Rival Watch

I completely agree with Jay here, mirrors my thoughts as well. On one hand, we have to deal with the (lack of) patience and this is only exacerbated by the (social & print) media sensationalism.

Wrt Chelsea's start - good for them, but I have been saying this for weeks now - a good start is not enough to win the league. The best example from recent times was that season when United had a crazy start, only for City to catch up and clinch the title.

But coming to our position again: It's early, we are trying to get everyone fit into a system which would serve us best the whole season, we haven't been helped by injuries and a shortened preseason, we have had some avoidable draws and a horrible European night. When you compare it with the other 'Top 4/5/6' rivals, the impact is moderated ever so slightly. However, it doesn't take away the fact that we could and should be doing a bit better.

If we take a point at the Bridge with a respectable performance, I would feel a tinge more optimistic. More so if we laid the ghosts from last season to rest.

We have three games at home coming up : Soton, NLD and Gala. 3 good performances and convincing wins would set us up nice and confident for the game at the Bridge.

*Liverpool have lost only one of their last 15 Merseyside derbies in the Barclays Premier League.

*The Toffees have not won away at Liverpool in the league since September 1999 (L7 D7 since).

*Liverpool have kept only one clean sheet in their last 11 Premier League games.

My prediction:3-2 to LFC
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*Manchester United's total of five points from five games is their worst haul at this stage since 1989-90.

*Manchester United have taken 31 points from their last 11 Barclays Premier League games against West Ham.

*West Ham have netted a league-high four goals from outside the box this season

*Manchester United have conceded six penalties in their last 15 Premier League games; before this run, they hadn't conceded one in 85 PL matches.

*Man Utd have lost 10 of their last 25 Premier League home games. The previous 10 defeats came across a period of 148 games.

2-1 to Utd
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*Chelsea have scored 27 goals in their last seven Barclays Premier League home games against Aston Villa

*10 of the 13 points (from nine games) that Jose Mourinho has taken against Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League have come at Stamford Bridge.

*Chelsea have kept only one clean sheet in their last six Premier League games.

3-0 Chelsea
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*Nikica Jelavic has scored three goals in his last four Premier League appearances, after scoring three times in the previous 13.

*Frank Lampard has now scored in 18 consecutive Premier League seasons.

*Manchester City have eight points from five games; the last time they had fewer was in 2006-07 (4).

0-2 Man City
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*Three of Leonardo Ulloa's five Premier League goals this season have come within two minutes of the opposition scoring.

*After conceding only one set-piece goal under Tony Pulis, Palace have already let in five this season (excl. penalties).

0-1 Leicester

It's back

Next 4 League fixtures


Chelsea
Palaca(A)
Man Utd(A)
QPR(H)
Liverpool(A)

Man City
Spurs(H)
West Ham(A)
Man Utd(H)
QPR(A)

Man Utd
West Brom(A)
Chelsea (H)
Man City(A)
Palace(H)

Liverpool
QPR(A)
Hull(H)
Newcastle(A)
Chelsea(H)

a lot of direct clashes between them 4
we need to take full advantage pls

Anything less than 12 points in the next 4 games and we can forget about this season already.

we should be really beating this Man Utd side @Home but probably wont,argh

I have got to say the way United didn't fold against Chelsea (unlike us), we are going to lose against them unless we hurry up and get our act together.

silver wrote:I have got to say the way United didn't fold against Chelsea (unlike us), we are going to lose against them unless we hurry up and get our act together.

But but but, we lose to them anyway. Even when they were managed by almighty David Moyes.

silver wrote:I have got to say the way United didn't fold against Chelsea (unlike us), we are going to lose against them unless we hurry up and get our act together.

We couldnt even beat the Spuds at home, United will be tough and I dont think we can beat them. I dont think we can beat any top 10 teams.

Arsenal seem to always lose to Man Utd regardless how poo Utd are at the time.

We will create 10000 chances against United only to concede from a van Persie thunderstrike in the 96th minute. It is known.

urbaNRoots wrote:We will create 10000 chances against United only to concede from a van Persie shoulderstrike in the 96th minute. It is known.

Agreed

urbaNRoots wrote:We will create 10000 chances against United only to concede from a van Persie thunderstrike in the 96th minute. It is known.

That was the old Arsenal..the new Arsenal will still lose but without creating any chances.

Man if we don't beat United...

Lol Raptor you're right to be fair.

We will make 10000 passes in our third and concede from a Flamini own goal. That's more 2014-like.

All wins are good although some can still be ugly. Ours this year I classify in the ugly category. We dominate possession without really threatening. Then just as we are about to completly loose our temper we will pull a goal from seemingly nowhere. I am still waiting for that first game where we look dominate form start to finish and actually showing some progression towards consistency and better form.
My Opinion is that Wenger will go into this game almost like he is scared. He will change the formation back to 4-1-4-1. We will posses the ball for about 70% of the time. Creating several half chances although nothing truly dangerous. If manu actually put effort into attacking us (unlike Burnley) our mid field will show it's holes and be overrun at times. They will probably have the better of the chances and we will be lucky to keep a clean sheet. All while waiting for someone, most likely Alexis to create and score on his own. If we make it to half time and are not chasing the game, then we will wait until the 80th minute for Wenger to make changes to the team and hope that the subs can be a part of saving us again.

Our which set of central defenders you prefer for that match?
smalling/jones-rojo or the kids combo of mcnair-blackett ??

you can play fergie and LVG at CB and i highly doubt we will score more than 1 lol

Rojo out for 6 weeks to 3 months.


Looks like Fergie-LVG is an increasing possibility.

They'll both have worldies and keep a magnificent clean sheet.

Relevant reminder that United once beat us with a midfield four of Fabio - Gibson - O'shea - Rafael (and a midfield trio of O'Shea - Rafael - Gibson in the second half) so I don't think it matters who plays in that fixture

Because they were our most recent rival to play and now they're our next one to face.

Not that there's any excuse for our Anderlecht display - that fault is purely the Arsenal's - but the results of other English teams in the CL at least gives perspective.

Nobody's doing that well at the moment. Chelsea are a big step ahead of every other English club but even they falter when in Europe.

James Milner the striker? Manuel Pellegrini says he may deploy Manchester City's Mr Versatile in No 9 role to solve injury crisis

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini will trial James Milner as a deep-lying centre forward in training this week as he attempts to solve his club’s chronic injury crisis.

City face three matches this month without a fit striker after Edin Dzeko injured his calf before kick-off at Leicester and joined Sergio Aguero and Stevan Jovetic on the casualty list.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2873827/James-Milner-striker-Manuel-Pellegrini-says-deploy-Manchester-City-s-Mr-Versatile-No-9-role-solve-injury-crisis.html


wow was just reading that

who would have thought!!
but Milner
hope we get him for free