It’s crunch time for Arsene’s key players, will they end the season as Champs or Chumps?
Is it just me or are you glad that the international week is over and we can get back to the business of domestic football? The international break did nothing more than interrupt one of the most promising climaxes to the end of a season in the Barclay’s Premier League in recent years. Think about it, there are still three teams in Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea who can still win the league. Three teams tussling for that final Champions League qualifying place, Manchester City, Tottenham and after resurgence under one ‘King Kenny’, Liverpool too. And when you look at it, pretty much everyone else could get relegated, the likes of Bolton and Everton who are 7th and 8th respectively are 8 points off the drop zone, if they were to hit a bad run of form, they could be dragged right into a relegation dogfight like the Premier League has never seen.
Over the course of the next few days I’m going to do a few blog posts about the teams that are in the thick of it going into the final weeks of the season, but today I’m going to focus on Arsenal. I haven’t blogged about Arsenal in a while, I’m not sure if it’s because I had nothing to say, or that it was international week, but I think it was something to do with me being a bit lost for words after our exit from two tournaments and the loss of a cup final.
For Arsenal there are 9 games to go, probably 9 of the most crucial games in Arsene Wenger’s long Arsenal career. At the end of the 2008/09 season, I remember Arsene Wenger saying in a press conference that, if he hadn’t won any trophies within the next two years, he would have failed. What did he mean by this? He was referring to his policy of building a team from buying young players, building a team on a low budget, and showing that a team could be successful this way, as opposed to the mentality of going out and throwing money all over the place in hope of getting a team together that can win trophies. He wanted to do it his way.
Arsenal received a massive boost this week, Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song have all been training whilst everyone else was on international duty, and all three are fit and raring to go against an inconsistent Blackburn side this weekend. This means Arsenal will have a first choice midfield and frontline to choose from, Blackburn could be coming up against a strong midfield consisting of Alex Song, Jack Wilshere and Cesc Fabregas, along with a frontline boasting the likes of Samir Nasri, Robin Van Persie and Theo Walcott. In my opinion, that line-up has got goals written all over it.
The one concern for Arsenal though is the state of their defence. In the past few weeks the likes of Djourou and Szczesny have picked up injuries, with long term absentee Thomas Vermaelen and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski already out, Arsenal’s back line is shaky. Squillaci and Koscielny have not been the most convincing of partnerships for Arsenal this season, one is a veteran who has definitely seen better days; another is a youngster still trying to find his feet. Follow that up with Manuel Almunia in goal, in my opinion he’s completely out of his depth, I don’t like criticising Arsenal players openly, but I’m just not a fan of Manuel Almunia.
Let’s have a look at Arsenal’s run in, it’s as follows: Blackburn Rovers (H) Blackpool(A) Liverpool (H) Tottenham (A) Bolton (A) Manchester United (H) Stoke City (A) Aston Villa (H) and finally Fulham (A). Looking at the fixture list, it’s not the easiest, but it’s not overly difficult either. If Arsenal want to be champions, they will have to show the spirit of champions and go out and win as many of these games as possible, if Arsenal finish top of the league with this run in, they will deserve to be champions. The one thing that Arsenal will know is that if they manage to win their remaining 9 games, they will be crowned Barclays Premier League Champions.
All in all Arsenal have a chance, it’s probably their best chance in recent seasons to upset the odds and become the champions of England for the first time since ‘The Invincibles’ dominated the Premier League. I’ve said it all season and I’m sticking to my word, if we can keep at least three of Nasri, Van Persie, Walcott and Fabregas fit, Arsenal will win the league. It will be very tough, and there’s definitely some of my loyalty to Arsenal creeping into my conclusion here, but I honestly believe that Arsenal will end this horrendous drought of 5 seasons without a trophy.
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