While it is true that a club’s own fans, with Arsenal no exception, can often see their beloved club and players with rose tinted glasses, especially during a game when we see fouls and bad decisions against us that may not really be there and think our own players are judged too harshly, the opposite can be true as well.
Some of the harshest critics of Arsenal Football Club, Arsene Wenger and individual players are often the Arsenal fans ourselves. So while the media may be praising the Gunners today for the fight, spirit and determination needed to keep pushing a strong Southampton side and grab a last minute winner, a lot of us Gooners think we should have secured the points much earlier.
And on a similar note, most have also given up on the Premier League title and given it to Chelsea already, or feel that only Man City can challenge Jose Mourinho’s team. The Man City boss has certainly not given up on his team’s title hopes and Manuel Pellegrini does not think that we should give up on Arsenal’s either, as a report in The Mirror shows.
The Chilean said, “You can’t be the champions in November or December. It is impossible to know who will be champions when we have 26-27 games more. If we continue to play this way we will fight for the title.
“Chelsea are playing well also but it is not just two teams. There are so many points to play for there could be three or four.
“Manchester United won the last four. Arsenal won again tonight.”
So our Premier League rivals are starting to take note and see us as a threat again. Even though we lost to Man United, Arsenal were the better team and even though we lost to Chelsea, it was far from the sort of drubbing we were getting from our rivals last season.
Then you factor in the form of Alexis Sanchez, the Ox, Cazorla and consider that Giroud will soon be joined by Walcott, Debuchy, Arteta and Ozil in the squad of fit players available to Arsene Wenger and you can see why Pellegrini thinks we could still have a say.
When we get to the new year and see how the table looks after our return trip to face Southampton, we should know a lot more about any lingering title hopes but for now, I am willing to accept the opinion of the Man City boss as he probably knows a bit more about football than me. What about you guys?