After the collapse at St James’s Park, all the pundits, from Asia to Europe to America confidently pronounce the end of Arsenal’s Premiership title challenge. Everybody was saying how Arsenal would be 7 points off Manchester United by the end of the weekend and have no chance of catching the Red Devils. Well, as they say it ain’t over till the fat lady sings, and the lady was missing on Saturday.
It was of course very poor to drop two points after leading 4-0. It was sickening to see how the lads played in the second half. Of course it is difficult to be facing 12 men on the pitch with only 10 (there is no doubt Phil Dowd played for Newcastle) but our own performance was poor. We didn’t string an attack for long periods in the half, choosing to sit back and let the opposition attack. Van Persie was sitting too deep and the withdrawal of Walcott and Arshavin was detrimental to the team formation. The most important loss was that of Djourou, as his replacement was ill-suited for the match. Squillaci has lost his way since the turn of the new year and every time he plays, we look shaky at the back.
Having said all that, we gained one point at the end of Saturday and are now just 4 points of the lead. Just like nobody expected the collapse in the second half, I am sure not even the most positive Wolves fan expected victory against United at the Molinouex. Next week we have the Manchester derby and a possible loss of points again for the Red Devils. We need to put the disappointment behind us and get maximum points from our meeting with Wolves at the Emirates and add more pressure on United. I am tired of hearing that the title is all sewn up. Let’s give the pundits some else to talk about.
Submitted by The Arsenal Kid
