I am ignoring two very famous Yogi Berra sports aphorisms in writing this piece and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to have to eat my words come May. The two are almost identical – “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings” and “It ain’t over till it’s over”.
The first one is a bit outdated since the singing of the national anthem was moved to the beginning rather than the end of events, but the second one certainly applies in this case.
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There are still seven games for Arsenal to play (six for almost all our rivals) and I am already throwing in the towel in the title race. Mathematically, it is possible to make up eight points in seven games and I am sure Wenger will repeat that right up to the moment when he can’t.
Stranger things have happened, particularly in this topsy-turvy season, but we would probably need to run the table for starters.
Curiously, the last time the Gunners did that was shortly after I became a Gunner fan in 1971. For the uninitiated, I was in 9th grade, had just taken up goalkeeping and decided to pick up a book on the subject from the British Council. It happened to be the one by Arsenal great, Bob Wilson, and the rest, as they say, is history (of sorts).
Arsenal weren’t in contention till they made a late tear to pip Leeds by a point.
Why am I allowing myself to be counted amongst the “Ye of so little faith” rather than the “Fight unto my last breath” camp? Looming large are two fixtures which, ironically, may impact not just the title race, but also our title race – the one for the fourth spot.
West Ham, with the Olympic Stadium ticket receipts coming in next year and a Champions League spot within reach and Manchester City, seeking to salvage some pride – both away fixtures. Toss in a couple of teams trying to avoid being relegation fodder and one begins to wonder if the last home fixture against Villa is the only “guaranteed” win.
Now, if one could capture the form we showed against Everton and Watford in a bottle, we might still pull it off. The question that has plagued Arsenal over the past several years is whether we can get any consistency and the unfortunate answer has always been a resounding “No”.
Let us take a peek into that Everton game bottle to divine the contents of its magic potion.
Actually, we would need to look at the last three games in which some consistently good themes emerged. Elneny isn’t quite the Patrick Vieira every Arsenal fan has been seeking, but you put an Elneny next to a Coquelin or even a Flamini and we actually have a defensive midfield.
Gabriel isn’t quite the Rock of Gibraltar and he does need to cool his temper to avoid red cards, but at least he is fast enough for the Gunners to play a high line.
The Gunners have always been strong in the midfield as witnessed by the amount of possession they average. However, the past few seasons, this has been more of side to side tiki-taka possession, with much fewer chances being generated.
The past three games, the equation has changed significantly. Of course, one must note that we are talking about the creation of chances, which is a long way from actually putting them away.
A rising star in Alex Iwobi
If I had to sum up the reason for the change in one word, it would be “Iwobi”. While many question Wenger’s decision to play Iwobi in the Barcelona game, the lad really came through for the Gaffer – and then some. It seemed like every time he got the ball, something good happened – a chance for someone, a chance for himself, even a goal for Elneny.
Iwobi’s approach seemed to be quite simple. He turned upfield and seemed to be saying to his teammates, “I’m gonna take a run at these guys. Any of you want to keep up with me?” He was slicing through the Barcelona defence like it was an Arsenal reserves fixture.
When they couldn’t keep up, he just decided in the Everton game, “If you have to do something right, you do it yourself” and scored.
To show this was no flash in the pan, Iwobi topped that with an electrifying performance against Watford. A beautiful pass that picked out Alexis in the early moments of the game, then another that Welbeck put just wide and, thinking back to his Everton mantra, he doubled his goals tally with a calm finish.
I know I am carrying on like Iwobi is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but actually, his approach is shared by a few other youngsters who have caught the eye this season – Rashford who dismantled us a few weeks back and, much as I cringe when I say it, Dele Alli of our hated North London rivals Tottenham.
Iwobi does have his weaknesses – he seems to share the same trait as Wilshere and Ramsey of letting the ball run a bit too far ahead of him, though he seems much better at winning it back.
He gets a fairly good percentage of his shots on target, but most of those shots seem to be tentative and weak – something that should be easily correctable. Perhaps the goals he has scored against Everton and Watford will give him the confidence to improve in that area.
If we can’t win the title, that leaves two teams in the race. Even if we had a shot, in all honesty, I have to say no one deserves the title more than Leicester City. If I ever want to pop into a North London pub again, they better pull this one off.
Who knows, with a bit of luck, we might pull past Spurs and get to rub salt into their wounds. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
