Can you feel it Arsenal fans? Write us off at your peril Premier League

Week Twelve – And Now You’re Still Not Gonna Believe Us…..

This week we played two teams that I have an extreme personal hatred for, and it turned out to be the perfect example of how the emotions we experience throughout the season can change so quickly and dramatically in the course of just a few days.

So, after last week’s hammering of BT Sports and Match Of the Day, particularly Alan Hansen and Michael Owen, I decided two things for this week:

1 – not to listen to pundits, and ignore anything a commentator or co-commentator says.

2 – To try and go through a week’s blog without swearing.

The first one was easily achieved on Tuesday night, the moment I saw Ray Wilkins and David O’Leary on my TV screen at half time, I went to the fridge, got a beer, and switched over to Holby City for 15 minutes.

Job done, TV still in front room and not five floors down, in pieces on the pavement.

The second part was never going to be easy anyway, as I’m sure regular readers will know, but then we lost to Chelsea.
Chelsea.

The very mention of that word is enough to make a nun swear like an, erm…me. Still, am I going to let losing to Chelsea stop me? No way Jose. Instead, I am going to substitute every expletive with a word related to Chelsea. Yes, I know that when you think of words related to Chelsea the first thing that springs to mind is the most expletive of expletives, but humour me here, please….

Arsenal 0 Chelsea 2 – Meh…

I Bumstead hate losing to these Cundy’s, I really do. I also hate these types of games where our line-up is kind of “half and half”, it’s almost like everything we do ends up looking half-arsed. It pretty much shows that the squad at the exact moment in time we played Chelsea – not forgetting injuries to players who would have played last night – was not strong enough to compete on four fronts.
That’s not to say it isn’t strong enough to compete on the other three fronts, and if we can get through these next few weeks without losing, we could find ourselves in decent shape.

Whether you like it or not, this trophy was our fourth priority, especially with our current injuries. I know we need a trophy and all that, but I personally do not think the Capital One Cup was our only realistic chance of silverware this season. I am still of the opinion that we are capable of sustaining a challenge for the Premier League title this season, so as horrible as it is to lose out to the Russian team, and listen to them and everyone else bang on about their strength in depth again blah, blah, blah, if it means coming through the tough fixtures we face in the coming weeks in a good position, we will gladly chalk it up in the “meh” column..

I’ve heard a lot about Mourinho setting his side out the same way every time we play them, hence his record against us, but I have a sneaking feeling that at full strength we now have the players to take that bus they park and shove it right up The Special One’s Matthew Harding Stand.

I might be wrong, judge me in December.

Anyway, I’m writing this at 10.55am the day after the game and already I’ve heard, and wrote, enough about it to last a lifetime. One thing that keeps coming back to me is how much I hate Chelsea though; you do too don’t you? What’s not to hate about them? I’d love to think that this mob will get their comeuppance one day, it’s got to happen surely?

There couldn’t be a club on the planet that deserves the success they have less, and we know how that success come about don’t we? The whole club has a foul stench about it from top to bottom. Mourinho is a great manager, the success hasn’t just come from the oil money? Take all that money away and he would never have gone near there in the first place. Of course, all this makes losing to them more painful, but let’s instead take comfort in the fact we’re not them…

Why you hate Chelsea

Mourinho

This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned this John Terry on here – perhaps he would call me a voyeur – but look at him, tell me you don’t want to punch him. Hard. Looks like he needs a wash as well. Smelly Bumstead.

Chelsea fans

This is always one of the worst things about losing to them for me. Despicable bunch of Spackman’s the lot of them. Can’t stand the site or sound of them.  Here’s an interesting looking fellow for you.

Nonce. (I’m not counting that as a profanity, it’s merely an adjective in this case…)

I think they may have got a little carried away last night though.

See you in December, Micky Hazards.

Chelsea Players

Speaking of Micky Hazard, how many Chelsea players, past and present, would you love to kick in the Graeme Le Saux?
The list is endless isn’t it? I won’t list them here, I’ll be here all week, but if you ever find yourself at a loose end, consider this – Graham Roberts and Micky Hazard are both on Twitter. They both used to play for Chelsea AND Spurs. They have both been known to have a pop at The Arsenal on Twitter. You’re welcome, knock yourselves out.

Once again, a lot was said about the atmosphere in the ground, enough has been said about it, so I won’t bother here.

However, what I will say is that it was completely the opposite on Saturday, when we faced our next “test” *yawn*….

Arsenal 2 Liverpool 0 – A Test Passed?

So, about a week ago, Liverpool were going to be a big test. Liverpool were going to expose us as the pretenders that we are.The SAS were on fire. Arsenal couldn’t be considered serious title challengers until we had beaten one of our prospective rivals for the title. Blah. Blah. Blah. So, after beating Liverpool, will people start to take us seriously? Obviously not, but who cares?

You really get the feeling at the Emirates at the moment that there is a growing belief that something special may happen this season, and it’s actually quite strange. I’ve been lucky enough to experience success in my Arsenal supporting life, but during these last eight lean years I had almost forgot what it felt like.

Once again, there is a long way to go this season, and we won’t be able to call ourselves genuine contenders until we have beaten a combined Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Brazil combined XI, whilst blindfolded and only allowed to run backwards, while wearing flip flops, with both legs tied together, but we are now five points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

We played Liverpool perfectly, I thought. I didn’t feel much of a threat coming from them, and once again Aaron Ramsey scored a fantastic goal, and how great was it to see Santi Cazorla back on the scoresheet. He is getting that little bit sharper with every game now, and the prospect of an in-form Santi and Mesut Ozil in the same team is a very mouth-watering prospect indeed.

The contrast between the feeling after Tuesday and Saturday’s games show just how hard it is not to get carried away, at either end of the spectrum.

After the defeat to Chelsea, there was doom and gloom. After beating Liverpool, the complete opposite. This is why we are football fans, at the end of the day.

The next week sees yet more big tests. Borussia Dortmund away is obviously as big as they come at the moment, and we now go into the game with momentum and belief, and we may find out if we have learned our lesson from the first game. Then we face Manchester United at Old Trafford, which is a real chance to test ourselves. But, why should we fear these tests?

Firstly, I would say Sunday is a bigger test for United, where David Moyes has looked as out of his depth as Harry Redknapp in a game of musical statues.

Secondly, I know it’s all, like, hipster to have your tongue up Jurgen Klopp’s backside, but why should we fear a man who looks like this?

Until next week, then, have fun with Hazard and Roberts won’t you?

Darren Berry

Follow @DBerry1974

Darren Berry

Islington born and bred, Arsenal through and through.

Published author.

Is Yours Gold? The Arsenal Invincibles Twentieth Anniversary – available now,

Over Land and Sea (and Lockdown), Arsenal 20/21 – The Corona Diaires – released 2021.

Clickbait: Life as a Modern Football Fan – released 2019