This blog emerged from a fantastic day at Wembley last May, so I’m hardly going to completely disparage the FA Cup. But I’ve been counting down the days to the return of the League since the Leicester game.
So you could say the match against Leicester, being my first game of the season, exceeded all my expectations. That one flick of the head by Wellbeck meant I started the following week in great spirits. Make no bones about it, if Wellbeck hadn’t made his match winning contribution, the atmosphere around the Emirates would have been toxic. Leaving the ground, you witnessed strangers hugging each other, grown men skipping out of the exits and generally a feeling that we had dodged another bullet. We’re not playing well and still prone to put in an abject team performance. But somehow we’re favourites to win the league.
I woke up the following day a little hungover but took time to take in the previous day’s events. A number of things immediately came to mind……
- Leicester are not going away. I’m not expecting them to fall apart, even given the crushing disappointment of losing in the final seconds. They are a solid, well-organised team with several stand out individuals. Vardy will run forever, Mahrez terrorised Monreal until he was taken off, Kante is for me the signing of the season (Wenger, just put in a £15m summer bid please..) and Huth and Morgan are two giants at the back
- A Sunday KO at midday is not the time to create an atmosphere. Most of the crowd seemed they had just got out of bed. The Leicester fans were even more subdued than the home fans (which is quite a statement, given how stagnant our crowd is, even on the bigger occasions)
- Tottenham just know how to spoil a party. The atmosphere in the Twelve Pins after the game was jubilant. The City equaliser was met with huge celebrations. Eriksen killed the mood. You could smell the fear. Losing a title to Utd is hard to stomach. Chelsea’s success has killed me. But Spurs winning the league is simply impossible to bear. I just don’t want to contemplate it
- I have a growing fear that a key referring decision will be pivotal in the closing week. How Clattenberg gave a pen for a handball against Sterling is simply beyond belief. It was a shocking decision. Additionally, Drinkwater’s disgraceful flying lunge on Ramsay was nothing short of a joke. Atkinson should be punished for not taking any action. Is alarming that self respecting pundit can criticise Ramsay for his reaction. He did well to keep his composure
- TalkSport will combust if we do win the League. Most of the ‘broadcasters’ on that awful station despise Arsenal. I hardly listen these days but it was funny hearing their blinkered reaction to our late winner
- Sunday drinking is not cut out for me. Drinking at 10am, and then thinking I could continue into Sunday evening, and then merrily stroll into work on Monday morning is as foolish as you can get
Finally, I can now confidently predict that we’re going to win the league…….you can quote me on that…..