Arsenal travel to Bournemouth tomorrow evening in the Premier League, and this test could be hugely pivotal in our title chase.
Our club climbed up to third place in the table thanks to Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Manchester City this week, but to win this season’s Premier League table, it is the leaders Chelsea who must drop points.
The coming weeks pose a huge test to the Blues, with a trip to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur next on their fixture list, but they play until the day after our trip. If we fail to at least close the gap to within six points of the leaders before they try and overcome an in-form Spurs side, then we may as well call it quits on our challenge.
If we did fail to lose, Chelsea could build themselves a gap of over 10 points on us, and we could have missed a crucial chance to close the gap on the side who have won each of their last 13 Premier League matches.
A win for them would also have them equal our record of 14 consecutive league wins, to add further pain to, but I think this game has a draw written all over it. They will then have to travel to Premier League champions Leicester City, and Claudio Ranieri will certainly not roll over for his former club. A trip to Liverpool at the end of the month will also be a huge game, while we have a very winnable January which we should ascertain maximum points from.
Will we pick up a full month of wins? Is Chelsea’s winning run coming to an end on Wednesday? Will a win for us add pressure to the Blues or are they only looking at themselves?
Pat J
This was Perez first start in 19 League Games….and he did quite well IMO. Anybody slating him should give him a break. You could see he played with the hand brake on, perhaps for fear of Lord Wenger not giving him another opportunity. If he had been playing from the start of the season, he would have adjusted properly by now and we would have a terror of a player on our hands. But he is an intelligent guy, he will come around.
Tougher tests awaits Chelsea….and Arsenal have to look at themselves. The game against Crystal Palance still shows we struggle against a fighting team. Bournemouth will give us that fight and they won’t rollover easily. If we are not careful, they might get a draw from this game. That is why we have to play Alexis up front in this game, we need pace and quick passing to beat this type of buggy team.
We still not in perfect form – although teams rarely are – obviously Chelsea have been-
Hate to say it, but we need them to lose some form
Am I allowed to cheer for Spurs on this one and only occasion?
i vehemently believe d gunners will come good.go gunner go
We have to win one game at a time, and each game really is make or break if the team in front is 9 points ahead. We don’t have the luxury to be satisfied with a draw, we simply have to win games if we want to have any chance of making up ground. The time we could accept a draw and continue to dream about the PL title is over.
If Chelsea got 9 points clear by winning 13 in a row, we have to understand it will take the same for us, winning 13 in row, to hope to make up ground.
Every game is make or break now when it comes to the PL title.
as it stands, every game is a make-or-break till we go top or at least reduce the point gap to Chelsea to 3points.