Following Arsenal’s exit from the FA Cup at Championship side Nottingham Forest, we are now faced with the prospect that within the next ten days we could be out of all competitions and no longer in the top-four.
Obviously, we would still be in the top-four race but a loss to Tottenham on Sunday and we would be below them having played two more games.
Liverpool, stronger than they would have been last week, will be favourites to progress to the Carabao Cup final, even without Sadio Mane and Mo Salah and that means our next three games could be season defining.
Being positive, one could argue that we beat Tottenham and we start to negate the advantage they have with games in hand and this is probably the perfect time to face the Reds.
But the problem we have is that the performance against Forest, even with fringe players shows that we still have that inconsistency about us and we do have a habit of collapsing each season around this period, usually in February and March.
In conclusion, the next ten days will determine how much progress we have made as a club, how stable Mikel Arteta’s position really is and how much confidence the fans retain in the process.