And what’s more folks, it may not happen at all!
Alright, one or two little sticks of dynamite have been set off lately, but they have barely caused a ripple on the perfect surface of The Emirates. A 4-0 defeat to a Southampton team, who can’t beat anybody else, can be laughed off particularly when it is followed by a 2-0 win in the very next game, over a Bournemouth team who aren’t losing at present. Wait a minute! Isn’t that the topsy-turvy Arsenal of old?
Usually, when Arsenal lost a game in the past, particularly by an embarrassing scoreline, it signalled the end of any title challenge. This season they seem to be getting it more right than wrong.
To begin with, they had a good start to the campaign, apart from losing their first home game, which is becoming an annual occurrence.
At one stage, Arsenal were saving their worst form for the cup competitions.
They lost to Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup and came very close to failing to qualify for the Champion’s League knockout stages, only getting through by virtue of an excellent 0-3 win at Olympiacos, which was exactly what was required. This helped to banish the memories of the 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich.
It also began to look like nobody actually wanted to win the Premier League title as Leicester City went top and stayed there for a while. Manchester City and United were both thereabouts until United’s favourite scoreline became 0-0 and they fell back from the pace. City were being inconsistent, mainly due to the loss of Vincent Kompany and it is amazing how the absence of one player can have such a drastic effect on that team’s results.
To the delight of the Arsenal faithful, Chelsea were nowhere to be seen, but Tottenham were creeping up unnoticed on the blind side.
Arsenal were also suffering from injuries but the effect was not so drastic. Their best player of last season, Alexis Sanchez, has spent time on the treatment table but is expected back, maybe on the bench, for the Chelsea game. In his absence, Mesut Ozil confirmed his status as Arsenal’s best player of this season, so far, meaning that Sanchez wasn’t missed as much as he might have been.
So, If Arsene Wenger isn’t very careful, he could end up collecting a winner’s medal at the end of the season and it certainly won’t be the Champion’s League which they will exit in the next round.
They also have the FA Cup, of course, another trophy Arsenal like to win reasonably regularly so what are the odds on Arsenal doing the double? 12/1 according to Corals.
Is it unrealistic to think that, if Arsenal were to win the league title, then Arsene Wenger would retire? He is unlikely to win the Champion’s League in his time at Arsenal, indeed he has only reached the final once and this year’s teams don’t give him much chance of getting there again.
He may win the FA Cup, but I think he would consider winning the league as a great achievement and maybe not one he could surpass in his remaining years. We will see.
Arsenal, as I write, sit on top of the Premier League on goal difference from Leicester City. It is debatable whether Leicester have the squad or not to keep this remarkable run going, I for one, hope they do. Arsenal are now three points ahead of Manchester City and four in front of Spurs.
The title is Arsenal’s to lose. In the past they would have lost it more often than not. Maybe this is their season.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 