Defending Arsenal Regarding Their Match against Newcastle United

The comeback of the season!

The Gunners are chokers.

Wenger has lost the plot.

He should've bought a defender.

Arsenal's season is over now surely.

Okay. You must've read and heard those words a dozen times since the game yesterday surely, however you need to remember them well at the moment. This article requires you to focus; it is key.

The Gunners were up by four goals in less than 30 minutes, and in the final 20 minutes, conceded four goals to waste two crucial points, which can ultimately cost the Premier League title; that much is obvious.

The Gunners' shambolic team collapsed at the end to prove that they are indeed not championship material; they didn't have the stuff Man United and Chelsea are made of. Is all of this correct indeed?

Hell no!

On paper, Arsenal's draw seemed like one of the worst team displays in the history of the EPL. That is manly because of two crucial points, first of which is the fact that it was indeed a very disappointing draw and a major speed bump in Arsenal's title challenge, and secondly because of the sports journalists who wrote half-baked articles and disgraceful articles that skip out on Arsenal's side of the story. Articles such as the few that came from certain website whose name will not be mentioned, but it's not hard for fans to guess. 

Before moving on, a good look at the events that occurred during the game must be reviewed in order:

-Arsenal scored four goals in less than 30 minutes.

-Joey Barton, known as the scum of football started dirty challenges on Arsenal by hitting Arshavin.

-Diaby and Barton start getting physical.

-Barton hit Diaby as well, but to no avail, Phil Dowd is as corrupted as Howard Webb, but surely the FA were watching another game entirely. Ladies Tennis, maybe?

- Diaby takes down Barton after losing his nerve, leading to his red card. Turning point in the game.

-Newcastle are awarded a cheat penalty, clearly the commentators are making their opinion heard, a ridiculous penalty that was in actuality closer to a foul for Koscielny.

-Joey Barton scores penalty, Szezsny holds the ball, Nolan knocked him out in front of the linesman who was inches away from them, but again, nothing against Newcastle.

-Newcastle scored a second goal.

-Newcastle awarded another cheat penalty, where the Newcastle player wasn't even touched and got awarded another free penalty through the suspicious Phil Dowd, a man who is clearly not fit to be a footballing referee. Barton scores the penalty yet again.

-Newcastle scored a fourth, and the media states it as the comeback of the season, making Newcastle heroes.

After reading these events unfold, does it really look like such a marvelous comeback or another corrupted referee ruining a game and possibly a team's season with his mediocre decisions?

Arsenal indeed were bad on the day, but even when putting all those facts into consideration, you still can't give a good excuse for the Gunners, but you most definitely can't claim that Arsenal's "season is over," or that the Gunners are "chokers". If anything, you can conclude that Arsenal are indeed victim to poor refereeing as they, at times, claim to be.

A certain website, supposedly a leader in the football journalism didn't even state Arsenal's side of the story, same with many newspapers that simply stated how the Gunners are out of the title hunt. Perhaps the paranoid Arsenal fans were not over the top after all, indeed it seems that some people from the footballing world do want the Gunners collapsing.

A fan cannot ask for a journalist to write a soft piece about his team's performance, but he has the right to ask that the article be an honest one. Sadly however, many writers prefer to be subjective, rather than perceptive, and the end result is a disappointing one.

Arsenal fans might take solace in the fact that Man U lost to Wolves, who shocked the world by ending United's unbeaten run, and that despite Arsenal's insanely disappointing result, they actually closed the gap to four points. Of course the word "If" and it's wretched effect on the team. But instead of wandering down that road, the Gunners would do well and listen to Arsene's most famous quote.

"If doesn't exist, we live in the real world", once stated the Arsenal manager, and truly he is correct. Arsenal can look at the glass as half empty, focusing on the referee's decisions, Djourou's disappointing injury and on the terrible late 4-4 draw. Or they can look at it as half full, seeing United losing their first game this season and closing the gap to four points; only bad thing is that they must catch United with one game less till the end of the season.

It's not all that bad, no team was able to take advantage of the Gunners' mistake. Man United and Chelsea lost, with the exception of Man City and Spurs winning; it hasn't been anywhere near the worst week for Arsenal in recent memory.

However, the media doesn't only want Wenger and Arsenal to look at the glass as half empty, but they want them to look at a different one entirely—a completely empty glass that in no way represents Arsenal's performance.

Newcastle's comeback wasn't heroic, it wasn't stunning or magnificent. It was at best, a mediocre referee and linesman giving Arsenal a red card, Newcastle two free penalties and basically telling them "If you can score two goals only, you'll get the point as if you scored four goals."

Arsenal can't waste time on mediocrity, the media is infested with biased writers, for and against, that is life. They face Barcelona in February. Last time they went to that game with mixed feelings, they ended up losing half their team injured and ultimately lost their chance of winning trophies that season.

The season is not over yet, and should the Gunners carry this defeat with them psychologically in the upcoming fixtures, then it's safe to say things will get worse before they get any better. But should they shake it off, they can very much go the distance, even if Dowd, the media and the whole footballing community hope they come crashing down.