Arsenal Vs Brighton: Top four not dead yet… again

Arsenal host Brighton on Sunday afternoon in their final home match of the season. Even after three successive defeats last week, their top-four hopes are not dead just yet… which, sadly, is the exact same thing I said last time out.

If you think that it is absolutely infuriating that I have to write this every week, you would be right. It is. But, for the third Premier League match running, even after suffering extreme disappointment, Arsenal’s top-four hopes are not yet dead.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Death, Decay, Despair

Unai Emery’s side should really have all but wrapped up a top-four finish by now. One win in their last three league games probably would have been enough to do it. But losses to Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester City, all in the space of seven days, all with Bernd Leno pick the ball out of his sorry net on three separate occasions, have put the season on the brink of failure.

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The aim at the start of the year was to sneak into the top four. After a very strong March and early April, it seemed as though the Gunners were set to achieve that aim, wins against Manchester United, Newcastle United and Watford putting them right on the precipice. But the terrible trio happened and their Premier League campaign was seemingly dashed right in the final stretch.

However, as Emery prepares his team for their final home match of the season, with Brighton and Hove Albion coming to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon, it pains me to say that a top-four finish is not yet completely out of reach — I say it pains me because it is the hope that makes supporting this damned football club so frustrating, and I, sadly, still have hope.

Prior to the weekend’s matches, Arsenal sit in fifth position. They are on point ahead of Manchester United with a significantly better goal difference and two points behind Chelsea, one goal behind in goal difference. It is a semi-bleak picture.

But Chelsea host Watford this weekend, a game that we all know is far from easy, and then travel to Leicester City to close out the season, another match that has caused great pain very recently. If Arsenal win both of their games, Chelsea must get four points from those two games to draw level. It will go down to goal difference, which is difficult to predict at this stage.

If Chelsea were to lose either of their final two games, however, and if the Gunners were to win out, which is quite conceivable with an away trip to now-safe Burnley to close out the year, they would drop below Emery’s team.

The top four, then, is not dead yet, however much it pains me to say such a thing. Does that not make those three losses all the more frustrating?