A week to remember, or not?

So it's been a bit of a rollercoaster week for Arsenal, it began with the disappointing defeat to Manchester United but in a slight reprieve, Chelsea's draw with Hull midweek not only let us back into the race but also gave us a bit more hope that a good result against the league leaders at the weekend is not impossible.

Thrown in between those two results was the end of the transfer window, which not unsurprisingly closed without Arsenal doing a single bit of business. I've mentioned it my last few posts so I won't babble on about it for long but I do think we should have bought someone, I'm pretty sure there were players out there available and money was definitely there, so maybe we were too picky or maybe we didn't want to pay asking prices, I don't know, I just hope we don't regret it.

Of course the good news this week was van Persie, apparently on the mend quicker than expected and could well be back within six or seven weeks, while this is obviously good news, it could be too late for this year's title race, which brings me to the big game, if not biggest of the season, at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Thanks to our last two results, this game has now become a must win, which could arguably make things easier or harder. On one hand it could help the team to just go all out for the win, knowing what they must do and be focused on getting out of the game with 3 points, of course on the other hand it could add pressure, knowing that a defeat would effectively end the chase and the usual 'can't win anything with kids' jibes would inevitably come out.

And it was no surprise to me, after the Manchester loss, to see the same old stories about Fabregas leaving for Barcelona, not helped by the same old quotes from various Barcelona suits saying Fabregas would 'one day' come back to them. While I don't personally see Cesc leaving this summer, no matter what we do or don't win this year, however if we were to go trophy-less this season and the next then I think it might be decision time for the captain and for that matter the manager.

I say decision time for the manager, because the prices that are being thrown around, apparently £40 or £50 million, with which I dare say we could do a decent job of getting replacements in with that kind of cash, and probably speed up our route out of debt, because unlike Manchester and Ronaldo I would have thought the money would be there to spend for Arsène.

Coming back on to the Chelsea game, it had been reported that John Terry might be given some time off to 'recover' from his off the field antics. At any other time, a Terry-less Chelsea would undoubtedly be an easier prospect but at the moment I think the circus surrounding Terrygate is distracting the side, you could see from a lacklustre performance against Burnley and then the draw with Hull, that the issue is, I think, affecting things on the pitch, so it might strangely be better to have him on the pitch.

On the whole it hasn't been a great week for Arsenal, the loss to Manchester last weekend almost had them out of the title race, but once again other results have helped us out and it is another one of those make or break weekends for the team. The week can end on a high though as a victory would not only move us a giant step closer to the top of the table, it would also be a timely confidence and morale boost, which looks like is needed. We will see on Monday morning just what impact this weekend has on the whole season, it is that big a game.

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