Arsenal 2 Sunderland 0:AFTER ARSENAL'S casual, at times lackadaisical, win, Arsene Wenger was asked if, in view of Manchester United's defeat at Everton, he thought his team were back in contention for the title. "We are," he replied, "but all we can do is win our games and hope that others drop points."
Should Arsenal lose at Stoke City next weekend their manager will doubtless be asked if he believes they are no longer serious contenders and could give an almost identical and equally plausible answer.
This is the nature of the present contest. It may be Chelsea’s to lose, but the jostling for position behind them is likely to continue for a while yet.
With Manchester United at home to West Ham tomorrow, Arsenal will probably have to play catch-up at Stoke.
That said, Arsenal have completed their season’s fixtures against United and Chelsea. As Wenger said: “The top two will drop points because they play each other. And there are plenty of teams against whom you can drop points.”
Like Sunderland, for example. Saturday’s defeat extended their barren league run to 13 games without a win since beating Arsenal at the Stadium of Light in November, and Steve Bruce’s team should have been beyond help before half-time.
Yet a combination of sloppy finishing and erratic defending by Wenger’s side kept them in the contest.
Arsenal’s second goal came from Cesc Fabregas’s penalty in stoppage time, Nicklas Bendtner having put them ahead just before the half-hour, and their narrow lead wobbled more than once as Sunderland wasted chances to bring the scores level, most notably when Kenwyne Jones dragged an excellent chance wide.
“When you come to Arsenal you’ve got to take those,” Bruce said. “We’ve had more chances today than I’ve had coming here in 10 years as a player or a manager. It’s disappointing that we haven’t taken something from it. This last two weeks we just haven’t had a rub of the green.”
The way they are heading, Sunderland may shortly need the rub of a magic lamp.
Arsenal’s more immediate concern is staying in the Champions League and Saturday’s performance, slick at times, slack at others, suggested that the return leg of their tie against Porto at the Emirates a fortnight tomorrow will be a close-run thing.
The frailty of Arsenal against pace through the middle, combined with a well-timed pass, is always evident, and they will trust that William Gallas’s calf strain clears up, likewise Andrey Arshavin’s hamstring and Abou Diaby’s knee.
With Robin Van Persie a long-term casualty, Arsenal will continue having to make do in attack, and the likes of Arshavin and Diaby, along with Fabregas and Thomas Vermaelen, are always likely to come up with a goal.
Bendtner, however, has yet to fall into this category. His goal was a two-yard tap-in after Emnanuel Eboue had advanced from the right against a retreating defence and found him at the far post. Otherwise Bendtner was the usual lofty presence let down by clumsiness at crucial moments.
Eboue rather stole the show in circumstances which should have offered Theo Walcott a huge opportunity to impress watching England manager Fabio Capello against the sluggish left side of Sunderland’s defence. But while Capello would have been impressed by the way Walcott frequently sped past George McCartney, the continued timidity of the winger’s crosses may have left him with doubts unresolved.
Then again, this used to be said about the young Ryan Giggs: good pace, no end-product.
Last season Eboue was taken off to spare him the Emirates’ jeers but Saturday’s performance confirmed the Ivory Coast player’s restoration.
“The people who booed him a year ago love him now,” said Wenger, who may some day learn to love Swedish referees.
Guardian Service
