Arsenal's Title Dreams Take Another Dent as Gunners Draw Against West Brom

Another missed opportunity by the Gunners, and this loss of momentum is truly something that should make Wenger take notice. As if they didn't need a reminder, Arsenal have only the EPL to fight for this season, and are wasting one golden opportunity after another.

It is clear that Arsenal are not worthy of being champions at the moment, not because of the draw against West Brom, but the fact that this is not the first time Arsenal wasted a chance to be at the top of the table.

Arsenal have wasted five points out of six against West Brom and Newcastle United, those 10 points alone would have made a world of difference, to add insult to injury, Arsenal were leading by four goals against Newcastle United, only for the game to end as a draw (with two goals out of the four being ridiculously soft penalties.)

The Gunners had many chances to be the leaders and even lead by a good number of points, but sadly the reality is that Arsenal have wasted another chance to close the gap on Man U, the current EPL leaders.

Arsenal are on the brink, Wenger must start making some crucial decisions; however the vast majority of the Arsenal consortium know fully well that the Frenchman will likely stick with his decisions until the very end.

While it's usually easy to pinpoint one individual and blame him for the team's failings, this time was actually quite challenging.

Was it Almunia? (the player Arsenal fans dread the very sight of) Was it Squillaci? (Worst signing this season) Or was it the predictable Denilson?

Not many people can blame Wenger for starting Almunia, it's not like he had a choice, with all the other keepers injured, it's not like there were any other options, Lehmann just came back from retirement and Almunia was the only available keeper to start the game.

However, Wenger has a choice for the next game, and that is to get Lehmann as fit as humanly possible, and play him instead. Arsenal fans would rather take their chance on a 41 year old keeper who always had the class, talent and the ability to do what is necessary to win, than to take it with Almunia, who has been dreadful on numerous occasions, and has conceded in the majority of the games he played in for Arsenal.

Almunia has been so bad this season that an Arsenal fan entered wikipedia.org and edited his profile, while the comment will most likely be deleted, here is the straight quote from wikipedia.org:

"On 19 March, Almunia started in goal against West Brom. Before West Brom's second goal he came out of his penalty area thinking he is an outfield player and allowed Odemwingie to score. From the Arsenal fans point of view, everyone hopes he won't play again, because he is f***ing useless alongside Denilson."

It's not a surprise that the majority of the Arsenal fans dislike Almunia and Denilson, to an extent the newcomer Squillaci can be fitted into this category as well, but it seems that not only are they disliked by the fans, but they are downright hated by them.

West Brom were able to score in the third minute from a corner, Almunia was useless as the ball went right through him and into the goal. Arsene Wenger has been unable to fix Arsenal's problem regarding set pieces in the last two years, leaving Arsenal vulnerable every time a cross is delivered inside the penalty area, and that vulnerability is nowhere near being solved.

Sadly however, the worst was yet to come from Manuel Almunia.

For some unexplainable reason, Manuel Almunia rushed outside the penalty area and gave Peter Odemwingie an absolute free goal, while Squillaci was terrible in that particular play, Almunia was horrendous.

Meanwhile, Denilson (is he really Brazilian?) was predictable, and lacked creativity, making his presence in the middle of the park a burden and a liability, rather than an advantage. The young Brazilian barely made a pass that was deemed "quality", he keeps passing the ball to those closest to him, and at times slows down the buildup and kills the chances of a counter attack.

It's a crying shame for Arsenal fans to witness such a dismal display, especially when the likes of Arshavin and RVP are fighting with all their might to emerge victorious. Arsenal were able to equalize through Arshavin, when the Russian scored a wonder goal, and then through RVP, who made a brilliant tackle before West Brom can clear the ball, but the Gunners were lucky the goal was allowed, seeing how Bendtner passed the ball with his hand in the first place.

Wenger not only needs to address the mistakes made by some of his sub-par players, but he also needs to address his own mistakes as well. When playing against a weaker team at this point of the campaign, a much more straight forward approach would've sufficed.

Chamakh and Bendtner made immediate impacts in the game despite barely playing in their positions, why not start with one of them, if not both, Arsenal were much more threatening with the Dane and Moroccan on the pitch.

It is also strange to see two quality headers benched against teams like West Brom. Had Bendtner or Chamakh been defending set-pieces, the scoreline might have been different. There is no point crying over spilled milk, but the Arsenal manager desperately needs to learn from this, otherwise Arsenal will finish the season trophy-less yet again.

Despite all the disappointment, Arsenal have no time to dwell on the past, and cannot afford to let their previous errors affect them mentally, the Gunners have crashed many times in the past, and are expected to choke yet again.

That was then, this is now. They still have their toughest games ahead of them, Liverpool, Spurs and Man U are the key games which will very likely lead to the conclusion of whether or not Arsenal will be the champions of England.

The Gunners are the masters of their destiny, only their performance in the remaining games can decide their fate. Key decisions like whether or not Lehmann can start instead of Almunia will play a major role, but it's very likely Arsenal fans will be hoping that 13 is their lucky number this time around.

With nine games remaining and all to play for, Wenger must think carefully, use reason, and do what every Arsenal fan expects him to do.

Go for the gold!