Old habits die hard

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
24 Oct	3:00 PM	P	West Ham United (A)	2	2	Draw

So there I was at half-time, two up away from home against an in-your-face opposition and I remembered back to last season, would the Arsenal of last season been able to cope with such an up tempo game, under the lights and not really playing at their best, that's probably a no.

But looking back on last season again, we could not put games to bed, it was thoroughly annoying. Just as I was relishing this side that could go a long way this season, old habits were to come back and haunt (no Halloween pun intended).

It was the same in midweek when the game was there for the taking, didn't go at full tilt and lo and behold we drew a game that should have been easily won. The same can be said of the West Ham game, while it wasn't vintage Arsenal, (have we seen vintage Arsenal away from home this season?) we were two up, another positive I could take at half-time. Again laziness entered Arsenal's game and while West Ham were not really creating, the game was still in touching distance for them and it really shouldn't have been.

The first goal could not really have been helped, Mannone made a decent save and maybe the defenders could have done better to react a bit quicker and clear the lines but it's a small complaint, although I didn't think it was a free kick in the first place. The second was just plain silly from one of our best players, a lazy swipe at the heels of the West Ham player and that really should have been avoided.

It wasn't so much the goals we conceded just Arsenal's mannerisms in the second half, we should have come out looking for a third goal, effectively ending the game but we didn't push at all and let West Ham keep some hope in the game and you could see something coming. At the half, I was all set to write about Song and Fabregas' partnership, Robin van Persie's hot form and what I thought would be a great position in the league after Manchester United, Spurs and Aston Villa all dropped points, two of those points can still be said but they are pointless if 3 points don't follow.

The players would have known that Spurs and Villa had dropped points and certainly by half-time that Manchester had lost, they should therefore have realised what an opportunity it was considering had we won and won our game in hand we would go level with Chelsea on top, true title winning sides would have won no matter what.

That is not saying I don't think Arsenal can win the title, because I do, even after Sundays disappointment. United have amassed the points but have not convinced doing it, and without Ronaldo and Tevez how much longer can they rely on Giggs and Scholes? Liverpool won't go through the season without losing twice more, and I wouldn't be surprised if their win over United wasn't a one off. Chelsea does look quite good but Drogba and Essien will be big misses in January/February.

The positive to take out of Sunday's game is that the Premiership is tougher than ever to win, sides will continually be taking points off each other and it will be a very close season, that should give Liverpool hope still and Arsenal too. You also have to hope the Arsenal players learn from this week and in the future finish teams off then when three up, they can switch off.

Finally, I am really looking forward to the midweek game, I always look forward to seeing the future stars but when they are against a top side it will be a very interesting meter of how far they have to go or how close they are to first team action. Also after another week of silence from silent Stan, I think it would be really helpful if he either came out and said what his intentions were or just go ahead and make the takeover, that I personally think is only a matter of time, never the less it's never easy when Arsenal are concerned.

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