Wenger needs to pull something out of his magic hat

A very good morning to you from second place.

I didn’t fancy performing a post mortem on Saturday’s limp draw yesterday, so I didn’t. I didn’t read any of the match reports and I didn’t watch any highlights on the box. It’s pretty obvious what the general theme was going to be.

It was yet another 90 minutes of frustration though as the grim realisation dawned on me that far from chasing the title, on current form we are staring down the barrel of third. There were two tuneless and monumentally drunk dullards sitting not far from me at the game and they probably had a fine day: not least because they probably won’t have recalled much.

I’m not going to give up on it, because come on, we’re second on goal difference, but the way things stand the belief is not there. Not there among the players and consequently diminishing fast on the terraces.

A confident Arsenal are a joy to behold but an Arsenal lacking it look like the Arsenal of last season: plenty of possession, neat passing to the edge of the box then it fizzles out. The shots have dried up and the penetration has gone. How many times did we arrive at the edge of the box only to pass it sideways, back and forth, until it was too late?

So not a great day, and with five of our last eight away from home (the home/away ratio for Man U and the Russkis is, unfortunately the other way round), we are facing a huge task to win this.

Winning breeds winning though, so where better to lift the gloom than at the home of the Russians, where they are unbeaten in something like four years in the league? With Man U facing Liverpool on the same day, it’s a fantastic opportunity to inject something juicy into our title push.

All to play for.

(Just).

Jim

Arsenal since about 1979. Thick, thin and all that.