As we approach the halfway point in the season, things are looking worse than dire for Arsenal after the sacking of Unai Emery.
Emery was sacked two weeks ago after another loss, 2-1 against Frankfurt at home in the Europa League, which has since been followed up with a lucky 2-2 draw away at Norwich under Freddie Ljungberg, and then a very poor 1-2 home defeat to Brighton on Thursday.
Our current plight means that Arsenal winning the Premier league almost has worse odds than the lottery jackpot being won, as we find ourselves a whopping 24 points behind unbeaten leaders Liverpool ahead of a run of very difficult festive fixtures.
Liverpool themselves remain odds on favourites to win the league, plus the added kick in the teeth could that they could still do it without losing a league game. Something only done once before by the mighty Arsenal (when we used to be good) back in 2004.
Man City, despite a few stuttering results of late, and that shock defeat to Norwich a few weeks ago would be the most likely to finish runners up to Liverpool but they need to get back to winning ways if they are to climb back up into second place above Leicester.
A lot of people have been surprised once again by Leicester City, they have it all at the moment, the fans are enjoying their season, late, sometimes lucky wins are popping up, Jamie Vardy is scoring for fun, and they are very hard to beat especially at home. As we found out to our cost a few weeks ago, losing 2-0 at the King Power after Vardy and Maddison goals ended any small glimmer of hope of an mini-Arsenal revival under Emery.
Chelsea have had their transfer ban overturned this week, so we can fully expect them to invest in their squad in January and mount a serious challenge for the top four under Frank Lampard.
Tottenham are also all set to challenge for the top four under new Manager Jose Mourinho. They haven’t won the league for 58 years and this won’t change any time soon as they won’t be able to catch Liverpool.
Given all of these strong sides and reasons for challenge, top four is all but gone for Arsenal, though the deficit is still doable on paper at ‘just’ 10 points. Being someone who looks on the bright side, if we could string a couple of results together, find some fight and confidence from somewhere, things could change very quickly. However, on the flip side, if our crisis of confidence continues, a few more defeats and draws could see us sucked into the bottom half of the table and not even joking, we could end up in a relegation scrap. Does anyone have Sir Henry Norris’ phone number?
Things need to change at Arsenal and quickly, is Freddie the man for the job? I’m not so sure, but it’s all we have at the moment. Our next game is West Ham away on Monday, and we play last out of all the games, so it feels like things are about to get worse before they get better – what did Florence say that time..?
It’s always darkest before the dawn. COYG!
