A few years ago it was a relatively straightforward matter to feel depressed about the state of The World’s Favourite Game.

For a start, it seemed there was little that was beautiful about it any more, either on the field or off it.

Imagined or otherwise, it felt as though the richest clubs were getting substantially more than their fair share of the rub. Not only that but the governance of the game at the very highest levels, if it was not entirely worthy of the rubbish tip, was well on the way to it, as the whiff of corruption at all levels appeared beyond challenge no matter how pungent the aroma.  The foundations of the status quo ran deep and, like the shady sovereign funds floating the subsidised ‘elite’ clubs, the source of the powers that had invaded our national game was both ephemeral and all pervading.

Down, down.

But now, things are starting to look up and a change is in the air.

This week, Platini joined Blatter as one of yesterday’s men, finally banned for a breach of the code of ethics apparently already in force in football (who knew?!).  And the fate of ‘Platter’ (or Blattini, if you prefer) is just the symbolic tip of the iceberg of change now freely adrift at all levels of the game.

Last weekend, Leicester City FC became the new champions of England.  Meanwhile, lower down the league (much lower), Chelsea set a new record for the worst ever defence of a championship, ever, by finishing in 9^th place [N.i.n.t.h.].

Oh dear, and just as memorable, in its own heart-warming way, is John Terry’s latest two-match ban, perfectly timed to wreck his retirement-from-the-club party. Oh dear, oh dear, as the great and good might say.

In March, football’s new-era governors approved trials of video technology and a dozen or so Football Associations are now queuing up to take part with the trials due to commence in 2017-18.

Meanwhile, up in Scotland, after five years’ consultation, and following on from successful German and Austrian trials, 2,600 Celtic fans will now experience the delights of Safe Standing at every home game from the start of the 2016-17 season.

Ch-ch-ch-changes, as D Bowie once sang.

Added to that is the long overdue over-hauling of the Rules of Football, an 18-month project led by former ref David Elleray, that reduced a 22,000-word document to a more streamlined, consistent and apparently less sexist 12,000-word diktat that will come into effect for the first time during June’s European Championships. Whilst the detail of the changes may be a tad underwhelming, it’s the desire to modernise, on the part of the game’s rule-makers, that is significant. (And, in case you were wondering, it will no longer be necessary for the injured to be forced off the field for treatment, the ball can now be kicked in any direction at kick-offs and the ref will be able, for the first time, to send malcontents back to the dressing room before a ball has been kicked. Marvellous stuff.)

In mid-December I wrote an article for PA discussing the storm of change pulsing through English football. It’s been triggered by the avalanche of cash now entering the game at unprecedented rates. Crucially, the wide distribution of that cash throughout the league is what separates the EPL from its Spanish counterparts and the world’s other two- or three-team dominated leagues.

Unlikely as it still seemed in December, the possibility of Leicester going on to do what is now known as ‘a Leicester’ was already impossible to completely dismiss.

And here we are in May with the genie well and truly out of the bottle.

And yet more cash is about to swamp the English game, with next year’s bottom club (Chelsea) expected to win £99 million for coming last. £150 million will go to the new champions (Arsenal) on top of fees for televised performances (more Arsenal games than Chelsea. Trust me.).

The desire for change in the game is difficult to quantify, but impossible to deny.

The chronic long-term pimple of boredom with the ‘big four’ always winning the league was finally lanced with Leicester’s 2016 triumph and few neutrals will mourn their achievement.

In theory, the clubs with the deepest pockets should always win out but when all the clubs have deep pockets then a new hypothesis is surely required?

Yes, Leicester benefitted from the element of surprise and no inquisition would be complete without a nod to team spirit and her eager bedfellows ‘hunger’ and ‘desire’ in the plucky midlanders’ journey to the top. The game in England desperately needed someone other than United, Chelsea or City to win a fiscally carved up competition that many were rapidly falling out of love with.

The supreme irony that these vast, seemingly uncapped swathes of cash flooding the domestic game will succeed in levelling the playing field, in England at least, where the bureaucratically unwieldy and distinctly ‘European’ Financial Fair Play project all but failed to, is all but impossible to ignore.

Crikey, is nothing sacred?

Well, funnily enough, it seems not.

Let’s briefly consider what will happen to football now that video technology appears to be finally well on the way?

My firm prediction is that VT will never make the game ‘perfectly governed’. But it will eliminate the worst of the injustices, the most aggravating of the poor calls and crucially, the ever-pervading suspicion of foul play from on high. I’ve no doubt we’ll still merrily and good-naturedly debate the decisions. But the nature of those previously ‘dodgy’ refereeing decisions will surely change and with them so too the nature of the debate.  The scope of VT will adjust over time but once out of the bottle, this is another genie that’s never going back.  And the application of video, a prospect said to be welcomed by most refs, will not just help the men in black. Players, once recruited by over-ambitious but under-skilled managers to bend, break and destroy the rules – and with them that precious sense of fair play crucial to any genuine sport – will find the ability to play rather than foul, dive and cheat, become regarded as a far more valued asset.

Football without technology?  In five years, how we’ll laugh.

And what of Safe Standing? Most fans, with some justification, associate the gentrification of the game and its attendant exorbitant costs with the arrival of all-seater stadiums and the diminution of ‘atmosphere’ at matches. The increase in costs have made the traditional father-son phenomenon of old a far rarer sight and there certainly appear to be fewer families going to the game these days. The decay of excitement in stadiums is one of the saddest sights of the modern game and the Lap Of Appreciation witnessed by the few who stayed on in Manchester on Sunday to say farewell to outgoing Championship-winning manager Pelegrini, was wryly described as a ‘Lapathy’ by one observer.

Or Circuit of Embarrassment, by me.

Regardless of the politics of the City situation, the empty stadium is hard to explain given Manuel’s recent trophies and an appearance in the Champions League semi-final mere days ago. Have all-seater stadiums and their near-universal high prices delivered us an unwelcome generation of customers rather than fans?

Has the fans’ love of the club – and of the game itself – been crushed by the weight of consumer expectation?

Is it the ‘customers’ and their ludicrously inappropriate sense of entitlement that currently infests the negative alley ways of social media? Naturally, we all want our clubs to do better (what fan doesn’t) and debate is no bad thing.  But the difference between genuine, thoughtful, evidence-based discussion and the recent singing of songs anticipating the death of Arsene Wenger is more than a little extreme and this hatred of clubs by the clubs’ own fans is surely not a long-standing phenomenon?

It’s my hope that in time, the area behind both goals in all Premier League grounds will be re-designated Safe Standing. And that they will become must-have features of all modern grounds; affordable, buzzing with atmosphere, full of kids, their dads (and mums and grandparents) and those lost adults, genuine die-hard fans, all but priced out of the game in recent years. If nothing else, the widespread adoption of Safe Standing can and will facilitate the blooding of a new generation of youngsters who will fall in love with the game, as did we who now remember football before the Year Zero of the Premier League era.  Good luck, Celtic, and good on you. With grateful thanks from football fans everywhere. Their success, so close to home, will be impossible to ignore from south of the border.

So the iceberg of change is upon us. Cash, governance, video-technology and safe standing are the melt water waves queuing up to wash over us all in the storm that will leave the game refreshed, energised and all but reinvented following the stale years of pent-up corrupt stagnation.  We ain’t seen nothing yet but five years will see these changes come flooding through the game and not a single one can come a day too soon.

To describe this all as a ‘game-changer’ is to understate what lies ahead as nothing less than the entire climate of football will be transformed.

And assuming the heavily contracted World Cups in both Russia and Qatar go ahead in situ, we can but hope they will stand as a memorial to an era when the game was hijacked, kidnapped and bundled off, carved up, re-packaged and separated from the fans by an unholy collusion of government interference, greedy self-interest and naked opportunism.

Farewell, The Ugly Game, you won’t be missed.

God morgen Positivistas,

A fine Monday morning to be alive, “the Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high” as we often say in North West Norfolk.

I had the enormous good fortune to watch a recording of yesterday’s game, having managed to avoid the broadcast or any hint at the result until the evening. I recommend the experience. Total digital silence, no clamouring for my attention from banner waving Scarfists nor their opponents. The opportunity to focus on the football was as welcome as it was, in recent weeks at least, unusual.

Of the game itself I thought it was a good ‘un. Technically not brilliant I grant you but in terms of two sides fighting for the ball and to seize control of the game it was 90+ minutes of entertainment, with both clubs looking able to seize the three points right up to the final whistle.

Citeh started a lot harder and faster than I expected and in that first ten minutes reminded me that they are actually a very good football team. Aguero was almost unplayable in the opening phase. As good an opening goal as I have seen in a long time. How frustrating it must be for the manager, the fans and even the players themselves to have produced that quality so rarely this season?

Having got the initiative Citeh then cocked-it-up, to use the technical footballing term, as we all saw. Clichy and Hart contrived to give away a silly corner. Olivier span away from the leaden-footed Managala to run on to the cross and bury it. If you keep working hard and looking for the ball then your luck will change. The occasional decent cross helps (coughs). All strikers of any ability know this.

The rest of the first half I thought Citeh probably were the better side with their passing game clicking better than ours. We rarely managed to get three passes strung together. Jack’s introduction was crucial in stabilising the middle of the park. Elneny and Aaron had a bit of muscular support against the pitbull approach of Fernando and Fernandinho, stalemate was established.

Interestingly I saw in the stats this morning that Jack went into 23 challenges in his 70 minutes of action, 10 before half time of which he won just one, 13 in the second half of which he won 8. My impression was that Jack was getting stronger and more confident, and imposing himself the longer the game went on. It may be wishful thinking on my part but it was great to see him back yesterday. We do not have another player who runs straight and hard at an opponent like him. Arsenal Man of the Match yesterday ? Probably.

Of the second half we were again jolted by a second impressive goal from De Bruyne who is also a class performer. There then followed 15-20 minutes of our best football in the match, where we controlled the ball, opened up Citeh and tested Hart. For about ten of those minutes young Theo again showed us a glimpse of what he can do, on the right day. Oh Theo why do you do this to us ? To yourself ?

In any event after being pulled about the home side’s defence cracked and we are in, Alexis slotting the third good goal of the game. It was coming, inevitable.

The final 20 off minutes were, more or less, a text book display from our defenders. Citeh threw on more attackers to no avail. We soaked up the pressure, and took no chances. Other than a Bony strike to the bar that Petr had covered, they caused us few problems I thought. It was tense but well managed by Kosc and Gabby. We probed them with gaps appearing in the light blue defence but nothing decisive, referee Taylor busier with his yellow cards in the last few minutes than at any other time as challenges became a bit ragged.

Points shared. Fair result. Disappointing lack of respect from the home fans for Pellegrini. He has been a class act at the Etihad, an adult in a business of petulant toddlers.

And for us the tantalising prospect of Tottingham’s game at SJP and our own game against Villa on the final day. Let’s just do what we need to do on Sunday, and take nothing for granted.

Weeimba gilee Positivistas,

A memorable game yesterday at the Ems against a Norwich side who showed great endeavour and considerable footballing talent over the full 94 minutes. Credit to both teams.

Unlike those of you lucky enough to see the game on the TV I had the interesting experience of watching from a seat high up above the Norwich fans and under one of the large replay screens. As a result I had an excellent view of all goings-on in the ground, of which much has been spoken, but never saw one replay or reviewed one incident during the game. By the time I got home I was too drunk tired to watch the match again. That is a task for later today however as the family assure me I have a ‘doppelganger’, a perfect facial and body facsimile elsewhere in the Emirates. I await sight of my reflection with narcissistic enthusiasm. My recollection of footballing events is therefore based on “one take”!

As is our usual style we dominated possession first half but with limited threat to the Norwich goal. When we got toward the visitors’ box we could not slot through the next ball to split the defence, with a Norwich boot or head intercepting. Olivier worked hard against their two centre backs but to no result. There was a lot of sideways Arsenal movement from Mesut, Alexis and especially Alex Iwobi (who was in front of me). The ball moved mostly East to West as the stadium lies, rather than North to South. Now lateral movement can be a great means of testing defences, or identifying and prying open that weak spot in an opponent. In itself though, and with no direct thrust to accompany the sideways movement of players and ball, it achieves little. While the memory is a little fuzzy I think the only chance we had throughout the first 45 that caused a gasp was a Kosc header on half time?  Correct me if I am wrong.

For their part Norwich managed to gain control of the ball and on at least one occasion Cech was required to turn away what could very much have been the opener during what for him was an under-employed first half.

After half time I thought we set off at a brisker pace but still the Canaries managed to hold us off, although they began to sweat a little harder. Per departed with a hamstring problem, the first of the afternoon’s substitutions and soon after Danny Welbeck replaced young Iwobi. Thereafter Gabriel was very good yesterday, just the right combination of speed and steel. The latter change was greeted with some consternation but the manager’s reasoning was clear to me. Danny brought that direct “run-towards-the-goal-and-take-on-defenders” that our offensive probing had lacked for an hour.

Norwich were not really ready for that sudden adoption of the North to South movement and within a couple of minutes their defence cracked open and we took what was a deserved lead.

Thereafter the game was exciting. We had chances to increase out lead, a great shot on target from Mo, and two moves in which we opened the Norwich defence only for weak finishing or the offside flag to intervene. Norwich brought on a second striker as well as the most devious of footballers in Naismith (Boo). They huffed and they puffed but we were never ragged and the bit of luck that Palace had with their long range shot never came the Canaries way.

Referee Jones peeped his final contribution and off I went into the very pleasant North London spring evening. I read on here last night that Norwich were rough but I did not notice them being any more physical with us than we were with them. Naismith will certainly still have a bruise on his head.

I hope to see something of Jack and Santi before season end. If not then we have more than enough players to collect the points we need to ensure third place, or even better if Tottingham slip at the Bridge.

Two snaps today – the top one is the Clock End on 78 minutes. It is not a matter of what you can see, but what you cannot see.

And below we have three people who went to the game, met up with their friends, and had a good afternoon watching Arsenal Football Club, their team.

And ‘that’ is what it is all about.

Enjoy your day !!

I always begin my match day blog with a quick glance at the official fixture list. Living in fear of writing an irreverent and irrelevant few hundred words in anticipation of a visit from Brighton and Hove Albion on the day the team are actually travelling to Scunthorpe is a heavy cross to bear. I was shocked when opening the appropriate page to count only three games remaining on the roster. The end seems to be rushing toward us with undue haste.

I have to be honest with you while I shall attempt to enjoy those last three fixtures just as much as the first one it will be nice not to think about football at all for a few short months. The negativity surrounding the club which is, as we all know, the result of many years of deliberate campaigning by those lovely people in the press and on the television, makes supporting Arsenal like swimming through sewage.

Even this positive blog is more often than not taken up with defending our position against the poor saps who have been engulfed into the swirling waters of despair and the numbers of genuinely positive posters here has dwindled to a mere handful. In short the fun has been sucked from what is supposed to be an enjoyable pastime. Bravo. Congratulations to all those who have made this possible.

It’s a shame because not only has this been a truly exciting and fascinating season with some famous victories and shock defeats and more silverware for the trophy cabinet but the end is still uncertain. There is still much to play for and something of a cup final in Manchester next Sunday as, in all probability, we duke it out with City for a third place finish. What Liverpool, Chelsea or Man United fans wouldn’t give to swap places with us. A shame that we aren’t in it for higher stakes but you can only play the cards in your hand.

To keep the pressure on City we need to overcome a Norwich side engaged in their own desperate end of term scrap. They’re level with Sunderland and a mere point above Newcastle and it seems likely that only one of these three will survive. So another highly motivated, physical side to overcome at the Emirates. Let’s us hope all the malcontents stay away from the stadium once again. The improvement in the atmosphere will make life so much easier for our players to get the job done.

I don’t anticipate it being an easy task today. Obdurate defending and counter attacking football will be the order of the day. Expect much talk along the lines of “We’re not moving the ball fast enough” or “The final pass is letting us down” or “We’re not working the keeper enough” as our silky approach play comes up against the massed ranks of a packed ten man defence. Actually my personal favourite is “Why can’t we beat sides who park the bus?” This is of course a huge steaming pile of bollocks. A silly statements and yet so often repeated. We usually do beat those sides because it is how most teams play us and we win most of our matches. Apologies to Shotta for straying into his statistical territory.

Norwich’s away form has not been impressive lately. They’ve won once and lost the rest of their last six games. We have only lost once at home in our previous half dozen matches and so if form is anything to go by at all then we have no reason to be fearful going into our teatime kick off. Form is of course an ever shifting, malleable intangible beast which can suddenly change up on you. This season more than ever those in the habit of predicting results have too often been stymied. Of more importance is what is at stake. Both sides have much to play for. I was going to say much to prove but it won’t matter to the howling degenerates in the press nor their devoted subjects what Arsenal do today as their narrative is set in stone.

It’s a shame. I used to love football. After the week I’ve had today’s match would have been something diverting. Something to which I could have looked forward with excitement and anticipation of a couple of hours of top class entertainment. Instead I’m here with my tin hat on in the bunker with the last handful of other loyalists fingering their suicide pills and listening as the artillery shells fall ever closer.

So let’s gather together and sing a song or two. The barbarians are at the gate and have laid waste much of our beautiful land. Enjoy watching a team consistently battling near the top of the table for however long we have left. When Arsène’s glorious reign is finally over the fall will be steep and painful. Prepare yourselves for battles for ninth place with West Brom and Liverpool, Stoke and Everton, for as it is written, the bleak shall surely inherit the earth.

A guest post from Muppet 

In 2004 Wenger walked on water. 12 years on obituaries are circulating on line, despite him still being in contract. At the time of writing, L’Equipe has just announced that a 3-year contract extension is planned, which will take him up to 2020. The mood amongst fans is largely negative. The Wenger Out protagonists, who had always been with us, from around 2007, are now enraged. More significantly, even some of the mainstream support, who love Wenger and respect him for what he has done, are now saying it is time for a change. Go now with dignity, they implore.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the exit from the FA Cup. After the Watford game a fight broke out on Twitter, and apparently, outside the ground. The fight was really about the events leading up to the Watford result, surfacing like a volcano. The sorry statistic of amassing just 10 points from 9 games since January 2nd (played 20), when we were top with 42 points, to take us to 52 points (played 29). This was a collapse and seen as an opportunity lost in a season where Man U, City, and Chelsea have been poor, so inviting us and clubs traditionally with no chance, to land the title.  This was about stomach, and the expectation that we would fight – “Once more unto the breach dear friends”.  With 18 games to go, we simply didn’t or couldn’t. We instead showed relegation form.

The case is mounting against Wenger. Not just knee-jerk Wenger out sentiment, there is major mainstream criticism of Wenger for his failure to strengthen the squad last summer. The retention of Flamini and Arteta, the decision not to buy a single outfield player. The failure to sign a world class striker, and to anticipate injuries to Rosicky and Wilshere, who have a chequered history. Even if you argue that we have been affected by injuries this season, the counter argument is that we should have anticipated the injuries and brought in replacements. Some say that our squad was already big enough and should have done better even with the absence of Sanchez, Cazorla, Wilshere and Rosicky for long periods. These arguments point to the failure of a manager to make short term decisions and assemble a strong enough squad. The success of Leicester apparently blows a hole in the resource argument. A team assembled for under £50 million, now favourites for the league. If Leicester are doing it now, then why didn’t we during the last 10 years?  Managers are seen as being largely responsible for a club’s fortunes. Replace the manager if it is not working. We see this with Rodgers and the incumbent Klopp. The prevailing mood at Anfield apparently now much improved. And there are other managers who will do better. Simeone is a common suggestion. And these are managers who know how to deliver big blows to the super clubs like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid/Barcelona, whilst being at a club with lesser resources. Simeone, achieving this with a defensive style. Klopp, at Dortmund, playing heavy metal.

The problem with mounting a defence for Wenger, and the club, is that you become accused of being too defensive. And  dismissed  of having a red tinted narrative inconsistent with reality. And of downplaying our expectations. The backdrop of the stadium move and the relative success of the Wenger years from 1996 to 2005 has raised expectations such that the target is now the Premier League or Champions’ League, with probably the FA Cup or League Cup enough to stave off threats of the sack, and at least a top 3 finish.

If we agree that Flamini should have gone, Arteta too, then we should have been looking for 2 midfielders in the summer. A playmaker and a DM. Why then, didn’t they come? It was either because the manager misjudged the injury situation of Arteta, and over-estimated the remaining potential of Flamini, or there were issues in acquiring new players. Schneiderlin was supposedly available, he was seen as being ideal to solve one of the positions in the midfield. For whatever reason, AW thought otherwise. The reputed £24m fee and £5.2m salary which Manchester United paid may have had something to do with it, but I accept that we are now a well resourced club, and such sums are well within our reach. A popular criticism here is that Wenger’s unwillingness to pay market rates is killing us, and he is penny wise and pound foolish. But it might be that he simply thought Schneiderlin was the wrong fit. A player who was a box-to-box type, but no better than either Ramsey, Cazorla or Wilshere, and lacking the technical skill and deep play making ability of an Arteta. People can laugh at such a defence, but isn’t it the case that Wenger is under more pressure to take less risks with money than say, a manager of City or Man U. What if we spent £24m on a player who could neither be a deep laying playmaker, nor a superior box-to-box player than what we had?

Ok, but doesn’t this miss the point? Assuming that we were even looking for two tailor made replacements, a deep lying play maker, and a DM, isn’t it just rank incompetence that we didn’t find the replacements we were looking for? Whether we failed to scout them, or balked at the market rate, the accusation is of incompetence. Two players, popularly called upon to add to our midfield, are Geoffrey Kondogbia and William Carvalho. Put these two in midfield, we are told, and we have a title winning side.  But there is a track record of players who would supposedly strengthen our squad and win us the title, and solve all the defensive and other problems. A lot of these players remain today playing for mainly mid-table clubs or have disappeared into obscurity. M’vila, Felipe Melo, Christopher Samba, Mata, Marouane Fellaini, Julio Cesar, Luiz Gustavo, Brede Hangeland, Scott Dann, Lewis Holtby, Bernard, Joe Cole and Stevan Jovetic are all examples of players who sparked a fury amongst Arsenal fans when we failed to sign them. The point is, that to compete with the elite, you need to make elite signings, who are in short supply.  Too many fans are calling for signings of players who are simply not elite.

But there must be elite players who can improve us. Some maintain that if Napoli are demanding £60m+ for Higuain then just pay the money. We are not in the austerity period any more they say; we need to speculate to accumulate.  But this is the one argument that, for me, should be taken up with the clubs directors, and not Wenger;  if the objection is that the club is run as a profit driven model, and retaining those profits to the detriment of trophies. Of course, a lot still see Wenger as being all powerful, and hold him responsible for the lack of spending. Assuming that a new manager comes in, what is the plan? A change of style and more resources ? Some argue, an organisational coach like Koeman would be successful. But what is unclear is whether the budget would remain the same. Of course, the traditional anti-Wenger brigade blame the austerity on Wenger.  But even if you are wildly enthusiastic about a new manager wielding a cheque book, will that bring success? Van Gaal has spent £129 million net in two seasons. Chelsea and City will continue spending with impunity. The latter clubs are now backed up with very good coaches. But doesn’t recent evidence of other clubs’ spending show that even with spending a colossal amount of money, there is no absolute guarantee that one will win either the premiership or champions league? In fact, there is no absolute guarantee that one will finish top 4. City are having the best ever campaign in the Champions’ League, but had never gone, until recently, beyond the quarter finals. Liverpool, despite spending over £100 million net in 5 seasons, have only been top 4 once, finishing 6th, 8th, 7th, 2nd and 6th. Manchester United and Chelsea are currently not in the top 4.

With respect to the defence of the current campaign, in my humble opinion we have had a lack of balance since January, due to our ball playing midfielders being absent. This was reflected particularly in our performances at home. Too many unconverted chances saw us gain just 2 points against Swansea, Southampton and Crystal Palace. In my view there has been a lack of analysis about the reasons why our form has been so poor at home. At home, teams sit back and they counter attack. To break them down, we normally rely on continuity players who are able to ping the ball around in the final 3^rd. I believe the absence of Cazorla, Rosicky and Wilshere has been significant in this respect. In their place was Ramsey, Flamini, Coquelin and more recently El Nenny.  We have still been able to dominate games, and have created chances, but I would argue that had we had the former three midfielders, we would have had more gilt-edged chances and opened up the opposition a lot more. Many of the chances created at home after January have been half chances that we have failed to convert.

We have still had moments this season that has proved our quality. We have beaten Bayern Munich at home, Leicester, Manchester City and Manchester United. But the crux for the mainstream support who have departed from Wenger is the cycle of injury problems, and the refusal to change transfer direction. They are not convinced that these problems can be solved by Wenger, because they should have been by now.

With respect to injuries, a report by the Independent shows that AFC had 37 separate injuries in total, ranking 7^th overall.  Crucially Leicester had the fewest injuries, having just 18.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/leicester-have-been-the-luckiest-team-with-injuries-this-season-a6999741.html

There is a big correlation as well between teams that win the league and the consistency of the same 11 that is put out. Leicester is evidence of this, which is of course a reflection of the lack of injuries to its squad.

On the one hand, it can be argued that we should have done better in terms of our league position, as our injury total was probably not as bad as in recent seasons. This shows that Shad Forsyth must be doing some good work.

On the other hand, I would still point to the  midfield, and say that it has been severely depleted, which has affected the balance of the team. I think this is a crucial point, because right now, on social media, on the blogs, there are a number of fans who believe that there is a confluence in the current run of form, and the stale football, and what they see as the end of Wenger’s reign. They see the current loss of form as one of a number of cycles that have taken place over the last 12 years, and therefore removing the manager is the solution. On this point I vehemently disagree. I believe, strongly, that, if we had more of a midfield balance, we still may not have won league, but we wouldn’t have had the negativity surrounding some of the performances, and could have finished higher.

I find it very difficult to believe that Wenger of all people can be accused not knowing the way forward, in terms of playing attacking football. In previous years, the accusation was always the complete reverse,  that we were too gung-ho, and the defence needed attention.

For years, fans lamented the absence of a world class goalkeeper and a defensive midfielder.

Ironically now, with Cech, Coquelin and Elneny, fans are now lamenting what they see as the absence of a striker, but forgetting that previous concerns were addressed.

Good morning Positivistas,

Not quite the match review that I anticipated writing, with three points safely loaded onto the bus and resumption of third place in the Premier League, but instead the sharing of the spoils with our feline friends from Wearside. It is as it is. The home side and their supporters understandably delighted ( see above).

Like the manager said Arsenal had a good first half, plenty of inventive, speedy play which left Sunlun a bit dizzy, but we did not translate out dominance on the pitch to goals. Inevitably, having survived the storm, the home side gained some confidence after half time and came back into the contest. We knew they would be a nut that needed cracking. For a few minutes toward the end it was us clinging on and me feeling a bit dizzy as Jermain Defoe peppered the Arsenal goal with some very decent finishing. He is now 33 years old and the man can still cause defences a quiver with the ball at his feet. ( I know a nasty moment for all of us when that lob arced over Cech and toward the empty goal). Were we struck down with a collective tiredness after Thursday during that phase when we could have lost the game? It seems doubtful as going into the final few minutes of the game we were strong and on the front foot. Concentration went though, for sure.

If I cannot gurgle about the result then what of the Arsenal players ? As I said yesterday another impressive display from Elneny who worked hard all afternoon and was intelligent in his use of the ball. A total of 87 passes and a 94.3% success rate from the hairy Egyptian according to the men with pointy heads, and our most impressive performer on the day. Petr Cech was also crucial in the second half, where for five minutes Sunlun had transformed themselves into a fearsome attacking force, with the Czech fighting them off almost single handed. Having had an opportunity to reflect over night on the game I also have to say the full backs both put in decent display, and Alex Iwobi also had an excellent first half. And Jack of course ………Welcome home son. Just ten minutes but ten good minutes.

To leave the Stadium of Light with just a point is therefore less than I hoped for, to have that point is however the least we earned. A set back then but no severe injury.

I look onward, as we all must, toward Norwich and Saturday late afternoon. I shall be there. A useful fixture that, subject to victory, would bring us three points ahead of Citeh, who have a tricky game at St Mary’s on Sunday, and eight points ahead of the red Mancs who entertain the Champions elect at Trafford Park, again on Sunday. The red Mancs have game(s) in hand but eight points and a ++goal difference gap is a hell of a gulf this late in the year.

I have no idea if Arsene will go with Danny or Olivier up front on Saturday, or maybe both or neither, as scoring goals is the rock on which our PL and FA Cup prospects were sunk since January. What is galling is the apparent ease with which other clubs seems to rattle in 3-4 goals. It’s Norwich though – come on.

Even more important than cementing CL football next season Shotta is in town for the game. We shall have to ensure he enjoys his weekend at the finest football ground in the world and watching our team.

I therefore usher you gently into the new week. Work hard.