(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread

Monreal cops an elbow from Ward-Prowse, commentator says "sometimes if there's a height disparity between the two players it can happen"... 

Ward-Prowse: 5'8

Monreal: 5'10

Holy crap that turn *fwap*

Great movement and passing, and what a finish from sanchez, the composure...

COYG!

man, what does Giroud have to do to get a start? he scores almost every time he comes on at the death. 

Not be so good off the bench! Hahahahaha

But in all seriousness, in his last couple of starts he was pretty ineffectual. I think Welbeck brings a lot more in this formation. He was really good today I thought even though he didn't score. 

Good goals this morn. Was a really tight game, Soton easily could have won if they'd finished as well as we did. 

Take that, job done. 4 more wins please.

I just looked at Liverpool and Man City's remaining fixtures

Liverpool on 70 points - maximum possible points 76

West Ham away

Middlesbrough home

Man City 69 points - maximum possible points 78

Leicester home

West Brom home

Watford away

Arsenal 66 points - maximum possible points 75

I still think it's going to be tough for us hoping the above teams drop points and we will have to win all three of our remaining games to have a chance of the top four. Liverpool have points on the board as well so may only need one win to get to 73.

I'd say that was our second hardest league game remaining, so excellent job done this morn. The hardest game is Stoke this weekend... after that we've got relegated Sunderland, and then Everton. Everton you would think would be the toughest, but actually I think they will likely be very low on motivation on the final day, they are 7th and literally cannot move, no matter what the results. 

If we win at Stoke this weekend then I think Liverpool will indeed need that 76 points, so we can put serious pressure on them.

A week ago I thought Man City was our best chance, but with Silva back in midfield they looked back to form against Palace. Their remaining draw is not tough either. We probably need Leicester to pull out a blinder this weekend or we can't catch them. 

of their run ins, the teams in bold are really the only ones where they might struggle.

and for us, its Everton on the last day that I feel will ruin us. I think that game will end in a draw and leave us 5th on GD behind liverpool.

I think we're far more likely to get ruined at Stoke this weekend to be honest. 

Everton have literally nothing to play for, their position cannot change, we'll be at home with the opportunity to finish 4th if we've won the previous two games, and we actually have a pretty good final day record when the pressure's on to get in that top 4. 

Having said that, Koeman is a real problem for Wenger, he has had good success against us for both Everton and Southampton... 

the real problem is R1

Arsenal 3 Pool 4 because we were negligent in getting our shark together

Let's hope this is wrong.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/05/10/ale...

We've got a great replacement in Bellerin but the Ox was on fire, would be a real shame, particularly with him being injured in 2014, and left out in 2015, poor lad. 

I thought Leggy was also referring to the rumour of him possibly going to Liverpool as well haha

sounds like both the Ox and Kosc will be out of the game against stoke, but both should be fine to play in the cup final. 

boom boom boom

Guttural roar when giroud smashed that 4th one in. Winning at stoke is such a difficult thing for us, that's just about as satisfying as they come.

Hitting some form at the right time. All eyes on Liverpool tonight!

It was so awesome to see Holding play so well in a game like that. 

Chambers appears to have suffered from a lack of aggression and "bite", I thought that could also be an issue with Holding, but he showed a bit of steel today. The tackle on Arnautovic was cynical, and not a good look, but if ever there was a game where I didn't really mind that it was this one!

Holding = future England/Arsenal captain.

Deeply enjoying this style of football - our end of season runs are always great to watch. Just annoying that it's never for the title.

yea solid show all round this morning. Good to see hector back and running strong. Ozil was also very good I thought! 

the goals also helped us as liverpool have a 3(i think) more than us on GD. 

if only mahrez could have hit his penalty only once!!!

The prophecy may yet be fulfilled. Not confident at all about winning at West Ham tonight. 

It's unreal right?

Side note, who is more disappointed with the Mahrez penalty? Gunners or LCFC fans?!

Updated

Mother of all run ins:

Game > 2 day break - 2-1 win against City (FA Cup)

Game > 3 day break - 1-0 win against Leicster

Game > 6 day break - 2-0 loss against C*cks

Game > 3 day break - 2-0 win against United

SOTON (A) > 2 day break - 2-0 win against Soton

Stoke (A) > 2 day break - 4-1 win against Stoke

Sunderland (H) > 4 day break 

Everton (H) > 5 day break

Chelsea (Wembley) FA Cup Final

Injuries

Cazorla - out forever

Sanchez - Thigh - TBC

The Ox - Hammy - TBC

Gibbs - Calf - TBC

What's worth realising is that we're through the worst of the 'close' proximity games - only 3 left and most of the squad miraculously intact. Hopefully we can get Sanchez back for FA Cup Final - you'd hope we could win the other two without him.

What do we think about Alexis' goal celebration? 

I'm usually loathe to read into these things but I must admit it seemed a clear signal that he is planning on staying. What else could it have meant?

Damn you Westham.

We need a miracle from relegated Boro at Anfield now, unless Man City somehow screw it up against WBA at home on Wednesday morn.

Ah well, 5th would mean automatic Europa right? Should avoid the qualifying round in July which I was worried about with regards to what it would mean for the Sydney tour.

On the Sydney tour, a Facebook group has been started for those going from NZ so let me know if you want an invite. The Arsenal NZ guys have been talking to their Australian counterparts and some events are going to be organised, including the chance to play in some sort of supporters club tournament, all info will be posted there.

Automatic qualifying for Europa league was confirmed a week or two ago I believe. 5th and 6th both go straight into the Group Stage. 7th goes into qualifying, Everton are confirmed 7th. 

Ah right, thanks. Was mainly worried about the possibility of Europa qualifying in July leading to the Sydney tour being cancelled.

If by some miracle we were to snatch 4th this week, would qualifying for the champs league clash at all? Or is that played a bit later than europa qualifying?

That should be fine as it's usually in the 2nd half of August.

If we go into the final weekend still a point behind Liverpool, I wonder if Wenger will rest some players for the Cup Final knowing that CL qualification will be out of our own hands. I'm sure Chelsea will be resting players for the next two games.

Bugger, looks like the CL is gone. Do not want to play in Europa at all.

We finished second last year on 71 points. We could potentially finish 5th this year on 75 points. Just shows how rubbish everyone was last year.

Thanks to Bein's pathetic one-channel service I couldn't watch that, just followed live text commentary.

Sounded like we swamped them all day, huffed and puffed, and eventually Alexis got a couple of tap-ins.

Now onto the final day. 

CMON BORO

I'm not holding my breath for Boro to do us a favour but stranger things have happened like the Spuds going to relegated Newcastle on the last day and losing 1-5 to a 10 man team.

I'm just happy that we seem to have hit some good form leading into the FA Cup Final.