Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has endured a difficult campaign fraught with criticism at every turn, but with the club seemingly timing their good run of form at precisely the right time, should they achieve a top-four finish and secure Champions League football for a 17th consecutive season, will it rank as one of his greatest managerial achievements at the club?
First things first, Wenger clearly deserves great credit for keeping the club in the mix for a top four spot this season. After a summer of great upheaval off the pitch was saw long-time assistant Pat Rice retire and the club’s leading striker Robin van Persie secure a move to Manchester United, many tipped the club to miss out considering the relative strength of their rivals Tottenham, while Everton also looked to be pushing for a return to Europe’s elite, while Chelsea were trying to re-establish themselves after spending big in the summer after a disappointing sixth-placed finish last season.
However, with Andre Villas-Boas’ side struggling to juggle their league and Europa League commitments successfully in recent weeks, after dropping points against Fulham, Liverpool and Everton, similar to last season, they have started to close a seven-point gap on their rivals to sit just two points behind them with a game in hand and seven fixtures left to play. Last season the club clinched an improbable third-placed finish after a tremendous run of form down the home straight as they overhauled a 12-point gap between themselves and Harry Redknapp’s out-0f-sorts side.
It seems just as Wigan seem to avoid the drop every campaign while others around them lose their heads by putting together a decent run of form at the right time, Arsenal are the top-four equivalent at the other end of the table and they used their experience at just the right time while Tottenham and Everton have been up and down and Chelsea remain focused on winning a piece of silverware. At this stage of the season, it’s certainly better to be in a position to be chasing something rather than holding on, and at the moment you’d have to back Arsenal to clinch either third or fourth after winning their last three league games on the bounce since beating Bayern Munich away from home in the Champions League shortly after losing the north London derby 2-1 at White Hart Lane.
Not only has replacing van Persie proved to be something of a selection headache this season, there have been various other issues, albeit minor when placed in the larger context of 20 teams competing to finish as highly as possible, but when piled together make a substantial impact on the shape and feel of the side.
Theo Walcott’s contractual dispute which dominated the headline, captain Thomas Vermaelen suffering from a crisis of form and confidence and eventually being dropped from the side, Wojciech Szczeny struggling with injury and then his father’s outburst in the media, Bacary Sagna going off the boil, the departure of Alex Song, the constant state of worry surrounding Jack Wilshere’s fitness and the overwhelming need of the fans to turn someone into a scapegoat, reported issues with new assistant Steve Bould, not to mention their terrible record against top-four opposition this term and defensive fragility. Overcoming all of these problems has proved difficult, often tiresome, but they are still there and retain a chance of clinching a top four spot which says a lot about the man in charge.
There are still legitimate criticisms to be levelled at Wenger, namely that the lack of quality within the squad which is entirely of his own making, while he continues to emplace trust in several players that are patently not up to the job and pursue an increasingly dogmatic style of play, lacking any sort of plan B against top level opposition. He appears to regard a top-four finish as more important than silverware and has been responsible for the zealot-like pursuit of of Financial Fair Play which has seen the club grow less and less competitive in the transfer market. He’s a absurdly stubborn individual and he and Arsenal remain a ridiculously frustrating duo.
Clinching a top-four place would still be a massive achievement, though, even if it doesn’t let him completely off the hook for all the needless and wholly preventable mess he has made of certain situations. Looking at Arsenal’s fixture list, with games against QPR, Norwich, Newcastle, Wigan and Fulham, they seem capable of keeping their recent run going for a little while longer yet, even if they face difficult home games against Manchester United and Everton.
When you compare and contrast this with Tottenham’s, which includes games against Manchester City, Chelsea and a seriously in-form Southampton side that’s already claimed the scalps of Liverpool and the aforementioned duo in recent weeks and their run-in starts to look a lot more tricky, particularly keeping in mind their Europa League campaign, Gareth Bale’s fitness issues and their drastic loss of form. Their ability to shoot themselves in the foot just when it looks as if they may be turning a corner and building something to last knows no bounds.
It’s far from a foregone conclusion yet, and Chelsea could yet come into the mix even more than their north London rivals, but given the context of losing their best player in the summer, having to blood in three new attackers in the form of Olivier Giroud, Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski, while losing the last derby game and facing constant questions over his future after losing the support of large swathes of the club’s fans, Wenger could still pull off a huge coup. There are sure to be plenty of twists and turns yet, but you’d have to say with the what he’s currently got at his disposal in terms of quality and depth, few could do a better job at Arsenal than the Frenchman.
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