Now that the euphoria of our amazing super comeback win against Bournemouth at the weekend has dies down a little bit, and of course the previous Aston Villa game, which was equally heart-stopping, we can now look at things with a bit more clarity.
Some may still be bathing in the reflected glory, while other fans (Like Ken1945, who was at the game), have reported that Arsenal were truly awful in the first half and were playing nothing like the Champions-elect.
According to Stan Collymore, writing on CaughtOffide, makes it clear that he is still not sure if this young Arsenal team can still go all the way to the end of the season by “riding their luck”.
Collymore said: “For me, Arsenal have had four or five different hurdles this season. First, it was to start well, then it was how would they carry on post-World Cup. Then it’s juggling the cup competitions and Europe, and would this give the other clubs a chance to gnaw away at the points deficit. Then finally, there’s the run-in, and for me that starts with the final eight games of the season – that’s when the players will be going to bed every night dreaming about lifting the Premier League trophy, because it’s so close and it can start to cause havoc with your mind. If even three or four players start getting nervous and stop performing, then I can see Manchester City overtaking them. I still think City are the favourites, and they’re hosting Arsenal at the Etihad, which can cut Arsenal’s lead down to two points.
“I also think Arsenal have rode their luck a little bit – as much as people would like to frame this weekend as an incredible comeback, my worry is that they went 2-0 down at home against a team battling relegation, with the worst defensive record in the league. Yes, you can look at it with the glass more than half full and say they started poorly and came back, but if it’s mid-table clubs hosting Arsenal or coming to the Emirates and going 2-0 up it becomes a much more difficult task. That worries me slightly, in the same way that I felt like Manchester United had been riding their luck a little bit in the games against the likes of Leicester City and West Ham. We’ll see if this is Arsenal riding their luck or if it really is the case that they are the real deal and will not let go of the title, but for me we’ll learn that in the last eight games.”
I can understand his point of view, because we do seem to having too many “comeback” games. If we didn’t put ourselves in danger of losing games so often, we wouldn’t have to come back at all!
Let’s hope Arteta can sort that ongoing problem out very quickly!
Darren N
———————–
ARSENAL DESERVEDLY CONTI CUP WINNERS
Jonas can’t hide his happiness at finally winning a trophy with the Arsenal Women’s team.
“I’m so proud!” – Full press conference….…