The EPL is heating up and as the Professor himself (my beloved Arsene Wenger) predicted, the top teams are dropping points left and right. Liverpool are almost as close to the bottom of the table as they are to the top and poor Sparky Mark Hughes was fired from Manchester City despite putting them on the cusp of a top 4 spot. As the Premier League enters the dreaded Christmas Crunch, Arsenal are in great shape with the title race wide open.
Despite the terrible loss of Robin van Persie for the remainder of the season with ankle ligament damage, the Gunners have claimed an impressive 7 out of a possible 9 points in their last 3 games to pull within 6 points of Chelsea with a game in hand! After that ugly 3-0 loss at the Emirates to Chelsea nearly a month ago, I can hardly contain my excitement at the team’s response and our unlikely league position given our dreadful performance that day.
In what seems to be an early Christmas present to me, Arsenal drew FC Porto in the Champions League Round of 16. Considering Arsenal could have drawn AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Lyon, or even Inter Milan, FC Porto doesn’t seem so bad. Albeit the Portuguese outfit bested us last year at the Estadio do Dragao to claim top spot in the group phase, Arsenal fielded a team of youngsters after having already secured qualification courtesy of a 4-0 drubbing of Porto in London. Although I don’t think the tie will be a stroll in the park, I can’t complain considering the strength and quality of the opposition we avoided.
That is all for now but stay tuned for a review of my Champions League Predictions and Previews of the knockout ties.
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