Arsenal gripped by ‘new fear’ with trophy hopes in ‘peril’ as Spurs chase elusive Premier League title

· Football365

Fear and peril are the watchwords after Arsenal’s catastrophic season suffered another blow last night. You fear for them, you really do.

Chelsea should be STRIPPED of their last Premier League title – with Tottenham crowned instead, says Mauricio Pochettino… as he reveals Spurs DID contact him earlier this year and he WOULD have gone back even if they’d been relegated …but really what’s the point?

Even the Daily Star have decided Poch’s pronouncements are big enough to knock their staple ‘jaw-dropping WAG’ content out of top spot.

Arsenal in CRISIS

But while here at F365 we’ve been very busy mucking about with stuff that hasn’t happened thanks to Mauricio Pochettino , let it never be said we’re the only ones to over-indulge in hypothetical nonsense.

Take, for instance, this sky-falling-in panic attack from football.london prompted by <checks notes> Arsenal winning their opening Champions League game of the season to <checks notes> maintain a 100 per cent start to the season in all competitions.

> New Arsenal injury fear emerges with Premier League and Champions League hopes in peril

Yes, peril and fear definitely seem like the correct emotions to be feeling right now about the defending Premier League champions and last season’s Champions League runners-up who have, and we can’t stress this enough, won all of their matches so far this season, including games against a top-four team from last season, a local rival widely regarded as major title challengers this season, and a team that has two Serie A titles and a runner-up finish in the last four seasons.

After another Martin Odegaard masterclass , we wouldn’t quite say Tom Canton’s glass is half-empty. It’s just that what it’s half-full of is warm pss.

> He most definitely is now fit, but the concern that this game throws up is the question of what if he or others are not.

Then Arsenal would be slightly less good, as is the case for all teams when their best players are not available. And remember; the headline describes this ‘What if the best players get injured, though?!!!?’ as a new fear.

> But I cannot help but fear if any of Odegaard, Havertz, Saka or Tzolis are to suffer an injury, even just one, just how much of a drop would be experienced.

If one of those players is injured, then Arsenal would have no choice but to call upon the striker they spent £60m on just over a year ago. Or the winger they spent £50m on just over a year ago. Or the number 10 they spent £60m on just over a year ago. Or… well, you get the idea with that.

This might be the most first-world problem in first-world-problem history. Mediawatch also cannot sleep at night for worrying about what might become of Arsenal if they have to use some of their £60m substitutes for some games as a result of an injury crisis that – and we simply cannot stress this enough – hasn’t actually happened.

There’s a sensational pay-off, though, to a piece that has spent almost its entire time shtting bricks about a crisis that hasn’t happened.

> Sunderland comes next, another team, like Aston Villa, the Gunners failed to beat last season away from home. This time however, the vibe has shifted and the optimism has grown.

A shifted vibe? A grown optimism? But what about the fear, man? What about the peril?

Olympic meddle

Artfully done by The Sun, this. Although we’re not sure you can really ALL-CAP an ordinal suffix, even when the number is undeniably absurd.

> Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis sacks his 25TH manager in 16 years just seven games into club’s season

Even Mediawatch was briefly intrigued before remembering Nottingham Forest are not the only club where Mr Marinakis indulges his Main Character Energy. He’s also head honcho at Rio Ave and Olympiacos, and it is at the Greek club where he has satisfied his thirst for manager sackings.

Jose Luis Mendilibar has paid a heavy, heavy price for only winning two of the first three league games of the season on the back of a domestic treble last year as well as being the last manager of a non-English club to win one of the Thursday Euro pots back in 2024.

To be fair, it was long overdue. It had been two-and-a-half years since he’d canned an Olympiacos manager, and that is so not Marinakis rhythms.

What’s really interesting, though, is whether this is good news or bad news for Forest and Oliver Glasner. Having fed on a manager, while Marinakis now rest awhile? Or will he have a renewed taste for it?

Gala pie

Remember the supercomputer that came up with an outlandish final order for the Champions League league phase ? Yeah? With un unbeaten Galatasaray taking second place behind Real Madrid and four of England’s five teams heading into the play-off round?

Are we above noting that Galatasaray’s hopes of an unbeaten run through the league games is already over after matchday one? No, we are not.

Sabah ranks

Sniffy stuff from Samuel Luckhurst in The Sun ahead of Manchester United’s return to the Champions League for the first time in over 1000 days against Sabah tonight.

In a piece largely spent lamenting United’s wretched record in the competition since reaching three finals in four years between 2008 and 2011, Luckhurst nonetheless notes:

> This campaign marks United’s first foray into the Champions League since the format change in 2024, but they have been saddled with a tie that resembles the Europa League or Conference League.

There are two teams (and, in fairness, a day of the week) giving this fixture all the Europa vibes, fella.

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