Going Fourth

If we accept the well-know and oft-used adage that in football, “you’re only as good as your last game”, then Arsenal have every right to be considered world beaters right now.

The way they dismantled Tottenham Hotspur in Sunday’s North London derby, was a sight for the sore eyes of Gunners’ fans who’ve shed more than a few tears this season in witnessing the shortcomings of a squad that, on paper at least, is bursting with talent.

Passion, commitment, intent and no little verve – Arsenal’s 5-2 win over Spurs (after being 2 goals down) had everything.

The unfortunate thing is that while the fans will enjoy basking in securing temporary bragging rights over their bitter rivals, they will also be asking a simple but almost surgically incisive question: why haven’t Arsenal been playing this way all season?

While it’s a simple question, the answers are infinitely complex.

It’s clear that every player in the Arsenal squad was up for Sunday’s encounter, and contrived to fight back from the early deficit with a panache and a confidence we’ve seen all too rarely this campaign. Players find it easier to motivate themselves for big games – it’s a fact – while the “cold days in Stoke” scenario presents more of a challenge.

Significantly, Arsene Wenger managed (in many senses) to draw performances from previously underachieving players at the weekend, and while it demonstrates the potential, it also adds to the seemingly endless frustration.

On Sunday at The Emirates, Arsenal showed what they can do. Why don’t they do it every week?

This coming Saturday, Liverpool will hope that Arsenal revert to season type, when the two sides meet at Anfield.

Kenny Dalglish’s men bagged their first piece of silverware (also on Sunday) when they claimed the Carling Cup, but goodness me, they made such heavy weather of getting past Cardiff City from the second tier of English football.

The history books will show that Liverpool won the Cup, but not perhaps the struggle that had to be endured against a Cardiff side that, with every respect to the Welsh club, should have been despatched with relative ease.

I think it would be fair to say that there wasn’t a single Cardiff player who would have made it into the Liverpool side (every member of which, with the exception of Jose Enrique, is a full international) on merit.

Despite this inherent disparity in the levels of ability, the match went to penalties before Liverpool prevailed. They lifted the cup, it’s true, but as with Arsenal’s showing against Spurs on the same day, the performance posed more questions than it provided answers.

How fitting then that the Barclays Premier League programme this weekend kicks off with the Anfield clash between Liverpool and Arsenal – a blockbuster encounter in previous seasons; having no relevance as far as the title is concerned in this edition.

For both clubs, this season is all about a seemingly desperate and maybe even last ditch attempt to secure UEFA Champions League football for the following campaign, and as things stand, Arsenal look by far the more likely.

Seven points separate the two teams heading into Saturday’s game, and it’s become the archetypal 6 pointer as far as that 4th spot is concerned.

A win for Arsenal, and it would be difficult to see Liverpool making up a 10 point gap (even with their game in hand), while a win for Liverpool reduces the gap to 4. All this is not even taking Chelsea and Newcastle United into account – both of whom are ‘knocking on the door’, and both of whom are better placed than Kenny Dalglish’s men.

With the amount of money spent in the last year and a bit, Liverpool supporters could be forgiven for thinking that Champions League involvement was almost a given, but even Sunday’s triumph will not convince pundits that the current side is anything other than a work in progress.

It remains to be season if the ‘Pool faithful will accept a trophy (possibly two) in lieu of Champions League football, although with such a proud record on the continent, it’s not hard to fathom the intense desire to be dining at Europe’s top table once again.

For Arsenal, the need to secure their involvement in a 16th consecutive season of Champions League football will be just as intense, while the financial implications of failure to do so will be lost on few.

It’s all set up very nicely indeed for just about as good a curtain raiser as you’re going to get for this weekend’s action in the Barclays Premier League.

Catch Andrew Leci and his analysis of the beautiful game on ESPN’s presentation of the Barclay’s Premier League Highlights and visit www.facebook.com/espnstarsports ‘If I Were’ page for a chance to win exclusive prizes.