Arsenal’s glimmer of hope

Monday, 17/10/2011

by Richard Leighton, Shoot's Arsenal blogger

A squeaked 2-1 home win over a frankly abysmal Sunderland side was enough to make me believe there may be light at the end of this horribly murky tunnel in which Arsenal find themselves.

First of all, make no mistake this was a massive three points. Any win we can get at the moment is absolutely critical such is the fragility of the team’s confidence. We’ve shot up to tenth, still six points off the magical fourth spot but hey, it’s a start.

If Robin van Persie’s next injury is back-related then it’s because he is carrying this Arsenal team at the moment. He got two more goals at the weekend and put in a proper captain’s performance.

Make no mistake, the Dutchman was the only reason we walked away with three points and this is the van Persie we have been missing out on over the last few years thanks to a horrendous injury record.

One thing I would say is that the ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’ adage works both ways and you can’t expect his hot streak to last forever. Other options include Marouane Chamakh, who didn’t make the squad on Sunday, and Park Chu Young who, when we were looking for a goal, was overlooked in favour Yossi Benayoun. All I’m saying is I hope the shirt sales over in South Korea are going well.

On to more miserable matters and I would say the deterioration from such a positive, swashbuckling start to frightened little bunnies in headlights was unbelievable. Unfortunately, it was anything but. In fact, it was all too familiar.

Even before the equaliser, the nerves inexplicably kicked in and our intense mental vulnerability made for very unpleasant viewing. This is supposed to be where the big characters step in and calm everything down but we didn’t see that.

What we did see was players going missing. Step up, prime suspect, Theo Walcott. I’ve lost count of the number of games where I’ve genuinely forgotten he’s still been on the pitch. What exactly does he offer the team anymore? Playing out wide, the answer is nothing at all.

Until at least one of Thomas Vermaelen or Jack Wilshere return, and if we didn’t see the latter for the rest of the season nobody would be surprised, I can’t see us being consistent enough to push up the table. Take van Persie out of the equation and there’s zero chance.

Admittedly, this is a little negative after such an important win but the result doesn’t paper over the cracks. Wenger still has a long way to go until he restores the doubters’ faith.

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