There may be absolutely nothing riding on Arsenal’s game at Huddersfield this afternoon, except for the fact that Arsene Wenger would hate to be leaving the club with the most unprecedented record of eight consecutive away defeats in the Premier League.
The Gunners away record has been unbelievable, and when Wenger was inevitably asked about his future in the pre-game press conference, Le Prof insisted that winning today was much more important for the club. “At the moment I don’t think about my future at all,” he said. “I don’t realise it’s my last press conference because I have just the Huddersfield game in mind, and try to do my job as well as I can until the last minute I’m here.”
“I will say to the players, ‘Look we have to prepare for the future, and the best way to do that is to win your last game and go in a positive mind into next season’.
“We have gone through a season of ups and downs but they have always created something special and I would like that to come out in the last game by the way we play it. In fairness that’s what they did last at Leicester and I hope that for them, the best way to prepare for next season is to win the next game.”
To be fair Arsenal couldn’t have hoped for a better fixture to finally get an away win than a game against the Premiership new boys Huddersfield who we have beaten in all four games against them in the last 3 years. It has also been 13 years since Arsenal last lost the closing game of the season, and as Huddersfield have happily avoided relegation they will be having celebrations of their own on earning another season in the top flight.
The players will surely be wanting to give Arsene Wenger one final send off, but whether they can actually win an away game remains to be seen….
Darren N