There is no doubt that Arsenal have given themselves a mountain to climb to get back into the title race, especially with next week’s North London Derby now massively important to our season. A make-shift Man United team made our so-called title contenders look like easy pickings and it will make a big fat dent in our confidence.
Petr Cech unusually conceded three goals, but he was honest and admitted that it was our own mistakes that led to the United win. “Man United away is a big game.” he said. “They fight to have a chance to enter the top four, so we knew it was going to be a difficult game. In a game like this, you can make mistakes and we were punished for them. Every time we made a mistake at the back, they [profited].
“The third goal was a lucky bounce for them and I thought it was decisive, because if we could have come back to 2-2 in the second half, we would have had a chance to win the game. At 3-1 down, you try to get one back as soon as possible, which we managed to do. But we didn’t create enough to score in the last 10 minutes.”
Petr thinks that it is a setback to our title aspirations, but he urges the team not to give up. “We still have a chance, so we will go for it until the last minute. This was a big disappointment for us and is a step back after last week, where we managed to overcome a deficit against Leicester at home. This is a step back but we need to keep working.”
Everyone knew that we hadn’t won at Old Trafford for ten years, but Cech was still asked if he was surprised at United’s performance. “I think it was a perfect game for them. They had nothing to lose and had a very good win in midweek, so everyone was ready for the game. We knew it was going to be difficult but, as I said, no matter what opposition you play against, if you make mistakes, you’re going to be punished.”
“It’s a step back but we can still make up for this. We have two important games coming up this week and if we manage to win both, the table might look better again.”
We must certainly beat Swansea in midweek or we can definitely all give up, but the big one next week is away at Tottenham, and currently we have won just two of our last EIGHT away games, whereas Spurs have lost just one of their last 11 games, with nine victorys. But it is a derby, so anything can happen, right?
No more mistakes Arsenal!