Despite United and Spurs grabbing victories this past weekend, don’t get it twisted, we have nobody to blame but ourselves if we do not nab that 4th spot for this Premier League season. Let’s have a clear look at the table after the Sunday games:
Despite people ridiculously salivating over Spurs win over a mistake-ridden City side, 4th place still goes through the Emirates Stadium. I know people like to not put pressure on these “kids” at Arsenal and attacked Thierry Henry for stating similar sentiments on how Top 4 is a must this season for Arsenal. But whether people like it or not, the situation is the situation and United and Spurs screwing up has put us in the driver’s seat for that 4th place. Our games in hands, lack of other cups/competition makes it a clear that Top 4 is the only acceptable option at this point of the season.
So let’s start with what two games we have in hand, Chelsea and Spurs away. Granted, those aren’t guaranteed 6 points by any means but despite the Emirates thrashing they handed us earlier this season, Arteta has played Chelsea relatively well in his tenure. It also has to be noted that the Emirates game in September was also before we had our best starting XI with Ben White, Tomiyasu, Thomas Partey and Gabriel all not playing that game. Spurs away is a game where we have failed to take 3 points off them for years and with the appointment of Conte, I am not totally convinced that changes. With that being said, if you look at the past 5 league games for each team, you see Spurs drop 3 games in a row before stealing the winner against City, and before that, it was the Berwign miracle which took them over the top against Leicester. No reason for Arsenal to get anything less than a point if we are being realistic with our best XI against theirs. Now let’s look at the March and April scheduled fixtures and how we should fare:
MARCH: 4 scheduled games of Watford away, Leicester at home, Liverpool at home, and Villa away. If we are being objective, we need 3 points at Vicarage Road and against Leicester at home. As much as I’d like to get something against Liverpool at the Emirates, there is just something in that matchup that doesn’t fare well for us, so I’ll mark that down a loss with us probably getting a draw at Villa Park with Villa now under Steven Gerrard. Aston Villa has been in dismal form as of late but they are still a wild card right now with Gerrard with them probably getting something against an inexperienced Arsenal side. Best case scenario we get 10/12 points in March but my prediction is 7 points.
APRIL: 5 schedule games of Crystal Palace away, Brighton at home, Southampton away, United at home, and West Ham away. April looks like a complete shit show right now in my opinion. On paper, it may not look too bad but I see potential pitfalls all over April with Vieira getting one over on us kinda like how he did at the Emirates. Brighton this season is not an easy out by any means but that is our easiest match on paper for me with 3 points the only option. United are United which means we are more than capable of getting 3 points at home but their individual quality especially if Pogba is healthy makes it where they can overpower us if in the right mood. Hasenhüttl has Southampton buzzing after a terrible start so I do not expect an easy win like at the Emirates. To finish April off, we get West Ham away which speaks for itself with how well Moyes has got them playing these past two seasons. Best case scenario is if we get draws against United and West Ham with wins against the other 3 teams which gives us 11/15 points. My pessimistic predictions sees us getting 7 points with losses against United and West Ham and a draw at St. Mary’s.
I’ll say the magic number is 70 before May. If Arsenal finds themselves at that point total going into our May fixtures, no reason we shouldn’t be playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays next season. The next game is this Thursday against Wolves which scares the living shit out of me with what happened the Molineux not too long ago but with everything to play for, the boys should be up for it. 3 Points or bust for every home game the rest of the season for every team not managed by Klopp.
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