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Arsenal The Underdog Against Leicester City?
Arsenal may be confined to an underdog role vs. Leicester City as the battle for first place continues, but is that exactly where Arsene Wenger wants them?
Can you hear that? It’s getting louder and louder. To some extent, it’s all around us. Yup, Leicester City pandemonium has kicked in.
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It’s everywhere. From memes and sports articles to a 5000-1 odds (determined before the start of the season) of Leicester winning the Premier League, it really is everywhere.
5000-1… Jeez. I like numbers, but that just blows my mind.
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I get it. I really do. I respect the Foxes and wish for a fair and open match this weekend. Fútbol is competitive. It’s the way it should be.
Arsenal never make it easy on themselves, do they? It’s all leading to a classic ending in May. Maybe not as epic as Kun Aguero sealing the title against QPR in the dying moments of the match, my heart can’t handle that, but something close. A moment of greatness from Arsenal. A single moment. Maybe that’ll be enough.
Oh, and about Leicester City. The Foxes. The closer and closer it gets to May, the harder and harder it is to ignore them. I know. It’s frustrating. Not that my impartial side wouldn’t admit the appeal of Leicester City. It’s just that my love of Arsenal doesn’t let me acknowledge it. Leicester City is a cool team. They’re the underdog. They’re not a ‘big 4’.
Come on, it’s great stuff. Vardy’s 29. He’s imposing. He scores goals. They’re the #trending team. The un-invested supporter casually supports them. Their loyal and proud fan base has always supported them even through the midst of a relegation drop in 2008.
Supporters of other clubs may prefer Leicester City to win it. You’ve done it. Admit it. I’d rather have (insert team name here) win it. Just not United. Not again. I can’t take it (Ferguson era). So yea. They most likely have support there too. If Leicester City weren’t in the title race, the neutral supporter (minus Tottenham fans) would be pro-Arsenal.
Well, I just can’t take it either. I’m invested. It hurts. I want the league title.
So it felt strange the other day when Arsene Wenger openly admitted that the “rest of the country is behind Leicester”. Woah. I didn’t expect him to say that. I mean I knew he was thinking it, but saying it makes it ‘real’.
I think it’s a fair statement to say Arsene wants Arsenal to win the league. He absolutely craves it. So why say it?
Well, he’s accepted the situation. Leicester City is growing in popularity match after match. That’s probably not going to change until the title’s decided. So he went ahead and said it.
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Arsene, you sly man, you. You almost had me worried. I forgot that you’ve been here before, huh? I forgot that you went a season unbeaten, went 49 games without being bothered by defeat, and pulled the double. “I think we can go a whole season undefeated”, he proclaimed. He’s not afraid to say it.
He knows the game. It’s an art, responding to a press conference. It can help shift the focus of the game, highlight a player or team. However, news can also linger about one of your players and one of their deficits. It’s a tricky thing to balance. But why wouldn’t Wenger want to shift the focus to Leicester City? After all, they already have it. Go ahead.
He’s placing himself and Arsenal out of the spotlight and allowing his players to prepare. Wenger knows the importance of being mentally prepared for a game. He talks about it often. Sometimes he’ll even cite the mental state of the player as a reason to move someone to the bench instead of the starting XI.
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Wenger knows Arsenal and their supporters want to win this weekend. We all do. But I think Wenger knows what he’s doing…