Two years back, Arsenal were sitting pretty at the top of the league, when they traveled to a fairly innocuous looking St. Andrews stadium to play Birmingham. Eduardo ended up with a broken leg, and Arsenal ended up with a shattered morale. It was clear that very day that we would not win the league that year. It has taken us two years to recover from that episode. And here we are, with the midlands calling again.
Only this time, Birmingham and St. Andrews don't seem so harmless. They sit 9th in the league, better than they have managed the 6 times they have played in the premier league in the last decade. They have played 15 home games this season, and lost only 2 of them. The last they lost at home was in September 2009, when a minor blip caused two home losses on a trot, and have since held both Manchester United and Chelsea to draws at home.
In this backdrop, the red card that Vermaelen received last week seems ominous. FA decided to not to retract the red card, so the Gunners travel to face Alex Mc Liesh's side, without their first choice centre-backs and their first choice striker. The fact that Barcelona visit 4 days after this game only adds to our woes.
Wenger will have some key issues to sort out. Who plays in the defence against Birmingham? If Sol Campbell does, can he play against Barcelona? Most probably not. So should Campbell and Song start in defence against Birmingham, and Song and Vermaelen do the job against Barcelona? But will we miss Song's ability to break play in the midfield if he plays in defence against Barcelona? Can we afford that against them? Where does Silvestre fit?
Whatever said and done, we will need to grind out a win against Birmingham. If we drop points against Birmingham, it will be almost impossible to win the Premier League and the disappointment will be huge. We cannot even think of getting a decent result against Barcelona in that state of mind. I just hope the boys look at what happened two years back and derive some motivation.
I think we have a better chance of winning the league than we have of winning Champions League. But the Birmingham game will affect our run in both competitions. Its one of the most important games we have played for a long time. We need to win it, come hell or high water.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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Hi Tanmay,
ReplyDeleteLet me be the first one to post comment over your article.I am a gunner fan myself and have been long admiring the beautiful football of Arsenal.This season has been such that time and again all Arsenal fans lost hope,when first we lost to Man Utd at OT, next match we lost to Man City. Questions raised, Does this team has the depth to face big teams like Manchester...We started the unbeaten run till, hopes build up again ..C'mon , We can win the league..Here comes the shocker, losing to Sunderland...Well that happens with best of the teams, One bad day at field and you lose a match...Never mind, winning run continues...Our strikers hammering goals in and out..RVP leading the battle and was in best of the form , I personally haven't seen Persie in such good form, Hopes raised high, we are the leading goal scorer, Manchester united were struggling till then.. All we need to do is beat Chelsea..but we all know what happened at emirates against Chelsea...hopes demolished,we are out of the race....Our Fate sucks when it comes to injuries...RVP out for 6 long months...All the pressure mounts on Wenger to buy a striker with average striker like Bendtner out of action for weeks...Some how we managed to score thanks to majestic fabulous Captain Fabregas,,Goals were coming, no matter if they were from low powered shots of Denilson or own goal against liverpool...Hopes raised again, We went onto unbeaten run and covered up the gap from 11 pts to 3 pts ...and here we wait for Manchester United at Ashburton Grove...hopes demolished again, back to back defeats against title challengers Chelsea and Man Utd.....All hopes over, heads are down, we dont have the mettle to beat big teams...We are good for 3rd 4th spot....Here comes liverpool, our fav punching bag...We beat them 1-0 , hopes revitalized...and since then grabbed maximum points possible till date..Be it luck or determination to fight till the end and get goals in 93rd minute..Its sure determination of the young guns to win match against Stoke even after horrific injury to Ramsey,,,Eduardo's broken leg demoralized the team ,History didn't repeat...We earned a last moment 1-3 victory at Stoke...and same against Hull...Will this Topsy turvy run continue...I sincerely hope not...I want us to continue this run..Birmingham might be tough to beat at home, with Vermaelen out , Whole team would have to provide more than 100% to win this one, Blackburn are equally difficult to beat at home...With 4 away matches and 3 home matches left ...all we can try is to get maximum points. Any lose would once again demolish all our hopes and allow all the critics to open their mouth against Arsenal...and mind you with 7 matches left there would be no hope of rebuilding hopes...I am sure this team will always appear in top 4 and CL..but does this team has the talent to be at top, yes they do...do they have the character...they need to prove...Hell or High water is in their hands...All the best Arsenal..Gunner for life..Arsenal,We love the way you play...Sumit