While Arsenal fans were reacting in our usual calm and understated manner (ahem) after the Gunners early horror show at the Emirates saw us slip to defeat against Premier League strugglers Watford, not everyone was as quick as most Gooners to give up on Arsenal challenging for the EPL title.
In fact there are at least three key men at the current league leaders Chelsea who still appear to be pretty wary of the Gunners, which is probably increased this week as Arsene Wenger prepares to take the team to Stamford Bridge looking for a repeat of the match against them at home, which saw Arsenal inflict their heaviest defeat of the season.
Their star forward Eden Hazard has told Sky Sports that the two teams he thinks will present the biggest challenge to them lifting the huge trophy in May are Man United and us, although the bigger gap back to United makes their task a lot tougher.
In another Sky Sports report their manager Antonio Conte has urged his players to focus fully on facing Arsenal on Saturday, while speaking about us as possible title winners and reminding them how well we played to beat them in September.
The Italian said, “We play another great team because Arsenal is a great team who can fight for the title.
“Don’t forget we lost 3-0 away and I think this could be a good chance for us to show that the second part of the season we are a totally different team if you compare us to the previous game.
“It is a good chance for us. We play at home, which is very important, but it will be a really tough game.”
We certainly hope so. Finally we have Metro reporting the joy and relief of their midfielder Nemanja Matic about our loss to Watford which gives Chelsea just a little extra breathing space. Would he be so bothered if he thought Arsenal were out of the race?
If the people at Chelsea are still worried about Arsenal, is it a bit early for us Gooners to give up on the title?
Sam P.