As long as Arsenal do not slip back in our performance levels from the north London derby win over Tottenham last weekend, we should be able to return from Burnley on Sunday with all three points in the bag, and we could well do without another dodgy decision from the referee thank you very much.
A rare win on the road for Arsenal could be the end of our poor away record in the league so far, and Arsene Wenger had good reason to defend that record because of the penalty incidents at Stoke, Watford and Man City and the offside goal there as well.
The Gunners have only been well beaten in the road once, at Liverpool and even that had extenuating circumstances with the transfer deadline distractions. However, after losing at the Etihad gave the leaders a gap of 12 points over us and the way that Guardiola has Man City playing it does not seem likely that Arsenal will be able to close it.
Does that mean we should give up? Not according to Granit Xhaka, who was reported by the Evening Standard talking in quite optimistic terms about the title race.
The Swiss midfielder said, “I think in football everything is possible.
“Manchester City, at the moment, are on a very good run, they’re doing very well and others have dropped points – which they haven’t done – but it’s conceivable that they could drop points as well.
“They might not continue as they have been.
“But our aim is just to focus on ourselves. We know we need to work and we’re convinced that we can compete at the top.
“Everything’s possible, I’m a person who thinks realistically but has dreams and fantasies as well. In football, everything is always possible.”
Do you agree, or is this just a pipe dream from Xhaka? I tell you one thing, though, if City do slip up then someone needs to be ready to take advantage. Surely if the rest of the Arsenal squad follow Xhaka’s way of thinking it makes it more likely it will be us.
Sam P.