re: Arsenal 2013/2014 Season Long Thread

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3rd is still attainable

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I just don't see how 3rd place is still a possibility after what happened today. Liverpool will be 5 points clear of us in 3rd place after they destroy Sunderland tomorrow, and there is just no way that we will be 6 points better off than Liverpool over our last 7 games to be able to come 3rd. Losing to teams like Liverpool and Chelsea is one thing, but not being able to beat these teams like Stoke and Swansea is what has us now fighting just to get 4th place and stay in the Champions League for next season!

And anybody who thinks that we're still not in trouble of finishing 5th is kidding themselves.

Some might look at the league table and see that we are 6 points clear of Everton and 7 points clear of Tottenham and think that we're fine. But when you consider that we're likely to lose to Manchester City and Everton are likely to win at Fulham this weekend, that gap quickly shrinks to 3 points. Then when you consider Everton have a game in hand at home against Crystal Palace, then they are right there even with us with a win in that game. The bottom line is if we lose at Everton in 2 weeks time, we will be fighting for our lives just to get 4th in the end.

The positive to all of this is what Arsenal have left and what Everton have left after we play each other.

Arsenal: West Ham (H), Hull City (A), Newcastle (H), West Brom (H), Norwich City (A)

Everton: Sunderland (A), Crystal Palace (H), Manchester United (H), Southampton (A), Manchester City (H), Hull City (A)

Arsenal have by far the easier run in of the two teams, so I'm still fairly confident of a Top 4 finish. You can never assume a win in any game based on our current form, but those are 5 games we should be winning. 15 points from those 5 games puts us at 78 points in the end. There is no way in hell that 78 points misses out on the Top 4 and the Champions League for next season.

This is what I'm hoping anyway. Still a long way to go. It's just a shame that Arsenal are in this precarious position because of our own self-inflicted wounds this season.