Think fast — when was the last time the Big Four got through a Premier League round without scoring a goal before today? You don’t know, do you? Neither do I. I’m waiting on the Guardian to tell me.
It happened today, though, as Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal were all held scoreless today. Three of those games, however, were goalless draws. It’s the fourth that will cause much consternation in London tonight.
Manchester City blasted Arsenal today, 3-0, while Man United was held to a 0-0 draw against Aston Villa. Those two results allowed Villa to climb over Arsenal into fourth place, the last Champions League spot on the Premier League table. Villa is also just one point behind the Red Devils, and judging from their performance today, that doesn’t seem particularly unfair.
Arsenal’s bad loss today, however, is bound to lead much of the Gooner faithful to end their blind allegiance to Arsene Wenger. The Gooners are clearly undermanned and, as demonstrated by William Gallas’ recent outburst, in chaos. Clearly, the pied piper’s flute is busted, and it’s time for a new song.
The only question is who’s going to sing it, because it probably won’t be Wenger. The club’s board of directors can’t afford to let the gaffer maintain the status quo, or else they’ll not only lose the Champions League next year, but they’ll probably have to sell Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Adebayor and at least two of Wenger’s prize youngsters to make up the difference, and that won’t make anyone happy — except, of course, Spurs supporters, who would enjoy the schadenfreude, and Real Madrid supporters, since their club would be first in line to pay for Cesc.
Is this the year that the Big Four become the Big Three, leaving the fourth and final Champions League spot up for grabs? Possibly, but let’s not forget that a lot can happen between now and January. If MLS can show it’s capable of addressing its major issues, so can Arsenal. Besides, Andrei Arshavin can never have too many dream clubs to play for, right?
4 responses so far ↓
1 When was the last time the Big Four were all held scoreless on the same day? - The Run of Play // Nov 23, 2008 at 9:39 am
[...] When was the last time the Big Four were all held scoreless on the same day? In « Previous Post Leave a comment… [...]
2 A Brief History of Nothing - The Run of Play // Nov 24, 2008 at 11:25 am
[...] we joined Dave in asking when the big four were last held scoreless on the same weekend. Today, When Saturday [...]
3 a different Dave // Nov 25, 2008 at 10:28 pm
That scoreless Aston Villa vs. Manchester United match was fun to watch. It’s not the first fun scoreless soccer match I’ve watched, by far, and it won’t be the last. The soccer-bashers who whine on and on about the lack of scoring in soccer simply don’t get it.
4 Dave // Nov 26, 2008 at 1:38 am
Nor mine. I still have fond memories of Reading’s gutty defensive play at Old Trafford last year.