Arsenal top of the table!!!

Well well well, look who is sitting at the top of the Premiership...

Pos		Name	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1		Arsenal	22	9	1	1	34	11	6	2	3	25	14	+34	48
2		Chelsea	21	10	1	0	34	8	5	2	3	18	10	+34	48
3		Man Utd	22	9	1	1	27	8	6	1	4	22	11	+30	47
4		Tottenham	22	7	1	3	26	8	4	4	3	16	16	+18	38
5		Manchester City	21	7	3	0	26	14	3	5	3	16	16	+12	38
6		Liverpool	22	7	2	2	28	11	4	2	5	12	15	+14	37
7		Aston Villa	21	6	3	2	17	7	4	3	3	12	11	+11	36
8		Birmingham	21	5	4	2	9	6	4	2	4	12	13	+2	33
9		Fulham	21	6	2	2	15	6	1	4	6	11	18	+2	27
10		Everton	21	4	5	2	16	15	2	3	5	14	19	-4	26
11		Stoke City	21	5	3	3	15	13	1	4	5	4	13	-7	25
12		Blackburn	22	5	4	2	15	11	1	2	8	8	28	-16	24
13		Sunderland	21	5	3	2	18	13	1	2	8	12	25	-8	23
14		Wigan Athletic	20	3	3	3	10	13	3	1	7	13	31	-21	22
15		Burnley	21	5	4	1	14	9	0	1	10	8	34	-21	20
16		West Ham Utd	21	3	3	4	18	20	1	4	6	10	17	-9	19
17		Wolves	21	3	2	6	9	17	2	2	6	8	21	-21	19
18		Hull City	21	4	3	3	13	16	0	4	7	7	26	-22	19
19		Bolton	20	2	4	5	16	23	2	2	5	12	19	-14	18
20		Portsmouth	20	3	0	7	13	16	1	2	7	5	16	-14	14

Arsenal are on top of the table based on their 4-2 victory over Bolton. As I stated in the beginning of the season I thought Arsenal would finish second to Chelsea. I thought that Manchester United had lost too much in Ronaldo and Tevez, that Liverpool was not going to amount to much thanks to Rafa...but Arsenal had the talent to make a run. However does not have the depth to get past Chelsea. I think that might still be the achilles heel for the Gunners.

What is encouraging is that Arsenal is winning or getting a point from matches in recent campaigns they would lose. Heading to Bolton and finding a way to come home with 3 points after being "Boltoned" all over the pitch...aka goon lined. Being down 2-0 this Wednesday and coming back to win 4-2. These are matches that in the past few seasons Arsenal would roll over and drop the full 3 points. What is especially sweet is that Arsenal did this against Bolton who they have had a history of bad blood - primarily due to the divergent styles of play: Arsenal the beautiful, offensive and free flowing football while Bolton was more of the mucking, kick you in the shins and win ugly style. The Gunners always had problems with Bolton...midseason when pitches are heavy and the muckers can find ways to beat the English Samba Boys. This week was an example of Arsenal gaining some toughness and winning a game against a mucker team like Bolton. What epitomized the win was how Arsenal secured the equalizer yesterday - a hard tackle from Gallas wins the ball back, Arsenal fight the ball into the Bolton 18 yard box and find a way to get the equalizer.



To me the foul was a hard tackle, Gallas did come in from the front so it was not a two footed tackle from behind...did he clip Davies hard...yes. Is that football in England...absolutely. Hats off to the Gunners. Let us hope they can keep the momentum going.

The upcoming weeks will be very telling on how far the Gunners can go - Villa, ManU, Chelsea and Liverpool before starting up Champions League play again. If the Gunners can come out of those 4 games with 7 points or more I think they stand a good chance at the title - 2 victories and a draw...difficult but not impossible.

What is frustrating is that I think Wenger should and needs to buy some established players and he would bring Arsenal that much closer to another title - another striker and midfielder would be nice...and I don't think a teenager from Brazil is what we are thinking of.

Come on you Gunners