If it wasn’t for those pesky Spuds, to borrow a phrase from Scooby Doo, Arsenal would be involved in a top of the table clash next weekend when Claudio Ranieri brings his league leaders to north London for another crucial match in the quest for the Premier League title.
If Arsenal had not managed to break our scoring drought and bag all three points away to Bournemouth today, it could well have been seen as the end of our own challenge, but as it happens the pressure and expectation that the Gunners have been feeling since going two points clear at the start of the year could now be switched to the shoulders of the Leicester players and manager.
Arsenal certainly seem to play better when faced with the different pressure of chasing or getting ourselves out of a bad situation and hopefully our Premier League rivals will also struggle to cope with the role of being favourites and having everything to lose. Getting over the line is sometimes the hardest thing to do, especially when someone is catching you up.
Arsene Wenger would definitely like these thoughts to be weighing on their minds this week ahead of the big game and he used his post match comments after beating Bournemouth to try to increase that pressure. As reported by Arsenal.com the Frenchman restated his belief that the Foxes are now favourites after winning away at Man City, although I am sure that Ranieri will be doing his best to tell his players otherwise.
Wenger said, “In one week Leicester have beaten Liverpool and Manchester City. That means that they suddenly become the favourite to win the Premier League. That makes our game on Sunday a big one.
“We have been in the title race and we are still in it. We cannot control people’s opinion and we need to show that we believe in it. We have to do it. It is still a long way to go. Leicester City is a favourite and we have a big game at home against them and I hope we have enough quality and nerves to deal with that.”
So far Leicester have kept it together really well and they are on the sort of run that saw Liverpool get within a whisker a couple of years ago before they faltered. Could Arsenal make the same thing happen to Leicester?