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Can Arsenal Win the Title or is Everyone In the Club Just Deluded?
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal has not done much to prove that they can compete for a title. They have scored 1 goal thus far into the season and been gifted 2 own goals. That hardly screams title contention. Yet they sit just 5 points behind Manchester City. After how Arsenal have been playing, that is a gift.
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Yet, people out there still doubt if Arsenal are title contenders. Wenger said we are, but no one is going to take his word for it.
Wenger is not alone though. The pundits may be clamoring that Arsenal are in a tooth and nail battle royale for fourth place as well, but those are pundits. Are we going to trust them or guys that are in the game, watching play develop first hand?
Mesut Ozil, Petr Cech, Aaron Ramsey and Per Mertesacker have all mentioned that Arsenal have what it takes to win the title this season. Naturally, their word is not enough. I’m not saying that it is. What I am saying is that these guys know what it takes to win. They have been at trophy ceremonies and tasted greatness.
Both Ozil and Mertesacker won the 2014 World Cup. That qualifies them as knowledgeable in what it takes to win. The German National team was special because it was a legitimate team. It was not ruled by any one individual. Take one out, replace him with another. There was no stopping the machine that was Germany.
Aside from that, Mesut Ozil has won La Liga, the Spanish Super Cup and the Spanish Cup with Real Madrid. Ozil is a winner. If he says that Arsenal can compete for a title, I have no mind to doubt him.
“We’ve got a great team at Arsenal, which can win titles,” he said via Turkish Football.
Petr Cech is a winner too. He won the Premier League with Chelsea. The stellar shot stopper cited his reason for coming to Arsenal as a want to win more trophies. If he did not think this team could compete for trophies, he would not be here.
The natural counterpoint to this is “of course they say we can compete, what else are they going to say?” And that is a solid enough argument. No one is going to say they’ve been eliminated already. But they could just as easily keep their mouths shut. No one is breathing down their neck telling them what to say. These are grown men who can say what they want. These guys believe in the squad that Wenger has assembled and they believe that this Arsenal squad has what it takes win a trophy.
They would not just be saying this to say it. You don’t hear many people on non-contending teams saying they can compete for titles. These guys have credibility to uphold as well.
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Having that many proven winners say that this squad can be a winner means something. If Wenger said it, of course we are going to doubt him. But when proven winners are saying this team can win, winners who have spent more time with this club than anyone else, then we have to start considering that maybe they are right. What would be the point in all of these guys getting together and saying “let’s pull one over on the fans and say we can win a title when we can’t.” That’s silly.
There is great faith in this team to turn it around. This team will turn it around. I am going to believe Mesut Ozil long before I believe Piers Morgan. It is also more reliable to trust the play of the squad when they clicked.
Of course, the other option is that everyone on this team is deluded. Everyone is drinking the Arsene Wenger kool-aid and drinking so much of it that they cannot see reality anymore. That’s a bit loopy.
Next: Krychowiak proves why Arsenal need him