The Gunners have had a brilliant October with 5 wins and a draw in all competitions, and many Arsenal fans will say that that is normal, in fact last year we won all five of our EPL and ECL fixtures starting with the 3-0 drubbing of Man United, although our reserves were beaten 3-0 by Sheff Weds in the League Cup.
But November is the month we all fear as we were knocked of our pedestal at this time last season with a massacre against Bayern Munich, draws with Tottenham and Norwich and a loss against West Brom. The only game we won was the ECL match against Dinamo Zagreb. It was November that brought out the first WengerOut banners of the season….
But can this year be different? Our new squad depth means we can rotate a bit more, but we still have some daunting fixtures. Hopefully we can start the month off with an easy win in Bulgaria against Ludogrets, but then we have our rivals Tottenham at home. The following weekend we are at Old Trafford, where our record is less than good, and then we have the crucial Champions League tie with PSG to decide who tops the Group.
The month ends with a home Premier League fixture against Bournemouth and our EFL reserves take on Southampton. As Wenger said, this is the month we will find out if we really are an improved team or not. Le Prof said: “I believe we are more mature than previous seasons, yes, but that’s what we want to show over a longer distance, and that’s what is at stake,”
“We now have a difficult November. By the end of the November we’ll know more about ourselves.”
We certainly will! It may not be as easy as October, but if we are to be real challengers then we have to win these upcoming games to prove ourselves. It may be nervous, but I’m looking forward to shutting up our critics once and for all.
Sam P