State Of Play

I feel that it might be timely to draw breath at this juncture and take a look at the possibilities for the rest of the season for Arsenal. Whilst there are still many games to be played, the situation is slowly becoming clearer. So it's probably worth - instead of going into too much detail regarding the Watford game - looking at what we might expect to see unravel over the next 11-12 weeks.

I will also take some time later in this piece to discuss what's going on at Chelsea - a team who have caused us no end of pain over the last 18 years.

But before I go into more detail, I will start with an apology to my thousands (haha) of readers. A bout of Omicron - contracted, I believe, at the Burnley home game and which hit me later that week - knocked me off my feet, and I spent over a week in bed as fatigue overwhelmed me. Then some complications off the back of it, and I was still too ill to get to the Brentford game. And I'm still suffering a bit; the after-effects are hanging around and I'm off for more tests this week. And most importantly that means that you're several blog posts down; but I've made it back to my keyboard at least!

My last post was after the disappointing home draw with Burnley, which concluded a January to forget. However, February and the beginning of March have seen fortunes turn, with successive victories over Wolves (twice), Brentford and Watford (results have been so good that one of my friends has begged me not to post anything, just in case it breaks the good run!). 

As I say, I'm not going into too much detail on the performances - we've all seen the games, after all - but there are one or two salient points that I did want to make about how the team are performing. And it has really helped, of course, that other clubs in the running for fourth spot have been graciously dropping points left, right and centre.

So to the two points I wanted to make: Firstly, there's Arteta's subtle tactical change; which has seen Thomas Partey now being given the space to operate on his own in the centre of the field, with Granit Xhaka pushed over to the left - and mainly slightly further forward. There are times when this has worked well - Partey is a monster of a player on his day, who appears to have eyes in the back of his head at times. However, I'm personally not convinced by this change in role for Xhaka; if it's intended to balance the right side axis of Saka and the considerably more nimble and skilful Odegaard, I don't believe that the Swiss has the tools to do the same job on the left. And it also takes away from his defensive duties - we saw how Sissoko managed to run off him for Watford's second last week. So whilst I like the tactical idea, I think that in Xhaka we lack the personnel to deliver effectively. And whether Arteta would consider leaving Xhaka out of the side and playing ESR in there is something that we'll perhaps see addressed later on this season.

Secondly, I wanted to touch on the personality of this group of players. We've seen a lot of the good, and something of the bad, from this group over the past few weeks. The good has been in the never-say-die performances against Wolves (particularly at home). The noise in the ground at that last-gasp win was reminiscent of some of the most memorable moments we've had at Emirates Stadium; Arshavin's winner against Barcelona, Welbeck's injury-time winner over Leicester, the two 5-2s against Tottenham and the day we went 3 up against United after less than 20 minutes.

...and the bad in the entirety of the defensive performance at Watford, where I sensed (I was in the ground) that the opposition were taken far too lightly from the very start. Despite the warning of the first-minute disallowed goal, and the scintillating attacking play that punctuated the performance, Watford were treated in a manner that I can only describe as lackadaisical.

Nonetheless, at this point all we can say is that the team has made the most of a reasonable set of fixtures over the past month - it gets trickier from now on; if anything, of all the fourth place contenders Arsenal have possibly the hardest set of remaining fixtures. But because of dropped points elsewhere Arsenal have games in hand too. From here, frankly, there's no place to hide; and no excuse. And what a remarkable turnaround from bottom to fourth it has been! 

But what I'd say is this; going forward, despite playing essentially without a target man, Arsenal are looking great - that Odegaard/Saka axis looks almost telepathic at times. In midfield, we have the usual Xhaka-based concerns, but Partey (his John Jensen-like shooting notwithstanding) is in the middle of his best spell in an Arsenal shirt. And in defence... well, they just need to concentrate better.

And so we move on to Leicester (thankfully without our nemesis Vardy) on Sunday, Liverpool - almost a 'free hit' - on Wednesday, and Villa next Saturday. Three games in a week; that's unheard of! I'd be very happy with 6 points out of 9, and anything more must surely be seen as a bonus. Avoiding gratuitous dives and flying elbows are of course the main requisites on Wednesday.

And now to the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and what it means for Premier League football:

It has always been my position - and solemn belief - that the arrival of Roman Abramovich and his 'dirty' money completely upset the Premier League applecart; and in particular Arsenal's. In the blink of an eye, a half a billion pounds spent on transfer fees in the space of two years meant the end of the United/Arsenal duopoly, and literally nobody thought it was fair. 

There have been questions from the very beginning about the origins of Abramovich's fortune, and I amongst others (including Arsene Wenger himself) have used phrases like 'financial doping' and 'money laundering'. Abramovich's money changed the financial landscape of European football, and led to the arrival of nation states as owners. 

Manchester City, PSG and now Newcastle United have owners richer than any of us can possibly imagine. Is that fair? Of course it's not! And amongst those owners are some of the worst human rights abusers in the world; meaning that alongside the failure of FFP there is a distinctly awful 'fit and proper person' test. 

All of which stakeholders acknowledge, but then conveniently turn their backs on... Of course, Arsenal have been by no means innocent in this respect; there was a long-time dalliance with the equally sanctioned Alisher Usmanov (who'd have thought that by having the Kroenkes in charge we'd have dodged a bullet?!?), and I'm not too sure about the human rights record of Rwanda, to be honest.

And whilst football was never a level playing field, it has all led to an obscene growth in the finances of top-flight football - and lest we forget a massive percentage of that money leaves football for ever in the form of wages paid to the players. Sat in The Rookery with the Watford fans on Sunday (I did keep quiet!), I was struck by how difficult it is for 'little' Watford to compete with the big boys, despite spending a fair bit of recent time in the Premier League (their fans always expect a struggle). And similar scenarios go up and down the leagues and lead to the sort of issues that have recently befallen Bury and Derby County - and I could name several other clubs who have suffered as a result here.

Abramovich paved the way. And then employed the likes of Mourinho, Terry and Diego Costa; some of the absolute dregs of football humanity. And with the inevitable success brought about by a £3bn investment came the gloating entitlement of the Chelsea fans; something that has been very hard to take. Everyone - most of all Chelsea's own fans - knew where that money came from. But the success that came with it meant that they merely turned the other cheek.

Now don't get me wrong; some of my best friends happen to be Chelsea fans. But Chelsea fans in general have had a reputation for being some of the thuggiest and most unpleasant around. And to then chuck that 'loadsamoney' entitlement on top has made matters quite unbearable at times. 

From the day Mourinho's full strength side beat Arsenal's kids in Cardiff, through the Drogba and Costa years and then especially Arsene's 1000th game, it's been awful for Arsenal fans who have had to witness the equivalent of the oik from down the street winning the lottery and joyfully throwing his money around. When Chelsea made a failed bid for Thierry Henry one summer, David Dein described it as Abramovich rolling up in a tank on our lawn and firing £50 notes at us.

And so there is, I'm afraid, just a little bit of Schadenfreude to be had. Those 18 years of almost unprecedented success look like they've just come to an abrupt end. English, European and World Champions they've been. So yes, Chelsea fans, 'we know what you are'. But I do sense that alongside Manchester City's recent success Chelsea's trophies will always have the sense of a 'virtual' asterisk next to them.

So it's the clubs who have had success by means of more of a self-sustaining model who need to take extra plaudits here. Manchester United, despite being a bloated behemoth, at least generate most of their own income (and then blow it!). Liverpool have done an awful lot on the back of the £150m Coutinho sale, but their model in general is much to be admired. And if Arsenal manage to turn things around after a mere five years out of the Champions League that'll be a major feather in their cap.

As regards custodionship of football clubs, things have to change now. Whether on the back of this a different set of rules regarding FFP and FPP kick in remains to be seen. But we can no longer ignore the 'dirty money'. In some way I feel sorry for Chelsea fans; they've always known in the back of their minds why their club have been so successful, and the enormity of the change in their financial position will now hit home very hard. Goodness knows what their playing squad will look like next year, but it certainly won't include two or more world class player in every position, and 20+ players out on loan in top leagues all over Europe. Massive, massive uncertainty. Oh well... if you sleep with dogs, you will inevitably catch fleas.

OK - that's me done. Let's hope for three more points on Sunday. COYG!