We Are Gunner Be Champions!

It took Arsenal 145 days to regain the top slot from their trans-London rivals Chel@Sea, and boy did they cream it or what!? A colossal display against Bolton in the mid-week ensured temporary stint at the summit for the Gunners. I say temporary as Chel@Sea still have a game in hand, something we prided having for most parts this season. 11G looks back at their story so far..

29′th August was when we faced first of the teams from Manchester in the form of United & despite dominating the game for huge portions, we ended up seeing the other side of a victory. Next up was ‘Shitty’. Same city, same story. Only this time, one certain ‘Madebyewhore‘ stole the limelight kicking Robin in the face, & with that questions were raised in unison at the Professor. The next 9 games saw Arsenal lose twice, in consecutive fixtures against Sunderland & Chel@Sea. It was exactly 3 months to the date, i.e. 29th November, since the game at Old Trafford, when Arsenal were demolished by the Blues. 3 goals and our title aspirations were all but quenched. Once more skeptics were out all guns blazing, only this time even the faithful could see a similar trend emerging. Not since Vieira kicked United & won us the FA Cup in ‘05, did the Gunners build a credible title challenge. Ofcourse in the ‘07 season, we did lead the pack by 5 points until Eduardo lost his leg, but lets not get into that. Wenger remained defiant in his stance that like them, others too would lose points, and he couldn’t be more right. Wenger’s men needed to keep focus, despite the glaring injury crisis, most notably to their ‘Top Gun’ Robin van Persie, and build on a sustained run, and let their destiny take course. 2 more draws, 7 more victories, and ahoy, 20th January did happen. We topped the table again. Arsene lived to his word and Cesc’s team lived up to it’s potential.

The captain Cesc has exemplified his leadership by scoring 14 goals & a further 16 assists thus far. And this, despite missing spells with injury more times than one. With Robin, Bendtner & Walcott nursing long-term to very long-term injuries, the little assassin Arshavin poked his hand and took charge. His season tally stands at a decent 9 goals and 7 assists, not to forget he was forced to play out of position over the past few months. As Wenger recently quoted, modern strikers don’t necessarily have to just poach goals, their intelligence in drawing others into play, and creating spaces et al, are equally important. With Arshavin at the top, Arsenal got loads of that. This ensured players like Diaby & Cesc got more involved. The geniuses of Nasri & Rosicky, again, both injury-prone players, were largely subdued over this run, although Rosicky has slowly clawed his way into the team. Eduardo has still not found his Croazillion instincts, something which made him a lethal weapon to possess when he first came in, but in him we believe. He still has loads in his tank. Few more weeks and he shall be firing again. With Bendtner & Walcott almost ready to return, scoring goals won’t be a problem from where I see things.

Coming to our midfield now. While Cesc & the duo of Ramsey/Nasri took care of the attacking third with some credibility, it was the defensive stretch which impressed the most. In fact Song has been a prime reason in Cesc’s blossoming as one of the best playmakers of current times. With his assured & able presence, Fabregas gets a license to thrill, and that he sure does. His array of passes are just a joy to watch. Although Song hasn’t been around off-late, his rock-solid presence shielding the back-4 has been a highlight of our season. Another case of Professor’s intuitive vision. In his absence, both Diaby & Denilson performed the role with aplomb and thus Arsenal could continue to surge forward and please both the purists & the pundits alike.

Now if Song has been the revelation of the season, then what do you call Vermaelen!? The ex-Ajax custodian took to N5 like flies to dirt and things have been safer ever since. His gallic/venemous sojourn with Gallas has greatly helped our cause and formed arguably the best defensive partnership in the League, stats apart i.e.! Sagna has been consistent as ever, and so was Clichy until he got injured. Gibbs came in, then he got injured. Traore came in, and then he got injured. Even the 4th choice full-back in Silves flirted with minor strains. God-forbid, only Wenger could have filled in had he succumbed to the injury fair which the Emirates is the not-so-proud host of, for seasons now. All in all, we should be thankful to the Almighty for keeping the ‘Gallic-Verminator‘ battery in top shape, else the duo of ‘Senderos-Silves’ would have came to the rescue. Even hell would have a better defence than those two in tandem. And pardon my guts, for ignoring Djourou from the mention, oops I just did.

The bottom line is, 22 games are through, and we, despite the injury-mania, despite keeping our transfer budget to a bare minimal, and inspite of Wenger’s “You don’t deserve to wear the Arsenal shirt.” jamboree, are at the top. If it were 1910, we would be Champions by now, but for us to stake claim to the above in present times, another 16 games to go. And yeah, before I forget:

“Boys, You Completely Deserve The Top Spot..”

Keep Gunning for now..