Here’s Charlie Ashmore with his must-read verdict after Arsenal beat Newcastle
1 – At this stage, a win is a win is a win
The room for manoeuvre has been extinguished.
There is a simple clarity about what we need to do and that is to win every game we have left. We did that against Newcastle.
Yes, there will be moaning about how it was achieved but those should be ignored. Nobody but nobody looks back and condemns any title winning side for not being the most attractive to watch.
Believe me, over the years there have been plenty of titles won with football that was less than free-flowing total football but the history books do not rank title wins by entertainment levels or by stress levels. The target right now is to win the League. And winning it will be its own justification. So, one down, four to go.
2 – We will only win the League on points
There has been lots of talk about goal difference and goals scored this past week. When City only put one past Burnley the media were quick to criticise them for not taking the opportunity to put goal difference daylight between the clubs.
Did City look bothered? No. Because they know it’s just about getting over the line. Having said that the onus, if there is one, is probably on us, City having baked the head to head differential.
So we have three ways to win the League now – points, goal difference and goals scored.
The simple truth is that we are not playing in a way that will likely give us the sort of goals boost that we may need to win on either of the goals metrics.
I fear that if both teams win all their games, City are more likely than us to win on goals. Which reinforces that we have to just win all our games and hope they drop points somewhere.
3 – Havertz injury – our hopes may rest on Gyokeres
Leaving aside the human element – he really deserves some luck now and a run of fitness, the sight of Havertz slumping to the ground was like a dagger to the heart of our hopes for the season. This was put into sharp focus by the moment late on when Gyokeres had the chance to play a simple ball across to any one of two or three unmarked players in the middle.
It was (at that level) a relatively simple pass but he fluffed his lines. If Havertz is out the choice up top is Gyokeres or Jesus which is really no choice at all – Jesus looks to have lost his footballing mojo.
So, whilst the loss of Havertz (if that is the case) is undoubtedly wounding, given the subtlety and link up play he provides, the fact is we have been top for most of the season with Big Vik up front and we need him to give us his very best over the next four games and we need to get behind him, whatever the feelings the fanbase has about his level.
4 – The crowd did their bit but…the future relationship is in the balance
I will be honest – I hate it when the players wave their arms at the crowd as if to say we are not supporting them and instead letting them down somehow. But I suspect this is a generational thing. I have commented before about the home crowd and the truth is that, contrary to my instinct which is to react in precisely the opposite way to that which the arm waving is intended to achieve, the crowd do seem to react positively to the arm waving.
I thought that despite the quality of the performance and the continued frustratingly cautious instincts evident, the crowd were brilliant yesterday pretty much from start to finish, though a special word for the two season ticket holders who thought that it was time to head home three minutes into seven minutes of injury time – I despair at the like.
There is however a thin line between the crowd taking it as encouragement and the crowd taking umbrage at the implied criticism particularly in the context of the quality of the performances and the comments made by players, manager and the wider media in recent weeks about the Emirates crowd.
I am firmly of the mind that the performance quality won’t matter if we win – the ends absolutely justify the means this season and I hope the crowd continue in the same vein for the remain two home games.
I fear for the future atmosphere if the team do not get over the line this year.
Let’s hope and pray that we don’t get to find out.
