ARSENAL ARE INCREDIBLE!

Welcome to that's football. What a weekend of Premier League action. And is it time to dare to dream for Arsenal? Could they do it? Could this be the year where they live? They went where they win the Premier League. Get your comments in below because I've got to say, I think Arsenal, uh, you know, we said we said this a lot last season, but and let's not forget a lot of the criticism does come from certain elements of their own fan base. But Arsenal yesterday against West Ham, absolutely incredible, defying logic consistently, putting themselves right in amongst the title race and they've got really winnable games coming up now ahead of, I think they play Man City in late March, early April. So look, I think the last two weeks for Arsenal, I remember like probably two or three weeks ago, the Arteta movement was there again. He's not the right man, this, that, and the other. And you look at it and you go, you know what? He is the right man. And he definitely is the right man. When he came into that football club, it was on its knees. It was nowhere near winning titles. It had people like a Bamiyang Ozil still there earning massive wages. And you looked at the club and you thought it's rotten. It's going to stay like this for ages. It doesn't really have a lot of money. And the club in its wisdom brought Arteta in, allowed him to remove that and rebuild a young, you know, hungry, talented side. And a few years, short years later, here they are for the second year in a row in a title race. Let's not forget they're in the Champions League as well, where I look around Europe. And apart from Man City and maybe Real Madrid, I think, well, you know what's stopping Arsenal get to the semifinals. And then when you're there, who knows? I think what they're doing is still incredible. I think this season they've gone massively under the radar. I still think people don't actually watch Arsenal and appreciate that last season was a complete and utter out of the blue shock that they actually were in a title race at the start of last season. Most people didn't have them in the top six or even the top four. And yet they pushed Man City for a title. And then this year, it's almost like, oh, yeah, they're yesterday's news. It's about Liverpool and Man City. When I still think it's absolutely incredible that they are where they are because they still haven't got a striker. I still don't think they've got enough cover in the midfield to play next to Declan Rice. And I would still say they haven't really got fullback. So I think Arsenal are still very much a progressive work in progress for Arteta. And yet they get judged by certain elements of their fans and others as being a bit of a joke. And up until that Liverpool and West Ham wins, and they are massive. Those six points aren't just six points there. You beat Liverpool, who are banging form. And basically, if Liverpool win that game, they end Arsenal's chance of winning the title. They beat them, and then they go away to West Ham, who are coming off the offer of a disappointing loss at Old Trafford, where they, you know, three nil sort of flattered United a little bit. We deserve to win, but three nil was a bit of a, you know, over egging at the pudding, really. And then Arsenal go and beat them six nil. You know, they're four nil up at halftime. It's an incredible couple of games, and I didn't have Arsenal down as winning that game because I thought, you know, London derby away from home. You've just beat Liverpool. It would be typical, and it's a difficult game as well, that Arsenal don't follow up that with a win. And they didn't took any win, but to win like that is magnificent. And I think that Arsenal just around Christmastime looked really tired, and I said that they hardly played in January, and they look like they've massive. It almost has been a European break for them because I know the Premier League gives you one weekend off because they're out the FA Cup as well. They've had a lot of rest and recuperation, and you've seen that in Saka as well. I mean, recency bias rears its head up in football all the time, and I think even a week ago, week and a half ago, if you did Saka in an either or with Phil Foden, most people would go Phil Foden. And for me, it's Saka. It's always been Saka, and it still is Saka. Phil Foden is a fantastic player, but recency bias a week ago would have been now Foden's and Saka's fell off and Foden's amazing. I think consistency since the last Euros Saka is streets ahead, and he takes the responsibility on that Arsenal side so much. I mean, he is Arsenal's Salah, literally same position, same level of expectation and same consistency in the deliverance as well. So I think that Saka's renaissance is not coincidentally combined with Arsenal's renaissance, and I think that we look at that league table now, and obviously, obviously, I don't think there's any Arsenal fan out there that is going to dispute the fact that that Man City and Liverpool are going to be the favourites. They've been there. They've done that. They know what it's all about. Of course, they will be the favourites, but Arsenal are waiting there with 52 points. There are only two points behind Liverpool. Obviously, if Man City win their game in hand, they would be three points off Manchester City, but. Look at Arsenal's next few games. Look at their goal difference. It's incredible. 31-31 and 32 then for Liverpool. Arsenal's next few games. Burnley away. You've got to be winning that. Newcastle at home. You'd expect to win that. Sheffield United away. You've got to win that. Brentford at home. You'd expect to win that. Chelsea at home is a big game, but look, you'd expect to win that. Man City away, then Luton at home. From their next six games, I'd expect Arsenal to win five of them, and then that Man City game away. Well, look, if you lose that, title's probably gone. It's going to go to Man City, but what you can say is, but when you go to the Etihad, you could be at least three points behind Man City, and maybe because Man City got to play Liverpool, you're right in against it. I think we've got a title race again. I really do. I think last week, I would have been saying Arsenal can't. Well, no, I still say it. Arsenal can't win the league. I'll tell you why, but what I thought maybe a week or two ago certainly at Christmas, I thought this is going to be about Liverpool and Man City. It's going to be the previous title races where they're winning every week, and Arsenal will just drift away and end up in third, maybe get demoralized, maybe even, you know, Spurs and Villa might push them. That's not going to happen. I can't see that happening. I think what happens is Arsenal now start to rev up and win a lot of their next few games, stay in a race, and look, you know what? I don't think... I think there was more belief in the general public and in the Arsenal fan base last year that they might do it. They might pull off that shock. I think this year, even speaking to Arsenal fans, there is that realistic opinion that, look, we're probably not going to win it, but if we can stay in the race for as long as possible, that would be really good. We've got the Champions League as well. I think there's an element of Arsenal's fan base that's absolutely spot on and realistically correct. I think this Arsenal team is positioned well, considering Klopp's going to go in the summer, and how long is Pep going to hang around? If those dynasties drop off in any shape or form, then Arsenal would move into that space and potentially win a couple of titles themselves, and that's what they're sort of hoping for, as they gradually improve because they've got a young squad. But as I said, you look at those next few fixtures for Arsenal, and there's no reason why come April, when they play Man City, they're not in a title race. They should be in a title race in April when they play Man City. They should be within three points of Man City when they play at the Etihad in April, and they should be in the latter stages of the Champions League as well. Well, I'm sorry, if you're Arsenal, when was the last time you won the Premier League? 2004? Arsenal, in 2024, in a title race in April, and in the latter stages of the Champions League, I'm sorry, I don't care who you are, I don't care how long you supported the club, I don't care what ex-player you are, Arsenal, in a title race in April, and in the latter stages of the Champions League, that is a good season compared to your last 20, and it's a progressive season as well. And I think sometimes people want to burst the balloon, start shouting Arteta out, start being negative, but the point is, Arsenal are doing incredibly well when you look at the journey they're on, and for me, and many others, are still very much not at the level that Man City are in relation to squad depth, and also Liverpool are in relation to squad depth. That's the great thing that Klopp's built this year. He's got a very big squad, especially around the midfield and the attacking options. Arsenal attacking options are okay without having an out-and-out striker, midfield I think is a little bit slim, especially with Partey hardly playing, they're very reliant on Declan Rice, and as we know at full-back, you've got Ben White playing at full-back, and Zinchenko's not necessarily done that great, so Arsenal do not have the squad that Liverpool and Man City have, and they certainly don't have the experienced manager they have, so I think where they are, they are doing really well, and they probably don't get the credit they deserve. Can they win the league though? Get your comments in below, let me know your thoughts, what do you think about the video in general? Do you agree with me what I've said about Arsenal? Should they be getting more credit, or should they be being written off because they ain't good enough? I think it's a bit unfair. Smash the like on the video, make sure you subscribe, and I'll speak to you on the next one.