It is always hard to feel anything positive when Arsenal lose. And when that loss comes at the hands of our old enemies from north London then it is even harder to take. And maybe we have got a little too complacent after beating the spuds in all three games last season, so this was a real kick in the teeth.
But after licking my wounds, having a few drinks and feeling sorry for myself for a while, I can look at the game and where it leaves Arsenal with a bit more objectivity. It looks bad for us right now because the loss drops us back into 6th and sees Spurs go one point above us.
But it is not the end of the world Gooners. As Wenger pointed out in his post match comments on the Arsenal website, we have a better fixture schedule between now and the end of the season than the spuds. And we also have a certain Alexis Sanchez due back to help us put this disappointing game behind us.
The manager said, “It leaves us with a big disappointment to swallow first and then to prepare for the next game. We have played two more away games than Spurs, who have played 13 at home and 11 away. We have played 13 away and 11 at home. It’s down to our home form now – we know we can win away from home but it will be a battle until the end. It has been every year with Spurs. We just have to focus on us, because there are many teams fighting to get in there [the top four].”
And not only do the Gunners have more home games left, we also have more games against the lower clubs. Arsenal have got nine of our remaining 14 Premier League games against teams in the bottom half while the spuds have just seven. The Frenchman also declared that Arsenal have the perfect opportunity to bounce back quickly, with a home game against struggling Leicester on Tuesday night, while our rivals travel to Anfield to face Liverpool.
So while Spurs are currently gloating and above us in the table, there is a long way to go and Arsenal have come back from much worse situations before. Are you still confident of a top four finish?