I caught the last 20 minutes of the Stoke v Tottenham game yesterday (more out of boredom than anything) and like a kick in the balls, Arsenal’s favourite “striker” scored the winner with a few minutes remaining. He scored against Chelsea as well midweek and is certainly “in form” at the moment. Although he’s been pretty crap for the rest of the season.
The way Tottenham celebrated the goal was that of a team that knew anything less than 3 points was not enough. They celebrated the winning goal like they truly believed that they were going to finish in Top Four.
So it’s time for Arsenal to burst their bubble.
There’s no doubt that we are in the better position as we have it all in our own hands, but if we slip up with our game in hand it’s curtains for us. We host FA Cup winners tomorrow evening and it doesn’t matter how we win, we just need to get all 3 points. People say they will be hungover from celebrating their historic FA Cup victory but I think they will be on a high and give us one hell of a game. Nothing less than 110% from us will be enough as Wigan are fighting for their lives and will be hugely encouraged by beating Manchester City on Saturday. Make no mistake, they thrive in the underdog role.
And from Tottenham’s celebrations after scoring the winner and at the final whistle, it is clear that they honestly believe that we will lose points and they’ll nick 4th spot.
Some Arsenal fans think we’ll give Wigan a hammering at The Emirates but they way results have gone, Wigan need the 3 points as badly as we do. A draw for Arsenal means we’re a point behind Tottenham with 1 game remaining and a draw for Wigan means they are effectively relegated, given Sunderlands vastly superior goal difference.
So tomorrow will be full of tension. The game will be a real battle of mental strength as the longer the game goes being 0-0, the harder both teams will find it. Wigan know that if it’s all square after 60 minutes Arsenal will have no choice but to throw everything forward and go for it – meaning we’ll be leaving gaps at the back. The only way we will breath easy tomorrow is if we score an early goal and build on that. But recently, we haven’t exactly been firing on all cylinders.
So Arsene’s decision to play in the attacking third is as vital as it’s ever been. There’s no time for Gervinho to miss 4 or 5 sitters from close range, for Theo to endlessly run into opposition defenders and for Arsenal to waste chance after chance.
The terms mental strength and focus are banded around a lot but this time we need these in abundance.
Up the Latics
C.O.Y.S
i think wigan will win…….coys……make those gooner fans cry back to woolwich!
I am a Spurs fan and to be honest, I think it’s going to be close but 5th place and Thursday night football for us.
I don’t think there is much in our starting 11 but like your GK said you have better squad. It’s been a great season and enjoyed how close its been but for us it’s close but no cigar !
Finishing 5th isn’t the end of the world it could be worse, so well done guys and lets do it again next season!
Out of interest, did you expet Tottenham fans NOT to celebrate at the final whistle?
Look, we all want to finish top 4, and at least what we’ve done is take it to the last game of the season.
It’s not a question of ‘bursting our bubble’, in all likelihood you’ll get 6 points from your remaining games and I don’t think the majority of Spurs fans think any different.
But at the end of the day football is about entertainment. It’s an exciting end to the season, which is entertaining.
You come across as if, for your own personal pride, you NEED Arsenal to beat Spurs in the league, rather than WANT it – in which case I think that says a lot about you
But just to keep you happy, in the future we’ll all politely clap each other at the final whistle shall we?
yeah, we celebrated because we won, and we still in with a chance of getting top 4. We all know it is an outside chance – but anything can happen! You must have some fantastic skills to be able to comprehend exactly what people are thinking. As a Spurs supporter, I can tell you that we were happy to win – and understand that you guys are in the driving seat.
Wigan can beat anyone and right now they are on a massive high, Alcaraz makes a huge difference from Caldwell and if they can beat a full strength City in a final then it shows they have no nerves.
Kone, McManaman, Maloney, McCarthy and McArthur are dangerous players
They took 4 points off Spurs this year and it should have been 6, if Arsenal think they are going to go and roll them over then they will be kidding themselves, as a pure neutral I will be stunned to see Arsenal pick up 3 points, I just think the writing is on the wall for Wigan to go and beat Arsenal and beat Villa and send Sunderland down
Seems like only Spurs fans commenting on this “bursting bubble” aggravation line and no wonder. As an Arsenal fan, though, I must say that despite of all the rivalry during the years, this year Tottenham and their manager proved to be tactically astute and more than ever deserve to be 4th – will they get it hangs on our high self-esteemed players and their ability to perform under pressure. Make no mistake, Wigan will not be there for the taking – we will have to create our destiny.
One scenario cannot go out of my mind, though: we lose to Wigan thus exposing Sunderland and Villa for the last games, where Spurs fail to capitalise and draw and Wigan sent Villa down. Now that will be a heart breaker I wish no one.
If spurs do manage to pull through…can you imagine how much crap the gonner GK will get.
P.s Stevo your not a real spurs fan if u believe that. do one
i’m a spurs fan but i too think that we probably lost the chance of a top 4 finish in the transfer windows coupled with levy’s desire to leave everything to the last minute in a bid to get a good deal when we didn’t bolster our stuttering attack.
still being footy…. you never know..
It annoys me when people say Spurs lost the chance to be in the top four when they didnt buy in January! What a load of rubbish! Wigan will get a draw tomorrow, Tottenham win last game! Chill out chaps.
wigan need to win both games to survive so the arsenal game is the main focus……..the strange way fooball is it will be the unexpected moment which decides champs league. but as a spurs fan to me this is avbs first season…..so early days
Arsenal will win both games and we will beat Sunderland. Wigan can’t keep pulling it out of the bag. Alas, so we miss out by a point..aaaaarrrgggggghhhhh.
That will leave us with 72 points – 2 more than last season, which means AVB has done wee. I am still gobsmacked that we are still in with a chance of CL, given that our strikers have just decided to turn up..
The bigger issue 4 me was that Hypocrite Ferguson not fielding his strongest side against Chelski – who might still have won the game.
What do you goons say about that!!
I’m obviously a Spurs fan, but credit where it’s due…a balanced article. Odds are against Wigan, but then again I thought they were 100/1 against City…but 0-0 at 60 min, you never know. Hoping like hell it gets to that!
I was merely making an observation about Tottenham’s reaction to the goal and the win, nothing more and certainly nothing that Tottenham fans should be insulted about – if anything it’s a compliment.
My point was that Tottenhman believe they can make the Top Four, because they believe that we will slip up against Wigan or Newcastle.
And that is the biggest danger, because it could happen. Wigan are known to be able to beat the big teams (they won at The Emirates last season) and Newcastle away is always a tough game for us. Tottenham have shown a lot of heart and desire and it’s pretty much guaranteed they’ll beat Sunderland on the last day.
So it’s all on us to perform. Can we do it? I predicted a few weeks ago that we would slip up against Newcastle and get pipped to fourth spot.
But hopefully, I am wrong!