Arsenal with a mountain to climb

The last few weeks has been depressing and very frustrating, the season that looked to be heading in the right direction seemed to have been derailed by a couple of moments of madness by Almunia and Diaby against United and then Clichy against City. That meant we came away from the city of Manchester with nothing to show for all the effort. The Premier League table doesnt look pretty at the moment, Arsenal sit in 9th place, 9 points behind Chelsea.

Arsenal have to start winning games to get back in the mix and we cant afford to lose any more games because there is a limit to the number of games you can lose and still have a shot at the title. The one positive is the fixture list has been tough, away trips to Goodison and two trips to Manchester was never going to be easy. What made it frustrating was Arsenal still played well enough to pick up some points against the two Manchester teams or even win those two games. The good thing is Arsenal are playing well this season and it is only a matter of time before they start picking up points.

Winning games doesn't come by just playing well, the team has to defend better. Arsenal have only kept one clean sheet this season, one clean sheet in seven games is not going to get the job done. Individually Gallas, Vermaelen and Sagna had looked solid until the Man City game but Gael Clichy has looked shaky and exposed the rest of the defence in the City game.I also question the team defending, some of the goals Arsenal conceded against City were shocking from a team stand point. The decision to switch to a 4-3-3 formation was a brilliant one defensively but players still have to put in their shift in midfield when Arsenal do not have the ball.

The goalkeeping position was one I was uncomfortable with coming into the season. I felt Almunia was questionable as first choice but as long as we had a solid second choice, he would at least stay motivated. Unfortunately he had no competition with Fabianski more of an understudy rather than somebody fighting to take his place and Wenger promoted the young Italian Goalkeeper to third choice. I suspect Wenger was forced to drop Almunia because of his sloppy start to the season but I am uncomfortable with Mannone in goal against Wigan.

I dont wish to talk about Adebayor today, according to Wenger that case is closed and I agree with him. Arsenal have to look forward to teams ahead of them rather than dwelling on Adebayor. Wenger also claims the Manchester defeats strenghtened the teams belief, I wont believe it until they show it on the pitch. He sees the Wigan game as a good opportunity to start making up the points and I agree with him. Arsenal have a mountain to climb and they have to win against Wigan to get back in the title race.