Since 1995, Arsenal have never finished any season below Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League. The Gunners also joined the European elites in the Champions League for 14 consecutive seasons since they entered this competition under Arsène Wenger’s reign in 1998/99, when they qualified through crowning the Premier League the season before.
Arsène Wenger faces stiff competition from his North London derby club
It seems more and more likely that all these records might end this season. In the crucial North London derby last Sunday, Arsenal were defeated 2-1 at White Hart Lane, with wingers Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale scoring for the home team. The Gunners are now 7 points adrift of Hotspur, and 5 points behind fourth place Chelsea. André Villas-Boas, the bullish Spurs manager stressed that his team are now on “an upward spiral”, while Arsenal are on “a negative spiral”, therefore he believes Spurs won’t repeat last season’s fate of a big slump in the last phase of the season.
Chelsea beat West Brom 1-0 at home, with Demba Ba’s goal temporarily relieving the burden on Rafa Benítez. The controversial Spaniard jeopardized his Chelsea future by an honest monologue in the press conference after the mid week FA Cup victory at Middlesborough, blasting the booing fans as well as club’s board. He said his title of “interim manager” was a “massive mistake”, which revealed the deep-lying problems inside Stamford Bridge. The morale of the Blue squad is as bad as Arsenal’s, but let’s wait and see who will be able to squeeze into the top four in the end.
We witnessed two sublime hat tricks last weekend. Luis Suarez scored three at Wigan, and his third hat trick in his Liverpool career helped the Reds beat the Latics 4-0. In Manchester United’s 4-0 victory against Norwich City, Japanese attacking midfielder Kagawa was the shining star at Old Trafford. The top two remain status quo, as Manchester City are still 12 points adrift after a 1-0 win at Aston Villa.
Will Cristiano Ronaldo be the man for the Spanish giant in his first return to Old Trafford after joining Real Madrid?
It’s an exciting European football week again. Read Madrid travel to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United in the second leg of the last 16 of the Champions League, a game that will “stop the world”, as put by José Mourinho. Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur will face challenges from Steaua Bucuresti of Romania and Inter Milan respectively in the Europa League – a week that will surely keep Asian football fans awake late at night!
