Ties Won't Win League for the Gunners

To everyone’s surprise, Arsenal did not lose to Manchester City yesterday.

In the beginning of the match, David Silva of Manchester City scored early in the eighteenth minute and every Arsenal fan surely thought, “Here we go again, another shellacking from the big four.”

The first half Arsenal played was full of lethargic defending and uninspired midfield play. With the exception of Lukas Podolski’s cross on the left flank, the midfielders did nothing but pass the ball four yards between each other in the center of the pitch. No one made runs and no one attempted to get wide to cross the ball into the box. The Gunners clearly lacked the necessary firepower to beat a top flight team.

After being beaten in every facet of the game in the first forty-five minutes, Arsenal responded in the second half. The midfield suddenly came alive and decided; rather than playing patty-cake in the middle, they were going to make runs down the wings and cross the ball into the opposition’s eighteen yard box. Arsenal’s play was quickly rewarded in the fifty-third minute, when Lukas Podolski whipped the ball into a running Mathieu Flamini who netted the cross to tie up the game.

Arsenal began to dominate possession as the game went on. Olivier Giroud had a chance to put them up 2-1 after receiving a long ball from Tomas Rosicky, but ended up missing the goal to the right.

The game ended level, with both teams splitting a point between each other.

A draw against Manchester City is not usually a bad result. However, in this case Arsenal had to win the game and they didn't. This year’s Arsenal squad is in a hole that they have little chance of climbing out of.

Their demise started with a 5-1 loss to Liverpool. Then, they faced struggling rivals Manchester United. This match ended in a 0-0 tie. After positive play in the FA Cup with a 2-1 win against Liverpool, they lost 1-0 to Stoke City in league play. (Arsenal get a pass for the loss to Bayern Munich, there was no way they were going to get a victory against the best team in the world. Beating them would have been the equivalent of Glass Joe beating Little Mac in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out.) Such disappointing losses pale in comparison to the 6-0 beat down they received at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. Arsenal then followed this embarrassing showing with an underwhelming performance against thirteenth place Swansea City in which they tied 2-2.

The fact of the matter is that top teams show up for every game. So far, Arsenal hasn’t done that. 

On the bright side, after they play Everton, their schedule gets a bit easier. The highest placed team they will face is ninth place Newcastle United.

There is no other choice for Arsenal but to win out and also get help to even have a chance of capturing the league title. Ties will not cut it, even against a good team like Manchester City. The Gunners have six Premier League games left; they must get all eighteen points to have a chance at winning the league title.