Malaysian Gooner

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.”