Cheer up Arsene, there's always next season...

The wheels finally fell off the Arsenal Title Challenge today after they were soundly beaten 2-0 by Chelsea who now go top of the League again by two points.

I don’t know what madness of optimism came over me that I thought that a team who were hammered 3-1 by us last weekend at The Emirates and demolished 3-0 by Chelsea at The Emirates earlier in the season could somehow transform themselves into a team capable of getting any kind of result at Stamford Bridge but hope springs eternal here in The Red Devil’s humble abode.

Arsenal now have to face Liverpool who seem to be back on track a bit themselves and then they have to play Porto in the Champions League. Neutrals and Gunners can only hope that their season isn’t all over by March (again).

Arsene Wenger has never been one known for praising the opposition. Any defeat his side suffers is usually down to some dodgy refereeing, his opponents “cheating” (i.e. playing long balls and/or tackling his players) or because his side played poorly.

After our win against Arsenal yesterday, he was not willing to concede an inch in our direction and put the defeat down to his side playing poorly and “we know we are better than that”.

Well, Arsenal have put in some very impressive performances this season but they have generally come against the sides lower down the league. When they have met one of the quality sides towards the top, they have generally come unstuck. To be quite honest, probably their most impressive result of the season came in October when they beat a flying Spurs side 3-0 at The Emirates.

I’m sorry Arsene but this season is starting to look very much like every other season for the last five years as far as Arsenal are concerned… all over by March.

This is something I have mentioned on several occasions on this site (here for example, or here).

Of course, if Arsene Wenger and his boys want to prove me wrong then I would love to publish an entire post praising them for their victory over Chelsea next weekend…

The Boy Done Good

Wayne Rooney will grab all the headlines for his four goals yesterday against Hull and rightly so but if there was a player whose contribution to the cause might well get forgotten during the passage of time, I would just like to put on record here my admiration for another player.

Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha… more commonly (fortunately) known as Nani.

Nani came to Manchester United almost three years ago and has probably suffered more than most under the shadow of Ronaldo.

Played on the left-wing as Ronaldo was obviously first choice on the right, he has been inconsistent, frustrating and brilliant. Unfortunately, not in equal measure.

It looked for all the world recently that he would be on his way out of Manchester United… possibly even during this January transfer window.

He gave an interview with some Portuguese newspaper a few months ago where he had a whinge and a moan about various things he was finding difficult at Manchester United. One of those things was that he never seemed to get picked for the big games.

My own thoughts at the time was that he had to prove himself in the “smaller” games (there’s no such thing at Manchester United, in reality)  but I could see what he meant.

He was picked against Burnley last weekend and dropped against Man City in midweek (probably our “biggest” game of the season so far) but started again yesterday against Hull.

But this time it was different.

Park was chosen for the left and Nani was chosen for the right hand side.

Nani looked far more comfortable out there and put in the type of crosses we have not seen since Beckham left.

Dangerous crosses, accurate crosses, crosses with “put me in the net” written all over them and first-time crosses made on the run. Brilliant stuff.

This has undoubtedly become a pivotal season for Nani. He has seen Ronaldo go only to be replaced by Valencia who has been as consistent a performer as any in the United ranks this season. He has been berated by the fans, berated by some of his own team-mates and given a vote of no-confidence on several occasion by the manager.

A lesser man might have wilted.

However, with yesterday’s performance, he might just have turned the corner. Even Valencia must have watched his performance and left feeling a bit worried.

The keyword for Nani is consistency however but he can only be consistent when given a bit of consistency from the manager. The fact that Valencia was rested today might point towards the upcoming City game when he will probably regain his place having had a well-earned breather.

However, Nani can only do what he is enabled to do and on this evidence, he is more than capable.

Can he do it week in and week out? We will probably never be given the chance to find out. It is clear that he is better on the right. How would Valencia do on the left? He tends to stop and place his crosses with some deliberation anyway so why not find out?

A tough decision awaits Sir Alex.

None of this is in any way a sleight on Valencia. He has been brilliant this season and unlike Nani, he was not given a couple of years to get accustomed to his new surroundings… he has been expected to hit the ground running and has done that remarkably well.

I am a Valencia fan.

But after a period of not being very impressed with Nani, mainly due to his inconsistent displays, I am starting to think that maybe, just maybe, he has turned that corner. And maybe, just maybe, he is being played in his best position.

I wasn’t doing cartwheels after two seasons of Ronaldo but we all know what he did after that.

I’m not sure what the point of this article is except to say, “Well done Nani. Keep it up!”

My Hat is Somewhat Smaller and My Head Somewhat Larger Than The Model Used in this Picture

It looked quite interesting at half time as Bolton led Arsenal 2-1 (they were actually 2-0 up at one point) but in an impressive show, Arsenal came out 4-2 winners at the end of the game.

They needed to win by two clear goals to take top spot and this is exactly what they did.

They now sit at the top of the Premier League although they have played a game more than Chelsea.

I will stick to what I said earlier in the season, however.

February/March is when the wheels come off for Arsenal and it will be no different this season.

If Arsenal win the league, I will eat my hat and screen it on Youtube.

Addendum

Gallas should be hung, drawn and quartered for his challenge on Mark Davies. Failing that, retrospective punishment from the FA should be applied consisting of nothing less than a three match ban. Hey, live and let live, that’s my motto.

Something of a pivotal weekend for the Premier League this week.

Chelsea dropped points, United won three points and the big clash between Arsenal and Villa was won by Arsenal.

Suddenly, there is a bit of a gap between the top three and the rest.

Arsenal have a game in hand over United and Chelsea and if we imagine that they have played and won that game, they find themselves sandwiched between Chelsea and United by a point either side.

Fourth placed Villa would find themselves five points adrift. And therein lies the gap.

I have said from the start that this title would be contested between Chelsea and United and I am not going to change on that score. To see Arsenal up there at this stage is nothing new.

The key test for Arsenal will come around February because February/March is where the wheels have tended to fall off for them in recent years as they have gone from featuring prominently in all competitions to being virtually out of the lot at that point.

With that in mind then perhaps the cruncher for them will come on the 7th February when they take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

As for Chelsea, well, they have been stuttering like mad in recent weeks and have won just one of their last five Premier League games. We now enter January and (in my opinion) their two most influential players – Drogba and Essien – are about to be taken out of the equation for a few weeks as they enter the African Cup of Nations.

If Chelsea can cope without them for a month or so and pick up full points whilst they are away (not totally unlikely – the fixture list has been fairly kind to them) then they will be the team to beat for the remainder of the season.

As before, the clash against Arsenal at the start of February (when Drogba and Essien will be back) could be crucial.

As for us, well, we have had the most horrendous injury list to cope with and, if the truth be told, we haven’t really coped with it. Defeats to in-form Villa and Fulham may not be totally shameful but they were costly and under normal circumstances, we would have been looking for at least two points from those two games.

However, things are coming back together and with the possibility of the long-term injured coming back during the next few weeks, as well as the possibility of a signing in January, it is all starting to look a bit rosier for us Reds.

It’s going to be a cracking second half to the season but I still maintain that come the end, it will all be about Chelsea and United.

We still have to meet each other at Old Trafford and that match could well be the decider because I don’t think it will be won by more than a couple of points by either team.

Personally, I think that Manchester United are totally overpriced at 3.4 to win the Premier League and I have had a bit of that with Canbet.