Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
With Arsenal’s title hopes all but killed off last Saturday the aim for Arsene Wenger’s side is to make sure they secure a top 3 finish to secure automatic qualification to next season Champions League with the added target of trying to finish above their nearest rivals Tottenham.
Their reason the title hopes have all but evaporated is due to their draw at Upton Park last Saturday. The game ended 3-3 but with Arsenal 2-0 up and seemingly coasting there will undoubtedly be an inquest how they came away from East London with just a solitary point.
But it won’t just be that game that is line for an inquest it will be forever known as the ‘season that got away’ – another Champions League qualification will no doubt look good on the balance sheet but it will do very little to dampen the frustrations of an ever growing vocal base.
They play host Today to a Crystal Palace side who have finally got a win in 2016. That came last Saturday at home to Norwich and with that win ended any lingering doubts that they will be dragged into a relegation dog fight for the last half dozen games.
That win coupled with a stalemate at home to Everton in Midweek sees them still in 16th but with far more breathing space than 8 days ago. Alan Pardew would love to get over the 40 point line before their F.A. Cup Semi Final next weekend but you also wonder if he will rest key players for that very reason.
They are 2 games away from European Football something that Pardew and a large portion of the fanbase thought they would get by finishing in the Top 6 this season, their horrific run of form after Christmas put paid to that though.
Although you do have to wonder could Europa League Football for a squad like Palace’s almost be a poisoned chalice. It’s hard enough for bigger squads to cope with the Thursday, Sunday routine let alone a so called smaller club. But I guess that concern is for Palace to worry if they do manage to lift the trophy at the end of the season.
But back to the matters at The Emirates and with no real pressure on Arsenal they will probably do the typical end of season scenario and stroll to a convincing win when there’s nothing at stake. Palace to focus on Wembley and Arsenal to secure all 3 points.
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Nice article. Very useful. I’m a Crystal Palace supporter and for us is like a win. We didn’t expect that our team to perform so good referring to our latest results. Now I’m sure that our team is very motivated about this result and will perform better for the next matches.
A draw will kill off any lingering concerns about relegation so the full focus can now go on the F.A Cup Semi Final