“You know what I’d like now Stew? I’d like your lot to win the FA Cup and us to win the Europa. If nothing else it will annoy Spurs, City and of course spoil the party for Chelsea.” It was funny to be chatting amiably with my only Man United supporting mate the day before we were due to play one another.
Once upon a long long time ago this fixture was the big one. This could decide titles and would certainly be the clash of the titans. Steve and I would have struggled to wish one another well. Now we just hope for a good game and a poke in the eye for the upstart clubs who’ve come along and so upset the status quo.
I feel for Steve. Having to stomach his bête noire as manager of his club has not been easy for him, seeing players like Fellaini elbow their awful way into the first team, selling his favourite striker – to us of all people – have combined to stretch his positivity to the limit. But fair play to him he still supports through thick and thin.
He was also generous enough to say he hopes Arsène signs for another couple of seasons and wins the league, so much does he, a Man United fan since birth, despise the anti Arsenal idiots in the media and in our fan base.
Still, it feels strange going into this match of all matches as two bridesmaids, neither side the bride. Let’s be frank we’re not even bridesmaids, more like boyfriends to the bridesmaids best mates, at least where the league is concerned. Both clubs could still come out of the season with a trophy and European competition next time around, but so bloated is the expectation surrounding these giants of English football that such an outcome won’t be seen as good enough.
It’s odd how the perceptions of certain club’s status differs from others in the Premier League. Spurs failed for over two decades to finish above Arsenal and yet the experts decided some time ago that the power in North London had shifted to White Hart Lane. Now they will finish above us confirming their pre-eminence and yet a second place finish for them is we’re reliably informed, a success while it was a failure for Arsenal last year. Surely if Spurs are now a bigger, more powerful side than Arsenal then they must be the ones who have failed while we must have over achieved. You can’t have it both ways.
Anyway today isn’t about a resurgent cockerel, it’s about a match between the fifth and sixth placed sides. This is territory more familiar to Man United than it is to us, which is simple testimony to how well Arsène Wenger has done for so very long. This was always going to be a tough season and so it has proved, we can have no complaints – after all it only hurts so much because we’ve been treated to an unprecedented run of twenty consecutive top four finishes. The exception has proved the rule.
My hopes for the final games of this season are exactly the same as they were before ever a ball was kicked. I want us to win as many matches as possible and finish as high up the league as possible. That never changes regardless of where we are in the table. You may say I’m wringing out a bone dry dishcloth in the hope of a few drops of consolation but I’m not. I’m doing what all fans do. Hope we’ll win our division and once that ceases to be possible hope we do as well as we can.
I only have to look to my mate Steve and see what he has endured since Ferguson left his club to realise how fortunate we have been. At least I still love the manager, can see this season as a one off rather than another in a series of decline and stagnation and at least my side has a chance to prevent John Terry from changing out of his suit to celebrate the double.
Anyway I must leave you now, I’m off to work again so I’ll have to catch the game online somewhere. For those able to watch it I say this: It may not be for high stakes but it’s still Arsenal v Man United and that always counts – regardless of where we are in the league. So keep your heads and chins up and enjoy the game wherever you may be.
Positively Arsenal 
Good one Steww,
This of course is not about fith /sixth well not at this stage anyway. maureen needs a win because of City and Pool so at least this should be a game.
Although we are clinging by our fingertips to CL football next season a win today would make the hold look alot stronger and could bring the return to confident flowing Football
COYG
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As it is Jose it would not matter if it were a relegation battle in the Northern Premier League. It is the clash of good v evil, of the sublime v a footballing Satan. Let the righteous prevail.
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Terrific piece Stew, and for your “… seeing players like Fellaini elbow their awful way into the first team” line alone, you more than deserve my last minute ticket.
I hope you find a first class stream although let’s not mar this merry FA Cup Final month of May with wedding talk; seeing in the naked flesh the inglorious, most unholiest of alliances between Man U and Mo at the same time is a prospect sufficient to panic any flighty bride already edgy at the prospects of what may follow the start of the service. Yes, we know Mo is the nation’s leading draw specialist and the narrow winding streets around the Emirates will shortly resonate to the sound and sight of his unwieldy fleet of buses. But really, this should be a win for us regardless of Fellaini’s awful elbows or the abusive Jose.
Fair to say though that today’s outcome depends muchly on where Alexis and Mesut’s heads are.
And even Arsene, who’s ‘Decision’, due in “March or April” is still yet to reach the public domain must now surely be feeling the weight of speculation – and that’s a sentence I never expected to write.
For him, it is ALWAYS about the team and the next game, yet events have somehow conspired to turn the spotlight on just those three key individuals. How all three perform today will end up being almost a footnote.
It’s a most un-Arsenal state of affairs. Given that we are now all but staring down the barrrel of the Europa League, with or without Arsene, the possibility that this may be one of le Boss’s final Emirates outings is suddenly feeling like a most unwelcome possibility. And one that is less remote and less welcome to this writer than at any other time in the last two decades. Lose Arsene AND drop out of the Champions League is the stuff of existential nightmares, so let’s not go there.
Instead, and in the spirit of PA, let’s hope for a spirited win today and a non ref-affected outcome.
Then let’s root for an accommodation between our three potentially outgoing geniuses; our club, whatever their personal merits or demerits, will surely be a less colourful, vibrant place without any one of them.
Enjoy the game everyone – and fingers crossed for what comes next.
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As always Steww, thanks for a shiny start to the day. May our side do to Maureen Jo what we’d like to do…embarrass him. Hope your mate doesn’t feel too bad afterwards.
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Sounds like you know an very enlightened and cultured Utd fan, can only agree with his sentiments.
As for today, can only agree with AA. Looks to me that events, or lack of them behind the scenes are clearly hindering some of the players, and quite possibly the manager at this stage. Sometimes, silence can be a good thing, especially when there are good reasons, other times, it creates rumours, uncertainty. These are not poor players by any stretch, but something is reducing their effectiveness.
Whatever the issues, just hope today, whether it be for players themselves and their futures, the manager or fans, they can finally step into the sunshine, free from shackles and end this season of uncertainty on a high. What happens at the end of the season needs to be left take care of itself, however difficult that looks to be in some cases.
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Beautiful, as always Stew.
It’s Arsenal vs Utd today, anything can happen, and to my mind this is always the biggest game of the season, not the monochrome set up in Middlesex.
Jose has tried to soften his time on Wenger recently.
In not buying it.
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City’s 5-0 against pint of wine FC makes top 4 now highly unlikely on GD alone.
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Afternoon, Steww, and stewwaholics, lol
Living at the moment amongst a whole bunch of ManU and ManC fans, I can tell you they are not too different from Arsenal fans – each love their own clubs – each have matters peculiar to their clubs that irk them – but all are united (no favouritism or pun intended) and incredulous to hear, see and read the awful offal offered up by some so called fans of Arsenal who are seemingly happier disrespecting and disembowelling a great club, and its embattled manager.
There are some decent Arsenal fans out there worn down by the incessant whingeing of the usual barrack-room lawyers who have themselves started to turn on both the club and AW – rather like good teeth corrupted by a bilious bunch of bad bugs.
The first thing needed to stop the rot is for Arsenal to cease reading the runes as to the best time to break the news of whether or not AW is signing his new contract extension, and get on with it. That decision, given AW signs, of course, will put a full stop (period) to end all the speculation, and will enable good men and women to get behind the manager and the club, and rally the irritatingly vacillating others, and give Arsene some much needed credibility in the pre-transfer window market that is undoubtedly going on as I type.
Your fine Post, Steww, showing that, away from the excoriating atmosphere currently shrouding the Arsenal, that a proper perspective of the club and its management reveals a still great club and manager is being wrongfully attacked by some of the very people who claim to love and support it.
Ohh, and the sun is shining, my spirits are up, and win, lose or draw today – and I will still be supporting and loving the Arsenal tomorrow.
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Classic Steww:
“At least I still love the manager, can see this season as a one off rather than another in a series of decline and stagnation and at least my side has a chance to prevent John Terry from changing out of his suit to celebrate the double.”
I wish I had a similarly dry but barbed sense of humor.
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I can only assume that Wenger staying or Wenger going is dependent on some condition, such as top 4/FA Cup, get one or both and he stays, get neither and he goes. Otherwise why is there all this delay in announcing the decision, what good reason is there for not announcing it, no matter which way it is.
on the race for top 4, we need one of man city or liverpool to lose a game, Arsenal to win all our remaining games and make up 7 goals on lfc, or 11 on man city. We have two extra game than city, and 4 extra on liverpool.
its HT in the lfc v sfc game and its 0-0
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anyone see match of the day 2 earlier, I thought Martin Keown was a disgrace, another ex arsenal player who is prepared to attack all things arsenal if the pay is high enough.
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Newcastle have won the Championship while Blackburn have been relegated to League One
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He may not have decided if he wants to carry on.
And the contract ?
Contracts are nothing in football – we all know that
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anicol he said he has already made his decision, so if its that he is not staying then why not just announce it,
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Anicoll,
Sorry if my comment @ 12:28 addressed to steww, displeased you, but I am not sure why?
First, I am not a fortune teller, or someone who pretends to ‘know’ what is going to happen – and if your 2:29 was directed at me, then I had hoped my comment was phrased to reflect that – – part of it said, “[they need to decide] the best time to break the news of ‘whether or not’ AW is signing his new contract extension, and get on with it. That decision, ‘given AW signs, of course’ will put a full stop (period) to end all the speculation”.
Secondly, you say ‘contracts are nothing in football – we all know that’, is, in my opinion, doing AW a disservice, provided he is the one you are referring to, because contracts are important, even sacrosanct, to him, and he has said so many times, when referring to his own contracts over the years.
I think I had better bugger off – as I would not like to upset anyone.
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where was that youth team utd were supposed to be selecting
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OptaJoeVerified account @OptaJoe 2h2 hours ago
65 – Jurgen Klopp has an identical record to Brendan Rodgers in his first 65 PL games at Liverpool: W33 D18 L14 (117 points). Pattern.
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Kaylen Hinds @kaykaymiles_ 18h18 hours ago
Massive Thanks @StevenageFC Family For Sharing Unforgettable Moments. Been A Great Journey, Enjoyed It. 🔴⚪️🔴⚪️
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Ryan @RyanTomes 12m12 minutes ago
If you think I’m watching the prematch build up with Souness & Henry you must be mad, I’d rather jam a knife into my ear hole.
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FT: Liverpool 0-0 southampton
lfc have not scored v sfc in their 4 games against them this season.
Arsenal need to win all our 5 remaining league games and for lfc to fail to win one of their 2 remaining games, for afc to get top 4
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Perhaps 100 pips at most on this protest march around the stadium
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UTA
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COYG
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livereool have away game v west ham and a home game v middlesboro left this season
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I spy with my little eye a bus
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Andy Dunn @andydunnmirror 22m22 minutes ago
At the Emirates. Not that cost is everything – far from it – but #mufc starting XI £230million, #afc £167million.
utd also have over £100m worth of players on the bench
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Where there is Phil Jones though there is always hope
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ox lucky not to get a booking there
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cech saves from martial
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de gea with a good save from ramsey
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welbeck has had a couple of shots blocked and de gea saved a long range ox shot
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rooney pounces on a poor back pass by holding and cech makes a fine save
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HT: Arsenal 0-0 Man Utd
a game that is yet to catch fire, Arsenal a bit slow paced in and around the utd area for my liking, taking that extra touch which is allowing utd to get the tackle/block in
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6.5/7 out of 10 – good in parts but no teeth around the opposition box
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Watching any football match involving JM and you have to keep reminding yourself you are in fact watching a game of football. Like hypothermia, unconsciousness creeps up on you until SUDDENLY IT’S HALF TIME EVERYBODY!!
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xhakaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
long range shot, takes a big deflection and loops over de gea,
coyg
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welbeckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
come on you gooners
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wow.. 2 in a row is nice for a change for us rather than against.. thanks eddy for the update
Steww well done for ur write up at not time do we take it for granted… lovely read
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diver lingard on for mkhitaryan
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diver rashford on for hererra
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EDDY. LOL.. divers eh… desperate times, desperate measures… who is the ref?
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koscielny booked
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ts is diver not their first names
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Eddy! LOL first name indeed.. that’s naughty of U….. who is the ref? am seeing in BBC live text 11 arsenal fouls to 7 for man u….
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xhaka down holding his ankle, coquelin getting ready to come on
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xhaka off, coquelin on
15 minutes + to play
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ts, andre marriner is the ref
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hmmm,, can’t remember any immediate bad about him, so slightly less tension as the time ebbs out, like Oliver, Taylor and Clattenburg or who was rejoicing over a spurs goal?
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