STOP CELEBRATING - IT'S ONLY THE PREMIER LEAGUE!

Arsenal are riding the crest of a wave at the moment, playing with complete unity and sitting pretty at the top of the league after earning maximum points in their first 4 games. However, move along, nothing to celebrate here!

You see, Arsenal have not played anyone yet. Our fantastic second half comeback on Saturday was only against Fulham. And the fans should not have celebrated the win either, should have politely clapped and said ‘bravo’ or something along those lines.

Ridiculous isn’t it?

The fact that Arsenal are showing real promise, and the fans creating an atmosphere never before experienced at The Emirates is rattling people like we could never had imagined. Only this morning I read Garth Crooks BBC team of the week article. He was obviously forced with gritted teeth to add Odegaard into his team. However forget finding out what Garth thought of his latest fantastic performance, which he described as being merely ‘fine’, because he spent the entire column saying how angry he was with Arteta for some insignificant incident that allegedly occurred during the match concerning him not giving the ball back to a player, and even stooping so low to make a snide remark about him not winning titles like Bertie Mee! Absolutely desperate reporting that would suit a school playground more than a BBC article.

This accusation that is thrown at Arsenal is nothing new. Not too long ago under Emery Arsenal had an unbeaten run of 22 games. This by any standards is commendable. But no not for The Arsenal, as we had not played any decent teams apparently. Instead it was deemed that any praise would have to wait until we played Liverpool or Man City! It is like you climbing the three peaks but being told it was no achievement as it did not include Mount Everest!

So lets break down this ludicrous situation. On the basis that we have played Crystal Palace and Fulham, the former giving the champions a fright this weekend and the latter drawing with Liverpool on the opening day, and the notion that apparently ‘we have not played anyone yet’, it would be safe to say that the entire league apart from the top six would therefore come into that bracket. On the basis of this logic Arsenal could (and obviously should – clearly), win 28 matches securing 84 points which would be 2 shy of Manchester City’s total points in the 2020/21 title win, but be cast aside as a team that had not played anyone! However not winning them would mean we are failing again. We are basically in a no win position.

Then we have the situation of the celebration police out in full force. We have all just lived through a terrible two years, and even now the news channels are so depressing. What on earth is wrong with people taking 2 hours out to have some respite from all of this and enjoy themselves. There are not many things better as a football fan than to celebrate a goal, let alone a late winner or equaliser. Stop with this nonsense of trying to pour cold water over this, and allow fans (and players of course) to express themselves and their enjoyment of the sport they love!

So we move on and play another ‘its only Aston Villa’ this week. You just know the hacks are sharpening their crayons just waiting for us to slip up. I’m sure the players are too focused to worry about this however and again will be ready to do battle. It will be very interesting to see the starting line up. I thought Elneny was absolutely fantastic on Saturday however will most likely give way for Partay if fit. However it is not so clear with the Tierney / Zinchenko situation. Over to you Arteta, you are the boss! A lovely problem to have though eh?

Aston Villa will come out fighting, they are experiencing one of their worst starts in their history, and face Manchester City next. Gerrard is under pressure and will be doing his best to have his team in the best frame of mind. We have enough to cope and with home advantage a magical 5 wins is definitely on the cards. How amazing would that be?

REF WATCH

Not a bumper issue this week. There were some contentious decisions though. The ‘if it was Xhaka’ moment definitely goes to Haaland who managed to kick a defenders head as his foot was so high. Players have been sent off for this before. However VAR was not used and he was not even booked!

And then in the same match at 2-0 down Ederson clearly rolls the ball out only to be intercepted allowing Ayew to finish. However it was immediately disallowed as the referee deemed the ball was still in the keepers control. Footage does not support this, so again why was VAR not used?

So this week we play Aston Villa and have the possibility of further activity in the transfer window before the deadline closes. Lets hope its another great week.

Thanks again for reading, and you subscribing would be much appreciated.

Speak soon – Up The Gunners!

Rob