Down but not out (again)

Arsenal are once again at that odd time of the season. Though we can be very pleased with the performances of the last few weeks, they only really serve to remind us that we have failed to live up to our full potential yet again this season, and cause us to look back with regret at points dropped needlessly along the way, that ultimately mean that, barring whatever the opposite of a miracle is (if you’re a Leicester fan), the title is out of our grasp.

There is another way to look at our current situation however, especially given the peculiarities of this particular year in the Premier League. Arsenal, as we know, tend to thrive once the ‘real’ pressure is off around this time of year, and settle into gear, going on a run of form that gets the team where they need to be by the end, but not where they might like to have been. With the balance at the top of the table as delicately poised as it is, this trend for once might not be the underwhelming eventuality that it inevitably turns out to be every year.

Neither Leicester nor Tottenham have recent experience of being in contention for the Premier League title at this stage of the season. We saw just a few years ago what the added pressure of a title chase can do to a side, when a free-flowing Liverpool side were five points clear with just three games to go, ultimately finishing in second, two points behind Manchester City. Now, Claudio Ranieri does himself have previous when it comes to the Premier League title, and though Mauricio Pochettino does not, he is far too savvy a manager to let the occasion get to his players.

That being said, there is the potential to drop points there for both teams. Leicester may well feel the nerves that they have not yet shown if they do suffer an unexpected loss, and the days of the ‘mind the gap’ taunts must still be playing on Tottenham minds with Arsenal slowly closing the gap again, and a game against Manchester United to play this week.

Just by way of clarification at this point, I don’t honestly believe that Arsenal are going to overhaul both Leicester and Spurs and somehow win the title from here. In my heart of hearts, I think it’d probably be too much of a stretch for us to even overtake one now, given how impressive both sides have been this season, and I’m not sure we’d even deserve that frankly. I just don’t want to count anything out just yet in this ridiculous season that we’re having, and with 21 points still to play for from our perspective, that must at least be a reason to tune into BT Sport this lunchtime.

So to the game itself, and it would be foolish to look past this tremendously impressive West Ham side, even with the football that we have been playing recently. Slaven Bilic has done a fantastic job in East London, and the Hammers can look forward to a move to the Olympic Stadium with plenty of hope for the future. Dimitri Payet is one of the players of the season, and please Arsenal, do not give him any opportunities to feature on Vine yet again tomorrow.

To go back to what I said at the start of this piece though, there is absolutely no reason why Arsenal shouldn’t go to the Boleyn Ground one last time and play without fear, looking to take all three points. Petr Cech should be back in goal (not that David Ospina has been a bad deputy in his place, far from it), and that can only improve a defence that has kept two clean sheets in two since the international break, with Gabriel starting to form a better understanding with Laurent Koscielny in the centre, even if he maintains his tendency to throw himself at the ball in and around our own area.

The midfield finally looks more grounded and balanced, with Mohamed Elneny serving as the perfect foil to Francis Coquelin, and though Aaron Ramsey will be back in the squad, you have to feel that it would be a mistake to disrupt what has so far been a winning formula with those two. Add in the impressive Alex Iwobi, an Alexis Sanchez who looks like he might be close to regaining his top form, and an always hungry Danny Welbeck up front, and it should be a very enjoyable game.

We look, therefore, like we might have found the consistency that has been lacking from our performances for the most part of this season, although it does feel slightly premature to be basing that on what have been essentially two good performances, maybe with the caveat once again that we do tend to come into our own at this time of the year. If we can beat West Ham this afternoon, we can really start thinking about putting a run together, and seeing if we can’t add a bit of pressure to those above us for the final hundred metre dash. The frustrating thing of course being that poor results have left our final position almost entirely out of our hands now.

One of those results, you could argue, came against today’s opponents on the very first day of the season, losing 2-0 at home to what was, at the time, an unknown quantity in the league. Interestingly, that was probably Cech’s worst performance thus far in an Arsenal shirt, and if he is given the nod over Ospina, I would bank on him wanting to put some of that right. I wouldn’t like to go predicting the score at this stage, but let’s be honest, it finishes 3-1 on more occasions than not in recent times, though it would be a surprise if that result were to repeat itself this lunchtime.

It can be pretty tough to preview Arsenal games when they get like this; everyone’s hoping, and almost expecting a win, but even that often does little to change the trajectory of our season by this point. A loss however, would be devastating to any fanciful hopes of a thrilling end to 2015/16, but I’m just hoping that the players aren’t thinking like that, and instead go out there and continue to play with the freedom that they have enjoyed in recent weeks; they’re going to need everything they’ve got.