Chelsea

They beat United and Everton 4-0 and 5-0. At Stamford Bridge but still.

Look there is still every possibility Chelsea will fumble the League, but when teams are this solid early on that is usually a good sign.

But maybe that will make the story all the better when we clinch the league on the last day while they choke at Sunderland who also as a result stave off relegation :welbeck:

Exactly. Iā€™m quite an optimist so Iā€™ll be hopeful for an Arsenal league title until itā€™s mathematically impossible. But at the moment itā€™s hard to look past Chelsea - there is no evidence to suggest theyā€™ll slip up, quite the opposite in fact.

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Ha yeah, suppose Sunderland could always do a Newcastle. I reckon that game will be irrelevant for both teams though.

It is so so so easy for them though isnt it, they have no extra games in Europe, i think we would be doing so much better if we were afforded the rest they are having (but mind you this is Arsenal so who knows) but it is easy to be convincing when you are playing 1 game a week instead of 3ā€¦this is where i feel there is a massive problem when you have a powerful team with no distractions is kinda makes the leagues unbalanced!

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Theyā€™ve won the League whilst being in the CL two years ago. Stop making it about them not having to deal with Champions League.

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I bet you the manager and players would love to be in the CL this season aswell!

i wasnt saying that though was I. All i am saying is that when there are less games to focus on you can stay more fresh and get on a better run without fatigue etc, no on can say that it has not been favourable to them.

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3 of their last 5 wins 1-0.

The 4th win in that stretch was the 3-1 win at City with De Bruyne missing a golden sitter to make it 2-0 and perhaps game over.

Fuck sticks!

Conte won his first league with Juventus in 2012 when they were not in Europe.

They are making great use of not being Europe this season. Theyve only got the domestic cups to consider which for me makes them shit hot favourites now for the title. Only a major injury to both Costa and Hazard will prevent.

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Sorry but this is just ridiculous. If weā€™re playing three theyā€™re playing two, otherwise weā€™re playing two theyā€™re playing one. Europe has added six extra games to date spread out over three months. Its not as big a deal as people make out.

Its only the latter stages of Europe when the games are basically happening every week that it comes into play. And we generally donā€™t have to worry about that.

The lack of rotation from wenger hasnā€™t helped dealing with the fixture pill up one bit.

One of wengerā€™s biggest crime over the last couple of seasons has been over playing talented members of the squad which in turn resulted in mainly injuries and jaded performances.

Ozil talked recently about the importance of rest and how the lack of winter break is detrimental in the business end of the season. We should be able to manage results without Ozil and Alexis.

What rotation did you want? He played the winning team that won against Stoke. Ozil, Theo, and Oxlade all had good games. Then they fell off the face of the Earth midweek.

Ozil just had a full international break off, he canā€™t play twice in 3 days but the likes of Alexis, Coquelin, Xhaka, Koscielny, Bellerin, and Nacho can?

No excuse for Ozil, Ox, and Theo to play THAT poor, none at all.

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The type of rotation I want is one where Alexis and Ozil especially arenā€™t exerted against opposition where we could easily manage a result against without them.

Iā€™d go as far as granting both a faux winter break so they approach the bussiness end of the season renewed vigor. The aim is to reduce their level of fatigue so they donā€™t burn out or suffer muscle injuries later on in the season.

I want intelligent management of the entire squad considering our fitness issues have disrupted our title challenges. Weā€™ve already lost Santi due to a poor rotation policy where Elneny was ignored.

Cazorla I will 100% agree with you. Heā€™s been injured quite a bit and up in age, asking him to play 3 times in a week was ludicrous and it bit Arsene pretty bad.

Now on the point of not needing Alexis or Ozil to easily manage a result against lesser oppositionā€¦He did that in the league cup against Southampton, and we saw the dividends it paid against West Ham, and again Ozil had a full break on the last international break unlike Alexis.

Everton, despite poor form, arenā€™t a team to easily manage a result, they were and still are unbeaten at home, the team went up 1-0, that and a chance to go top should be more than enough to see that game out.

After the City match itā€™s a decent 7 day break until Boxing Day. Rest is happening, and if anyone deserves and needs a rest, itā€™s Koscielny.

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Rotation is great in theory, however, despite our depth it isnā€™t really quality is it?

Iā€™d feel a little squeamish rotating the squad with the options we have tbh.

Itā€™s not all doom and gloom but thereā€™s quite a few bodies who arenā€™t quite good enough or simply donā€™t fit the only formation we utilise which is ultimately down to the manager.

A reason as to why we always damn near kill our star players every season is because we donā€™t have a discernible style of play and rely more on individual brilliance than cohesion and organisation, so canā€™t afford to take one of them out as weā€™d look dire more often than not.

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I feel like the problem/solution is preparation rather than rotation. Top footballers always are going to play 45-50 games a season.

We should.

The performance that 11 served up in the league cup game is a prime example which highlights the negative effect of little rotation within the squad actually.

I donā€™t know how you can expect an 11 of mostly back ups to play with any semblance of cohesion, organization or consistency in style. The disparity between the regular unrotated 11 and the rest of the squad grows because the rest of the squad havenā€™t been exposed to more football, in order to build up their match sharpness, during the course of the season as part of a sensible rotation policy. It why you have a guys like Gab come into the side and he instantly looks unsteady and suspect from the start.

Itā€™s not really about rest per se itā€™s about the reduction and combating of fatigue in our most important players particularly Ozil and Sanchez.