With Arsenal losing away to Spurs and Chelsea winning away to Aston Villa, the last sputtering flames of our title hopes were extinguished this weekend. It is still going to be a fight to the finish in the Premier League but our only hope of another trophy this season is in the FA cup and Champions League competitions.
And while I am more optimistic than most Arsenal fans and football pundits about our ability to go far in Europe, it is still clear that the trophy we currently hold is the one we are most likely to win again. So any help we can get for the home game against Middlesborough in the 5th round next weekend is most welcome.
And with the Championship side basing all of their success, including the elimination of Man City in the last round, on a very tight and miserly defence, we could do with the help being of an attacking nature and that is just what we will have.
According to physioroom.com, Arsenal will be able to call on Alexis Sanchez for the EPL clash with Leicester on Tuesday but he will then be joined by Jack Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in time for the FA cup game. Both of these England internationals have the ability to change a game at any point and it could be that a burst of pace and power from the Ox or a bit of magic from Jack makes the difference.
It really will be good to get these two back and hopefully keep them and the rest of the squad injury free until the end of the season. Could that be the difference between success and failure?