoid the extra 2 games and head straight into the round of 16.

This first half is crazy?! 5-2

Mad first half.

Hope Gabriel and Calafiori are ok

I reckon Gabriel was a precaution, he wobbled a bit when he got hope so hopefully not a concussion. Calafiori looked to carrying a niggle into the game some hopefully just managing him and give Zinchenko minutes. Almost the perfect half from us if you ignore the 5 minute lapse, took two very good shots from the Hammers to score though. Onwards and upwards.
2nd spot, 6 points off Liverpool, 2 ahead of 115, hope for a draw tomorrow.

Liverpool 9 points ahead of us, Chelsea behind on GD, Brighton the surprise package at 4th with 115 5th. Very tight battle from 2nd to 8th (5 points). 

At this stage we need liverpool to drop points if we are gonna catch them. Same as the least couple of seasons there is always ne other club doing slightly better than us.

Love seeing City stumble but Liverpool look dangerous. A draw or loss would have been better. Interesting seeing Haaland proving how ineffective he can be when he doesn’t score. Stay humble. We need to keep stacking on the points waiting for Liverpool to drop some. 

Manchester United at home next. We’ve been the better team by far in recent years but I never feel confident going into these fixtures. I feel like we’ve been the better team a lot in the past (more than 5 years ago) but haven’t had the psychological edge, which has seen us lose some winnable games.

United seem to have gained confidence under the new gaffa, 4-0 over everton this morning.

Everton are quite shark though.

It's still an aging defence and midfield we should blitz. Very excited for it given current form for Saka and Odegaard. Feels like a modern day Henry and Bergkamp type pairing, two world class athletes carving it up in the red and white.

Liverpool look to be an injury or two to key players like Salah or VdV away from dropping points, not sure they've got the depth to go the distance. Nice to be chasing in a way as the pressure feels off.

Gained two points on Liverpool, beat United and staying ahead of City. You love to see it.

Newcastle almost bottled it but hung in there.

Yeah 7 points sounds much better than 9 - 7pts feels possible to claw back, so long as we can stay focused and keep getting 3pts every game, it should put a bit more pressure on Liverpool

Time for a strong run through until the Dubai re-set. Rice summed it up well, key is still being in the race in February and going from there.

Every game we have in December is winnable. We should be targeting 7 from 7.

brumbys

It's still an aging defence and midfield we should blitz. Very excited for it given current form for Saka and Odegaard. Feels like a modern day Henry and Bergkamp type pairing, two world class athletes carving it up in the red and white.

Liverpool look to be an injury or two to key players like Salah or VdV away from dropping points, not sure they've got the depth to go the distance. Nice to be chasing in a way as the pressure feels off.

Was just coming on to post something similar.
Happy with where we're sitting. 
Liverpool will definitely dip in form at some point, need to be thereabouts to take advantage when it happens. 
Man city struggling has really got us right in this race. 
We look a different side with odegaard back, hopefully he stays fit. 
Must win tonight. I enjoy watching fulham with iwobi, ESR and Nelson all there now, always pumping for them, tonight aside of course.

Disappointing result, really need to be taking maximum points every game at the moment.

We aren't making it easy for ourselves

What a shark result that is. Haven’t beaten Fulham in the last three matches now.