Sunday, February 21, 2010

The rat race is still on

We started the campaign on fire, demolishing our initial opponents, we
stopped to refuel in Manchester, recovered immediately from the trip's
double setback, and in typical Arsenal fashion we surrendered a two
goal lead at Upton Park, attended a class at the Stadium of Light
where we were taught a bitter lesson by the in-form Black Cats.

Just when we started to savour the benefits of our toil, then came the
rampaging blues and they exploited our defensive lapses to the best of
their ability.

Our detractors launched their campaign of Calumny, and Arsene Wenger's
kids responded brilliantly to the taunts as they manufactured results
not minding whether they played home or away.
All they dreamt of was three points as they turned in an amazing point
haul prior to the new year.
They recovered in the nick of time to deny Everton a famous win at the
Emirates and improved their performance against Bolton in an
impressive two-legged win, which saw them top the Epl log albeit a
couple of days.

A stalemate against Aston Villa, signalled our run of difficult fixtures.
Our situation took a nosedive after suffering back-to-back defeats
against Manchester United and Chelsea, and as expected our critics
woke from their slumber and quickly wrote us off, labelling our title
challenge a joke.

Michael Ballack lashed out at Wenger:
"I think he always says this when he loses. When he loses he finds an excuse."

A lot of media houses joined the party - but for the sake of this
article I'll focus on the Independent.
"This defeat ends Arsenal's Championship challenge. They were top on
20 January, but one point from successive matches against Aston Villa,
Manchester United and Chelsea have left them two nine points behind
the latter who are back at the Summit."

Arsene Wenger refused to be pertubed as he kept believing, even though
I sometimes thought his idea of the title pursuit not been over was
merely wishful thinking.
Arsenal went into the game against Liverpool nine points adrift of
London rivals Chelsea.

And I still haven't heard from Michael Ballack. I expected him to
grant an interview either to The Times, Guardian or any news media
of his choice immediately Everton drained them of three precious
points - I'm yet to hear from him.
The Toffee's impressive form helped them end Manchester United's
unbeaten run to afford Arsenal the rare opportunity of staging a
comeback.
The Red devils gap which was touted to be unassailable has been
reduced to a paltry two points in just two games and a glance at
Chelsea's upcoming fixtures and you'll agree with me that they are
next in line.

Chelsea v Man City 27 Feb
Chelsea v West Ham 13 Mar
Blackburn v Chelsea 21 Mar
Portmouth v Chelsea 24 Mar
Chelsea v Aston Villa 27 Mar
Manchester United v Chelsea 3 Apr

Let's remain steadfast in our support - remember that a great future
that doesn't begin today will remain a mirage. Just as Wenger
championed the cause for entertaining football it's only logical for
him to deliver.

¤ Sorry for my inability to include links in the article Im posting
from my mobile phone. . .