Arsenal Christmas: Kanu's Season Wish for the Gunners

Nwankwo Kanu, remember him? The gangly but silky forward who played for Arsenal for five years from 1999 to 2004?

Yes, the Kanu, who scores a hat trick in 15 minutes for Arsenal against Chelsea during the 1999-2000 season to hand the Gunners a 3-2 victory after going down two-nil...the Kanu, who used a signature two-fingered salute when celebrating goals as tribute to Arsenal's nickname, the Gunners.

Well, he has a Christmas wish for Arsenal: Win the season.

Here are his words, spoken in a recent interview. 

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"If you ask me, I will say Arsenal can win it this season, they still play the best football in England. Man City is strong and loaded but we are not yet sure of what they will do in the second round."

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Comparing the two teams he said:

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"Unlike Arsenal, City players cover the ground, run around the pitch and that tells on them from the 75th minute upwards. In Arsenal, players are taught about group movement and I am happy Arsene Wenger keeps that tradition."

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To interject an aside here, let me point out that for those who are prematurely comparing City to Barcelona (wrong analogy on the face of it), Kanu here has put a finger on a key difference. City, for example man-mark and chase; Arsenal and Barcelona in general do not.

But this not the place to explore the letters of this issue. It is evident that Kanu still loves Arsenal, as you can see from more of his words below.

But let's pause and ask this question: can Arsenal still win the league, or are these just words of an ogled-eyed Gunner now a Gooner?

Arsene Wenger, all optimistic before the City match, now thinks not. He does the Math and concludes:

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"Unfortunately for us it was a game that we couldn't afford to lose because it puts us too much [behind City].

I think it was a game that could have gone both ways. It was very intense with both teams going for it and I feel as well that we were a bit unlucky.

If we had won the game we would have come back to six points and with players coming back like our full-backs and [Jack] Wilshere and [Abou] Diaby—we will have a better squad in the second half of the season."

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I should, though, remind the reader that at some point last season, the consensus was that Chelsea were out of the title race after suffering a slump in their form. Then it was said that the title race was just between Manchester United and Arsenal.

At the end of the season this proved wrong.

Arsenal finished fourth, Chelsea, second. In fact, after a while, the same people who counted Chelsea out changed their tune and said it was impossible for Arsenal but possible for Chelsea!

This is the long way of repeating the cliché that there's still a long way to go in the season. A lot can happen between now and then. There's therefore no reason why Gunners and Gooners alike shouldn't keep the faith.

Therefore, Kanu may not be an ogled-eyed Gooner after all. He may have a point, and who says his wish may not come to pass at the end of the day?

But what comes through very endearingly in Kanu's interview is his love and loyalty for and to the club. He recalls fondly his time at Arsenal.

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''It was quite an experience, at the training ground, during games and on travels, It was so much joy and pride to play for the team.'’

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He concludes by saying,

''Once a Gunner, always a Gunner."

And what can one add to that?