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When a team aspires to compete for the league title, usually the first half of the season sees them ‘in the lab.’ The rhythm of the fixture list is very different before New Year with European group stage games, early rounds of the League Cup and the persistent international breaks fracturing the flow of the early season.
New signings can take some time to bed in- think back to this time last year when a lot of Arsenal fans were sucking their teeth and craning their necks to justify the respective outlays on David Raya and Kai Havertz. Fast forward a few months and consensus had formed on the importance of both players. It took a little time.
This season so far, Arsenal have been disturbed by injuries to key players and have dropped points three times in the league now, on each occasion when they have gone down to 10 men. Arsenal were beating Brighton and Manchester City at the time their red cards were issued and drew both games, they were level with Bournemouth when Saliba received his marching orders and lost.
It hasn’t been plain sailing so far but title winning campaigns rarely are. In the autumn of 2001, Arsenal drew at home to Bolton and Blackburn and lost at home to Leeds and Newcastle before Christmas before righting the ship. On Christmas Day 2003, they were 3rd in the table and went on to win the title by 10 points. On Christmas Day 1997 they were sixth but won the title with two games to spare.
Things are a little different in the debatably conceived Manchester City era, admittedly. But City seem to face questions every autumn which Guardiola manages to answer in the second half of the season. In the first half, it’s all about staying in touch while you iron the wrinkles. But here are three questions I have as we head towards the ‘second quarter’ of the season.
What will a Rice, Merino and Odegaard midfield look like?
Given how heavily Arsenal prioritised the signing of Mikel Merino this summer and the likelihood that Jorginho and Thomas…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/10/the-second-quarter/
Author : Tim Stillman
Publish date : 2024-10-24 12:00:51
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