Of course with Arsenal playing at home in the Premier League today, the fans will want all three points. And the fact that it is an Everton side that has struggled in the league this season will only increase expectations.
Add to that the need for the Gunners to quickly put the Monaco nightmare behind us and the fact that the race for the top four is tougher and tighter than ever and you have a recipe for Arsenal to go on the attack right? Wrong, in my opinion anyway.
I am not saying we should park the bus or anything like that. We should try to win the game of course but we must be clever and I think the team´s focus should be getting the defensive side right. If we do that then Arsenal will have a great platform to build on and will probably win the game.
Let´s face it Gooners, a 0-0 draw would not be the end of the world and it would steady the ship. Pushing forward too much and getting hit on the break would bring Wednesday crashing back into the minds of the players and the fans and we do not want that.
Arsene Wenger has been speaking to Arsenal Player this week and has put the emphasis on things like discipline, focus and managing games better, not the strikers missing chances.
The manager said, “When things go everybody wants to put it right but then you lose the team discipline. We knew before the game that this was a [tie] which lasts 180 minutes and if it goes wrong in a part of it, you still have to keep your discipline and that’s where it went wrong.
“We will analyse it in an objective way and respond as a team. The only way for success is to respond to disappointment as a team, work for each other and fight for each other in the next game. We are not out of it – people forget that. We have to play well in the next game.”
And that has to start from the back. Clean sheet coming up?