For quite some while, the talk on almost every football fan’s lips is that of Liverpool matching Arsenal’s unbeaten run record and probably surpassing it. Arsenal’s record has been unmatched for 16 years now but with the blistering form Liverpool find themselves in, that record could be surpassed this season unless a team beats them soon. Funnily enough, Arsenal, together with Everton and Manchester City, are the teams many predict may spoil the party for Liverpool.
Everton are tipped to stop Liverpool because they will want to do it for bragging rights, being that they are city rivals and with Ancelotti making them much stronger, are possible winners in the derby next month. Manchester City is the last premiership team to beat Liverpool and may want to beat them again when next they meet in April, just to prove a point. Arsenal being the record holders, would love to stop Liverpool from matching our unbeaten record. These three teams are actually the teams that may be most motivated to spoil the fun for Liverpool, but the question I need to ask is if the record really means anything to us now.
Right now, Arsenal are not doing well and this is a worrying source of concern. Ever since the season we went unbeaten, the club had witnessed a steady decline in their performances and this season is even worse. Arsenal is a big football club and we should not be seen struggling for this long. We have the capability to achieve greater things than the 49 games unbeaten record we have been holding on tightly to for long. Maybe if the club had done more incredible things since the Invincibles, nobody would even be talking about Liverpool breaking our unbeaten record.
Liverpool can match or even surpass our record for all I care, but that won’t change the fact that it took them 16 years to get up to our level. We have moved past feeling bad if some team matches our record, as we are a team fighting to get back our identity. The boys don’t need the extra pressure of fighting with everything they have to stop Liverpool from matching our Invincibles records; rather we are solely thinking of how to return the club to former heights.
We are Arsenal and we are proud.
Sylvester Kwentua