Anyone who enjoys betting on soccer will be having a field day every time Arsenal plays a game right now. It’s coming up to six years since boss Arsene Wenger led his side to a piece of silverware and this season has simply become another in a long line of predictable failures.
Whether it’s injuries, referees, or just bad luck, Arsenal have contrived to throw away their best chance at the league title, royally balls-up an almost certain Carling Cup victory, and lose to the best team in the world in the Champions League. It was the manner of this weekend’s defeat that was the most predictable of all.
The Arsenal of old would have lost at Bolton but that was when “Big Sam” had them playing in a certain way – hoof ball. Since Owen Coyle took over, they’ve become a more attractive beast. Like the ugly unpopular girl at school who cut her hair and generally made an effort. Coyle knows how to use the tools his disposal though and the winner was right out of the old Bolton school of thought.
Arsenal, who lost the game 2-1, needs to simply go out and buy a whole new back line to have any chance of ending their barren spell. If they don’t, this finish to the season will continue to happen.
On boss Wenger, Graham Sharpe, spokesperson for William Hill, commented, “The strain is clearly getting to Arsene who has looked increasingly as though he will spontaneously combust in a match shortly. He may well decide that enough is enough should the fans demonstrate dissatissfaction at Arsenal’s trophy-less run.”
The Gunners relinquished second place to inform Chelsea who finally saw Fernando Torres register a goal for the first time in 903 minutes. He owed much to a tropical storm hitting London and the fact that the West Ham defence seemed very happy to simply slide around on the wet pitch until Torres applied the finish. A 3-0 victory keeps them in the title race but still fully six points behind leaders Manchester United.
Toiling to a 1-0 win against Everton, courtesy of a late Javier Hernandez goal, is how United does things and the fact they’re peaking in the latter stages of a season should surprise no one. Winning their next two games will guarantee the title returns to Old Trafford but seeing as they’re against Arsenal and Chelsea, anything could happen. Arsenal has no pressure and thrive when they’re not expected to do…well, anything. Chelsea has won there before and now Torres has scored he will expect to push on.
All in all it’ll be an exciting couple of weeks in the Premier League and show whether Chelsea were good value at 9/1, just last week, to win the title.
