Revenge over the Spuds needed badly

The loss at the Emirates earlier in the season was truly heartbreaking. To lead 2-0 going into the half and lose 3-2 in the end was the low point in our season. Since then we have gone to deeper depths of humiliations at St James's Park and Wembley but that will all be forgotten if we can get all three points tonight. 

The Spuds are not playing particularly well at this moment. After a bright start to their season, the team has sputtered over the last couple of months, much like the way our team is playing as well. So with both teams needing the points, I think this match is going to be a classic encounter which I hope we will come out on top.

The Spuds need the points because they are still chasing Man City for the final Championship spot while it is obvious why we need the points. Arsenal can close the gap to Man United to 4 points with a win tonight while a loss might see us drop to third place depending on Chelsea's result against Birmingham. So it is a game of epic proportions which neither side can afford to lose or draw.

Actually I am glad that we are not playing at the Emirates. As we saw last Sunday, teams come to the Emirates hoping to snatch a draw and if we can't break them down early (as it frequently happens) then we are in trouble. When we play away, teams tend to be more adventurous thus allowing players like Cesc and Nasri more space to create opportunities. I am sure the Spuds will come at us and it will be an open match with free-flowing football. This will suit us fine as we are more than capable of containing the Spuds attack. What we mustn't do is to lose our head and concentration like we did at the Emirates.

Getting a result and the points are important but what's more critical is the need to revenge for the humiliation at the Emirates. Come on you Gunners, do us proud!

We still have a chance but can we take it?

The answer is YES! The draw last night actually did not change anything in terms of the title race. If we had gotten all three points, we would have been 4 points back from Man United. As it stand now we are 6 points back. How a points perspective there is little difference between being 4 or 6 points back. We still need Man United to drop point in two matches out of their remaining six. The key statistic is 2 matches back. While at 4 points we need the leaders to at least lose one and draw the other, now we need them to lose two matches. Again there is hope in that because the leaders still need to come to the Emirates and travel to Chelsea. I am almost certain that Man United will drop the six points needed in the last six matches. This is their schedule for the end of the month

•  April 27 Schalke
•  May 1 Arsenal
• May 3 Schalke
• May 6 Chelsea

I see them losing to both Arsenal and Chelsea during this stretch. Their other games are not easy fixtures as well because of the relegation battle brewing down the bottom half of the league.

Unfortunately, I do not have much confidence in the team to get all the points from their remaining matches. If they can throw away three points from a winning position at the Emirates, how can they be counted on to deliver the maximum at places like White Hart Lane, The Reebok or The Britannia.

So we are definitely in with a shout for the title but unfortunately this team is not mentally strong enough to win the title.

What's wrong with this team? Lack of believe is the answer

Seriously, how can anything team score a goal in the 98th minute of a match to lead and end up with a draw. I really do not understand how we can just throw away the points like that. While we used to have a fragile mindset in previous seasons, this year what we have done really takes the cake. We were leading Spurs 2-0 at home yet end up losing 3-2. We lost to WBA and Newcastle at the Emirates. We were leading 4-0 at St James Park only to throw away the points again. Seriously something must be very wrong with the team. This can't be fragile minds anymore. The excuse that this is a bunch of kids also does not hold up anymore because the lads are all grown up now. The Liverpool team had even more kids in the eleven that ended the match.

No doubt it was an unfamiliar Liverpool that was on display last night. I can entertain teams like WBA or Wigan coming to Arsenal and set up to park the bus but not Liverpool. Here is a team with wins over Chelsea and Manchester United but Daglish chose not to come at us. Maybe it was a sign of respect for our attacking prowess but if Liverpool had a more positive mindset, they could have possibly won the match. Nonetheless, they defended well and got the point they wanted. It was our responsibility to break them down and we failed rather badly.

The team didn't play well at all. Arsene said the last 7 games were going to be like Cup Finals to the team. Well the team will certainly not be winning anything if they played like that in Cup Finals. There were no passion in the players at all. Arsene said the players looked jaded but they haven't played a match in a week. How jaded could they be? Plus they are in a position to fight for the title. Surely there must be some impetus in that. It really looked like the players do not have the believe that they can catch Man United for the title. It is this lack of believe that will ultimately see us not winning anything this year.