It’s clear the odds are stacked against Arsenal in their bid for a first Premier League title in nearly 20 years.
Their chief pursuers, Manchester City, have acquired an air of invincibility having looked decidedly shaky for the first half of the season and that doesn’t augur well for Mikel Arteta’s side.
When City slip into the higher gears, a run of eight, nine or 10 wins is well within their grasp and a hitherto unlikely target suddenly becomes a near-certainty.
This is all to say, Arsenal will likely need to be perfect, or as near as they can get, in order to get over the line this season.
And while that may sound fatalistic, the way things are unfolding in this final leg of the campaign, it feels more and more like the practical reality. By any measure, our final run of games is tougher than City’s and there are precious few games we can look at and think ‘they might drop points here’.
Taking nothing away from Arsenal this season, there is every reason why teams should be fearful of us rather than the other way around but, unlike City, it feels like we have a fallibility, an occasional tendency to let an advantage pass us by, a certain vulnerability that means we are unlikely to win all eight of our remaining fixtures.
All those things are expected during a normal season and for a normal team. In and of itself, it’s no bad thing. After all, you can’t win them all. But we are up against an opponent that isn’t normal. This is a state-backed superteam that has been assembled at great expense over a long period and is helmed by a manager who has won it all, all over Europe. That is to leave aside the serious and extensive accusations of financial doping allegedly undertaken at City over a decade or more.
We can expect no favours between now and the end of the campaign and, if we’re to be successful, we’ll have to start with a win at West Ham on Sunday.
The Hammers have been in decidedly indifferent form this campaign, after a few unexpectedly strong campaigns in recent years, and currently languish in the bottom half of the table. They also have a preoccupation in the Europa Conference League which saw them in action in Belgium on Thursday night.
Those factors mean Arsenal, who have had a full seven days rest by comparison, come into the game in better shape and as favourites. Realistically, we have to be looking to take all three points because anything less would be enormously damaging.
For the most part, our record on the road has been excellent this season and, with a near-full squad to chose from, we can afford to go full tilt. I feel fairly confident the manager will stick with the same side that came away from Anfield with a point and might look then to the following Friday’s visit of Southampton for an opportunity to make a change or two.
There is no room for complacency, of course, but there are bigger fish to fry in short order after Southampton and it might be prudent to keep a little powder dry.
For now, though, it has to be full focus on east London. We’ve made a fast start something of a habit this season and we’ll need every bit of that verve and energy from the outset on Sunday. The Hammers might well be leggy after their midweek exploits, and with a second leg just around the corner, a high tempo will be the last thing they’ll want.
Here’s to the first of our eight upcoming cup finals!
Blog on You Gunners 