Wenger couldn’t have picked a worst fixture for his send off… by Neil Watson / The Screens
As the current season draws to a close today many Arsenal fans will be celebrating the end of an era. It wasn’t the ending any genuine supporter of our club would have wanted but the outcome is more important than the circumstances that surround it. The Hollywood ending had Wenger riding off into the sunset with the Europa Cup add to his magnificent trophy haul. Sadly a dull and uninspiring trip to Huddersfield will be his last charge.
Since Wenger has been discussed and dissected for a good couple of years on this site, I am not about to discuss that exhausted topic. Instead I would like to bring to your attention what an absolutely awful set of fixtures we have to look forward to today….
Seansea V Stoke
Burnley V Bournemouth
Crystal Palace V West Brom
Man City V Southampton
I won’t go on but you get the rough idea….
I don’t believe I have ever witnesses such a Damp squib of an end to a premier league season. There is literally not a head to head that fills me with any enthusiasm to watch Match of the Day tonight.
Who never knew the top four would include City, Liverpool, and Man United? Who didn’t expect Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal to be in the top six??? Why aren’t any of these team playing each other today? It is entirely plausible that in July last year when they were working out fixtures someone would have known out of the six teams mentioned above only four can be in the Champions league, and therefore having a couple of head to heads might be the difference between Champions League or Europa League. Is that not the way we want to anticipate the final day of the season? It is more than feasible that next season, subject to us getting a manager that we all believe in, we might be competing against the other top six clubs for perhaps a CL place. What an amazing end to the season to win that game to qualify….. or alternatively a trip to Huddersfield for a game that has no significance whatsoever.
That turns the last day of the season into a cup final for all teams. Even lining up the bottom teams is predictable though nowhere near as clear as the elite 6.
And so as the season’s curtain falls on what has been a historical yet underwhelming season for our club we are treated to a fixture somewhere closer to Scotland than Watford gap who really gives a monkeys what the outcome is?
For me it’s like we’ve been cheated out of our last game of the season due to a fixture more dull than a Jehovah’s Witness AGM…
—
Neil Watson