Bellingham looking good value to me at £130 million!

Of course he wouldn’t be interested in Arsenal so I would settle for Rice.

I want the old Arteta back, the one where he was acting demented on the touch line, he was getting more a tune out of them then, seems he's had his wings clipped by the criticism of that, doesn't look as confident as he did, almost as if the City fixture looming is having some kind of negative affect, a bit like Newcastle's form leading up to the Cup final. We're throwing this away atm whilst City have hit top gear.

*down to

I had a feeling all along it would come down to the 26th. A young team is dumb and arrogant enough to think they can beat the best team in England, Europe and the World and imho they can if they play without fear and the ignorance and arrogance of yute

Saw Keane on Sky saying that if we didn't win the league it would be a disastrous season for us. I don't agree, it's a massive overachievement regardless.

If you look at PL history, I think only Leicester and Man City the first time have won it without having either won the league before or losing a title race in the prev season or two. In Leicester's case a team like that had to win it and in City's case they were handed a lifeline by United drawing 4-4 at home to Everton after being 4-2 up with 7 mins left and they still did their best to lose it on the last day. You could say Wenger's first Arsenal side too but they had Graham's backline who had all won it before.

Nearly every team has also had a top notch holding midfielder sitting in front of the defence btw.

Artea.. super high intensity style of playing and training could finally be taking a toll on these young players. Definitely signs of tiring physically and mentally in the last two games..  Just a theory..

Lots of chat about the next 2 big games coming (Man City and Newcastle)... Personally have a feeling Chelsea will be ready to upset the apple cart too..

Anyway at the end of the day, you guys have had a great season (Nice try btw) and youre going to play with the big boys in the Champions League..

ffs. Spending 230+ days at the top of the table but then failing to win it would be disastrous. There's no other way to spin it. You may not get a chance like this again to win it (when most of the other big teams have an off season). Some people say Spurs choked in 2015-2016 but they didn't spend one minute at the top of the table that season.

Not a disaster at all. The team has matured. We should not be contenders with the squad we have. We don't have a great defence or superb midfield. The front four have excelled and the rest pulled their socks up with the addition and attitude shown them by Jesus and Zinch. They have confidence and arrogance the latter though is sadly lacking in the last two games.

Sadly sometimes you only get one shot at the title and this is their shot. Cannot for the life of me see it being any easier next year. If they cannot build on this with at least one kwality signing they will be playing for top four next season and cups. They will not be contenders mind you they were not even top 4 contenders at the start of the season but neither were Newcastle or Brighton!

Its not disastrous, its possibly a disappointment for a football team and its fans. Disastrous is what is happening in Ukraine.

Not much of a down season for City if they end up with 94 points, which looks possible and Arsenal have capitalised over teams like Man Utd/Spurs/Liverpool under achieving this season.

I know the truth hurts, but Spurs have consistently found ways of failing in the Premier League for the past 10 years, despite an excellent squad with some world class players. Most of those seasons when they have finished above Arsenal (with a much inferior squad), it has only been by a few points. Spurs players were stupid to allow Chelsea players to get them into a brawl when two up instead of concentrating on the game and it ended their title challenge 2015/16. Spurs choked without a doubt in the Champions League final they had fluked their way to in 2018/19.

Sometimes the progress doesn’t continue. 95/96 Newcastle played above expectations, should’ve won the prem but lost out to a rival with a bigger squad and more experience of winning. Taken them a long time to mount a challenge again.

The way to improve this side is by buying where needed and the best kwality available. I would blow the budget on the right centre mid and hope the youngsters come through in other positions.

tbf Trossard was a good addition and Jorginho good cover at the price but really we need better than we have got.

At worst it might be a disastrous finish, but never a disastrous season. I wouldn't expect us to get it over the line from here but it is still in our own hands at the same time. The disappointing/baffling thing is the last two games seem to have stemmed from complacency primarily rather than bottling it and the signs were there before it went south in both games.

We will strengthen and there is reason to assume progress can be made, not something I would have said at the end of last season or before. Doubt we will be able to sign players as good a fit as Jesus and Zinch tho - they would know how Arteta wants to play better than some of the players who've been there since he started. City won't be making that mistake again either.

People don't say Spurs choked the league. They say they choked the chance to finish above Arsenal for the first time in 20+ years.

I'd also say City are the only team a level above Arsenal for the Champion's League, so could go into that with a realistic prospect of a deep run for the first time since 2008.

Real, PSG, Bayern are better but declining, and Arsenal would have a 40% chance v them I'd say. Wouldn't expect a late Wenger 2-9 on aggregate embarrassment this time.

Arsenal have had some bad luck this season, Lee Mason inexplicably 'forgetting to draw a line' cost us a win, guy is from Greater Manchester doing a Manchester team a favour, the City game at home being postponed at a time when we'd won 10 from 11, looked more confident and formidable than we do now, and all to fulfil a Europa game nobody cared about and didn't serve us any purpose in the end, also fell to new manager syndrome with the loss at Everton, we'd have beaten an Everton team with Lampard still in charge.

I think Liverpool and Chelsea will both be real forces next season, this season feels like a hangover season for Klopp's side given they played every game possible last year and ran out of gas, Liverpool only really need 2-3 midfielders with legs to get going again, getting rid of the likes of Fabinho and injury prone Tiago. The penny will drop with Boehly that he's acquired too many players and the new manager will probably trim it down by farming players off on loan, a manager like Enrique wont have them lingering below the poverty line (4th) like Potter and Lampard. I don't rate United that highly at all, the praise they've had is way over the top, feels all a bit one trick ponyish, soak up pressure, give up possession, counter attack by getting it out wide to speedsters. Unless they sign Kane, it'll be a 4 way battle for the league next year.

I said at the time Arsenal should have played City in October.

It was not bad luck, it was Arsenal's decision to play the Diddy Cup game when they could have forfeited.

Martinelli signed his new contract in Feb, Saka has reportedly been verbally agreed and will sign soon, Odegaard has 2 years left and already talk of extending.

Holding is the main problem with the defence. He is a serious step down in a number of ways from Saliba. Rotation is injury enforced and the cause of the problem there, not the answer to it.

I don't think a lack of rotation in other areas is the root cause either. They are still going out and getting into match winning positions early on and then there's a noticeable drop in desire to score a third. After the West Ham game Arteta actually mentioned this but during the game he didn't seem to do much to correct it. It results in the opposition being invited to attack a defence with Holding in it.

Somewhat baffling but it is happening before HT, so fatigue etc is not the root cause of it but it may be affecting the team later in the match. Saka looks like he could do with a rest. Trossard should be used a lot more. But prob not possible for Arsenal to rotate players more and maintain a 90+ points level, unlike City. City have a squad built to win the PL and CL. Arsenal don't even have one built to win the PL yet.

Poss WD. There's usually a hierarchy though and Arsenal aren't quite at the top table. It's obvious that the top players will have their agents frothing at how much they could earn, either in a new deal or elsewhere. That's just how it is. My hunch (for a while) is that City will make a play for Odegaard. Seems a long term replacement for De Bruyne, and a real Pep player. Not saying he'll definitely go, but just as we lost Torres, Suarez, Coutinho, Sterling etc when looking well placed to kick on, it happens elsewhere too. Players are constantly told they have a very short career and need to make the most of it. The key is to be one step ahead and know what to do if you do lose one of those big players.

lfc perhaps you can help me because I am not sure what the difference is between disappointment and disaster.

You are a wise old sage and no doubt by now on the IPA, the elixir of truth. Please enlighten me.

Listen to talk sport. If Arsenal don't win the title will the season be a failure?

Does the Worlds second best heart surgeon think he is a failure?

Football fans imho are generally thick and parrot phrases they hear on tv and radio like " there was contact ". WTF does that mean?

Arsenal's season being a disaster? After the last few years while being extremely disappointed after the last two games there is light!

There may be some over egging going on here over some petty non-issue points... Relax guys.