While their win streak stopped after last week's draw with Palace, Arsenal are clearly in bullish territory after winning 7 straight following the loss at Chelsea. Despite some initial pangs of nervousness it looks like the Emery way is taking hold among his players, with Iwobi and Ozil in particularly scintillating form. This is all good preparation for the real test that is Liverpool's visit tomorrow, with the Reds in joint-first place having still not lost. And as the dying years of the Arsene-era made clear, the club's recent DNA has been amazingly lackluster when it comes to top-six fixtures, and getting a result here would be a huge boost to the new coach's stature. Naturally Klopp's team have no desire to let City get away even a bit, which should result in the furious attacks we have gotten used to

EPL
Saturday, November 3
AFC Bournemouth v Manchester United 7:30 AM CT
Cardiff City v Leicester City 10:00 AM
Everton v Brighton & Hove Albion 10:00 AM
Newcastle United v Watford 10:00 AM
West Ham United v Burnley 10:00 AM
Arsenal v Liverpool 12:30 PM
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur 2:45 PM
Sunday, November 4
Manchester City v Southampton 9:00 AM
Chelsea v Crystal Palace 10:00 AM
Monday, November 5
Huddersfield Town v Fulham 2:00 PM

https://streamable.com/3e86y

team couldve folded but they pressed on and on for a winner in a tricky away match.

especially after the players pissed down their legs for the first 30 mins until mourinho got them back right.

like, on a philosophical level from match to match

its like they just throw 11 dudes out there and see what happens

...is a perfectly valid approach.

Coherent systems and philosophies are overrated.

hoo boy Cardiff just cleared a sure goal off the line by using an arm.

Should have been a red and a PK.

https://twitter.com/sjorsvveen/status/1058737601304322049

We will talk about it, top 5 18 yold attacker in the world, right today. Honestly good enough to be getting a lot of minutes for Arsenal, but I'm glad he's in Germany this year

Lyon with 11 players, Hoffenheim with 10, score 2-0. Reiss enters. Final result 2-2.

Not feeling great. Although maybe last game was the beginning of Mo breaking out of his slump.

:/

Mustafi is such a walking disaster waiting to happen. Would have been nice to get a goal but obviously lucky over that office call and vdyke screwing up his chances

He’s never played this many games on the first team and this was his highest stress test

Our lack of defensive talent notwithstanding, we played well

Definitely encouraged by the performance going forward.

Needed a 2nd goal.

Our weak link was certainly Leno today but that’s expected considering his lack of first
team play and this being his biggest test. However, the team played well together - some really good movement going forward, the backline + Torreira held their positional discipline and nerve (esp Holding).

LFC is transitioning to a diamond with less of a press while we’re transitioning to Emery’s press and discipline. Enjoying the process thus far, can’t wait to see where this goes.

These two teams aren't really playing in the same league:

https://twitter.com/davrannn/status/1059108013938823168

I mean, we should have never been in that position against Rayo, but to get 2 goals in 4 minutes to win it! Goddamn!
Good to see Suarez scoring too. He's been getting a lot of shit (pre-Clasico), but his form was actually really good. His faints, dummies, and passes have been crucial for us all year even though he wasn't scoring. And they're talking about Leo being back for Inter on Tuesday?! That HGH, I tell ya.

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they've fallen behind chelsea in the XG table too. they'll qualify for CL and end up with around 85 points, but they're not going to seriously challenge City.

but to say a 2-point gap in november makes it a wrap is a bit silly. city's 1-0 win v spurs and their draw v liverpool are more indicative of the challenge at the top of the table than a thrashing of soton.

likewise, chelsea's 2-2 draw with mu and draw with liverpool. if liverpool is within 2 points and winning CL games while not firing on all cylinders and this is city's peak, i like our chances. but the margin for error is tiny for everyone in the top 4 right now.

The post seems to come from a place of anti-Liverpool snark: "haha! They're not that good!"

And fair enough. That's good hate. But the logical implication of that position...

>they've fallen behind chelsea in the XG table too. they'll
>qualify for CL and end up with around 85 points, but they're
>not going to seriously challenge City.

...is that City don't actually have Liverpool as a serious challenger for the title, and that Chelsea notwithstanding, the chip goes to City again.

And that's to be celebrated why?

I mean, you'd think that as an EPL fan, what you'd want—what would be ideal—is a tight three-way race all the way through April, with LFC, MC, and Chelsea all within a point or two of each other the whole season. But what this post implies is that you see City wrapping it up by Christmas.

Strange.

This was supposed to be Spurs time, but everyone's fawning over Klopp because he's smart and funny, and that all they have to do is splash the cash smartly and they're right back to where they were in the Thatcher years, challenging for titles again. While Spurs continue to be the almosts. (not like I can talk. I'm sitting here hoping that Villa can get promoted at the third time of asking, when it wasn't long ago we were sparring with Spurs for the "best of the rest" title).

but LFC is also the 2nd best team until proven otherwise.

Although I do deeply appreciate your total obsession with xG and a sample size of 11 matches.

And if LFC not winning a title makes you feel better as a Spurs fan, I'm not going to stop you.

Dean Smith: "Yeah, I thought we were average today."

I love having an actual football manager at this club.

Looking at his ongoing learning curve: https://theinjuryinsight.com/dissecting-play-afc-vs-lfc-11-3-18/

fair score at HT IMO, we pressed high and pushed on their sides relentlessly. Amazing how well Neymar distributes the game despite taking those goofy long pauses

Basically take the most reliable championship machine in modern futbol and add a very much not-washed Cristiano Ronaldo to it. That's pretty much it in one sentence, but to go further, their only real losses coming in were Buffon retiring to PSG and Higuain in the Bonucci trade. Woj and Mandzukic have been fine replacements. And then they go minimum of 2 deep at every other position, with guys like Dybala, Pjanic, Chiellini, Dougie Costa, Cuadrado being world class or pretty close to it. With young guns like Betancur and Fede Bernadeschi as well. Just absurd.

Serie A is probably as competitive this year as it has been in recent memory and Juve will probably still clinch it 6-8 weeks out. The only validation for them remaining is taking the CL. And they certainly have as good a shot as any.

Fuck them in their fat fucking ass.

i knew we could get something off them because they're too obsessed with controlling the game without purpose. even when they completely dominate they still only win like 2-0 or 3-0 max usually.

they need to create way more opportunities for ronaldo/dybala and throw everything at the wall offensively.

rashford needs to work on the finishing.

They blew some beautiful chances early.