Ten days that didn't shake the world fortnight a long time

Only a fortnight ago Fortress Emirates was rocking, Arsenal were playing Man City with tempo and verve. The crowd were up for it with lots of witty songs and the culmination of a winning goal and the Poznan. Three days later and Wolves were vanquished 3-0 at a walking pace. Arsenal were cruising and third place looked like a nailed on certainty. Fans were happy and sleepwalking to Wenger’s greatest turnaround in his Arsenal career.

Only ten days later and Arsenal  according to Wenger ran out of petrol, and fans are biting their fingernails down to their fingers, anxious that the team could miss third place. The cause of this change was the match against Wigan, not only was it a defeat against bottom three opposition, but the loss of a new found talisman has made the team more ordinary than it had been, and the crowd more fretful.

The anxiety, lack of confidence, and the limited ambition of Chelsea, all led to a borefest that stultified the atmosphere and number of real chances. Why Chelsea preferred a point is a mystery, perhaps the team on display was not capable of more. No Drogba and Lampard no three points; I can’t remember Torres seriously threatening the goal, or any other Chelsea player come to that. The Arsenal keeper had no more than a couple of saves of any substance to make.

The guy next to me came in 35 minutes late, a new record even for our row, I was able to tell him he had missed nothing. RvP seems to have mislaid his mojo, Theo’s lethargy was explained afterwards as a result of a hamstring injury, and we probably won’t see him again this season. The Ox, probably due to lack of games, tired after a bright start. Without Arteta Song and Ramsey got caught on the ball more regularly than usual. At least the defence looked more solid, not that Chelsea were the severest of tests.

The second half was  illuminated by the crowd turning on Terry, “you know what you are, John Terry you know what you are”. When Cole came on they also jeered him, but their hearts really weren’t  in it.

Down the pub afterwards the discussion was mainly could Arsenal limp across the finishing line to get a CL place, and how everyone wished Barca well.

Meanwhile QPR played fair by beating Spurs with probably an even greater performance than the one that beat Arsenal, meanwhile Wigan fell to Fulham, making Arsenal and Man U look even more sheepish.

The only winners in the top four stakes were Newcastle, no doubt there could be a few more twist and turns over the next few weeks, for what the last few weeks demonstrates is that nothing can be taken for granted in football, a two month run of winning can suddenly be overturned into a run of bad form in the twinkling of an eye. As Harold Wilson said of politics a week can be a long long time. And the next couple of weeks may seem like a long time to quite a few football fans, not just Arsenal’s.

Harry for England