Arsene Wenger contradicts Walcott
Arsenal’s inconsistency is beginning to cost them the Premier League title. They have let easy points slip away against easy teams, which is taking its toll on the players, manager and fans. Now seven points behind leaders Manchester United, many believe the gunner’s chances of winning the league are slim.
Where other teams have triumphed, Arsenal have struggled: twice failing to beat West Brom, losing a two goal lead against Tottenham on home turf, surrendering a four goal lead against Newcastle and most recently, failing to score against ten-man Blackburn. But as Arsene Wenger runs out of excuses, it seems there is a final reason why Arsenal may fail to top the league.
After Arsenal’s disappointing performance against Blackburn last weekend, Wenger has pulled out another excuse from within his sleeve; bemoaning Arsenal’s run in of the season. The problem? All but one of their remaining fixtures are on a Sunday.
If Mr Wenger is looking for sympathy then he’ll have to come up with something better than this! Having been knocked out of three competitions, Arsenal’s fixture list is much less congested than rivals Manchester United, who have to play seven games in twenty-one days due to their European and FA Cup matches.
Wenger’s words of criticism explicitly contradict the views of Arsenal winger Theo Walcott and striker Robin van Persie. In a recent interview, the Dutch striker revealed that he hopes to exploit the congested fixture list of United.
“United have two extra big games before they have to play us”
“Hopefully they will have to dig deep into their reserves and come here tired”.
It seems Wenger takes the opposing view of his players, who are seemingly not bothered by their Sunday fixtures. Unlike their manager the players seem raring to go and look for positives ahead of the key game against United. With a game in hand and United still to play, Arsenal could close the gap to a mere one point.
England star Theo Walcott has told the press that the team has no more excuses ahead of their final eight games of the season. The twenty-two year old has failed to pick up a winners medal since his move from Southampton in 2006. Although Wenger may seem to be looking for petty excuses, Walcott revealed that the manager actually “blames himself” for their poor performances. Walcott, however, believes the blame does not lie with the manager, but with his team mates.
“I’ve been around the boss for five years now and he has experience of winning trophies”
“We have not been good enough”.
Who knows whether the array of excuses from Arsene Wenger is a smoke screen to hide doubts about his own ability? Encouragingly for many fans, the players seem to have shrugged off their manager’s negativity and are looking positively at the final games of the season. Arsenal’s failure to remain in any Cup competitions may prove to be a huge advantage for them, as rival teams could suffer from tiredness in the final stages of the campaign. Let’s hope Arsenal can give the Premier League an exciting final climax and remain in contention for the title.
