After Arsenal beat Stoke City with ease and put ourselves level on points with Southampton and just one behind Man United, the usual rreaction would be to hope that the two teams above the Gunners played out a draw at Old Trafford yesterday. But as we know, the Saints inflicted a rare home defeat on Louis van Gaal and his team.
And although that puts Ronald Koeman and his players out of our reach for now, I think it was the perfect result for Arsenal. Having United in our sights is much more important than the Saints because, with respect, they are almost certainly going to falter as the season progresses and you would expect Arsenal to overhaul them in the coming months.
United losing is just what we needed and no more than they deserve as they have been riding their luck all season. Now the pressure will be on United when they travel to QPR next on Saturday and I can see them dropping more points to a QPR side who are very strong on their own turf.
Even if they win and we lose at Man City, they will not be far ahead and the serious business of the race for the Champions League places will be on and the Gunners will be looking for third.
Will we make it?