Arsenal America

Quite a week for some of the top teams in England. Let?s review,shall we?:

We?ll start with defending champion Manchester United. Not their best week. Another violent conduct charge and skipper Keane ripped into his teammates for a lack of commitment. Sir Alex Ferguson looked at the calendar and saw that it was time to start the ?mind games,? so he stepped up to the mic, and with the English press hanging on his every word he informed them that Arsenal might falter under the burden of an unbeaten season.

Perhaps if he spent more time worrying about his team and less about Arsenal they could have avoided a home draw with Leeds United.

Are Manchester United still a threat? Undoubtedly. I?d wager that Arsenal will have to come pretty close to going undefeated this season to beat them. But the wheels are starting to come off a bit at Old Trafford. They?ve got a lot of new players in the side this year ? Howard, Ronaldo, Kleberson, Saha. They?ve lost Beckham and now Ferdinand is out. Sir Alex is being attacked by members of the board. Continuity was a part of their success for so long, but they seem to have lost that a bit. I can?t imagine ruling Man United out, but now even teams other than Arsenal seem to have finally broken the spell of fear that Man U was able to cast for about a decade.

But don?t shed a tear for Man United, it could be worse for them, they could be Chelsea. What a kick in the shorts this week was for them. Just 10 days ago they harbored dreams of a treble, now they are down to a single. For that they have Arsenal to thank. Actually, for that they have themselves to thank.

If you want to play with the big boys you have to be ready to beat the big boys. It was a lesson Arsenal learned about six years ago. Even when Man United were winning the League, Arsenal still were be able to beat them, or at least get some draws. Chelsea, when it really mattered, couldn?t do the business. In two games that would basically determine their season they took the lead, but couldn?t hold on. Sure, they?ve got lots of talent. But you know what, talent is easy. Plenty of teams got talent. Liverpool?s got talent, so does Newcastle. When was the last time either one of them won the League? No, talent?s easy, it?s heart that?s hard.

Heart is giving away the ball that leads to a score in the first 30 seconds, then coming back and scoring your first goal of the season. Heart is moving to a new country, scoring an own-goal, then stepping up against a big time opponent and banging in two to secure a big FA Cup win.

Heart is Lauren, who got absolutely run in the first half, but hung in there and kept fighting. Heart is going down on the road and not panicking, not dropping your head.

Heart is Edu - not always starting, but scoring the winning goal when given the chance. Heart is Gilberto, giving up his body to block a shot on goal. Heart is focus, commitment and discipline ? everything that Chelsea lacked in these two games.

One wonders what has become of Liverpool. As I said, plenty of talent: Owen, Kewell, Gerrard, Hyypia, Riise, Diouf, Baros and Finnan. With all that they are sitting more than 20 points adrift of the top of the table. I?m a firm believer that firing managers at the drop of the hat is not the way to success, and I realize that Houllier won three trophies in one year, but come on. This team is underachieving massively. Where is the heart? Which player is standing up in the clubhouse after an FA Cup loss to Pompey getting in people?s faces? How can they allow this to happen at such a proud club?

One final note, it looks at those St. Totteringham?s Day is coming early this year. Just 12 games to go and we?re 30 points up.