Can Arsenal make it through the final stretch?

The highs of the early part of the season are a distant memory, and the lows a painful reminder of how things can suddenly go wrong. Do Arsenal have the strength in depth to make a final push for the title?

by ArsenalnFriends.com on 23 March 2008

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There are eight games left to go before the season comes to an end and.

The Gunners started at a blistering pace and led the table almost all the way till now. At one stage, we were even five points clear of our nearest rivals. But as the injuries and suspension piled up, the pressure increased on tired bodies to perform at the highest level week in week out.

The small squad compared to the other big three began to show. Manchester United and Chelsea led the way with strong shows from their bench. With Liverpool still not showing any consistency, many thought it would have been a three-horse race.

'We have a big team spirit, a young team with an average age of 24 and a desire to prove everyone wrong'

Then, came January. This year round, there was the small problem of the African Nation Cups to overcome. The Gunners lost Kolo Toure, their rock in defence, along with Emmanuel Eboue, Alexander Song and back-up players who could have made a difference. The critics were having a field day predicting that Arsenal would lose their way and fall out of the top four.

Surprise, surprise, we grew stronger as a team and the only team in the top four that felt the impact was Chelsea who lost Didier Drogba and his goals.

In March, the injuries started to show and as Emmanuel Adebayor's goals dried up, there was no other striker to shoulder the load. Just when Eduardo was coming into the game and starting to rack up his goal tally, a certain Martin Taylor came with a flying tackle that took his ankle apart

Robin van Persie, the designated cover for Henry was still struggling with a myriad of injuries that led to him playing just 10 league games and our scoring from midfield dried up.

With the free-scoring midfielder Tomas Rosicky suffering from various injuries, our failure to score led to a failure to win games and four successive draws later, Manchester United took over the lead.

We are in the last stretch now. Liverpool are in red-hot form with Fernando Torres leading the charge. Chelsea are finding their feet again after some internal unrest and adjusting to Avram Grant's tactics. Man United's Ronaldo is a one-man machine for them now, scoring, crossing and passing goals for fun. What do Arsenal have to do to make it to the title?

Comments (5)

by craig on March 23, 2008

man u 3 - liverpool 0 and united playe mid week chelsea 2 - arsenal 1 and chelsea playd mid week what does that tell you, one liverpool squad is average at best with a few outstanding players ie charrager, gerrard and torres, and arsenal have one of the best first 11 squads in the world, but what about the next eleven???? thas where they will fail, they pushed to the end with the carling cup they are pushing in europe and the fa cup as well but this has distracted them from the league and where liverpool are if we are being honest a cup team (out of the title race by january year in year out) and man u and chelsea have the squads to challengfor all four, arsenal are not capable i can see arseal winnig a title if they onlconcentrate (not this season now though) or even getting a cup treble they are good enough but they can not sustain a 38 game title race and all three trophys and as good as you think wenger is, he should know this

on March 23, 2008 on March 23, 2008

No arsenal arent good enough.Youngsters?what about nani,anderson,ronaldo,rooney,tevez,fletcher?their better.title 10!

by TA Z on March 24, 2008

Arsenal has been more and more spiritually beaten. The begining of the end started when they lost 4-0 in Anfield . It does not pay to pile up excuses. Our hopes have faded. Accepting the reality it is now better to focus for next years title race Arsenal should look for strong players.

on March 24, 2008 on March 24, 2008

The last time Arsenal lost at Anfield I can remember was 1998 ish. Do you think it goes that far back?

by AndrewUnited on March 24, 2008

how the author of this article has to make little stivks about man united. Ehh? Is Ronaldo really a one-man machine? I'm getting tired of hearing this, cause it is nonsense. Every team has a top scorer. Arsenal have Adebayor, Liverpool have Torres, Chelsea have Drogba. Does that make them a one-man team? Surely Ronaldo is playing in one of the best sides in the world, which adds to his force. And btw. crossing and passing goals for fun??? He has 3 assissts to his name this season. that is probably the worst for any starting winger in the premiership. Rooney have 11, and Tevez has 8. IT IS NOT A ONE-MAN TEAM U SOD!!

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