Arsenal will win the league this season

None of them are big clubs? (Or strong teams is what I should say)

I could see them getting 9 points out of them. Quite me.

Imagine thinking city aren't a strong team and liverpool and united aren't big teams

Chelsea, well, I'll give you that one.

They'll get 6 max from them and even if they got 9 that isn't top 4 standard by any stretch of they imagination. They'll be out of top 4 by Christmas as will west ham... Quote me

Yet another arsenal player out. There's no substance to a league- winning claim when you can't pick nine first - team players and then the rest can't be trusted to perform

I didn't see city Tbf. Liverpool were a mid table team before klopp joined. It remains to be seen whether or not he can still turn it around.

United can't score whereas Leicester can with mahrez and big vardy up front.

How you getting 6 max? They'll beat Swansea like they usually do. They've drawn with Everton past 2 times but I can see them winning there. You don't think they'll get a single point from Liverpool, United or city? No chance.

Oh come on Shawn we have 3 starters out. It's hardly a crisis. City had all 4 starting defenders out for a few weeks at the start of the season, they did just fine and so can we.

In fairness, City's defensive depth is actually ridiculous.

Mate when your captain and 3 best strikers are injured, then we can talk about injuries.

I've just said our injuries aren't too bad compared to other teams ffs

Mate when you use the term "captain" rather than using the players name because you know people will laugh if you moan about Henderson being injured

Our captain is out too you know....

Not necessarily. You don't have to have the best squad to bottle it, you just need to be close to the summit and then implode. Imo Arsenal have had more than capable teams in the past i.e 07/08 and 10/11 but they bottled it badly both times, hence why most people still have that stigma regarding Arsenal imo.

See I think those were really examples of Arsene Wenger overachieving, especially 07/08. I think everyone was surprised that Arsenal stayed in the race as long as they did that year because you looked at that team and it was not a Premier League winning side.

Look at United team at the time with Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney up front, Scholes, Giggs still there and a top defence and that was a team that was champion material.

2007/08 was about the first time you could really sense Arsenal were facing financial constraints as they had lost a lot of experienced talent over the last two years and they just weren't replacing them. There was no real leadership apart from a young Fabregas. I think at the start of that season you'd have said 4th was a stretch for Arsenal but actually they played very well, some of their football first half of that season with relatively unknown players was pushing the level they were at in 2003/04 with far bigger names.

A myth seems to have developed about that season that it turned when Eduardo got injured but Eduardo hadn't scored that many in the league anyway and he was never a really team-defining striker. He was a good finisher that didn't do much else, similar to Podolski later.

But I remember through that season always feeling United would come through even when Arsenal were ahead - you never sensed Arsenal were going to be champions. The difference at the end of that season was only 4 points which I think was an amazing effort by Arsenal considering United were European champions.

I think the disappointing thing for Arsenal after that, was that a lot of the players who had showed real promise in 2007/08 went backwards: principally Adebayor, Bendtner, Diaby, Senderos, Denilson.

After that point, they became a flaky and vulnerable team that was basically made competitive by three top class players, Fabregas, Van Persie and Nasri.

As those players left one by one, the writing was on the wall for Wenger and for Arsenal to fade out of top 4 competitiveness. But then the script changed, and what has happened is those players have faded away and Arsenal have improved year on year.

I know but I'm on my phone and cba to do another post for the guy that was moaning about injury

I think considering how many key injuries we've had in addition to mid-season managerial change, it's a miracle that were in the top 8...

Hahahahaha that's exactly why I said "captain" instead of Henderson. You saw right through me
I would say though that although he may not be a world beater, Henderson will be amazing in a Klopp side.

Who even is your captain?

Fair play. I think hendo can be good for you, people dislike him because he gets into the England side even when playing shockingly which I think irks people. That and Liverpool fans hyping him up.

And our captain is Arteta I think, so big BIG miss for us

Fair point, but what about 10/11? That was bottling at its finest. From challenging in March to finishing 12 pts off 1st. That team was more than capable; Koscielny, Sagna, Song, Wilshere, Nasri, Fabregas, Walcott; RvP. Utd's squad wasn't that great either yet they finished above us by 12 points!

Nope, the PL is already declining in quality, it is so close to losing its 4th CL spot. Leicester do not have the quality needed to finish in the top 4 in any top league, hence my point, it would be an embarrassment if they do. Or looking at it differently, it would just show the demise of the PL if a team like Leicester can get CL football.

In 2010/11 Arsenal were never the front-runners, United led the table for most of the season, apart from the start when Chelsea got off to that great start and looked like they would run away with it.

United went through over half of that season unbeaten and I remember people were always asking Fergie could United match Arsenal's unbeaten season and he was getting annoyed with the question.

Arsenal had a good season and were 3rd for most of the year, the irony when you mention bottling, is that the reason Arsenal got to within 1 point was because after their great unbeaten start, United started to "bottle it" if you like, losing to Wolves and then back to back against Chelsea and Liverpool. In fact Arsenal beat United in the run-in, it was 1-0 with Ramsay scoring.

But yes I agree Arsenal did have some bad results at the end of that season, but I don't see that really as 'bottling the title'.

I think over a full season, teams will have runs of good and bad form and sometimes people are quick to say it's bottling it but I think that term is overused. Examples of really bottling it are Newcastle United in 1995/96, when they were 10 points clear with a superb team and then clearly buckled under pressure, or actually going back further, the year before United's first title, they actually bottled a league run in against Leeds United. Possibly you could say Liverpool in 2013/14 but they only lost one game in the run in and you can basically put that down to a random event (Gerrard slipping), had that not happened Liverpool would have been champions.

And I suppose if you want to talk about bottling it, Arsenal's unbeaten 2003/04 season was because Ruud Van Nistelrooy bottled it from the penalty spot....

Just to remind you that in the last half a season we've picked up more points than any other side in the division...

Yeah, he gets a lot of hate because he was a surprising choice as Liverpool captain and Hodgson has no backbone so a captain of a big club will always get in to his England side.
The FIFA cover thing added to the bitterness massively too

Henderson has always performed for us - Milner has been poor recently so i'd be fine with literally swapping the pair of them.
His work rate and the fact that our captain is returning is only gonna add to our side.
Need Lucas to get his inevitable suspension over with soon though because he's one of our most important players atm.

Lol Arteta. I don't understand why he's your captain when he wouldn't even get in your side.
Why isn't Koscielny your captain all the time?
Or even Cech for that matter.

Fifa cover was joke tbh, but the salt overload was brilliant

I'd like you to get top 4 tbh, mainly because it'd mean 2 of Chelsea, spurs and united wouldn't get in, but also because there's a bit more entertainment with klopp there. Mind you Liverpool fans are already showing some severe meltness, those 2 arabs singing "jurgen klopp klopp klopp he's the new king of the kop" had me down at my local hospital getting scanned for cancer. #localsupporters. At least you've piped down a bit on the arsenal thread

Man like Arteta is solid club captain, been there, done it, multilingual I believe, preparing for getting his coaching awards too i think so running sessions with the youth squad occasionally. Generally the kind of guy you want in the dressing room when players are having problems even if he isn't one you want on the pitch.

Mert is a perfectly good captain on the pitch imo even if he is a bit of a pussy, problem will be next year when Gabby starts ahead of him regularly, who's captain then? Ramsey? Scrappy doo? There no obvious choice imo, maybe Kosc?
Either way I'm not too sure captain on the pitch is that important in our team, although maybe I only think that because I've not seen the impact a quality captain could have on us because we haven't had one in so long.

Lay off the excuses man, Arsenal bottled it in 10/11. So close to winning it and then all went downhill. So what if we weren't favourites? We were capable of winning it and we didn't. We challenged for most of the season and capitulated at the most important stage at the season.

I don't know if you are a massive Wenger fan-boy and whether it is influencing your opinions, but you don't necessarily have to have the best squad to be favourites for the title. Top managers like SAF won PL titles with fairly average squads. Look at their 12/13 team, are you really telling me that team is a "title winning" team? No.

So sometimes, even if you don't have the best squad, you can be expected to at least CHALLENGE.