Arsenal are now eight points adrift of the top four but Emery confident of catching up.
You have to hand it to Unai Emery, he is an optimist despite the sorry state Arsenal are in right now.
Top-four is not too far away mathematically and with 26 games to go there is of course time to catch the teams currently sitting in Champions League spots but anyone watching Arsenal this season must surely see that it is going to be very difficult to close the gap that has now opened up.
In all fairness to the manager, he is remaining positive, he clearly feels he can turn things around and that not all is lost.
“we have time to achieve and recover that difference”
Speaking after the game the Spaniard said,
“It depends because now Chelsea and Leicester are with Liverpool and Manchester City – they have got a difference between them and us. But also, we have Manchester United and Tottenham behind us. It’s been a very equal competition with a lot of teams. But really now the difference that Chelsea and Leicester have created with us… they’ve had time to be consistent. The competition is 38 matches and now we are behind them with nine points difference. It’s good for them but we have time to achieve and recover that difference”
Unless one of the current top-four collapse or Arsenal put together an unbeaten run the situation is unlikely to change.
You have to think that the odds on that happening are now very long. The reality is that Tottenham and Man Utd could turn things around as quickly as Arsenal can.
So, not only do we now need the teams above us to falter but we also have to hope that our other rivals do not pick up either.
Surely the board are aware of this as well? You have to hope so.