S-Clarke

No harm in having a Christmas wish or a belief whilst we are there or there abouts! I think the league will even it's self out a bit by the end of Jan though and there will be the normal gaps developing.

I think we are/were hoping Moussa was the 'new mane', but sadly he's not a threat in the goal sense yet. I'm glad to see he's getting a run in the side now, but he's still not nailed down a place here despite being in his 2nd season. Need to start seeing much more from him now really.

Brighton, once again, not winning after having most of the ball. They just have no cutting edge what so ever.

I was also confused as to why that penalty wasn't re-checked, but there we go. As I said in the other post, I'd have taken a point all night long. I didn't see us winning tonight because I didn't see Arsenal losing 5 or whatever on the bounce at home, they've still got good players and I couldn't see them let that happen - and they didn't. We didn't really go for their throats after 30 mins and we did sit back a bit, bit tippy tappy in the 2nd half - but they basically threw two banks of 4 in front of us, very compacted through the middle and our inverted winger idea wasn't really working. We did get in behind them a couple of times, but we needed to do it more - that's how you get around that kind of 4-4 block. Never mind, take the point and go. Shame the next one is against City, but we did them last year.

I saw this result coming a mile off to be honest. They weren't going to lose 5 or 6 on the bounce, they're too professional for that. We didn't really go for the throat, but they defended well and blocked the space well in the 2nd half particular. But I'll take the point and go, I didn't think we'd ever get more than that tonight.

Personally, I think it will be hugely unlikely a team the size of Arsenal to lose 6 on the bounce. They have some good international level players in that group, so that's why I'd personally be happy enough with a draw, because I don't think it's going to be as easy as some are suggesting. They are certainly in a massively false position. Hopefully the team prove that wrong and we just put them to bed, but we'll see.

London set to go into Tier 3 - no fans at the Emirates? Although I don't think there were any there yesterday, just a few cardboard cut-outs.

Absolutely! Talk about instant karma. On a serious note, what an absolutely diabolical footballer he is. How on earth is he earning a living at the top level? (I include international football in that) There are players in L2 of a better standard then him.

Brighton are pointless. Pass, move it well through the middle, but as blunt as anything you'll ever find. They are in big, big trouble unless they add something in January.

Nervous for this one now, a club the size of Arsenal loosing 5 on the trot at home? Very unlikely I'd have thought, but stranger things have happened. They won't look as bad on Wednesday, they can't. And they'll have Xhaka missing and that's actually a huge bonus for them, that will only improve them. Really no idea what to expect.

Fulham have got something about them, hope they stay up at the expense of Burnley. The delight of Burnley trying to play 'football' coming up next.

Surely Julian Nagelsmann should be high up on their list?

That was so, so , so easy. We didn't even have to break sweat really. But we did what was needed and got ourselves 3 goals to further boost our GD into the positive zone. Nothing really went wrong at all today, everything executed to perfection. When Vestergaard has time on the ball he is able to make the game look incredibly easy and can end up strolling it. Sheffield United need to start planning for the Championship as they are all but gone.

I cannot see West Brom, Sheff U staying up. I think they're gone already and they might as well start planning for the championship. Last spot is between Fulham and Burnley for me. Fulham have a bit more about them, so hopefully Burnley go - as they bring absolutely sod all to this league.

Yeah he was, I think he was on loan there? Didn't rip up any trees. Then went to Spain and Valencia and became a bit of a special player for them. Maybe he's just not suited to this league.

They are a bottom half side (At the moment), with a genuine foundation to build upon. Agree, the hype at the start around them was silly (I even saw some comparing them to Leicester's title win). Whilst they are fun to watch, defensively they are pretty diabolical - from open play and set pieces. Easy to score against them, just need to take your chances - you will get plenty against them every game. If the goals dry up for Bamford (which they are doing, as he's pretty limited...he had a bit of a purple patch) they will get sucked down the table. They need Rodrigo to start settling in and popping up with some goals.

They've both been close to signing for months! I'm nervous that Ralph keeps coming out with his statements - kind of like asking him to stay, which doesn't sound like Ings has made his mind up in any way.

It's been an incredible run really, credit to everyone. It's just a shame this hasn't run over an entire season, because our finishing positions aren't being reflected in our form. Can we extend this form to 50 odd games....? That's the big ask. You get no real plaudits going on runs at the end of a season and the start of the next if you start falling away at the end. We've clearly become a decent PL team again though, not a fly by night purple patch. Definitely no risk of relegation, first time I can say that with confidence in a good few years. We won't be anywhere near.

If that had gone against us you'd be raging. Absolutely not something VAR should be getting involved in.

First Monday night win since 2002?

I will say though, Brighton confirmed what I've thought about them this season. Well coached, decent tactically, move the ball well through the middle thirds - but completely and utterly toothless.

😀. It's all in the 'e'

We did not deserve that at all! First half in particular one to forget, 2nd half...if anything, we kept the ball a little better and were less sloppy when we did have it. Moved it a bit quicker, and sprayed it down the flanks (how you get in behind teams with 3 CB's). We were a lot more gritty as well. For me, VAR doesn't keen need to get involved in those sorts of calls. It wasn't clear an obvious, it was impossible to say if it was inside our outside the box...just let the ref judge it on the field of play. Obviously we got a pen from it, but from my pure honest assessment this is where VAR is going wrong. On-wards to Saturday, let's hope we get a better performance for the entire game.

Ings on, Moussa off.

Brighton are condensing it well, they are a well coached team. 3 at the back isn't easy for our formation either, we usually have a spare man - from either flank, or one of the two up top...but they're all covered by Brighton players, so we have little to no space. So credit to Brighton in that aspect, but we need to keep the ball better and move it quicker - that will open the space. At the moment it's all being played in front of Brighton (when we have it) and they are set in their shape, it'll be impossible to get anything if it carries on like that.