Obviously there was huge pressure on Arsenal to bounce back from the defeat at Old Trafford with two good wins and six valuable points from the next two Premier League matches. And now that we have lost the first of those last night at home to Swansea City the pressure on Wenger and the team to beat Tottenham in Saturday’s north London derby is even bigger.
But is it really win or bust for the Gunners at White Hart Lane? I am not so sure to be honest, although I do think that another loss would be a disaster. We would then be six points behind the spuds with a much worse goal difference and even less confidence while they would have ridden the blow of losing to West Ham and bounced straight back.
But what about a draw? I think it would be a reasonably positive result for Arsenal as we are clearly expected to lose. And it might just stall the momentum of our rivals who did not play well against West Ham. They have been on a roll but so had we earlier in the season. They are not used to the pressure of a title chase and it could well get to them, so a draw on Saturday would not be the worst result in the world for Arsenal.
It would put us onto 52 points with a possible 27 to play for. More importantly it might just stop the rot and after that we travel to Hull City for an FA cup replay and a win there could be the start of a good run for us. We have been under pressure at this stage of the season before and have been further behind Spurs and have always finished above them.
There is the small matter of Leicester City to consider as well and we can only hope that they also falter but as long as Arsenal finish above the spuds we have a chance and so it could be that not losing on Saturday should be the first priority. What do you think Gooners?