It was a bit of a disappointing football weekend for me. Arsenal lost, Chelsea won, and Manchester City played to a draw. So, in the tight, topsy-turvy title race Chelsea moved into first, Arsenal dropped to second, and Man City dropped to third. That's not entirely disastrous for the Gunners because they trail their London rivals by only a point, but the manner in which they lost puts their title chances in doubt.
The Gunners lost 5-1 to Liverpool --- 5-1! I think it was 3-0 after only 20 minutes. The lads looked shell-shocked and in complete disarray. As the announcer pointed out, Arsenal were "still on the bus". Defence was non-existent; Mesut Ozil seemed to lack motivation; Jack Wilshire could do nought but chide his teammates. I guess, if you're going to lose, you might as well lose to a big club to mitigate the embarrassment. (Unlike Manchester United, which played to a draw against bottom-feeding London club Fulham. That was probably the best thing to come out of the weekend's fixtures.) But if Arsenal wishes to silence its doubters --- e.g., the pundits on BBC's Match of the Day --- it must tighten up its defence, be more aggressive downfield, and start defeating the bigger clubs. They have yet to defeat Chelsea, Man City, and Man United. They'll have to put those clubs behind them to capture the title. I hope they do this for tomorrow's match against Man United and end the day back at the top of the table. Go Gunners!
Barclay's Premier League Table
