This has been tipped as the year that Arsenal will regain the Premier League trophy after that famous victory in 2004 that belonged to 'The Invincibles'.
Don't get me wrong, most years that Arsenal show a good fight between around November to February is a year that gets fan in the footballing world excited for them. For the past three or four seasons, there have been huge shouts that it is once again going to be Arsenal's year.
This year, the cries seemed stronger than ever. Leicester were obviously sitting comfortably at the top of the table (much to the shock of pretty much everyone, but it's definitely well-deserved) but Arsenal gave them a reason to keep checking over their shoulders.
In the last round of Premier League matches, Arsenal was the team that was written all over the back pages.
They faced Leicester at the Emirates and after going behind to a Jamie Vardy goal just before half time, it looked like the league leaders would have the better of the match, but it didn't quite work out that way as they pulled a goal back through Theo Walcott.
The plaudits were shown to Danny Welbeck though who was brought on towards the end of the match after coming back from injury and sealing the game for his team when he scored an injury time goal to win the three points.
In the past week though, all this work seems to have been flipped on its head in a way. After rallying together and being rewarded with so many good results, Arsenal have struggled in the past week.
It started with their FA Cup tie against Hull City at the Emirates. This is the third time the teams have met in the same amount of seasons in the competition, and Hull have never just sat back and made things easy for Arsenal.
Hull made things difficult for Arsenal though and Eldin Jakupovic had an excellent game which included a lot of important saves that denied Arsenal and kept the score at 0-0. Now, the Gunners have added another fixture to their already hectic calendar and many people are saying this is a game that they should have won. So why didn't they?
In this case, I think Arsene Wenger may have underestimated Hull slightly. He will most likely have had one eye on the Barcelona game on Tuesday so he rested some of the big names in his squad in preparation for this.
As holders of the FA Cup for the second time in two seasons though, that should mean this competition is still a big priority for Arsenal. If this is the case, then it does beg the questions: why didn't Wenger send a full-strength team out onto the pitch that day? I guess only he'll know...
Like I mentioned earlier though, he did have that very high profile game against Barcelona just around the corner and who wouldn't want to make sure that their main players are ready for that when they'll be facing a player like Lionel Messi.
I'm not sure how many people expected Arsenal to be able to go out and put on a brilliant show that made Barcelona look like amateurs, but I do know that some people did think Arsenal might just be able to edge the game due to their talent, which isn't too surprising.
The first half of that game did belong to Arsenal. The home team did brilliantly to keep Barcelona quiet and create some dangerous chances, which if they'd taken, would mean the game could have taken a very different turn.
It didn't quite happen that way though and Messi pulled some magic out of the bag for the Barcelona for the first goal and Mathieu Flamini made a mistake to give away the penalty that gave Messi his second goal.
Could it have been the pressure of the 0-0 draw from the FA Cup tie playing on Arsenal's mind during this game? Or are they may be losing their touch after such a strong display in the league over the past few months?
This was an important week for Arsenal and the results they had had weren't exactly morale boosting as they went into their game against big rivals Manchester United.
Arsenal were the big favourites to win this game due to their league position and the fact that they brushed aside United 3-0 earlier in the season, but it didn't quite turn out the same way for them yesterday.
United's teenage debutant Marcus Rashford made a name for himself on the big stage as he beat Petr Cech twice in the first half an hour, but that didn't stop Arsenal from clawing a goal back just before half time through United old-boy Welbeck.
They just couldn't do enough though to win the game. A goal from Ander Herrera, which took a horrible deflection off Laurent Koscielny, took the game out of the visitor's grasp even though Mesut Ozil did manage to pull another goal back.
So, what's the excuse for this one? Both teams played well in the game, but Arsenal had a nearly full-strength team compared to United's injury hit squad which included a lot of young players.
There's still time in the season for Arsenal to get their rhythm back and put together a brilliant run that could knock Leicester off the top and lead to them lifting the trophy in May, but if performances and results like this week keep pulling them back, it might prove to be a very hard task.
If you work out the maths behind the table, then it is very possible for them to be in the position that so many predicted, but that's not taking into account the solidity of both Leicester and Spurs at the moment.
Arsenal didn't sign any outfield players this season, and this could prove to be the thing that costs them the most because they didn't add any more depth to the squad.
Looking to the end of the season, if Arsenal fail to win the league, this might just be Wenger's last chance at the club. For such a long time now, he has guided Arsenal to a top four finish, but that's not going to be enough anymore.
Maybe Arsenal can still be champions, but it might just take a horrible mistake from Leicester and Spurs for that to happen if they're going to let that slip now...
Don't get me wrong, most years that Arsenal show a good fight between around November to February is a year that gets fan in the footballing world excited for them. For the past three or four seasons, there have been huge shouts that it is once again going to be Arsenal's year.
This year, the cries seemed stronger than ever. Leicester were obviously sitting comfortably at the top of the table (much to the shock of pretty much everyone, but it's definitely well-deserved) but Arsenal gave them a reason to keep checking over their shoulders.
In the last round of Premier League matches, Arsenal was the team that was written all over the back pages.
They faced Leicester at the Emirates and after going behind to a Jamie Vardy goal just before half time, it looked like the league leaders would have the better of the match, but it didn't quite work out that way as they pulled a goal back through Theo Walcott.
The plaudits were shown to Danny Welbeck though who was brought on towards the end of the match after coming back from injury and sealing the game for his team when he scored an injury time goal to win the three points.
In the past week though, all this work seems to have been flipped on its head in a way. After rallying together and being rewarded with so many good results, Arsenal have struggled in the past week.
It started with their FA Cup tie against Hull City at the Emirates. This is the third time the teams have met in the same amount of seasons in the competition, and Hull have never just sat back and made things easy for Arsenal.
 |
| Arsenal players with heads in hands as they fail to score against Hull Image from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/12165715/Arsenal-vs-Hull-City-FA-Cup-fifth-round-live.html |
In this case, I think Arsene Wenger may have underestimated Hull slightly. He will most likely have had one eye on the Barcelona game on Tuesday so he rested some of the big names in his squad in preparation for this.
As holders of the FA Cup for the second time in two seasons though, that should mean this competition is still a big priority for Arsenal. If this is the case, then it does beg the questions: why didn't Wenger send a full-strength team out onto the pitch that day? I guess only he'll know...
Like I mentioned earlier though, he did have that very high profile game against Barcelona just around the corner and who wouldn't want to make sure that their main players are ready for that when they'll be facing a player like Lionel Messi.
I'm not sure how many people expected Arsenal to be able to go out and put on a brilliant show that made Barcelona look like amateurs, but I do know that some people did think Arsenal might just be able to edge the game due to their talent, which isn't too surprising.
The first half of that game did belong to Arsenal. The home team did brilliantly to keep Barcelona quiet and create some dangerous chances, which if they'd taken, would mean the game could have taken a very different turn.
 |
| Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has a brilliant chance against Barcelona Image from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/12170664/Arsenal-vs-Barcelona-Champions-League-TV-live.html |
Could it have been the pressure of the 0-0 draw from the FA Cup tie playing on Arsenal's mind during this game? Or are they may be losing their touch after such a strong display in the league over the past few months?
This was an important week for Arsenal and the results they had had weren't exactly morale boosting as they went into their game against big rivals Manchester United.
Arsenal were the big favourites to win this game due to their league position and the fact that they brushed aside United 3-0 earlier in the season, but it didn't quite turn out the same way for them yesterday.
United's teenage debutant Marcus Rashford made a name for himself on the big stage as he beat Petr Cech twice in the first half an hour, but that didn't stop Arsenal from clawing a goal back just before half time through United old-boy Welbeck.
 |
| Welbeck's header pulls a goal back for Arsenal just before half time Image from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3467383/Manchester-United-vs-Arsenal-English-Premier-League-LIVE-score-Plus-Tottenham-vs-Swansea-Premier-League-action.html |
So, what's the excuse for this one? Both teams played well in the game, but Arsenal had a nearly full-strength team compared to United's injury hit squad which included a lot of young players.
There's still time in the season for Arsenal to get their rhythm back and put together a brilliant run that could knock Leicester off the top and lead to them lifting the trophy in May, but if performances and results like this week keep pulling them back, it might prove to be a very hard task.
If you work out the maths behind the table, then it is very possible for them to be in the position that so many predicted, but that's not taking into account the solidity of both Leicester and Spurs at the moment.
Arsenal didn't sign any outfield players this season, and this could prove to be the thing that costs them the most because they didn't add any more depth to the squad.
Looking to the end of the season, if Arsenal fail to win the league, this might just be Wenger's last chance at the club. For such a long time now, he has guided Arsenal to a top four finish, but that's not going to be enough anymore.
Maybe Arsenal can still be champions, but it might just take a horrible mistake from Leicester and Spurs for that to happen if they're going to let that slip now...
No comments:
Post a Comment