Going into this weekend, even though Arsenal fans knew the team were likely to struggle away to the in form and unbeaten Man City, there was a more positive feel about the current Premier League campaign. But it seems as though everything that could go wrong for the Gunners this weekend did go wrong and so now things are looking pretty bleak.
Despite our poor away record and awful start to the season Arsenal had taken advantage in slips by our EPL rivals to go above Liverpool and level on points with Chelsea, while we sat just one point behind our north London rivals Tottenham.
There was pressure on Chelsea after their Champions League disaster in midweek and on Liverpool because of their defending and their recent results and there was a chance that Spurs would be jaded after their own European exploits against Real Madrid.
The spuds were so lucky today, though, being outplayed by Crystal Palace who spurned a hatful of chances and then conceded the only goal of the game. Liverpool had it easy and filled their boots a West Ham who defended like a non-league team and Chelsea got the benefit of facing a very poor Man United, while we played well and got beat.
All of this means that Arsenal have now dropped to sixth because of Liverpool’s goal difference and we are playing catch up with Tottenham up next. No pressure then! Fail to win the north London derby or god forbid lose it and we are already in big trouble before the halfway stage.
Has this weekend killed off any hope of a successful league season for Arsenal? Can we bounce back?
Bob.