Today sees us 6 points off the top of the league and it's very important that we remain focused on the targets ahead. The next target is the FA Cup game against Cardiff and after that it's the next league game. We have to not focus on the title, but just simply focus on the next game. We're unbeaten now since Man City and we just have to keep our heads down and focus on winning the next game.
The next league game is Everton away on the 28th January and that one will be tough.
There's been a little more reaction to the league game against Hull from the manager, and this is what he had to say:
“We were 1-0 up [at Emirates] and yet they won 2-1,” said the manager. “When they came back to 1-1 [on Saturday] certainly people thought it would happen again. But I believe that this team has grown now. They did not give up and it was a battle in the second half. They were up for it.
“There would have been headlines [saying that our title chances were over if we had lost] but it would not necessarily have been a reality but anyway the team has to deal with that kind of headline because everybody expects so much of them. I am not worried though. I am just focusing on doing what we do well and get the team [focused] on their resilience.”
Indeed Arsene, the mental strength to come back was there. It’s amazing how much effort we had to put in to beat a newly promoted side such as Hull. It goes to show that the gulf between all the sides in the Premiership has been significantly reduced. Hull boast players such as Geovanni and Cousin. But we have the players to raise their game and through Van Persie – that’s exactly what we did.
“We do not speak about title at the moment, we just go from game to game. We on are a good run and have good momentum so let’s just keep it going. It is not because of the pressure we have but just because we want to keep our momentum. Let’s get some belief and keep going then see where we are in April.
“Everybody is playing against each other now. So we need to be consistent and on our toes because there are some big games coming up for us now. I believe that nobody is flying over the games at the moment. On Saturday Chelsea came back in injury time and Manchester United did [in] the last minute. It is good because it gives hope to everybody. Manchester United are in form but they won 1-0 against Wigan and against Bolton in the last minute. That indicates they could drop points. They have a massive squad but if they get injuries they will be in the same situation as us.”
The last ten minutes of the 3 o’clock games changed the weekend completely – we’d have been only 2 points behind Chelsea had Stoke pulled off the shock result of the weekend – and you knew United would nick one in injury time, didn’t you? Arsene is right that if any other team had the injuries we’ve had they wouldn’t be doing so well.
At the moment, we have Eduardo, Rosicky, Walcott and Cesc out through injury – surely that’s the same as Ronaldo, Nani, Scholes and Tevez – the same as Anelka, Lampard, Deco and Cole – the same as Gerrard, Keane, Kuyt and Riera. Any team would struggle.
Okay, not much else going on in the world of Arsenal…
Back tomorrow…]]>
