Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
The final action of this Premier League Easter Weekend takes us to The Riverside Stadium as Middlesbrough play host to Arsenal. For Steve Agnew a win is vital if is ‘Boro side are to have any chance of beating the drop while for Arsene Wenger nothing less than a win is required if they are to have any hope of a top four finish.
Middlesbrough find themselves 6 points from safety with two games in hand, with also a better goal difference than that of Hull’s who currently lie 17th. So survival does lie in their own hands but whether they can win their games in hand remains to be seen.
If they are to win Tonight they are going to have to take the game to an out of sorts Arsenal and more importantly find the net. Something which has alluded them on so many occasions during this campaign. They have only found the net 22 times in 31 matches.
A return that should they be relegated will be the main reason as to why they could not beat the drop. Last Saturday saw them play out a dour 0-0 draw with Burnley. A team that is struggling for goals versus a team that cannot win away, it was a result that was almost written in the stars.
Tonight’s opponents Arsenal now find themselves as low as 7th in the Premier League table and with all their Champions League qualification rivals winning over the weekend the pressure will be ramped up on Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
The league placing may be a slight false position due to the fact that they have games in hands on the clubs above them but at this stage of the season there is always the preference to get points on the board then having to play catch up instead.
A win for Arsenal will see them move back above Everton to 6th but still seven points off of Manchester City in 4th. They will most definitely have a keen eye on Thursday’s Manchester derby but it will be a moot point should they fail to win this evening.
Quite simply the team has to play a lot better than this time last week then they were dealt a 3-0 defeat at Selhurst Park by a resurgent Crystal Palace. A defeat that created a very toxic atmosphere at the end with the fans booing the players and telling them ‘you’re not fit too the way the shirt’
It was an embarrassing defeat for The Gunners and it means they have only one once from their last five matches, a win over West Ham seemingly papering over the cracks as the rumblings regarding Arsene Wenger’s future at the club continue.
Wenger is known to show loyalty to his players but you wonder just how much loyalty will be shown when he names his side that makes the trip to the North East. No-one really came out of that 3-0 defeat with Palace with any real credit but it’s not as if the Frenchman can realistically make 11 changes.
That means he will have to revitalise this group of players, but that job seems easier said than done as some feel that he has lost the dressing room and that same group are doing their very best to make sure that Wenger is not in charge come the start of next season.
How much of that is actually true, who knows? Have this bunch of Arsenal players really downed tools to the extent that they want a change of leader at the helm. It is fair to say though that this is a team that has lost direction and any sense of leadership as of late.
It is something they need to discover tonight though as they are in real danger of having their season evaporate before their eyes. If they continue this form then they are going to even finish outside the top 6. But that said I do think they will register an important win tonight and heap more misery on Middlesbrough, An away win for me.
