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Why Arsenal Would Take Their Trademark 1-0 Win Against United
'1-0 to Arsenal and that's how we like it' is how the saying goes. The Arsenal of today would kill for that scoreline. Goal.com takes a closer look as to why they badly need a win
22-Jan-2012 5:01:00 PM
By Arkaprabha Chakraborty
Getty Images
When the season began, and let's not mince words, as badly as it could have for a top team, Arsenal were tipped to be relegation candidates by some of the more vocal 'supporters', with calls ranging from "Wenger Out!" to "We Want Signings!" While Arsene Wenger was forced to act upon the second by a certain unspeakable result which the Gooners '8-2' recall, the Arsenal board still have complete faith in Le Professeur and even in this time of economic strain, he has not been handed the pink slip.
Off with his head! | Wenger was pressured beyond living memory at the season's beginning
Having signed Gervinho, Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Carl Jenkinson, Park Chu-Young, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andre Santos outright and Yossi Benayoun on-loan, more summer signings than Wenger has made in his entire Arsenal managerial career, initially there was the obvious problem of gelling with so many new signings.
But thanks to the individual brilliance of their captain Robin van Persie, the problems were masked for just a bit. As Arsenal steadily climbed up the table, there was joy at the thought of a belated title challenge. But the usual Arsenal plague of injury had no intention of leaving them and with literally half their starting XI out of contention, Wenger had to make do with promoting youth players and getting away with it.
With January came the return of the King with Thierry Henry on a two month loan from New York Red Bulls to help his former team deal with the departure of Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh. He was back with a bang, powering them through to the fourth round of the FA Cup with his 227th Arsenal goal against Leeds United.
Remember me? | Henry took back his job of game changer from his first match back at Arsenal
But the league has been a different issue. In and out of the top four in recent weeks, last week's disastrous result against Swansea has suddenly turned their upcoming match into much more than a renewal of an age old rivalry.
It has now become more of a must win for them. Forget their North London rivals Tottenham. They are far and away. What they must aim for is to claw back against their West London rivals Chelsea in the mini race for fourth place.
This isn't the easiest of tasks, for even at their worst, Chelsea can be better than three quarters of the Premier League. Already having a five point lead over Arsenal (who play out their game in hand against Man United), Chelsea will think that their passage to the Champions League is looking pretty safe. Only so far. But if we see a loss for Arsenal against the still-in-form Manchester United, we see a nightmare scenario for the Gunners of North London. Not only will they be five points away from the last Champions League slot, they would they would be unable to extricate themselves from the Europa tangle either, with Newcastle just behind on goal difference and Liverpool with a one point deficit.
Swansealona | The Welsh team grabbed both points and 'Beautiful Football' tag from Arsenal
However badly anyone presumes Chelsea to be doing, we can still not see them implode to lose a five point advantage when they themselves are scrapping hard to remain in the top four. If Arsenal are to have even a glimmer of hope of slugging it out with the cream of Europe, Sunday's match needs to see a win for the men in red and white. With a makeshift defence that will also probably see Rio Ferdinand miss out on the game, this is the best chance a patched up Gunners side will have to record the victory.
All through the 70s and 80s, when Arsenal played like Mourinho's Chelsea, the chant at Highbury's famous clock end would go '1-0 to Arsenal, and that's how we like it!' Supporters would take that scoreline against United in a heartbeat this weekend. They wouldn't mind Henry reaching 230 goals for them either. But let's take one step at a time...
Off with his head! | Wenger was pressured beyond living memory at the season's beginning
Having signed Gervinho, Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Carl Jenkinson, Park Chu-Young, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andre Santos outright and Yossi Benayoun on-loan, more summer signings than Wenger has made in his entire Arsenal managerial career, initially there was the obvious problem of gelling with so many new signings.
But thanks to the individual brilliance of their captain Robin van Persie, the problems were masked for just a bit. As Arsenal steadily climbed up the table, there was joy at the thought of a belated title challenge. But the usual Arsenal plague of injury had no intention of leaving them and with literally half their starting XI out of contention, Wenger had to make do with promoting youth players and getting away with it.
With January came the return of the King with Thierry Henry on a two month loan from New York Red Bulls to help his former team deal with the departure of Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh. He was back with a bang, powering them through to the fourth round of the FA Cup with his 227th Arsenal goal against Leeds United.
Remember me? | Henry took back his job of game changer from his first match back at Arsenal
But the league has been a different issue. In and out of the top four in recent weeks, last week's disastrous result against Swansea has suddenly turned their upcoming match into much more than a renewal of an age old rivalry.
It has now become more of a must win for them. Forget their North London rivals Tottenham. They are far and away. What they must aim for is to claw back against their West London rivals Chelsea in the mini race for fourth place.
This isn't the easiest of tasks, for even at their worst, Chelsea can be better than three quarters of the Premier League. Already having a five point lead over Arsenal (who play out their game in hand against Man United), Chelsea will think that their passage to the Champions League is looking pretty safe. Only so far. But if we see a loss for Arsenal against the still-in-form Manchester United, we see a nightmare scenario for the Gunners of North London. Not only will they be five points away from the last Champions League slot, they would they would be unable to extricate themselves from the Europa tangle either, with Newcastle just behind on goal difference and Liverpool with a one point deficit.
Swansealona | The Welsh team grabbed both points and 'Beautiful Football' tag from Arsenal
However badly anyone presumes Chelsea to be doing, we can still not see them implode to lose a five point advantage when they themselves are scrapping hard to remain in the top four. If Arsenal are to have even a glimmer of hope of slugging it out with the cream of Europe, Sunday's match needs to see a win for the men in red and white. With a makeshift defence that will also probably see Rio Ferdinand miss out on the game, this is the best chance a patched up Gunners side will have to record the victory.
All through the 70s and 80s, when Arsenal played like Mourinho's Chelsea, the chant at Highbury's famous clock end would go '1-0 to Arsenal, and that's how we like it!' Supporters would take that scoreline against United in a heartbeat this weekend. They wouldn't mind Henry reaching 230 goals for them either. But let's take one step at a time...
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Goal.com Poll
Poll runs from 20-Jan-2012 to 22-Jan-2012
Poll runs from 20-Jan-2012 to 22-Jan-2012
Can Arsenal Defeat Manchester United This Sunday?
Yes
50.99%
No
49.01%
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