Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal players have not been doing the age old football thing of playing down our chances of winning the Premier League title this season. That would be daft and everyone at the club is perfectly happy to admit that this is by far the main goal of the current campaign.
And with all of our big rivals for the trophy having failed to grab hold of the league as Chelsea did last season, the Gunners are currently in a good position and looking good. It has certainly been an unpredictable season so far though, highlighted by the success of current league leaders Leicester City and the terrible results of the holders Chelsea.
So the Arsenal boss has been talking about what could happen and what it will take for us to be crowned champions of England in May. In a report on the Arsenal website Wenger has come up with the figure of 80 points.
He said, “It looks to be very tight. We have played 16 games and the top team is on 35 points, so it means that the Premier League could be decided at around 80 points.”
Okay, looking at the number of points per game so far, Leicester would finish on 83 points while Arsenal’s total would be 78, so you can see that Wenger’s 80 points is quite a realistic figure. To be on track for that at the halfway stage would mean having 40 points after 38 games.
With the Gunners currently sat on 33 points from 16 games, we need to take seven points from the next three games, starting with Man City on Monday. Then we travel to Southampton for a night match on Boxing Day before Bournemouth come to the Emirates three days later.
So we need two wins and a draw from those three games, which will not be easy but is within our capabilities and as well as meaning we were on track for Wenger’s 80 point mark it would mean that only the Foxes could keep us off top spot at the halfway stage. And with Ranieri´s team facing a trip to Everton, a trip to Liverpool and a home game with Man City, you would assume that Arsenal would begin 2016 in pole position and that would be a great morale boost for the title race to come.
The question is, will we get those seven points?