Arsenal's 2011 EPL Title Hopes: The Grand Illusion

And so it begins...

I have put on my armor. It is newfangled and somewhat fierce. I have drawn my samurai sword, and I am prepared for combat.

I am ready to accept responsibility for the consequences of my actions. I stand prostrate before the rising tide, proud before you Arsenal supporters prepared for the worst. Let the onslaught begin...

Time and again this season, Arsenal supporters have touted their team as genuine title contenders. However, such statements have been accompanied by asterisks since day one.

Arsenal is a true title contender in the EPL this season*.

*Provided the Gunners can overcome all of their injury woes.

We’ve heard this couplet time and again during the 2010-11 season. Arsenal has been consistently plagued with injuries since the end of last season. It seems as though there’s a hex on the squad; the moment one player returns to full fitness, another is injured in his place.  

Of course, this is something that can’t be helped. Wenger can’t be blamed, and neither can players like Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas, both of whom are clearly dedicated to the success of the squad. But it seems unlikely Arsenal will topple United if these injury problems subsist.

Samir Narsi is a god of football and will carry Arsenal to the title*.

*At least we hope so, because Andrei Arshavin has been complete crap.

There’s no two ways about it: Samir Nasri has been a footballing genius in the 2010-11 season. Zidane himself declared the fantastically creative attacking midfielder the future of French football.

But Nasri is a young player who is still developing. He’s no Messi, and without the right supporting cast he won’t be able to consistently carry the team on his back. Nasri needs players like Van Persie, Theo Walcott and an in-form Arshavin surrounding him.

Van Persie is back! Walcott is back! The goals have begun to flow and there’s no stopping us*!

*Nasri is of course now injured.

Van Persie and Walcott have made a fantastic pairing in recent weeks. The Flying Dutchman has scored seven times in four games while Walcott has two goals and four assists in the same period.

Unfortunately for Arsenal, Nasri and the integral Alex Song are now both injured. Thus while the Gunners have two fantastic attacking players, the side is running out of options for players who can successfully orchestrate an attack.

The upside of this is that Arshavin showed a startling turn around in form in the side’s devastating match against the Magpies last weekend. He had two perfectly placed assists and played with pace and spirit before being taken out in the 68th minute.

Still, without the crucial contributions of Nasri and Song, it’s hard to believe that Arsenal will have the mettle to take enough points to topple United and stay ahead of the rejuvenated Liverpool or Carlos Tevez and his rotating scrum of sky blue sidemen, who are currently nipping at the Gunners’ heals.

Manchester United is no longer unbeaten! The Red Devils will falter and the Gunners will take the league*.

*Provided there isn’t another game like that one against Newcastle.

Oh but to win! Something Arsenal can’t seem to do consistently.

A rash of Arsenal supporter speculation that the reign of The Red Devils had come to an end after Saturday’s loss to Wolverhampton arose in the wake of that match, all of it seemingly content to ignore the fact that the Gunners had just blown a four-goal lead.

United lost one game this season. To reiterate, one.

That loss came at the hands of a team that is incredibly uneven, but has proven difficult for a number of top sides to defeat.

The idea that United’s first loss of the season, coming as it did in February, marks a changing of the guard, is totally ludicrous.

Only time will tell if Ferguson’s men truly have lost their grip, but all current signs point to No.

Arséne Wenger is a genius and his master plan is finally coming to fruition*.

*Assuming, that is, that his master plan involves having one of the leakiest defenses in the league.

This one doesn’t require much explanation. Arsenal’s defensive line is at best leaky and at worst downright awful.

Wenger is, without doubt, one of the great manager’s in modern football, an enigmatic and Zen-like tactician. But the Gunners will have a very difficult time of making a credible title bid without strengthening that back line.

With the January transfer window now closed and defensive midfielder Alex Song potentially out on injury, things don’t bode well for the Arsenal.

The Gunners in 2010-11 are ultimately a very good team. However, they are a team that is still cohering. The have suffered line up inconsistencies and injury woes over the past few seasons, and will need time to make good on the promise they are showing right now.

That promise, however, is incredible. Next season or maybe the one after that, provided the injuries stop and the players stay put, Arsenal will be the team to beat. An EPL title is undoubtedly in the team’s very near future.

But the problems the Gunners have faced in 2010-11, and the inconsistency the side has shown, makes their title credentials doubtful, especially in the face of United’s run of form and Liverpool’s renaissance under newly returned King Kenny.

Of course all of this is speculation, and it may be nothing but wrong, wrong, wrong. Without further ado, let the bashing begin.