May The Fourth Be With You-nited

Let me start by apologising for my awful title pun. I often tell other bloggers who ask me for advice (I don’t know why either!) they should never apologise for what they write because it shows a lack of conviction but something that dire cannot be left without atonement.

Today is international Star Wars day and I’m hoping that the Fourth will be with United.

Arsenal are sat in 3rd place in the Premier League three points behind Manchester City with two games in hand. It has been a while since Arsenal were last in this situation; a handful of games to go and capable of finishing as high as second place.

The next three games will do a lot to determine not only where Arsenal will finish in the league this season but how they could start the next. A win tonight against Hull and Arsenal will have all but secured a top four place – and there’s the small matter of St Totteringham’s Day.

Should Arsenal win their next two games anything but a loss against Manchester United will secure Arsenal 3rd place as a minimum and guarantee them Champions League football for the 18th consecutive year.

Thirteen points from their remaining 5 games will take 2nd place which would be Arsenal’s highest finish since 2004-05.

The crucial difference between this year and others is that it is in our hands. However, it is equally possible for Arsenal to finish 4th as it is to finish 2nd. Other teams are relying on us cocking up in order to achieve their aims and we better than most know how easy it is for others to mess up and snatch a slither of victory from the jaws of defeat.

Fourth would be a disaster for Arsenal. We found to our detriment what the qualifiers can do to your early season energy reserves at the start of this campaign. With most of our players already suffering from a lack of a pre-season the qualifiers added two matches to our schedule we could not afford.

Arsène Wenger has already warned of the dangers of having to play two extra matches and how Alexis could miss the start of the season due to international commitments over the summer.

This squad needs a solid pre-season and an easy start to their calendar. Early season injuries, rushing players back and over-playing others cost us dearly this season.

The second half of this season I think better represents what Arsenal are capable of as Wenger’s side have more points after 33 games this season than any season since 2009-10. This is despite having fewer points after 12 games than they have had in any other Premier League campaign.

Our worst start in 22 years yet our best points tally after 33 games in 5 years. The first half of last season and the second half of this season shows we are capable of sustaining a challenge with the small caveat of “when we don’t have injuries”.

All teams have injuries during the season and they learn to cope with that. Arsenal tend to get more than most and often don’t deal with it very well. This is what needs to be improved above all else next campaign. We have shown in this campaign that we can stand up to the better teams in the league – our weakness from the previous season – so coping with, or ideally preventing, injuries has to be our key targeted area for improvement in 2015-16.

Improving our squad is a given but it’s not as cut and dry as buying four players so we can challenge again. Four players may strengthen us immensely but we cannot predict nor control what strengthening will happen in other teams.

Arsenal has an incredibly talented and deep squad when everyone is fit and we only have one squad place to spare to our transfer aims will have to be to move some players out to free up squad places and strengthen in the areas we have been most short in this season.

The Manchester clubs will be back with a vengeance next season and Mourinho’s Chelsea will want to retain their crown so a good start is absolutely paramount and that starts with automatic Champions League qualification – and the goodwill feeling of retaining the FA Cup.

Our battle with the forces of evil next season is going to be like that of the rebels versus the Galactic Empire. The Empire has more resources than us rebels and have easily turned our players to the dark side in the past but we have the players to tip the balance Admiral Mertesackbar, R2-Giroud, Wicket Cazorla, Chewelbecka and C3Theo to name a few (that I could make Star Wars names out of).

Mourinho

The Empires reach may be great and their power immeasurable but it is not absolute. The rebel alliance has sympathisers all over the galaxy and there are many who would like to join our cause. Our dissent will be a cause of annoyance to the Empire to start with and as the season enters its 2nd third and final third we will be of great concern to the Empire. The Empire will strike back and will try to squash our attempt to overthrow them (January transfer window) but we will remain strong and will penetrate their defences and expose their weaknesses.

Stamford Bridge

I’ve seen enough this season to believe we can win the league next season with a strong start and a healthy squad boosted by a few new signings.

May the Fourth be with United.

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