Malaysian Gooner

Well mathematically, it’s impossible to win the title in February but Arsenal’s next 4 Premiership games in the space of 15 days will play a very important role in deciding if the Emirates Stadium will see it’s first Premiership trophy. Away to Villa, at home to Man Utd, away to Chelsea, at home to Liverpool. 4 games that look daunting but at closer inspection, the Gunners should fancy their chances. In my opinion, 10 points out of 12 from these matches and Gooners can start dreaming of a title again. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to dream.

Aston Villa vs Arsenal (27/1/2010)

Aston Villa have proven over the past few seasons that they are no pushovers and this will certainly be a tight match. Cesc Fabregas’ 27 minute cameo was the difference between the two sides at the Emirates and Arsenal win need another performance of that sort from captain fantastic in order to secure the points at Villa Park. Villa have not been in the best of form but you can never right them off and their players will be motivated to impress Martin O’Neill as Villa head to Wembley  at the end of this month in the League Cup finals. A win would be sensational but a draw seems reasonable.

Arsenal vs Manchester United (31/1/2010)

2-1 at Old Trafford without Cesc Fabregas in a game that we deserved not just something out of the game, but a win. We gifted Man Utd 2 goals after an Arshavin stunner put us in front. Since that game, we’ve improved as a team and with Cesc back pulling the strings in the middle of the park, Man Utd will have their hands full. While we’ve improved, some might argue Man Utd have not. I have never seen a Man Utd team so inconsistent and it may come down to the fact that games that Man Utd used to win narrowly thanks to magical moments from CR7 are now mere draws or worse, loses. With the possible return of Alex Song (Cameroon play favourites Egypt on the 25th, which all Gooners hope they’ll lose), I expect Arsenal to play well and send out a signal to our rivals that we are very much in this title race with 3 points.

Chelsea vs Arsenal (7/2/2010)

A full 7 days after the match at the Emirates we will travel to Stamford Bridge to take on a Chelsea team that will be welcoming back their African contingent of stars from the African Cup of Nations. One man that will not be in that lineup is Michael Essien who will miss the game through injury. Worryingly though, the man that tormented Arsenal at the Emirates, Didier Drogba will definitely be available if fit. I know its unsporting to say so, but I hope Drogba’s run with the Côte d’Ivoire team results in him picking up an injury. A Drogba-less Chelsea may have beaten Sunderland 7-2 but it is nowhere near as good as a Chelsea team containing Drogba. If Arsenal can keep Drogba quiet, we may just nick a win at Stamford Bridge but that act is easier said than done.

Arsenal vs Liverpool (10/2/2010)

Liverpool have been having so many problems both on and off the pitch this season that the club can’t even afford to sack their underachieving manager. Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard have both been ruled out by injuries and unless Arsenal pick up injuries to key players; this should be 3 points in the bag against a Liverpool defence that is nowhere as good as it used to be.

Besides a few tricky away matches at Birmingham (27/3/2010) and Spurs (10/4/2010), most of our ‘tough’ opponents will visit the Emirates where we will always have the upper hand with the large pitch, carpet grass and crowd support. If Arsenal can stay within touching distance of the leaders after this 15 day period, we’ll be in for a very interesting title race.

Of course anything can change in 15 days. In fact, everything can change in 24 hours as the transfer window is still open. Please post your views and thoughts in the comments section below.

In previous seasons, Arsenal have been the prime example of how complacency can lose you the title. Despite not winning anything since the FA Cup triumph in 2005, we have never been outplayed by any of the other ‘Big 4′ teams consistently in any given season. We have always performed well in most of the matches against them, in fact our record against Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool have actually been quite good. What has cost us the title so many times is our slip ups against the so-called smaller teams of the league. In recent memory, losses to Stoke and Hull last season spring to mind.

Now though, Arsenal have taken note of the success of Man Utd have had over the last couple of seasons and pointed to the fact that Man Utd’s record against their title rivals have been less than impressive. Man Utd won those league titles by doing the ordinary, maximizing their points against teams in the bottom half of the league. Arsene Wenger has pointed this out numerous times and as Arsenal shape up for their game against Wolves today, there is the sense that the team are very much focussed on the job at hand.

This season more than any, the matches against the smaller sides will make the difference as the Big 4 are finding out that in this league, the likes of Burnley and more than capable of beating the Manchester Uniteds of this world. The matches between the top 4 (or even 5 or 6) will be less important as Liverpool have shown after losing to Fulham a mere week after defeating Man Utd.

The Arsenal players are saying all the right things, we need to be “up for it” and we need to “focus on ourselves”. There is that feeling that Arsenal is treating every game like a cup final, something we lacked for the past few seasons. We never seemed to have problems against teams in the top half of the league but I remember when we took on Stoke last season, not many were confident of a win.

Of course talking is nothing without the performance and a solid performance against Wolves will go a long way to proving just how capable this side is of winning the league this season. As the cliché often goes, “We don’t mind losing the big games as long as come the end of the season we lift the trophy.”

An early goal from Adebayor was enough to give us the 3 points against Wigan at The Emirates today. We all hoped for the 3 points, forget playing pretty football, getting the winning mentality was all that mattered and we got that today. Before the kick-off everyone was worried whether the players would be complacent like they were against Villa after a great performance against Man Utd but I think you could tell that the players looked determined to win the match after the critism they have had over the past few weeks. How much of that is down to the new captain, we’ll never know.

Everyone talks about how the Birmingham game last season was the turning point, how it was the beginning of the end for us. The players should take this win as something to build on, more so than the Chelsea win as it feels like eternity since we won two games back-to-back. Its time the players start showing consistency and turn the season around. There is time, titles aren’t won in December. Man Utd use to make it a habit of having great second half of seasons and there is no reason why we can’t do the same. Liverpool have showed that they rely too heavily on Torres and Gerrard while Chelsea are proving to be one-dimensional under Scolari. The title isn’t over, there is certainly a lot of work to be done but it certainly the thought of Cesc lifting the Premier League trophy come the end of the season isn’t impossible.