11 games left and we are about to fight against our oldest rivals.
The comments being made by some of footballs biggest names are quite shocking.
Ian Wright states that a win is not important and a simple point is a good result (well that is a major change in itself to hear him say this). Arsenal are on an unbeaten run of 5 and won the past 3. Whereas Spurs are on an unbeaten run of 11 and won the past 3. Although it seems Arsenal do not have as much to lose (in terms of the unbeaten run), it will certainly dent their confidence enough to temporarily take them out of the race.
Lets face it if we lose to Arsenal we know heads will go down and at a bad time as Inter and Liverpool will be up next. Essentially we could end up in a downward spiral as we have done for the past few years. Although AVB seems to have sorted the confidence so I think it wouldn't be a catastrophe for Tottenham to achieve a point or even lose (although I WANT and expect 3 points).
I refuse to think negatively and would rather concentrate on the fact that we have Bale ready to stick it to them, Holtby who is the signing of the Jan window, Lloris the league’s best keeper (IMHO) and overall a squad that most managers would kill for (including Wenger). Following this game Kaboul and Defore are expected back and I can't think of a better game for Ade to get his head up and show the fans what he is capable of (if one of those goals bounced in against West Ham we would see a different man against Arsenal). That would put us at full strength!
All in all this is a must win for us, but more so for Arsenal. It’s not necessarily about Arsenal's confidence being dented (as a loss will temporarily damage them), but a win for us will have the team at its absolute highest (in terms of confidence) and strong enough to maintain 3rd.
No matter who and how they look at the game you have to agree; a loss for Arsenal may as well be handing Tottenham the batten to sprint off down the final stretch leaving them behind in the dust.
A final point is on Wenger's assessment of Gareth Bale. He will not concentrate on Bale at all and they will concentrate on their game and that’s what he's always done at Arsenal. Well forgive me for going against Wenger here, but I disagree. Yes you should concentrate on your game, but if there is one player that is singled out as the main threat why would you not give him special treatment? You should approach each game with tactics for that game! Teams like WBA and Reading for example are a solid team (they do not have 1 or 2 stand out players), so you would concentrate mainly on your team. Against us though Bale is outstanding, Holtby has come in on a high, Parker has a point to prove (along with Ade), Lennon is looking great and we have the EPL's best keeper. That to me shows that certain people must be looked at closely, but hey I would rather Wenger doesn't do that and he concentrates just his team.
I can sense something in this game I really can, let’s just hope that it’s not embarrassment and rather the sheer delight of Bale dominating and the team pushing right on behind him.
For all those desperate to know the Bale competition will launch at 4pm, so keep an eye out (the signed shirt will be worth double come Monday)!
COYS!!!!
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