Just Arsenal News

Ahead of the fascinating clash between Chelsea and Arsenal early this afternoon, the latter are looking to make amends for what has been described as a poor away form against a Blues side that are unbeaten at Stamford Bridge. Whilst some have already written-off the Gunners for the European places, let alone a possible chance of winning the league, Wenger – showing signs of refreshing optimism – said “Who would write off the title after nine games? People who do that have nothing to do in this job if you don’t believe that you have a chance”.

Nevertheless, the statistics do indeed look ghastly – eight Premier League away games without experiencing a win, five of them defeats. However, four of those came last season, and it seems unreasonable to link the two periods together when they came almost three months apart.

On top of this, arguably the only real shock was, of course, the defeat at Blackburn. A result at Old Trafford wasn’t expected by many and no Gooner can deny that the derby with Spurs is becoming closer every season. The Newcastle game came at the early stage at which the likes of Mertesacker in particular were still coming to terms with their surroundings. It seems like a feeble excuse but he has certainly proved he can improve with time, contributing some solid-enough performances in recent weeks.

In any case, Arsenal suffered a similar run of nine winless matches in 1987/88 but still finished just four points from fourth place. In fact, the Gunners’ away record that season was the fourth best in the division. The current team’s position in seventh just six points off fourth – and with 29 games remaining – leaves them in a far more comfortable situation than in 1988, the last season that we were in any comparable levels of ‘crisis’.

The results away from the Emirates haven’t been ideal but there is certainly no cause for concern at this point of the season. A defeat at Chelsea wouldn’t, by any means, make Arsenal’s top four charge look any weaker considering the sizeable challenge that waits for them there.

Has the away form been as bad as statistics suggest? Can Wenger’s positive thinking be justified?