The Cup competitions in England seem to have had a new lease of life this year and the FA Cup over the weekend produced some thrilling games. If Jermaine Beckford is a Leeds Utd player next season then I would be very much surprised and that is even if they get promoted.
But another big name casualty bit the dust yesterday and that was Arsenal who lost 3-1 at Stoke. Arsene Wenger fielded a weakened side with Arshavin, Eduardo, Rosicky and Ramsey all on the bench.
The hallmark of Arsenal’s game is that they keep possession for long periods. Deny their opponents possession thus denying them chances to score. Keeping possession has a cumulative effect and this is Arsenal’s strength. So when you don’t pick the team to do that optimally then you are risking defeat.
When you haven’t won a trophy for 5 years then gambling in this way seems risky to me. Many people will say that they have some super tough games coming up and they need to keep players fresh and fit for not only those games but also the title run-in.
All that is true but even doing that will not guarantee Arsenal the title. The latest
football betting odds with most firms have Arsenal at around 4.50. I think that this may be a little high but even 3/1 is only a 25% chance.
So Wenger is risking losing the chance to win a trophy for a 25% chance of something. But of course that all depends on how highly Arsenal value the FA Cup and seeing how Wenger was smiling when he shook Tony Pulis’s hand at the end then he may not mind the result at all.
Arsenal do have an absolute shocker of a run over the next four matches and that means that their current league position is somewhat misleading.
See you soon
Carl
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