Ahead of our clash on Sunday with Chelsea, Arsenal legend, Thierry Henry, has pointed out that we could be damned if we do, damned if we don’t.
The pundit essentially verbilised what many of us know, that if we beat Chelsea by a decent margin, people will say Chelsea played badly and if we only scrape a win, the headlines will be about how we struggled at home to a team that we should be winning against.
“…I feel this game could deliver a mixed message because Chelsea are not performing at the moment,” Henry said.
“If Arsenal go and hammer Chelsea people will attribute that to Chelsea’s poor form. However, if Arsenal win a tight game people will say they suffered against Chelsea. We will see on Sunday what they can do.
“Let’s not forget that Arsenal have a great record against Chelsea when Jose Mourinho is not the coach, they usually enjoy those games.”
Henry’s completely right and what he’s managed to sum up in a couple of sentences is what Arsenal fans have been claiming for years.
When we bring up a media agenda, we’re often accused of playing the victim. However, it’s very true that if we were to thump the Blues, this would be put down to them being poor; if we only just beat them, we should have done better and if we lose, it’s because we don’t deserve the title.