Why the Cup competitions have helped

While the other Cup competitions may not have helped Arsenal in the conventional sense, especially the FA Cup and Carling Cup competitions, hopefully the Champions League might have helped the team learn a bit from Barcelona. However there are two competitions that have helped, just unfortunately not in our team going a long way into them.

One of these two competitions was in action Thursday night, the Europa league, more specifically Fulham. One of our remaining fixtures in the Premiership is a home game to Fulham and the importance of them going through on Thursday night is another helping hand to our title charge. Had Fulham gone out the attention for the rest of their campaign returns to the league however by staying in Europe they may even be tempted to rest players in preparation, with tiredness becoming an ever growing factor in their campaign.

In our current position in the league table, I feel we may need every advantage we can get so any distraction to our remaining opponents will be a big help. With just five games left and three points to make up on Chelsea, we can't really afford not to win any of those remaining games, one of which is the North London derby against Tottenham on Wednesday.

This is where the second cup competition has helped us out. The FA Cup is not just a distraction for our next opponents but the fact that Tottenham got through to the semi finals also forced the game to be postponed from this weekend to later in the week. You might be thinking that it's not be a big deal but it gives us more than a week to recover both physically and mentally from going out against Barcelona.

That's why I think Manchester United have a very tough game this weekend, although it is on the Sunday which gives a little bit more time to recover, it is still difficult to go away to Blackburn so soon after exiting the Champions League. Chelsea found that trip to be too difficult after going out of the same competition, so it would not be surprising if more points were dropped this weekend.

If points are dropped, we need to our job and beat the 'noisy neighbours' and take advantage of the amount of time we've been given to recover, which for me is a big bonus and another helping hand in our attempt for the title. Of course what that delay means is that both Manchester United and Chelsea would have played already, possibly leaving us six points behind before kicking a ball this week but for me, that is a price worth paying.

That leaves Manchester City, Wigan and Blackburn to make up our last five games of the season. Blackburn, safely mid table and may play a bit more openly with nothing to lose. Wigan, we really ought to be beating no matter what the circumstances and Manchester City may well be our toughest game, with Adebayor coming back and maybe a reunion between our ex striker and van Persie, who famously fell out back at City of Manchester stadium. They will also probably be playing for fourth place which could make that game even tougher.

So all of this means every game left ought to be treated as a cup final and if we win every game left and all 15 points are gained then it could be distinctly possible that this season ends on a high and the title returns to London.

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