Nobody connected with Arsenal is going to get too carried away with our win in the Premier League this weekend, coming as it did against a team in AFC Bournemouth who we would expect to beat nine times out of ten anyway. The fact that the Cherries are in an even worse run of form than Arsenal to boot, having now gone four games without picking up a point has made a lot of people even more cautious in their response to our comfortable win at the Emirates on Saturday.
I understand that completely and it could well be that next weekend, which sees the Gunners travel across London to Stamford Bridge to face the reigning EPL champions Chelsea will not be so kind to us. However, I do think we Gooners can at least show a little optimism ahead of this next league game, for a number of reasons.
One is that we have somehow turned Chelsea from being a bogey club that we could not beat home or away for about a decade, into a club that we actually seem to thrive against. Take away the pre’season friendly in which Arsene Wenger had to play Elneny at centre back and the whole team was shattered after their long haul travels, and you have three wins for Arsenal from the last four meetings.
Two of those games were for a trophy as well, so we have shown that we can stand toe to toe with our London rivals. Add to that the fact that, despite having picked up more points than us so far, Chelsea are not looking like the side that roared to the title last season.
There are cracks showing at the club and definite tension between players, manager and owner, and if Arsenal are on our mettle we could use that to our advantage. Of course it is going to be tougher for Arsenal to beat Chelsea than it was to beat Bournemouth, but that does not mean we cannot do it, does it?
Bob.