As the weekend has grabbed us I am more and more nervous ahead of our match against Wigan. Chelsea have secured their spot in the CL and now it comes down to where places works themselves out. At this point in the season I could go on and on about the best lineup to run out there, and I am sure I will ahead of the match, but this comes down to just nabbing maximum points regardless of who starts. We are in the driver’s seat. We control our own destiny. Take six points from our last two games and we are in.

I will admit, the run up to this point has been entertaining from a soccer (football, futbol, footie) fan perspective. I am sure the casual watcher is no doubt intrigued by the scenarios and how the scores each week change these three teams fighting for two spots. I am sure SkySports and ESPN and Fox Soccer love the coverage and the marketing dollars that will pour in over the next two weeks should this come down to the final game.

But alas, I am not just a fan of the game. I am an Arsenal fan. This hasn’t been a fun game of sorts or an entertaining storyline. I don’t watch when I feel like it. I don’t follow ’cause it’s cool. I don’t write this blog, pull out math scenarios and dress my child in head to toe Arsenal gear because I like the game. I love the game. And I love my Arsenal.

I don’t wish it came down to two games. I wish we had this wrapped up in the bag long ago. I wished we hadn’t dropped needed points early on. I wish we had a bit more consistency, a few more quality players and that single dangerous striker that everyone holds their breathe when the ball lands at their feet (not cause he is going to Gervhi-NO the damn thing but because the entire stadium knows that greatness is coming next).

The fact remains that this has been a tumultuous season for a club so steeped in history and a winning tradition. The fact that we have lost serious lineup depth over the last few years and have had to make do with essentially running 4 brand new guys into our starting lineup this year should be a credit to the genius that is Wenger (yes, I think he did much, much better than most). And yet, we lost to lowly competition (*cough* Blackburn) in one cup and even lower in another (Bradford fucking City *cough* *cough*).

No my fellow arseholes, this is not a joyous occasion. It is rather frustrating that we are having to play our ways out of this current predicament all the while Man U drunkenly send off their manager into the sunset with another title in hand. It’s Arsenal ’til I die for this here lad and my happiness with our performance at the end of the season is buoyed once more by the hope that it is our most hated rival we can send packing for Europa once more.

Anxiously awaiting lads…