If Arsenal were feeling the pressure of the title race it wasn’t apparent on Sunday, as they took a stroll along the River Thames and produced one of their most dominant away displays of the season.
My stance on who will be Champions in May has long been that; if your life depended on it, you would still make Man City favourites. That’s not a reflection on us just respect for the standards Pep Guardiola has set. He has a dressing room full of winners, who know how to cope with ‘squeaky bum time’ and get over the line.
We have the youngest squad in the division, whom the majority found the race for top 4 too much to cope with 12 months ago.
Even in recent games when we have been winning, we have had to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against Aston Villa and Bournemouth. The likes of Gary Neville think that’s not sustainable.
Yet this weekend, where there was every reason for the occasion to be too much for us mentally, we made this 3 points look like our easiest we picked up this campaign.
Technically every fixture we chalk off, the closer we get to the finish line, in theory the test of our character should increase?
This was game 27 so just 12 to go, we had watched the day before our gap be reduced to just 2 points again.
Man City won at Selhurst Park just how Champions should, finding a way to win.
With trips to the Etihad (where our record is terrible), Anfield (equally shocking) and Saint James Park (we lost on our last visit) the Gunners need to go to those grounds with a minimum 5 point advantage.
That’s what was in our heads as we showed up at Craven Cottage. Or what should have been on our minds.
If we thought this would be a tough London Derby, we were completely wrong.
We respected that Fulham had only lost three league matches at home, but that was never an issue.
The assumption that in 8th place our hosts could play with freedom was not the correct assumption.
Either that ‘pressure’ doesn’t exist, or it inspired us yesterday. It won’t go unnoticed on the blue half of Manchester how straight forwardly we handled an occasion which should have been more complex.
Maybe we have a reputation now where, like previous eras, we defeated the opponent in the tunnel?
Either way the Cottagers gave their supporters nothing to cheer about, meaning the away section got out their song book for the afternoon.
In a blow to Fulham and Palace next week, Eddie Nketiah won’t be available till after the international break. His injury has allowed Arteta to further trust Trossard in the false number 9 role where he interchanges with Martinelli. The Belgian became the first player in Prem history to get a first half hat trick of assists in an away encounter.
This was so straight forward (on a day it shouldn’t have been) that the biggest threat to ourselves were ourselves Would we get complacent?
That will be the biggest danger when we face Palace. Next Sunday we face a team who hasn’t had a shot on target in 3 consecutive matches. That’s who stands in our way from making City play Liverpool 8 points behind us!
I would say that pressure is quite big, but going off this weekend, what pressure?
Dan
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