Certainly, this is just conjecture! Based on our current form… we’re a good bet to win the Premiership, aye?!
While I certainly don’t think we will be losing a match to the likes of Blackburn Rovers, I don’t really see us running the table in the league and going undefeated for the season. Don’t bet your money on that dream!
Why Not?, you might ask?
Simple… Once we win the league, (if we remain undefeated it will be soon)… Arsene’ Wenger will certainly NOT field our star-studded line-up each match after that. I would think he’d field somewhat of Carling Cup-like team! If we were to win the league with say… 3 matches to go… he would not care at ALL about going undefeated!!! He’d want to rest some of our best players, and avoid any undue strain and injury for the FA CUP and CL competitions. (Figuring we’ll likely still be in one or both… fingers crossed!)
As Wenger showed in the Semi-Finals of the Carling Cup… he is not interested in frivolity! He didn’t care about that competition or winning the QUAD! He was interested in the “Big Three”.
So, if we win the league early… he will NOT care about going undefeated if there is a Champions League or FA CUP title to be won.
Again, this is just one man’s humble opinion. Maybe he’ll opt for a run at immortality?!
I’d would be fun and great for the fans for us to try to remain undefeated. But, I’d rather have the best shot at seeing Patrick Vieira hoist the Champions League Trophy high over his head!
I’ll bet Arsene’ thinks the same!
3 Responses to “Don’t bet the house on perfection!”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
March 13th, 2004 at 10:30 am
Also take into consideration that a player must make 10 appearances for a team that wins the Prem to earn a medal. Some of the younger players like Jeremie and Gael are close to 10. So, basically stag133 is correct.
March 13th, 2004 at 10:59 am
Remember Wenger played a reserve side in the Carling semi-final? when we were only 3 games away from winning the, well, Worthless Cup (still a Cup anyway). That tell us how important Arsene rates Champions League and Premiership. I believe if we are going to win the Premiership, and win it early, and still in the Champion League, Wenger would be resting his key players for the remaining Premiership fixtures. So i agree with u, it’s unlikely we can go whole season unbeaten.
Having said that, now it’s half time the Blackburn match, it’s still 0-0. Chelsea had won earlier, so we gotta win this one. Come on Gunners!!
March 13th, 2004 at 2:09 pm
While I agree with your reasoning on many levels, I have to hold out some hope, and here is why:
If we clinch the Premiership with three league games left to play, we face Leceister and Birmingham at Highbury, and Fulham away. I respect Fulham, but that lineup does not strike fear into my heart. In other words, a Carling Cup lineup has every chance to beat those teams Don’t under-estimate the desire that those reserves would feel to “hold up their end” to help the team go unbeaten for the year. I give us far better odds to go unbeaten if we reach those games and play a Carling Cup lineup than I do for us to go unbeaten until then.