A little bit of confidence can always help you get that extra ounce of strength to overcome your rivals, and the Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin says that his team-mates are sure that this could be their season, and have thought that from before the season even started.
This confidence was clearly on show when the Gunners dismantled Man United in the space of 20 minutes at the weekend, and our midfield general was not surprised by their performance. “I think it is a very good performance against a big team,” he said. “I think everyone expected us not to win today and maybe we proved a lot of people wrong. I think inside the dressing room we knew we could do good things this season.
“We said it from the beginning of the season that we could be contenders but we have to be consistent. I think the most difficult thing now is to carry on getting the results.
“In the last three games we haven’t lost against Manchester United. Slowly we are getting stronger against the big teams.
“We beat Manchester City last season and now Manchester United so I think it is all about consistency. They made this game tough and the small teams are really strong as well and we need to get a result every week.
“I think overall it was a good performance from us and we would like to do that again in the coming weeks.”
If Arsenal played like that every week they would have no problem winning the title, but as Francis said, we have to do it on a consistent basis. It is games like our next one against Watford that are potential banana skins, while we are certain to put up a strong fight against teams like Bayern Munich or Man City.
Come on Arsenal, get your act together and fight in every single game!
Onwards and Upwards!