Arsenal Vs Spurs: Is that it for the top four?

After Saturday’s 1-0 loss in the North London derby, Arsenal now sit seven points behind Spurs in the Premier League table. Is that now it for the Gunners top-four hopes?

To say that North London derby was a big game would have belied the true significance and massiveness of it. Other than the usual ‘power battle’ that is often pitted in the billing before the match, a quick perusal of the precarious Premier League table, especially from an Arsenal perspective, would have portrayed everything you needed to know: This was, as they say, a must-win. The Gunners lost.

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And now, that leaves them seven points behind Spurs, which is a gap that, on current form, seems fairly impregnable, and potentially eight points off the top four once all the weekend’s games are played out.

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So, the question of whether Arsenal’s top-four hopes are still present is an extremely fair one. It is not necessarily an easy question to answer.

Hector Bellerin, for instance, played the ‘long way to go’ card, when speaking with the media after the 1-0 defeat:

"“There’s still plenty of games to play. There are loads of points still to play for, so we need to look forward <…> You never know what can happen in the Premier League.”"

Certainly, that is true. There are still 33 points to play for and Arsenal only have to play the two Manchester clubs of the other top-six sides in that span. There is the chance that they could put a run of results together that hauls them back into Champions League contention. But has the damage already been done?

That is perhaps the viewpoint of manager Arsene Wenger:

"“It’s a game we couldn’t afford to lose, of course. That makes it much more difficult now but we have to fight for as long as we have a mathematical chance.”"

Petr Cech, meanwhile, echoed the statement that was a ‘must not lose’ game:

"“If you look at the table, we needed to win this game to close the gap and we couldn’t do so.”"

None officially ended their hopes of ending the year in the top four. They are, oddly, right to do so. Although it is looking like an insurmountable mountain to climb, it has been done before. Football is a funny old game. Momentum is real, and while Wenger and his players may not have it at the moment, in two or three weeks, the landscape could look very different indeed.

Next: Arsenal Vs Spurs: 5 things we learned

But to suggest that it is even a possibility, nevermind a probability, that the Gunners will challenge for the Champions League qualification positions would be to belie the truth. They have much, much work to do. Some would argue too much. Perhaps it’s time to focus on the Europa League.