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Table of doom update Arsenal Now 53 Max. 95 Manchester City Now 47 Max. 89 Aston Villa Now 46 Max. 88 Manchester United Now 41 Max 83 Chelsea Now 40 Max. 82 Liverpool Now 39 Max. 81 Fixtures Arsenal: Chelsea H Man City A Man City: Liverpool A Chelsea H Arsenal H Villa A Aston Villa: Chelsea H Man Utd A Liverpool H Man City A Man Utd: Villa H Chelsea A Liverpool H Chelsea: Arsenal A Villa A Man City H Man Utd H Liverpool A Liverpool: Man City H Man Utd A Chelsea H Villa A A good start Man Utd may be looking for a win here to cut the deficit So now we are the only team in the top three to get 3 points leaving us six and seven points in front of the next two. Man Utd were lucky as were Chelsea. Liverpool, after a shaky start won comfortably. We can now afford to lose 2 from 14 as long as a loss is not against City. There is currently 8 points between the chasing bunch which is tight enough. Man Utd will be aware that if they can keep up their strong run when they play Villa on 14th March they can cut the deficit to two points and that is not impossible. Not losing against City could be key In essence the lower chasing bunch only need City and Villa to wobble and they have a chance. But they need Arsenal to collapse with realistically the equivalent of at least 5 defeats from 14. A win against Sunderland would be very welcome, particularly as Liverpool play City. One or both have to drop points. Utd, home against the Spuds, would be favourites and Chelsea, away to Wolves also. Villa away to Bournemouth looks a bit trickier with Villa’s injuries but again favourites. If Liverpool, Utd and Chelsea win and Villa drop points, the chasing bunch will be more bunched. If the main thing they need is an Arsenal collapse, then one of the five could sprint, even Liverpool. But even so, they must pretty much win all, surely, to have any chance? Can we win 4 trophies? In our favour is that probably only one of those teams can win all as they all have games against each other. Chelsea can do themselves the most favours by winning all. They have 5 six pointers to come. That is a match we could really do with winning as surely Chelsea will not lose all against them? I believe our two matches against Chelsea and City are must not lose and a great bonus with two wins. Beating Chelsea again would be very significant After beating Chelsea we are now in the Wembley final and 27 matches to win all. We could potentially lose 3 in the CL and still win it. I would guess around 4 in the Premier League and still win it. 20 wins between now and the end of the season could see us producing a miracle that will never be seen again. Or we could get nothing. Ah, what it is to be a football fan. We can win it early No Collapse this year Once again, I reiterate what you are all thinking, City can catch us, they win one, we lose one and they are right behind us. Villa similar. The bottom three have a far tougher task. But we may need those bottom three to get points from Villa and City, if we wobble, and I think they will. We can afford 4 losses and a draw and still get to 81 points and that was the revised target I set last week. That would be more like a bad wobble than a collapse. It is in our hands, now we must show the character and win, win win. We have 4 matches in May, starting against Fulham. We could, and I believe should have won it by then. 4 victory marches would be nice.

Where can we finish 2026? part 2 No hugs for Arteta if we finally do it Fixtures: Bournemouth (a) Liverpool (h) Forest (a) Man Utd (h) Leeds (a) 1-1 Sunderland (h) Brentford (a) Spuds (a) Chelsea (h) Brighton (a) And so we finished the halfway point on 45 points. And I can humbly say that is what I predicted last time here. Of course, I didn’t predict the right results but I did reckon that 45 points would be where we are now. I also believed that that would put us at least 4 points in front and we are 5 but City do have a match in hand against Sunderland. If Sunderland produce their magic against them as they did us, they might get a draw and I would get that right as well. Dave Hardy was more optimistic than me and he went for 48 points and did well, getting to within 3 points of the final figure. We made these predictions quite some time ago and had no idea what injuries or problems we would face. We both did well. Football prediction is notoriously tricky and we are both ready now with our next ten. But first let’s take a look at some possible scenarios. Our maximum to the end of the season is 57 points. Add that to 45 and we have 102 points and a record haul. Newsflash – that will not happen. But I did postulate last time that 89 points is the target this year and I will stick by that for now. That means we need 44 from our remaining matches and can drop 13. Is that possible? I think so. We have been sticky with the top teams so far and probably need to improve there. We do have Liverpool, Man Utd, and Chelsea at home over the next ten and the Spuds away so we are well capable of taking maximum or close to that from those. The lower clubs all look beatable but we always seem to come up against banana skins. Truly, we must put them away and pull away from City and the chasing pack. Will 89 points be enough? It wasn't then If City beat Sunderland they can get 100 points and that will be good enough, for sure. To get to my target of 89 points, they can then drop 11 and that is tough but we all know they are capable of that. We could beat them in our match and they could still get more points than us. If they lose against Sunderland they can only afford to drop 8 points in their remaining matches. Villa, at the moment, to reach 89 points can only drop 7. Tougher again. If Liverpool win all they can get to 92. I truly believe they will come nowhere near the 89 target. No other team can make 89 even by winning all. It looks, even at this early stage, that only Arsenal, City and Villa are in the hunt. Of course my target of 89 points could be wrong but I don’t believe it will be out by much. A repeat of 45 points for us gives us 90 points and I am confident that will bag us the title. And probably somewhat less than that. City do not seem the indestructible force of the past but they are on a strong run and could push us really hard. We do need to win and keep winning. Winning is the only currency Arteta can trade in to the end of the season. I have a feeling Villa might fall away a little leaving Arsenal and City to fight it out. History, and maybe even logic, suggests that City should be favourites from this position. Do not fool yourselves Gooners, even if Sunderland produce a miracle, City are going to be dangerous. And so to the fixtures and once again Dave Hardy in blue puts his wisdom on the line as we try to help you make a fortune from our next matches: Bournemouth away and Andoni Iraola, Arteta’s good mate, provides us with a stiff first test for 2026. So far they have only lost one at home with 4 wins and 4 draws. An indifferent start to their season means they will be desperate to come out of the 2026 traps with a win and a good performance. We allow them that good performance but the ghost of George Graham prevails and it is one-nil to the Arsenal. The first game of 2026, sends us to the south coast of England. Last season Bournemouth did the double on us, so I think it’s time for a bit of revenge. Given the fact that they’ll most likely lose their star player Antoine Semenyo before the match, I think that it’ll be a routine away win for the Gunners. 1-3 and 48 points each. No smiles for Iraola if the loses Liverpool at home and we usually struggle against them. They will play everyone at the back, Slot might try and slot himself and his coaching staff in there if nobody notices, and hope for a breakaway. The danger is that we will allow those breakaways as we press forward. I will be happy with 2-1 and revenge. Liverpool is starting to gain momentum and fine form, but the lack of Alex Isak and possibly Mo Salah will be key in this game. Also, we have quite the positive record against them at home in the last couple of years (2 wins and 1 draw) so I think it will be another Arteta masterclass to solidify the lead on top. Dave is a bit more optimistic than me and goes 2-0 leaving us 51 points each. Next, Forest away and their home form has been poor. We must be ruthless in these matches and 3-0 is the least we should give them. The City Ground is one of those places where the fans feel like the 12th player. Historically, Sean Dyche has been a tough opponent for Arteta, so I’ll go for the good old 1 nil to the Arsenal here. We both say 3 wins in a row so 54 points for me and Dave. Manchester United at home is a fixture I love. They seem to raise their game against us and we were lucky enough in the first game at Old Trafford. I see a nervy game in which we come out 2/1. By the time of this fixture, Manchester United will most likely have their players from AFCON back in the squad, which will be a huge boost to them. We’ve won the first derby of the season, even though the game quality was not ideal. Here I expect another tough battle, and bragging rights to Arsenal. As usual Dave is more optimistic than me and goes for 3-1. 4 wins in a row now and 57 points each. Dirty Leeds up next away and they have been much better at home than away. We destoyed them last time and they will remember that. Dominic Calvert Lewin has been on fire recently and this may be where we slip up. 1-1. And they are proud of it As it is very easy to predict only wins, we do have to drop points somewhere during the season. Leeds have hit a bit of form in the recent games, and their front man Calvert-Lewin has been bagging them goals. Since Leeds have been back in the PL, Arsenal has managed to drop points against them only once back in 2020 in a goalless draw. If their relegation struggles continue, I fully expect a tough battle and the points to be shared. Strangely we both pick the exact same for this match as Dave goes 1-1. And now both on 58 points. Sunderland at home next and we will desperately want to teach them a lesson for the last drawn match. I think we will. The Black Cats go home crying after a 3-0 defeat. A Black Cat day for the Arsenal That 94th minute equaliser at the Stadium of Light was such a pain that I’ve been waiting for this game ever since to see a complete domination and a routine win for the culture. Of course, it all depends on if Sunderland are still in the top 10 before this game, but even if they are, I don’t expect any trouble and another 3 points toward the title. He must be reading my mind because he also goes 3-0 and now 61 points each. Brentford away and their home form has been very good. They will fight like crazy for every ball and they could frustrate us. David Raya might be happy with another clean sheet but not anyone else in Arsenal. 0-0 Another tough away game, as Brentford play very good at home. As this will be a midweek match, I expect another hard battle with Keith Andrews’s side who will take the lead through some shenanigans, but the mighty Arsenal will find a way to turn it around and snatch all the points. 1-2 and for the first time Dave and I diverge. 62 points for Gus and 64 for Dave. The Spuds away and their home form has been poor, very poor. I think their players and supporters struggle with Frank’s defensive commands at home and want to try and play football. We take advantage and win 0-2. The NLD is probably the only fixture that is super hard to predict, especially almost two months in advance. While we had the privilege to watch the Ebe Eze show at the Emirates in November, I think that this will be another game where we will drop precious points to a hard-fought draw. Myself and Dave diverge again on this one as he goes for a draw 1-1 but our points total converge once more with 65 points each. Play Eze and the job is done Chelsea at home next and it all depends what Chelsea turn up. I feel we can run this one routinely with 2-0 as they struggle with confidence. If we somehow don’t draw them in the FA Cup (or the later stages of the Champions League), this will be our fourth game against Chelsea for the season, given the two semi-finals in the Carabao. They gave us a tough battle at the Bridge, and I expect nothing less from Maresca once again. To be fair for me this result will depend on the outcome from the semis in the Carabao. I do think that we’ll be able to be victorious on both fronts. 2-1. Now 68 points each. Brighton finally away and we have both been very optimistic. Since I started sharing the predictions I don’t think I have ever been more optimistic than my co-predictor but this time I am as I feel that this is a team that Arteta and the players now desperately want to beat for humiliations in the past and I go 1-2. The AMEX Stadium, like the City Ground is one those stadiums where the fans help a lot. Brighton have a bit of a rollercoaster of a season but given the fact that this is another midweek game, I expect a hard battle from the Seagulls and the points to be shared. 1-1. So finally I have 71 points and Dave 69. If either scenario comes to pass, then I believe we will have opened up a large gap on the chasing pack. Yes, City could still be notching up wins for fun and could even be ahead but I doubt it. Maybe this is our year. I really hope so as I have obviously been infected with the optimism bug.

ASCB - The Best? Of course they are And so, finally, we headed off to Arsenal vs Chelsea, our big day spoiled by Chelsea pretending they could win a trophy without Abramovich by cancelling our match to play in the FA cup. There was never a chance a bunch of Pensioners could win without the magic Roman. And so April 23rd, 2024 was our big day instead, new plane tickets and maybe new hotels for people, but we are ASCB, we don’t give in for anything. Our own programme Some 33 of us were given the chance for a VIP experience to greet the players and even a lucky two got to turn up on the pitch for an interview to blaze a trail for Arsenal Bulgaria. Everyone now knows who we are and what we represent. And we never forget that as we showed and which I will talk about later. The biggest surprise for me though was after we were given our armbands to allow us into the media centre. We got our own programme welcoming us to the Arsenal with our own name on it. That, and the armband will be passed down the generations. We love you Arsenal, we do! One for display We were there, we saw the players, we saw the staff, and we saw Super Mik Arteta and sang and cheered as they all filed past, some stopping for a low five with Gunnersaurus. Was I the only one worried as he entered the glass doors to the inner sanctum? Luckily the giant remembered to duck his head. A Gunnersaurus without a head would not be the same. Of course he mingled and low fived many of us including some young, excited kids from Romania. We show our class Mertesacker and Edu were prominent figures who came in by themselves prompting great excitement . But we were asked to wait for Chelsea as we also greeted the Pensioners as they struggled to make it off their bus. We were asked not to boo them but we have too much class for that anyway so we cheered for the Arsenal again. Honestly they didn’t look very happy filing past. Maybe they knew what was awaiting them? Without their talisman Cole Palmer maybe they felt that they had no chance. They were right. A nice shot from Alex sets me up For me, a trip to the Arsenal is not complete without a visit to my old friend, Alexander Sztranyovszky from Hungary who is Mr Arsenal. He turns up for every game and is a permanent fixture at Peggy’s refreshment stand at the side of the Arsenal Supporters club near the old Highbury. And Alex never fails to disappoint with his own refreshments always on hand, some nice strong shots to warm our hearts. Declan, you are my darling The real excitement came when I took my seat in the Clock End. We were all together, bundled into a top spot just high enough to see everything yet not too high that you need binoculars. It meant there was a big booming section of Bulgarians (and me) ready to give their all for the Arsenal. It was a magical time for me, being part of such a large group. Often I am by myself, this time we all celebrated together. We probably shouldn't have forced Chelsea to play on a sloping pitch And it didn’t take long for us to celebrate. Chelsea looked poor from the off, or was it that we were so good? Trossard was causing mayhem down the left hand side and we had a few chances straightaway but then Declan Rice boomed forward, flicked the ball over to Trossard who tucked it into the corner of the net. We were delirious and only 4 minutes had passed! The pattern continued but somehow we didn’t score. Havertz had a few chances but didn’t put any away. Maybe he didn’t want to score against his old club? We dominated our section of the Clock End as much as Arsenal dominated Chelsea Who was this new striker? Wright or White? I was hoping Chelsea wouldn’t transform in the second half but it was whoop de whoo many times as all sorts of improbabilities happened. We had a new striker called Ian Wright Wright White who whacked in two goals and Kai Havertz, freed of having to score against the away Chelsea fans at our end, suddenly became super striker, firing in two great goals to make it five and it could have been ten. Chelsea were hopeless. They were afraid all game to keep the ball and kept giving it back to us. Fifteen minutes of fame for ASCB The only time I watched Arsenal live slam in more goals, to my memory, was when Alan Ball brought Portsmouth up from the old second division back when I was living in London in the late ‘80’s. We were 5-0 up up half time and Alan Smith kept banging in the goals. We got only one in the second half to make it 6-0. Portsmouth fans left en masse at halftime and the Chelsea fans did the same as the goals flew in second half. We were delirious. Go home you bums And did I say the Bulgarian Arsenal fans had too much class to boo the Chelsea players? It didn’t stop them screaming “Your team are shit” (they sang slightly different words, but this is a family blog) at the departing away fans. No need, people, they know their team are shit. The strange thing is, they could still get 6th place as Manchester United and Newcastle are also shit this year. It is a weird season, for sure. They looked to me to be already on the beach, though. Still, that is Arsenal’s best win ever against Chelsea and yes, we owed it to them for humiliations in the past. Waiting patiently for the team to arrive 4 games to go and if we get the win against a white and black team on Sunday, then we have to believe we can do it. Ì had an English guy sitting beside me on the train back insisting we will win 2-0 against the Spuds and go on to win it. Man City and Liverpool will be shitting themselves. And that leads me into the table of doom. Update to the Table of Doom Table of Doom Fixtures Current Max Arsenal Spurs (a) 77 89 Liverpool Spurs (h) 74 86 Man City Spurs (a) 73 91 Ah, Jurgen Klopp, I am still waiting for you to apologise for your teams unsporting behaviour against Forest. Everton gave you a tanking and you are now on the cusp of leaving the Table of Doom. Another draw, even, and your maximum is 84. Our goal difference will not be bettered now, I feel, so if it matters at the end, we will win. If we draw against the Spuds we can still get 87 but will it be enough? I say yes. City have a lot of matches to cram in and they are not that simple, the Premier League rarely is. If we win 4 they have to win 6. We are putting them under pressure. We can’t ask any more from our boys. Be proud. Gunnersaurus with Tszetomir Tsekov Commiserations to poor old Sheffield United. The door is just about to close on Chris Wilder. He was talking about preparing them for next season but will he really get the chance? It is surely such a difficult job managing a team trying to make it in the Premier League. He seems a good manager and a very decent human being but I suspect they will want a change. I would be happy if he gets his chance and one day bring them back to stay.