Arsenal

[dom]

Fair play to Newcastle last night - they came with a game plan to not concede last night and they carried it out to perfection.  Doubling up on Martinelli and Saka and flooding central areas to restrict Odegaard  worked for them to perfection.  At times it felt like they had comfortably more than 11 people on the pitch.

Arsenal should have had a penalty when Gabriel was hauled to the ground but overall Howe deserved his point.

The important thing is that this doesn't derail a wonderful season. After the cup game against Chris Q's Oxford we have the small matter of the North London Derby at WHL.  Important to get a win there!

[dom]

Comfortable win in the end but Oxford made sure we fought for it.

Worrying that we had to start with the our first choice front 3. Saka hobbling off before Spurs on Sunday wasn't a good sign.

The drop in quality from Partey and Xhaka down to Lokonga and Elneny is huge and shows how equally large the gap is between Arsenal's and Man City's squad who swatted aside Premier League Chelsea with a much changed squad with no noticeable drop in quality.

Happy with Vieira's second half performance and to see Smith Rowe on the comeback trail. Nkeitiah another bright spark. His finishing might just be better than that of Gabriel Jesus

[dom]

Feck Chelsea!

[Slim]

Eight points clear now at the top now and the Arsenal fans must be starting to believe. Will be an interesting second half of the season.

[dom]

Big and important win yesterday.  The first half was exceptional and the second showed how far the defence has improved since last season.

City still have the best squad and both they and United have much stronger strength in depth than Arsenal, so if they do win the league, it will be down to keeping the core 15 players fit and in form

[dom]

"Its between City and Arsenal for the league", United may be involved.

So nice to hear that, it's been a while!

[dom]

Marvellous! Arsenal really dominated that game in the second half and deserved the win despite the fact that United played well and really made a game of it. 50 points in 19 games is some going

[Slim]

That was a great game, I would agree that Arsenal deserved the win. I'm disappointed that United couldn't cling onto that point but it keeps the season interesting a bit longer. I still think City will end up top of the league.

[dom]

They are still favourites for me too but they're going to have to be at their brilliant best to do it

[dom]

I imagine Nkeitiah can't be too far from an England call up based on recent performances. As the all time record scorer at U21 level, he should be getting his chance with the seniors

[dom]

So a defeat to City at the Ethiad means Arsenal are out of the cup. The team held their own though at a ground where a lot of heavy reverses have happened in recent years.

Will take the 1 0 loss on the chin and look to take something off them in the league meeting in a couple of weeks

Next up though is newly appointed Sean Dyche at Goodison. I wonder what shithousery he has planned next Saturday morning.

[dom]

Jorginho?  A step down from Caicedo no doubt, but a step up from Elneny (who's injured anyway) and Lokonga.  If Arsenal win the league this May then it will have been 12 million well spent.

[dom]

Didn't see much of the game yesterday. Was out on the bike and got back for half time. Then the dog had a grooming session poorly organised for 2pm. I did manage to see the Everton goal. Essentially though, I'm in denial and as I didn't see it, it didn't happen.

That disappointment has been tempered somewhat by Spurs beating City. Strange, uncomfortable feeling wanting Spurs to win, but delighted they came up trumps.

Hopefully Arsenal can return to winning ways next weekend against Brentford

[dom]

Tough run at the moment, 1 point from 3 games has really opened the door for City and potentially United too.  We really must respond with a win with 2 trips to the Midlands in the next 2 games, Villa and Leicester.

Arsenal played some excellent football last night and the team were on a par or ahead of City for much of the game.  2 mistakes, 1 of them hideous, really decided the game last night.  Need to cut that sort of stuff out.

[Slim]

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