Although it is pretty hard to take the fact that along with Arsenal being knocked out of the Champions League at the first knockout stage yet again, making it seven years in a row, we did so with a record breaking aggregate scoreline of 10-2, it has not been all doom and gloom for the Gunners this week.
I am not going to try to give you Gooners out there any hope that we could still win the Premier League title, and I hope that Arsene Wenger is not daft enough to suggest it either. Even before Chelsea beat West Ham at the London stadium on Monday that ship had long sailed, but we are still very much in contention for a top four finish.
Yes it is not enough for a club like Arsenal but it is better than finishing out of the top four and going into the Europa League with it’s unhelpful Thursday night fixtures. That brings me onto the good news, because with Arsenal losing away to Liverpool and missing this weekend’s round of Premier League games because of our involvement in the FA cup we could have found ourselves cut adrift when our next EPL game comes around.
As it is though, both Manchester United and their local rivals Man City slipped up and drew games at home that should have been nailed on three pointers, United being held by AFC Bournemouth and then on Wednesday Stoke frustrated Pep Guardiola and his players at the Etihad.
They both play in the FA cup this weekend as well, so with Arsenal’s game against West Brom up first next weekend we could move to within three points of City and the spuds after the same number of games and move out of reach of Mourinho’s team.
All is not lost for Arsenal and after next weekend things could be looking a lot better with us back in the top four and with an FA cup semi to look forward to.
Sam P.