General Premier League Thread 2023-24 Mod Note in op 27/6/23 And 21/05/24

If I'd to look at players for a TOTS now it'd be

Vicario,

Walker/White, Gabriel, VVD, (LB?)

Rice, Rodri, Mac Allister

Salah, Watkins, (LW?)

LB and LW I'm not sure. Maybe Ake or Udogie for LB?

Foden or Palmer for LW? But both have played more central. Don't want to put Saka over there because he's played RW. Mitoma was superb but been injured for ages now. Maybe Gordon or Martenli who've done well?

Toss up for me at RB between Walker and White. Both have been brilliant.

Saliba, VDV and Stones have all been excellent at CB as well but the two I've picked have just shaded it for me and I think they'd compliment each other very well.

I think my midfield three would dominate most games. Has a bit of everything and I think it'd be hard to pick three midfielders who've done better this season?

I think you'll have people look for Saka over Salah which is fair enough I feel but Salah is a scoring and assisting machine so he's my pick.

Halaand is better than Watkins as a CF but Watkins is having a better season so he's getting the nod.

He's made some massive saves this season that have earned Spurs more points than they should have had. He was shakey for the first two weeks or so but has grown into the role since.

Spurs always give away fairly high quality chances so and if I'm right I'd imagine he's probably top or very close to the top of goals prevented that you'd expect to be scored.

Next best I'd say would be Martinez.

I took the absolute piss out of Onana this season but he's doing much better now and most of his shocking performances were in the CL.

Can't pick Ederson or Alison because they've both missed a good few games. Kelleher has been great since he came in but hasn't played enough games.

Raya has been good but not to the same level as Vicaro and I'd imagine he's faced the fewest shots out of the two (with Onana facing the second most in the league going by Sky the other day).

VVD has been the best CB in the league this year without question. His levels are beck to that before his knee injury and his high level performances have come beside a changeable back four all season which adds to the impressiveness.

I don't think there was any criticism. What I saw was that people said it fell well for City that Villa were missing so many and others weren't 100% fit while City were also not at their strongest.

After Spurs dropped points the night before there was less need to try get something from the City game so why not rest some guys for an extra few days and have a better condition squad for the weekend.

I wouldn't say they are more defensive but they've had a relatively settled back five with rice shielding them for the majority of the season so that helps.

If anything I'd say they are a little more cautious. Liverpool like to try win the ball high up the field and tend to leave gaps if you can beat the press. Arsenal seem to block off space and squeeze the opposition closer to the half way line which helps to reduce that space you are giving up.

VVD absolutely should be in the conversation. MacAllister has been sensational, but only for a couple of months as we were wasting him as a 6.

Rodri is the best player in the League though. And I don't think it's close. Foden is incredible. Silva is somehow still underrated. But Rodri is the kingpin.

Son isn't near the conversation. Neither is Solanke. Neither is Luiz. All great seasons, but not absolute top tier. They just aren't.

It should be Rodri v Rice v VVD. But I've a sneaky feeling Foden will get it.

Arsenal's attack hasn't been firing as well as it was in that run in February. I wonder will they start to slow down now in terms of wins when their run gets trickier?

Their last 4 games has been;

Arsenal 2 - 1 Brentford (1.28 xG created)

Arsenal 1 - 0 - Porto (0.92 xG created in 120 mins)

Man City 0 - 0 Arsenal (0.66 xG created)

Arsenal 2 - 0 Luton (0.82 xG created)

Fair points. It was a question more than a statement by me really as the numbers are much much lower than what we've seen for the rest of the season.

There has only been 5 other games with an xG lower than 1.0, spread out over a number of months, but then 3 in a row in the last few games.

I did watch both games. Porto did try to break up the game (especially the first one) but that's what usually happens when the smaller team meets a bigger team.

If anything I'd say it's up to arsenal to push the issue and put Porto under enough pressure that they make mistakes. I thought Arsenal were very cautious and risk averse in the first game.

By a mile IMO.

Tbf I think about a third of teams have struggled to keep their actual number 1 on the pitch so it kinda boils down to Vicario/Martinez with maybe Leno/Onana (if they want to nominate a top 3) for keeper. Martinez wins comfortably.