A win over Chelsea would silence Arsenal doubters

Unlike weeks gone by, Arsenal will not be atop the Premier League table when they face Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night. Liverpool’s masterclass performance against a Cardiff side managed by a beleaguered Malky Mackay means that the Reds of Merseyside are a point ahead of the Gunners, albeit having played a game more. However, had Arsenal won at the Etihad Stadium, they would still be sitting on top of what is now widely considered the world’s most competitive league with a comfortable lead. Unfortunately, the two litmus tests that Arsenal have had in Manchester have flashed red. Arsene Wenger’s team were out-of-sorts at the Etihad Stadium. Passes went astray, midfield link-up was sloppy, and chances just weren’t converted. Of course, that only tells one side of what transpired in Manchester the Saturday before last because just like Murphy’s law says, whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. The referee and his colleagues had an awful day at the office, in this author’s opinion. Four clear-cut goal scoring opportunities were denied to the Gunners. Had they been awarded, Arsenal, the team with the league’s best away record, would have come away with something after playing the team with the best home record, just like they did last season. [caption id=“attachment_1302825” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  It’s Mourinho vs Wenger. Getty Images[/caption] It’s not the first time, one can argue, that decisions like this haven’t been given Arsenal’s way. At the Stadio San Paolo in Naples, Napoli players took it in turns to foul Mikel Arteta because they knew he was the team’s fulcrum. No home player was penalised for his foul on the Spaniard, who in turn was shown two yellow cards for the two fouls he committed in the game. But just as had transpired at Old Trafford, Arsenal’s defeat at the Etihad masks a bigger picture of victory: Arsenal made it out of the Group of Death of the UEFA Champions League, a feat that was never guaranteed until the final whistles had been blown in both Naples and Marseille. The main criticism aimed at Arsenal this season stems from the fact that the Gunners cannot beat their title rivals on the road, a hallmark of sides who’ve previously laid their hands on the Premier League trophy. Champions are expected to weather the odds no matter what, and there is always two ways of looking at the predicament Arsenal find themselves in at present. The team were utterly spent when they went to both the Etihad and Old Trafford. Before going to face David Moyes’ team, they’d dispatched both Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, keeping both Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski at bay with what was more or less the same squad. Fast forward to the game against Manuel Pellegrini’s team and it was a near-identical situation, with the Gunners having successfully negotiated the Group of Death the Wednesday prior to that game. One wonders if either City or United would have been able to do the same. At the time, Wenger had said that the preparations he had made for the trip to Eastlands had mostly been recovery work, and had a few decisions gone his team’s way at City he would have probably been able to welcome Chelsea to Ashburton Grove from the top of the table. But whichever way you look at what lies ahead for Arsenal, a win over Chelsea would go a long, long way in answering those questions which now hang above them. Only a few days ago, Thierry Henry spoke of his teammates having that mentality to kill the opposition. If you look at the game at the Etihad Stadium, all that was lacking from the Gunners’ performance was converting those chances and winning the Chelsea game would show that they indeed have that mentality in them. It was not just players of Henry’s ilk who had that mentality, but even those who were not held in such high regard: Sylvain Wiltord scored the winner at Old Trafford in 2002 and today, he is fondly remembered for the time he enabled Arsenal to win the title at the Theatre of Dreams. The game against Chelsea may be at the Emirates where Arsenal have home comfort, but Arsene Wenger has not won a game against Jose Mourinho in a long, long time, and that is where the Gunners’ Achilles Heel lies on Monday evening. Winning this game would end the hoodoo associated with the Stamford Bridge team and would give the North Londoners a major shot in the arm ahead of the winter transfer window. What would make a win all the more satisfying for Arsenal on Monday is that all the other big teams won today. Manchester United beat West Ham 3-1 at Old Trafford, Liverpool eased past Cardiff with the same score line and City banished the demons that haunted their away form when they beat a resilient Fulham side 4-2 after the Cottagers had drawn level at 2-2. It would show that Arsenal do not succumb to pressure, and would certainly make their next few games easier. Newcastle – one of the teams they soon face – won 3-0 at Crystal Palace and facing the Magpies along with West Ham and Cardiff would certainly make for nine very welcome points that could see the Gunners put some space between themselves and the rest of the league once again: a process that will be made much easier if Arsenal can beat Chelsea on Monday night.