It might not have been the most convincing Arsenal performance today, but it was the result that was all important and you cannot complain after the Gunners emerged from a sometimes tricky game against Everton with a win and, perhaps just as crucial, a clean sheet.
It was a massive result for Arsenal who were under serious pressure after Man United beat Sunderland yesterday and Liverpool beat Man City in the early kick-off. That put Brendan Rodgers’ team level on points with us and made the race for the top four look decidedly more difficult.
But take a look at the table now and it is not the teams below us that I am focusing on for once. Man City’s loss means that we are now just four points behind the champions. I am not looking at Chelsea because even I am not that optimistic, but after the start to the season and all the injury problems Arsene Wenger has had to cope with, I would see a second place finish as pretty good going. We must keep going strong though as Liverpool could be as big a rival for it as City.
There is not much difference in the difficulty of our remaining fixtures but whereas we bounced back from a disappointing result in the Champions League, Man City were poor and deserved to lose today. If they fail to turn around the UCL tie in Barcelona then it starts to look like they are going to end the season empty handed – and that will not help their already low morale.
I also think it would mean a lot more to Wenger and the Arsenal players to finish higher in the table. If we could finish second and win the FA cup, would that be enough to appease the long suffering Gooners until next year when we get the Treble!