EPL Title?

Nice one DJ: breaking it up into aim vs expectation.

Just depends where we are at each stage of the season. If we are less than 3 points behind the leaders in April then our expectations will have upgraded to winning the title.

"Are we good enough for the title or a reality check is around the corner?"

Reality check.

Our first half performances have been poor and our defence just isn't up to it. I'm hoping for improvement but I think top 4 is our goal - and it's likely to be very tough to do even that...

One game at a time is the mantra that Emery needs to keep drilling into the players' heads. The fans can think about whatever they like.

City still ahead of everyone and will probably end up winning the league with maybe 7-9 points to spare

comment by Oxtail (U18859)
posted 16 hours, 45 minutes ago
Why focus on top 4 when we are 2 points away from the top? Apart from the unfortunate loss agaisnt Chelsea, I think we’ve looked good. If we beat Liverpool, then I see no reason why we can’t keep up with City.
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Because we've played 9 league games.

Look, we are on a great run right now. But how many false dawns and anticlimactic endings have we had over the years where we *finally* thought the year had come for us to surmount a title challenge, only for the critics to be proven right again and again? Arsenal still have a lot they need to prove before being viewed as legitimate title contenders again.

As IOAG has rightly said, the players & manager cannot be thinking too far ahead. Keep going game by game and let's see where we are around Feb/March time. If we're 5 points off the top of the table at that point, I'd be very happy with that tbh.

The goal is what it always was - to get back into the Champions League for next season. Whether that's down to winning the Europa or getting into the top 4 doesn't really matter (ideally we should try and get both) so long as we can do it. It'd put us in good stead for the following season.

Tbh we have a new manager and everything he is touching at the moment is turning to gold. This isn’t Wenger in charge anymore when we know how the season will end no matter how brightly we start it, things may actually end well for us with Emery, so I think fans are entitled to get carried away because who knows how far he can take us?

That being said, City will win the league very comfortably but there are still 4 teams behind them who will be fighting for too 4 and as long as we are one of the 3 to qualify for CL, we can count this an extremely successful season. Right now we are playing way above expectations

Yep.

I'm one of the optimism Kings on this site and even I've gotta say, I need to see us play a team we're not expected to beat, again first. I'm making no judgement until next top 4 game.

That said, despite the first 2, it is nice to be back to season start streaks all the same. A fortunate fixture list has gifted Emery and the new players some much needed time to settle. True test isn't until we play a contender.

It's funny, for all the criticism the Wenger babies got early on especially, starting the season was never an issue. I think this is the first time an age balanced squad has managed a start as good as they got regularly (could be wrong).

Right now we are playing way above expectations
....
You are outperforming your expected goals for and against and points by a huge margin. You are creating far less than last season and allowing far more shots so all Emery has done is got your attackers to perform at insane levels and defence to get lucky more often or not. Amazingly you are having a lot less shots per game and allowing tons more shots but you are scoring more and not conceding much.

Conceded same amount 13 goals after 10 games as last season but you are letting far more shots and shots on target per game.

Arsenal attempted 53 shots less than last seaon and 15 less on target but scored 5 more this season. Arsenal are a bit like Burnley of last season riding high with high efficiency rather than tactics.