Fabregas, Vermaelen On A Quiet Monday

The media still refuse to accept that Arsenal are title contenders, something that will not be bothering Arsene or the squad one little bit. Or at least you hope that is the case since it is a great motivational tool for the manager to use when the going gets tough.

Cesc responded to Emmanuel Adebayor‘s observations about Arsenal lacking a bank balance big enough for his wages, sorry, lacking ambition:

They are both great players. But they had problems and didn’t want to continue at Arsenal, so leaving was the best thing they could do. It was best for us because we want players who are committed

Bless him. More importantly, Fabregas is keeping his feet on terra firma and trying not to get carried away:

It is just the first game in the title race, that’s all. We must keep going like this. We know we can do that if we continue to play like we did against Everton. But I must underline that it is just the first game. We won 6-1, but this is football, one day you are the best and two days later you are the worst team in the world. Let’s keep it real, this is game one and there are 37 to go so we will talk at the end to see how we have done

Therein is the rub. Football is a game of extreme emotions, supporters prone to mood swings of great magnitude following a result or performance that lives / does not live up to expectations.

To put the win into perspective, it was probably the performance of the weekend. Certainly, better than anything that the other members of the big four put together. Tottenham deserved their win over Liverpool and that immediately puts pressure on any title ambitions that Benitez and his players may have had. No doubt Liverpool fans will be comforting themselves with the thought that everyone still has to go to Tottenham this season and that defeat may not be that costly.

Yet there is no one outstanding team in the Premier League this season. United has been weakened through the sale of Ronaldo but probably strengthened by the realisation that the players now have to act as a unit, rather than looking to one person to get them out of the hole. Chelsea, meanwhile, has plenty of experience but a narrowness of play on Saturday that a stronger team might well have taken more advantage than Hull could. All of the squads have strengths and weaknesses.

The Premier League though is on hold for 48 hours, the small matter of the first leg of the Champions League qualifiers taking place tomorrow. Thomas Vermaelen is looking forward to the Celtic match:

I don’t know too much about Celtic but they have some good, physical players up front and I think it could be a similar match to Everton. I think it will be similar to Goodison Park, with a fanatical crowd and we will have to play the same as we did against Everton. We will have to be physical again and also play our own game

Perhaps someone should have a quick word with the Belgian. I would expect it to be a totally different match to Everton – the home side will be trying for one. He is right of course in that the crowd will be positively rabid, wanting to ram the comments of the English media down the Arsenal throats. Whilst Celtic are strong at home and have beaten a number of good sides at Parkhead in the Champions League over the years, their away form is abysmal despite winning in Moscow.

One day to go and the football season already feels like it is in full swing. ’til Tomorrow.