Title Race 22/23

[V.O.]

But their game in hand is far from a given.

Yeah, weird to just grant Arsenal 3 free points when their last three results are loss, draw, loss and they could be without Partey again.

Wouldn't be a massive surprise at all to see them get good ebeninged by a Villa side who have had all week to prepare for them.

 

[Cloud7]

Am I surprised? The answer is no

 

[Samid]

We have to win all 8 home games. Then 5 of the 7 away games.

Next 5 are: LEI liv SOU bha new.

3 brutal away games. If we somehow win all 5 we’ll have all the momentum at the perfect time.

Our issue is that our max points are already down at 91. The winner won’t have less than 85-86 so we pretty much have to win every match.

 

[charlenefan]

Good result for us tonight in more than just one way

 

[kaku06]

For the first time I believe we have a sniff here. Arsenal bubble is burst. They aren’t winning game after game like in the first part of the season. Plus they have a very difficult run in.

City on the other hand aren’t the same at all. They are vulnerable, flaky at times.

Now on to us, we have to have few players fit and available. Rashford and Casemiro precisely. Those are irreplaceable. Pray to god, Eriksen becomes available soon. Any chance of him recovering early?

 

[Nicolarra90]

Please football gods... Let us win it or let us sink fast... just don't let us die on the shore...

 

[Sylar]

Reckon we would be in the title race properly if we had serious owners and got a proper number 9.

 

[ChaddyP]

Played the other two twice. We’re probably still 3rd favourites but are in it. Still with a new manager so arguably have room for growth between now and the run in.

We got like 56 points last season. Yhe turn around has been nuts. Hope we can go toe to toe with them to the end

 

[Siorac]

Please football gods... Let us win it or let us sink fast... just don't let us die on the shore...

I'd much rather 'die on the shore' than 'sink fast'. We've had our fair share of sinking over the past decade.

That said, I don't think we'll bother the top two in the end.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

In all seriousness you would have to say it is a three horse race now.

 

[Terry Kelly]

City are going to win very comfortably by the end. Good thing is that no one cares.

100% correct

 

[Rightnr]

In all seriousness you would have to say it is a three horse race now.

Disagree. It's still very much a two-horse race but one of the horses has been swapped.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Disagree. It's still very much a two-horse race but one of the horses has been swapped.

Five points between three teams after the top team dropped eight points in their last three games - I'm not saying Man Utd will win it, but they absolutely can. Arsenal play City again soon.

 

[Gazza]

Yeah, weird to just grant Arsenal 3 free points when their last three results are loss, draw, loss and they could be without Partey again.

Wouldn't be a massive surprise at all to see them get good ebeninged by a Villa side who have had all week to prepare for them.

 

[Judas]

It's a shame we don't have enough this year, it's just come probably a year too early for us. But we'll be right up there next season. Who knows what will happen to Arsenal next season, and City pushing for a 4th in a row? Would be lovely to stop that.

 

[El Zoido]

Damn that Palace draw. Should have been an easy win.

Would’ve been if we’d been given the penalty.

 

[Rightnr]

Five points between three teams after the top team dropped eight points in their last three games - I'm not saying Man Utd will win it, but they absolutely can. Arsenal play City again soon.

You got whooshed I'm afraid. I meant Arse are not in it anymore

 

[Nicolarra90]

I'd much rather 'die on the shore' than 'sink fast'. We've had our fair share of sinking over the past decade.

That said, I don't think we'll bother the top two in the end.

I know. But it's the hope that kills you.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

You got whooshed I'm afraid. I meant Arse are not in it anymore

Aaahhh... Nice one.

 

[FootballHQ]

Yeah, we'll have more games like Palace away and Leeds home, it's inevitable. The squad simply isn't there.

Leicester will be interesting test if Fred has one of his Leeds home performances, don't want to be gifting endless passes to likes of Maddison and Tielemans 30 yards out with space to run into so you will miss Casemiro. That's on top of Leicester having a free week while you'll have less than 72 hours recovery from Barca away which will be energy sapping.

Of course though if Rashform continues to be on it you can still dig out tight wins as at Leeds.

I think a good test for Man. United in next few weeks is can you go to Anfield and grind out a win against an average Liverpool side. Certainly your best chance to win there in years. If you do then certainly you can ask a few more questions to the current top 2 as the weeks go on but personally think you're in too many competitions and not like you have endless options in final third beyond the current 11.

 

[MUFC OK]

We got like 56 points last season. Yhe turn around has been nuts. Hope we can go toe to toe with them to the end

We've got a chance which is probably more than we could have asked for at this stage. Somehow put together another run like we did earlier in the season and we could be pretty much top of the league.

 

[Dominos]

Fixture congestion will see to it that we're not in the race for long. Add in the Eriksen injury and the fact Martial can't stay fit to save his life.

I'm already looking at the Leicester game next Sunday as a horrible one for example despite being a relatively kind fixture on paper. We're away to Barca on Thursday, Leicester have won their last 2 and we're making a habit out of dropping points to relegation candidates (see Leeds and Leicester).

How far we go in the cups will determine if we're anywhere close to the top.

If we somehow can keep within 5 points of the leaders for as long as possible then you never know, maybe fixture congestion will flip on it's head and City/Arsenal will be the ones playing more games in March/April/May. If we make deep runs in Europa and FA cup you can forget it.

 

[Nep77]

This is how it will be, We will get above Arsenal and city will get docked 30 points

 

[charlenefan]

I didn't see the game tonight (why the feck didn't Sky get the game instead of Amazon) but if there's one thing I've seen is neither top 2 is faultless and will drop points

We won't win it but it's definitely no longer just a two horse race

 

[MUFC OK]

This is how it will be, We will get above Arsenal and city will get docked 30 points

Imagine City docked pts in a few weeks joking aside, we have the right to believe, even as outsiders.

 

[Judas]

I didn't see the game tonight (why the feck didn't Sky get the game instead of Amazon) but if there's one thing I've seen is neither top 2 is faultless and will drop points

We won't win it but it's definitely no longer just a two horse race

Amazon had the rights to it when it was originally going to be played, they got very lucky that it ended up being one of actual importance.

 

[Red the Bear]

Funny how the Glazers could have potentially won the league in their last season in charge had they been willing to break the piggy bank come jan.

 

[Ghostrider318]

Biggest issue will be our squad depth. We need Rashford, Bruno, Shaw, Casemiro for every game to have a chance to win it. Theyve already played a LOT. Casemiro has gotten some respite due to suspensions but the other three have played pretty much every game and we seem to have little to no quality cover for them.

If only Martial could stay fit for more than a few minutes

 

[galwayfa]

Liverpool fans now backing and hoping city to win it, they complained about it last yrs

 

[ChaddyP]

Biggest issue will be our squad depth. We need Rashford, Bruno, Shaw, Casemiro for every game to have a chance to win it. Theyve already played a LOT. Casemiro has gotten some respite due to suspensions but the other three have played pretty much every game and we seem to have little to no quality cover for them.

If only Martial could stay fit for more than a few minutes

Arsenal need Ødegaard saliba Saka zinchencho and Partey every game, City need Haaland kdb rodri gundogan every game or they look lost... It's not a problem local to us alone. Every side has players where when they are out the team has a massive drop off. Trust the coach and the sports science team to do their jobs. We will be ok

 

[Loon]

Liverpool fans now backing and hoping city to win it, they complained about it last yrs

Really? Why? They feel City cheated them and they will join the elite three in a row club alongside Liverpool if they win this one.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

This is how it will be, We will get above Arsenal and city will get docked 30 points

That would be a dream scenario.

Personally, this guy gets it right about today's match between Arsenal and City.

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[Rojofiam]

We're in it again, but I sadly don't think it will last long, just like the previous 1-2 times this season...all down to fixture congestion and how thin our squad is.

 

[croadyman]

Seems like only some EtH heroics can keep this from being another league for Citeh. Reminds me a bit of us being top in January in the Covid times. Probably about the same number of games as well

Jeez just had flashback to that Calvert-Lewin injury time equaliser at Old Trafford (shudders)

 

[croadyman]

Our goal difference does effectively make it six points .

Don't know why people had a go at Gary for saying what he said about Arsenal. They're a really good team but they're still miles behind the City and Liverpool teams of the past 4 or 5 years. Yes their points tally is impressive but i'm just not convinced they have enough about them. It just wasn't good enough and City didn't even have to be at their best to win.

Yeah I class it as six too,our dire goal difference compared to other two is down to those heavy defeats at Brentford and City

 

[Josh 76]

Could be mentally tough for Arsenal to go again at Saturday lunchtime at Villa. Can imagine all the energy and focus that went into the City match. Hope Villa are up for it!

Emery will have Villa fired up. If Arsenal drop points again, it’s going to be interesting.

 

[Raw]

Yeah I class it as six too,our dire goal difference compared to other two is down to those heavy defeats at Brentford and City

Even if you take those out we'd still only be on +17 while Arsenal are on +26 and City are on +36. We just don't score enough goals. A good striker should hopefully add at least +10 on that.

 

[Sarni]

Europa will basically f**k our and Arsenal's chances to win the title. Especially Arsenal, given they've set the pace for so long and City have closed the gap before the resumption of European football.

I expect Arsenal to play a significantly weakened side in Europa, and they don’t play the round of 16 either having won their group which saves them two tough games. I don’t think it will be nearly as much of an issue for them as it will be for us if we knock Barcelona out, as we will play our strongest team in every game of the competition.

I do expect us to get beaten by Barca though.

 

[DJ_21]

Mad that arsenal let quite a big lead slip away. They even bought in January for squad depth. I hope everyone’s messaging piers Morgan right now Think we’ll finish above them.

 

[Strelok]

If we somehow win all 5 we’ll have all the momentum at the perfect time.

That's some hell of an if ...