Imagine it's for Fourth

As funny as it sounds Arsenal’s desire to win that coveted fourth place trophy has seen them through in season’s past.

Let’s not forget that last year we were 10 points behind Spurs  with around the same games left, a seemingly insurmountable task considering our competition had just beaten us in the league.

From a purely financial point of view finishing 5th instead of 4th is far more costly than finishing just off top spot, so we’ve proved that we can play well and get results even when the pressure is huge and the odds are against us.

This season’s run in is no different, ok we have to play City and Spurs, however the rest of our fixtures are agaisnt teams that we should and have to beat if we’re to claim our first league trophy in a decade.

Thinking back to our ten game unbeaten streak at the end of last season, which saw us take fourth away from Spurs, we showed great defensive resolve and tactical awareness to seriously limit the amount of chances for the opposition while taking our chances when they came.

In that ten game streak we conceded just 5 goals whilst scroing an average of 1.9 goals per game, indicative of hard-fought close encounters. In the midfield we have the players to outplay nearly every team, so there is nothing wrong with allowing the play to happen around the midfield line. What we were so effective at doing last year and for the first half of this season is forcing the opposition to play in front of us.

If Arsenal often struggle to break teams down when they park the bus then surely teams with less technic and fewer quality attacking players will struggle aswell.

Our inability to play this more defensive, counterattacking style has, of course, been hindered by the loss of two of our best atacking players.

In the initial aftermath of injuries to Ramsey and Walcott we fared relatively well, players like Rosicky and Oxlade-Chamberlain and a resurgent Wilshere stepped up and scored goals. At a time in the season where points over performance is the most important thing, through a combination of lethargy, low esteem and a seriously unkind run of fixtures our players have started to look a little dejected.

We are hoping that Ramsey’s return will bring a much needed boost to our players, most importantly Özil and Wilshere who love playing in an offensive three and have done so to devastating effect.

What is apparent is that our defense has proven itself capable enough to be part of a title challenging team, boasting the best defensive record and having kept the most clean sheets. Our goalkeeper has matured into an excellenet shotstopper playing well above his years, albeit with the annoying tendency to make a rash decision from time to time. With age he should mellow...hopefully. Our back four have been oustanding as we have often said on The Lovely Reds, and we have to try harder to keep Sagna to be part of a solid platform from which to build a more unified midfield.

Our lack of true pace out wide following Walcott’s injury means we need to sign another blistering winger, someone whose major attributes are pace and finishing. We don’t have to bring in the complete midfielder, just someone who can do what Walcott does when he get his now customary mid-season injury.

Another pacey winger, combined with the dynamism of others like the Ox and Özil (who literally sprints up the field everytime we regain possession, something the cameras and pundits always seem to miss) will allow us to play more defensively when required.

This is not to say we’ve given up for this season, far from it, TLR believes that if we can beat the teams we’re supposed to then even if we drop points against City and Chelsea we will be there or there abouts by the end.

What is important though is that those who are supporting Wenger at Arsenal start getting everything ready for a big summer. Our direct rivals will no doubt be spending yet more hundreds of millions bolstering their already blouted squads so we have to act fast, secure the players who are going to make us more deadly and feared and gear up for a solid pre-season. No more floundering with agents and twats (see Suarez and John Henry).

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