Arsenal Fans: Forget About No. 1!

By that, I do not mean Manuel Almunia (sadly), but top spot. For now anyway.

Wednesday night's results put us back into contention, after a series of events across three grounds, all culminating in our favour, for once. All of which meant that we are, amazingly, back in the title race.

Theoretically that is.

For me, we have now reached an impasse; a threshold, if you like, which we probably cannot go over, with an actual danger of slippage downwards at any time. As steely and as determined the 1-0 victory over Liverpool was (how naughty was Cesc Fabregas by the way, right at the death), that win merely papered over the cracks.

Cracks so ruthlessly exposed by the double mauling against Manchester United and Chelsea ; our supposed rivals for Premier League glory, incidentally.

Forgive me, and I say this, simply knowing that there will be many out there, who, in their infinite wisdom, will think that pointless abuse and rollicking will put me off stating my opinion.

To those figures out there, most of whom I know by name by now (well, "cyber-name"), but whom I do not really give much attention or spend time on replying to, I will state this only once: I am asked and welcomed to give my, not qualified, but certainly somewhat reasoned views on here and if you can provide something similar, then by all accounts do; otherwise, you can rest assured that your "views" fall on distinctly deaf ears.

Back to the mini-league of matches that we had just come out of, and you see why I believe that third place can be the extent of our ambitions. Not defeatist, by any stretch, for I am not one for accepting defeat easily. But, merely realism based on years and years of steadfast determination and embattlement, and a will to win, only to turn out to be masked foolhardiness, optimistic rhetoric, and ultimate heartbreak.

I had deliberately waited for this hiatus prior to Champions League recommencement, thankfully provided (or not) by our meek exit at Stoke in the FA Cup. That way, I could come back calm and reasonably measured, analysing just what went right and the several issue that went horribly wrong.

Following the defeat at Stamford Bridge, Arsène Wenger took it upon himself to state that we were still very much in the title race, thanks to our improved performance to the defeat against Manchester United a week earlier.

And, as much as I admire Wenger's resolute conviction in the ability of his players and, as much as carrying the fight to the last second of the season is vital at all costs if we are to have a chance, I find Wenger's justification as to why we were in with a chance simply astounding.

Our performance against United was poor, and that's being kind by the way, and we lost. Badly. Our performance against Chelsea was good, and that's also being generous, and, again, we lost. Badly.

I'm sorry Arsène but good performances do not necessarily win you titles; in fact, defining moments of any crowning achievement are usually the ones where you can dig in and nick a result when your backs are against the wall. And we have simply not provided that, nowhere near as enough, and nowhere near as enough as the top two in the League table.

The victory against Liverpool was more of what I mean. Not a classic by any means.

At times a torrid affair, particularly in the first half, the players realised that going all out right from the off is no guarantee to victory, but in fact a possibility of shooting yourselves in the foot, as was the case so spectacularly in the previous encounters against Chelsea and United, whose matches against them are becoming an increasingly irritating trend of humiliation. 

A trend that highlights that the management and the squad had clearly not learnt how to deal with such occasions. Not until things had started slipping away, that is, with the calmness and conservation of attacking energy against Liverpool a case in point.

Despite Chelsea brought crashing down to Earth at Everton , and despite Manchester United 's draw at Aston Villa (a good result by all accounts considering the Champions were down to 10 men for a whole half), I fear that our "mini-renaissance" and good fortune will be short-lived.

As psychologically boosting as that set of results might have been, we are now basically required to make up fourteen points on, not one, but two, teams. Two of the best teams at regaining composure and attaining results following a blip.

With less than a third of the league season remaining, it is a very tall order, and one I feel, that the likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Alex Ferguson will not allow to happen, despite the former's acknowledgement of the apparent threat we still pose.

With only two of the remaining 12 fixtures coming against top-four hopefuls, a gargantuan run of maximum wins is indeed a possibility. But, we must not think like that, taking each match as it comes, forgetting about the potential rewards of such a run, whilst praying that results go our way when our rivals have seemingly tougher run-ins.

Finally, a message to Arsène Wenger and his players (not that they will be feasting their eyes on this): I have spent the best part of five years living the dream and insisting that "this was our year," only to end up looking like an absolute buffoon to the likes of Chelsea , United and everyone around me. I would be most grateful if it is Arsenal FC who can make me look like a fool for once...