It may be the norm in other countries but we do not often get it in England…..a three team title race. Amazing as that sounds, but you now have to make Arsenal title challengers again.
I even wrote their obituary on this blog some weeks ago. But now they are a mere 3pts behind Chelsea and only 2pts behind Manchester United. They do not have to play any of the top four clubs and are in serious danger of winning the title.
A look through the fixtures and the most difficult game is Tottenham away for Arsenal. Their 3-1 win at Stoke yesterday was massive despite the horrific injury to young Aaron Ramsey who had his leg broken in a tackle by Ryan Shawcross.
The next four league games for Arsenal are Burnley, Wolves, Hull and Birmingham. Manchester United and Chelsea both have to play each other. In fact Manchester United also have to play their great rivals City and also Liverpool who are back in form.
Chelsea have to play Villa, Liverpool and Spurs as well as United. Arsene Wenger was mad at the tackle yesterday but this is a knock on effect of grooming fragile players.
I am not suggesting that Arsenal’s players are fragile but they are ball players and not big tacklers. So they are always going to come second best in strong robust challenges. It is no coincidence that the last horror injury in the Premier League happened to an Arsenal player in Eduardo.
Arsene Wenger will say that it is because of a witch hunt against his team but if any team were to be targeted then surely it would be Manchester United and Chelsea. Speaking of Chelsea, their 4-2 defeat at home to Manchester City was an amazing game and all is definitely not well at the Bridge.
With Cole injured (both of them) and now Cech, they can hardly be in a position to lose John Terry if only mentally. Things could get tough for the Blues in the coming weeks.
