Don’t fool yourself, we still need a minor miracle for the top 4. by Konstantin Mitov
Arsenal won a game! Hurray! The number of empty seats though are something to address. There were at least 10 thousand empty seats. They may say the attendance 59 thousand tickets are sold, but a lot of people didn’t bother to see us beat West Ham.
Honestly I can’t seriously draw too much off that game, because West Ham is probably the only team on a form similar or even worse to ours. Still in the second half, especially after we scored, we showed some power, but West Ham just rolled over. It reminded me of how we collapsed against Bayern when they scored in the second halves of our games with them.
You can almost compare how far behind we are, by looking how far West Ham are behind us. Still, Liverpool drew and City lost. Sadly Spurs won, but we ain’t catching them this year, unless they miraculously collapse. I want the top 4. Don’t make the mistake that I’d like to see us become what Liverpool were for years and what United are now.
Speaking of United, it’s nice to see them back to their favourite 6th place, because after all the humiliation, this was the last joke I could take really. Back to serious matters though, getting 4th means Wenger will have to pull a rabbit out of a magic hat with actual magic.
We have Palace and Boro fighting for their lives next and looking how Palace won at the Bridge and knowing Allardyce hates Wenger (can’t blame him there) I won’t be too surprised if our slim hopes die there. We are in a situation where not winning a game is not an option and it might still not be enough to get 4th.
I am disappointed with the number of fans who were like “Wenger’s gotta go no matter what”, and after a win against a terrible team, they’re like well “we’ll have to accept it if he stays”. This kind of mentality is not serious. Stick to an opinion, if you want him in or out. I personally think that if we are to move forward we need a new vision and Arsene won’t put it.
For me it’s in the hands of the players. And part of the problem is their contracts are not sorted out. We have like 8 players who don’t know what their future will be and I’m not sure they care too much since the club hasn’t approached them. If we had everybody tied down, we wouldn’t have had Sanchez eyeing a Chelsea move.
Some players looked good yesterday, but against West Ham again, it’s hard to give them a proper challenge. Monday is a massive game. Our record there is good, but this will be different when they are trying to survive. The reason that I believe we will fail even if we beat Palace is that our fixture list is terrible till the end.
We still have to go away to Southampton, who Arsene hasn’t beaten in the league away since their comeback to the top division, and Stoke away, where Arsene hasn’t won since 2010. We have Spurs away and our record there is terrible again since 2010, and Man Utd with a certain manager Wenger’s never beaten in an official game, combined with his awful record against Man Utd doesn’t help.
Add our recent form and it gives even less of a case. Look at Chelsea and how they beat Man City. If we had beaten them last week, we’d have them by the neck. This is the difference. If there is one team in London Arsene, it’s not Arsenal right now, it most certainly is Chelsea and if not them (and I hate to say it), Spurs are next.
We have 9 games til the end of the season and for me at least 7 wins will be needed to finish 4th. I don’t see us on such a form. The top 4 will give us a chance to sign players of Champions league quality and it’s important that we get it, but I feel like we’ll get what we deserve for sticking with a manager who’s not good enough.
The speculation needs to end. I know he’ll sign, and that kills the excitement in me to watch the games. Sadly the only thing I think will change is the top 4, which we will miss this year. And even if we get it, I still think Wenger should just go. The future lies with somebody else, at least a brighter one.
Konstantin