To paraphrase the old TV show to suit Arsenal, in 1996 a crack football team was formed by Arsene ‘Hannibal’ Wenger and they went on to take the English Premier League by storm and become invincible. Today, still wanted by the Arsenal fans, they survive by finishing fourth and helping other clubs out of a rut. So if you are on a bad run of form or have a striker that hasn’t scored for ages, and if you can find them…maybe you can play against the Arsenal team.
Even Arsene Wenger is feeling it, as the Frenchman was reported on the Arsenal website bemoaning the fact that the Gunners cannot seem to get a break while every time we do something wrong the opposing team punishes us.
He said, “I believe that we gave very few chances away but unfortunately we paid for everything we gave away. It is very sad at the moment to realise no matter what happens, we pay for every chance we give away.”
It does seem as though Murphy’s law is against us at the minute but just like with our recurring problems on the injury front, it is becoming impossible to keep blaming it on bad luck and increasingly obvious that there is a pattern here. How many times this season has a striker ended a goal drought when playing Arsenal? And the same goes for teams like Swansea and Watford who all of a sudden play well when they are up against the Gunners. Strikers find their shooting boots and keepers have the game of their lives.
It is becoming a very nasty habit, but what is the common denominator here Gooners? We must be simply making it too easy for people to play against us.