Last week’s defeat to Brentford had the Arsenal fans up in arms and full of negativity for the season ahead, especially with Chelsea and Man City being our next opponents on the fixture list.
But now after learning about the Covid outbreak which disrupted our preparations, hopefully Gooners will a little more forgiving to Arteta, as the boss himself said on Arsenal.com: “Put things in to perspective – we had an incredible 48 hours before that [Brentford] match,”
“It created a big uncertainty and probably an unprecedented Arsenal line up.
So now we come up against the Champions League Winners in our big local rivals Chelsea, and although Arsenal are still suffering from the fallout of the Covid problems and the disruption, but Chelsea also have at least Christian Pulisic missing through Covid as well. These problems are surely going to cause upheavals to many teams over the season, that is a fact. We were just unlucky that we got affected in the lead up to our crucial season-opener.
So fans need to be patient, but the good news is that we will see a near capacity crowd of Gooners at the Emirates tomorrow, and although our team will be nowhere near full strength, we can at least cheer the team on to try their hardest against the formidable-looking Blues. If you doubt the power of the crowd, just look at how the Brentford supporters got behind their team last week, and the ground was still full for an hour after the game!
“In moments when there is certain negativity around the place, you need your fans and your supporters more than ever. They’ve always been with the team and I have no doubt that on Sunday they’re going to be right behind the team. If there is one thing that the team needs, it’s exactly that.
“If they really want to help the team, there’s not going to be a better medicine for them than to feel [the fans] very close with the right energy and supporting them and being behind them and the team is going to try their best.”
So, how about it Gooners, shall we all get behind the team tomorrow?
Sam P