Not much to report on here Monday morning but I did fancy the results a bit from yesterday. I was really hoping a rejuvenated (?) Sunderland side could hold on to that 1 goal lead against Chelsea but not so much. Sp*rs then saw fit to equalize late against Everton and that result really had a positive effect on the standings as with a game in hand we can actually leap frog Sp*rs into 4th with a win and keep Everton from gaining ground on us.

I am hoping this current run into the finish does not become the new norm for Arsenal. Last season we saw a thrilling finish that had us jump into 3rd far too late in the season via some Herculean efforts by he who shall not be named. This year we are absent a dominant striker and find a much more cohesive team effort leading the charge with a new hero each week. That being said, I look back on our schedule and wonder what could have been had we just eeked out a few more points that were dropped needlessly earlier in the season:

• 8-18-12 (date)- Arsenal (away) 0 – Sunderland (home) 0: Easily should have netted a goal here. Dominated possession, tons of shots on goal. However, Arshavin came on late and actually provided a spark so that speaks to what the hell was going on at the time… (+2 points)
• 8-26-12- Stoke 0 – Arsenal 0: Almost an exact replay of our game with Sunderland. Arsenal the better side, dominated possession, plenty of chances (I recall a serious miss by Gervhino in this one) but no dice. Stoke always a tough play for us but we were at  home and gave this one away… (+2 points)
• 10-20-12- Arsenal 0 – Norwich 1: Yet another frustrating one to watch. Plenty of missed chances (Gervinho whiffing on one) and a reminder of our serious inconsistency to start the season (not entirely unexpected given all the new players) but we should have at least left with a tie here… (+1 point)
• 11-10-12- Fulham 3 – Arsenal 3: Ah yes, the one that really got away. This was an exciting and frustrating match to watch with Arsenal never quite putting Fulham away and with our final chance to take 3 at home coming down to the missed Arteta penalty. We had lost momentum and honestly this was a serious mental loss for us at the time even though we came away with 1 point (at home)… (+2 points)
• 12-1-12- Swansea 2 – Arsenal 0: No. This one pissed me off big time. 2 late goals by Michu and big misses on our end. Ramsey was the bright spark to this game but Arsenal gave up too much at home. A tie was the minimum we needed here and should have earned it… (+1 point)
• 1-30-13 Liverpool 2 – Arsenal 2: This was an incredibly exciting match and I had a lunch bet with a Liverpool friend riding on this one. What started off with me cussing and kicking the cat across the room had me jumping for joy as the tides turned after half. While either team could have won this one, Arsenal at home should have been enough to walk away with the victory… (+2 points)

Well, there ya have it. We could be sitting with a total of +10 on our current points haul and be by and large considered locks for Champions League at this point in the season. Granted, I admit that there are other games we might have dropped or left more points than we received (the 1-1 tie with Southampton on January 1?). Additionally, there are other games that we may have grabbed more points from but these matches stand out to me as the obvious ones where we played well enough to win but walked away with less than deserved.

Oh what could have been…

Thanks to WatchESPN I plan to put the ManU/City game on in the background today at work (some days my job really has some serious perks).

Cheers.