Arsenal have suddenly dropped from having a seven-point cushion at the top of the Premier League, to finding themselves in danger of being knocked of the top next weekend if they suffer another defeat to Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.
To me it seems a bit un-Wenger-like to put pressure on his players ahead of such a big game, but it seems he is challenging them to bounce back by emphasisng just how important this game will be.
The French manager was quoted in the Independent as saying: “It is how we respond in the next game, that is what makes a season. It can happen,”
“You could see we played on Wednesday away from home and we were not as fresh as we can be, but it is how we respond now.
“There are always positives in a game and there were a lot of them, but still we have to come back to reality.
“It is about us defending together in games like that and we did not do that.”
Despite taking just one point from the games against Everton and
Manchester City, it can’t be ignored that Arsenal still scored four
goals and the attack force is still in confident mood, especially with
Theo Walcott back in contention. Chelsea themselves are hardly in great form. Their three strikers have netted just six goals between them all season, and the Blues have conceded seven goals in their last three games too, against Stoke, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, so I see little reason for us to be scared of them.
Arsenal simply need to remember that they are top of the league for a reason, and having suffered in Manchester they just need to brush themselves down and get on with the task of reeling in some more points
