The top four over the last few seasons has come under intense pressure from the ‘lesser’ teams; firstly there was Aston Villa attempting to ruin the party, then eventually Tottenham Hotspur ousted Liverpool and got a taste of Champions League football and this season the Lilywhites missed out to Manchester City. Already, speculation has begun on who will be next season’s top four, especially as Arsenal appear to be getting weaker with each season that passes. This season, I think the Gunners became the first team ever to finish fourth in a two horse race! Liverpool‘s new found resurgence saw them very nearly break back into the top four, after a horrendous beginning to this season under Roy Hodgson. Everything is in place at Anfield for a very successful 2011/12 season, starting with reclaiming their Champions League berth from Arsenal, and this is why (in this humble writer’s opinion).
- Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri want to leave, and both players are exceptional talents, with Nasri taking the Spaniard’s mantle as Arsenal’s main star whilst the Spaniard sent flirty text messages to Pique from the treatment room. Both players’ decisions to openly state that they would happily leave Arsenal shows how little faith they have in the Gunners ability to challenge for the major honours; losing two influential players will rock Arsenal and no wonder kid signing from France can help fill the void or maintain their Champions League status.
- Phil Jones, Jordan Henderson and, erm, Carl Jenkinson: not hard to work out who Arsenal signed is it? As Liverpool continue splashing the cash despite spending nearly £60 million on two signings in January, Arsene Wenger maintains his usual transfer policy despite all his promises that Arsenal will spend big in the transfer market. With very little happening at the Emirates and everything happening on Merseyside, Liverpool are very much a team preparing for Champions League qualification next season.
- Belief is a huge part of achieving success in football and no matter what Liverpool and their fans have always believed, their club can achieve greatness and reclaim the glory days of the ’80s. Nothing has changed this season, and next season the belief will no doubt get stronger. It’s a different story over in North London; with players clearly displaying lack of belief on the pitch, the fans are quite rightly loathing their team’s performances and now many are questioning Arsene Wenger, Le Professeur, himself. Arsenal are a team heading for turmoil if they aren’t careful; missing out on Champions League football could be the least of their worries.
- Arsenal shareholder Stan Kroenke has recently improved his stake in the club and has announced he intends to invest in the club, yet the Gunners’ board over the past few seasons has yet to show any signs of following this kind of ethos, and the fans will of course be reluctant to naïvely swallow this up. Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group, on the other hand, have already invested heavily in the squad and the club set-up. But this is not all about financial investment, the American group has had great success with their innovation in sports management and was recently named one of the top 10 most innovative companies in sports by Fast Company, a renowned American journalism group.
Written by Daniel Blazer for FootballFancast.com.
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4th that.
liverpool and spurs both spent way more money on players than arsenal and they both finished below arsenal and this isn’t the first time its happened. suddenly because kenny dalglish liverpool suddenly appear to be better than arsenal. we’ll i find it amusing how people would suggest that they will replace arsenal. they will defintely be contenders for 4th spot but i doubt they will get it. espicially as arsenal had an awful season and spurs couldn’t even capitalize on it.
Hmm…. Phil Jones was signed by United, so not sure why you brought him up, and Jordan Henderson is grossly over-valued at £20m. It wouldn’t surprise me one iota, considering Wenger’s kanck at unearthing young gems, that his signing you scoff at proves to be far more shrewd than spanking £20m on Henderson. Nasri won’t leave, nor probably will Fabregas. Even if they do, their squad (and Spurs’) is better than Liverpool’s. They’ve lost their best striker, Gerrard has peaked, Carragher is now awful, they keep signing very average players with the exception of Suarez. Liverpool to finish 6th.
I hear the same old arseanal fans dribble out the side of their mouths… ‘No other teams got a chance, no other teams worthy’ lads and goonettes… Even spurs have seen silver since you last had any. They always had the glory, you had the trophies right? Meh. Average team with a great manager.
mate you sound like a bitter liverpool fan willing to tickle someones balls for any1’s spot in europe, hope your not a liverpool fan , cause after the last 3 seasons liverpool dont ave a case..
Hahaha, arsenal worse every season. Yeh makes sense because obviously Liverpool are becoming better every season spending 10x the amount. No, just no.
Please consider the following…
Liverpool’s transfer IN/OUTS 2011:
Suarez £22.8 million
Carroll £35 million
Henderson £16 million
Total incoming transfers so far: £73.8 million
OUT
Torres £50 million
Babel 6million
N’Gog £5million
Total outgoing transfers so far: £61 million
Net spend for 2011 so far: £12.8 million
Even if you claim Henderson cost £4 million more, Liverpool are not spending like Man City or Chelsea. Liverpool are spending big fees on individual players but we aren’t spending with abandon or with disregard to a balance sheet in terms of transfer fees and wages. Liverpool may end up with a net spend close to or above £40 million but we have plenty of high earners left at the club. Selling the remaining may bring in £20 million in total, maybe more..
Also, in defence of Spurs, their wage bill is around £30-40 million less than Arsenal’s. They spend more on transfer fees but can’t compete with Arsenal on wages. At all.
Having said that, I realise that Arsene Wenger has done a fantastic job under financial constraints to help Arsenal in a period of transition. I’ve defended Arsenal in my blog but we need to take a reasoned view of all teams concerned…
Bias much!? Jordan Henderson, please…
The last person who made that sort of idiotic prediction was a guy called Philip Bernard Thompson… remember him?
He famously said that there was now a ‘Big Three’ and Arsenal were finished. That was more than two seasons ago. Liverpool have never recovered, and Arsenal have still not finished outside the top four.
Perhaps you should give him a call and swap notes, or predictions… or handkerchiefs maybe???
This is some of the worse bullshit I have ever read. Ok, IF Nasri and Fab goes this summer, there will be replacements. Fab will not go free, if that’s what you think. 25mill and a player in return. If Nasri goes, he will not go to scums, so Inter have shown interest, they got Eto’o, which I think could do well in the Arsenal shirt. And you say Arsenal are performing worse every season? I will say they had a much better season this year with beating Barca, United, Chelsea, Tottenham and other big teams. Just was not good enough agains the “weaker” teams.
The ONLY team that out played us last season, was Barca, and they weren’t in the premiership. What has got up everyone’s noses is that Wenger has done it without spunking loads of money in times of a SERIOUS CRISIS and you all look like twats.
Set pieces and dodgy decisions coated with BOOLSHEET from the press – that’s all you’ve got left for next season
Blah blah blah. Hear this every season ‘Arsenal will drop out of the top 4’ Never happens. If you think signing an average kid is gonna help your chances you’ve got another thing coming. He won’t even make your team. Ramsey & Wilshere miles better than Henderson
way too early to begin this debate. it will come down to transfers this summer, how well each team starts the season, and of course injuries.
I do agree that on current confidence levels, Liverpool have the advantage.
Arsenal fans don’t respect Liverpool (they haven’t won the league in decades), while Liverpool fans don’t respect Arsenal (they’ve never won the CL)
pleazzzzzzze, your havin a laugh now, liverpool got beaten TWICE by blackpool last season, hardly beat the top 4.. its not by accident, same players same old inconsistent teams Arsenal, Chealsea and Man utd top 3, everyone else as usual fight 4 scraps
@Joe, is this article about silverware or who’s going to finish in the top 4? Read the article before commenting. You’ll only embarrass yourself again.
Bizarre article in my opinion.