THEO WALCOTT asserts that teams are now “scared” of playing Arsenal. To which the young Gunner might add, “scared that we might destroy their seasons”, because for Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, Arsene Wenger’s pea-shooting pack could wreck a rival campaign or two as part of their own quest to score an FA Cup and Champions League double.
Over the next 31 days Wenger’s men must confront Manchester United three times, Chelsea twice and Liverpool once in all competitions. That daunting load will swell again if Arsenal and United reach the FA Cup final on May 30th and the north Londoners advance to meet Chelsea in the Champions League showdown in Rome three days earlier. The alternative would be Barcelona. No reading of the fixture list encourages premature exultation.
The jubilation that swept the Emirates Stadium after the 3-0 victory over Villarreal on Wednesday night was more than a reflexive celebration of an easy European win. It suggested a suspension of grandstand grumpiness and a coming of age for a side with nine members who were 25 or under.
As the goals rolled in, Wenger jigged the night away on the touchline. But Arsenal’s schedule would empty any dance-floor. It’s right to draw a thick line under this week’s quarter-final victory.
Arsenal’s season can be divided into sections: the five defeats in 14 Premier League games that implied a crisis of philosophy, four consecutive 0-0 draws against West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland and Fulham in the league, and the subsequent blossoming in Wenger’s multi-national greenhouse.
But now comes a whole other phase, when the maturity of Walcott, Samir Nasri, Alexandre Song and company will be tested in a brutal sequence of globally watched tests starting with tomorrow’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley and rolling on to Anfield on Tuesday, where Liverpool await, fresh from a week without matches.
Arsenal are 10 points behind United with six games left, their title hopes are non-existent. Instead they are shaping up as kingmakers. In Islington pubs their fans will already be debating which of the three contenders they would best like to help.
Manchester United? No thanks. Chelsea? With Ashley Cole in blue? Liverpool would probably poll most votes but there is zero chance of Arsenal’s players going soft on Rafael Benitez’s side 24 hours before United play their game in hand against Portsmouth at Old Trafford.
Beating Liverpool and then United on May 16th might even let Chelsea through on the inside rail. Yet Arsenal play Chelsea, too, on May 10th. Twenty-five days will elapse in the Premier League between Arsenal clashing with Liverpool, Chelsea and United, while the Gunners pursue two cup dreams that collide with the twin obstacles of Chelsea and United.
Lothar Matthaus once said of Anglo-German encounters: “Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men run around for 90 minutes and then the Germans win.”
In the English club game everyone jostles and looks busy until March and then the big four start their carve-up. It is, though, unusual for one club to be the common denominator in an equation spanning three competitions. Not content with playing God in the title race, Arsenal could dispatch a club to the Championship.
Their other three league games are against Middlesbrough, Portsmouth and Stoke City, on the final day of the season. Champs and chumps could both owe their fate to encounters with Wenger’s improving side.
From youth’s fountain flows a burble of confidence. “We feel every team are scared of us as soon as we step on the pitch,” Walcott says. “It’s great to play when things are going like that. We are playing brilliant football and scoring goals from all positions which helps the team. We are defending and, even though we have players out injured, others are coming in and doing just as good a job.”
All season long the manager has played the patience card. On Wednesday night he wore a glow of vindication: “I never doubted but, when you don’t win the game, you wonder if you are right. I was always convinced but I was more worried about the confidence and belief of a very young side.”
Until now Benitez, Alex Ferguson and Guus Hiddink could afford to dismiss this familiar spiel as “Wenger’s mantra”, but now everyone will be scrutinising Arsenal to see how far their new maturity will stretch and whom it will hurt.
Guardian Service
