Arsenal: Petr Cech doubling up on Granit Xhaka audacity

Arsenal were counted out of the title race weeks ago, but Petr Cech is now adding a little veteran backing to Granit Xhaka’s audacious earlier claims.

The Premier League title race is never won by November. Sorry to have to say that (on the odd chance that Manchester City fans are reading). There is a long way to go and to count Arsenal or Chelsea or any of these teams out of the race is a perilous endeavor.

And I feel a hell of a lot more confident in making this assertion knowing that Granit Xhaka has said the same. Xhaka said after the North London Derby that there anything can happen and, more or less, that the Gunners are absolutely not out of the race.

He’s not wrong. We haven’t even passed the half way point yet, so to anoint any team as the Premier League champions is foolish. There is a such thing as complacency that can strike anyone, especially in a league as competitive as the English top flight.

Not just that, but City have been proven mortal. Absolutely they have. It’s not like they are running over everyone 6-0. A couple times, sure, but there have been matches that they simply scrape through and, that being the case, there is plenty of room for belief.

That said, it is just me and Granit Xhaka shouting into a void of dissent that the Gunners have a chance. A rather reputable voice has joined the choir, and that voice belongs to Petr Cech. Although he wasn’t quite as gung-ho as I am. His words, as quoted by Sky Sports:

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"There can be plenty of twists in the table as well because you win two games in a row you climb up and you can draw and fall out of the top four, so it will go pretty quick and is very packed up there and will be I think until the end of the season"

Again, he isn’t sitting there saying “yes, we will win the title” but he is being realistic about it – there is always a chance for something crazy. Always a chance for a simple falter to introduce a bit of uncertainty. And once that happens, the world starts to look an entire different shade.

That will happen to City. It happens to everyone. The key, as Cech pointed out earlier in his statements, is to be there, ready to capitalize, when the opportunity presents itself. Because if they get through their inevitable slip-up without any sort of pressure, then they are home free.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Burnley

I understand that it sounds stupidly optimistic, but I’ll take Xhaka’s and Cech’s optimism any day, because it shows that there is still drive and ambition to do something special.

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