Arsenal v Aston Villa Preview: Journey Of A Thousand Miles...

A journey of a thousand miles... ends with the final 9 yards...

The football resumes tomorrow with a home tie against Aston Villa, while Chelsea do battle with Tottenham. Now the ideal situation is that Chelsea beat Tottenham and Arsenal beat Aston Villa tomorrow. But regardless of what happens at Chelsea, we simply need to focus on our own game and the rest becomes irrelevant.

From being Europa League challengers a few weeks ago, we are now firmly Champions League contenders. That transformation has come about due to some luck and lots of hard work. And it is hard work that will see us continue to make forward strides.

Arsene Wenger says;

What I want us to continue is our run and not be in a position where you have to look at the other results,” he told Arsenal Player. “That is why I believe that the main focus is on us, not to be obsessed by other results and to just keep going.

“Of course the players will be aware of what is going on but it is not the last day of the season. We are in a position where what will matter is what we do at three o'clock against Aston Villa. 

He goes on to say:

“We have regained credit with our fans because we have shown a fantastic attitude and the more we show that, the more we will gain credit. That is the most important thing to do.” 

Amen to that I say. He and the team have definitely gained credit with me. I was one of those asking the question sacking Wenger a few weeks ago. But the turnaround has left me pleasantly embarrassed.

Now, although we have won our last 6 games, let's not kid ourselves. In the last game, we were lucky to come away with 3 points. We were really just hanging on and I would prefer that we win our games with less stress.

It is good to have the ability to win ugly, but it is better to win beautifully. And with the type of players that we have, it is not beyond us to win our games beautifully, with lot's of time to spare. Had we scored 50% of the chances that we created against Everton in the first 15 minutes, we would have been 3 nil up and certainly that would have been game over.

I think we need to approach each game like a game of chess. The object must be to gain all three points as efficiently as possible. Our continued profligacy in front of goal will come back to haunt us at the end of the season. Goal difference also plays a major part in deciding where one finishes in the log.

Chelsea seem to have found their groove a bit, and with the talent that they have and a new boss at the helm, I see them finishing stronger than Spurs in the remaining 9 games.

Unlike in the previous 3 seasons or so, we seem to be finishing stronger, coupled with return to fitness of key squad members. But there is still a long way to go. It just takes a couple of dodgy refereeing decisions against us to turn our positive run into a potential catastrophe again.

Let us not leave our fate to the referees or results in matches elsewhere. 3rd place is now ours to lose.

Let us do what needs to be done to score more goals than we concede. That is winning.

COYG!!

Onwards march the Arsenal.
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@the_afrogunner on twitter