Chelsea vs Spurs (vs Real Madrid)

Tomorrow evening (Wednesday May 8), my two loves will, indirectly, collide.

As Spurs head to Stamford Bridge, not only will the result reveal the probable Top Four – and Arsenal’s place in it – but it may well imply the destiny of both Jose Mourinho and Gareth Bale, too. And, therefore, some transfer speculation for Real Madrid.

Supposing Arsenal can win their remaining games, (easier said than done when the last two games are against 17th and 18th placed opposition!), the Gunners will still be relying on dropped points at The Bridge – preferably the buttery-fingers will be Spurs’. A draw is fine, but a Chelsea win is more comfortable. Not just because Spurs are the ‘rivals’ – but because Chelsea are the team with the better advantage and form, so it is better for us that they have the points than Tottenham (who are two points behind Arsenal, with a game in hand).

Bale: Champions League or out?

Now, how Real Madrid suddenly get caught up in this top four decider will depend on how likely The Blues are to finishing in a Champions League position. (Admittedly, very likely now). As Mourinho will be more favoured to move back ‘home’. In tandem, Bale’s Tottenham future would look far less certain, if he were not guaranteed Champions League football at The Lane, when the Player of the Year x3 could easily be competing in it elsewhere.

And that place could be Real Madrid, if their fans and board have anything to do with it. The Welshman is Los Blancos top target for the summer transfer window – more so if he doesn’t qualify for Champions League football, as his market price will be that bit less competitive, and Daniel Levy will have to work that bit harder to keep him, arguably, competing below his level.

Real Madrid: (Un)Lucky Number Seven

Now that the season is effectively over for Real Madrid fans – yes, there is the Copa Del Rey against their city rivals Atletico, but it hardly compares to the League trophy or that longed-for Decima! – the fans are already lining up a series of players to walk the metaphorical plank out of The Bernabeu. Especially after being stirred by Florentino Perez’s hints that a huge €100 million transfer treasure chest is being readied this summer. The fans have plenty of ideas who should be sacrificed first!

According to Marca’s survey, 150,000 readers want the squad to be upgraded but stop short of wanting a total overhaul. The fans have limited an unlucky number seven players to get the chop – none of whom come as a surprise.

Top of the list are Carvalho, Adán and Essien, with 92.4%, 83.4%, 74.1% respectively, finding them surplus to requirements at Madrid and eating into the already-hefty wage bill. Kaka is also no shocker on the list, he has hardly been favoured at Madrid and even when he has played, Los Blancos haven’t seen the best of him to redeem that huge transfer fee in 2009.

Fans are divided about keeping Coentrao and Albiol – not a great sign, as The Bernabeu certainly isn’t a place for half-measures and indifferent players.

Higuain: surplus to requirements?

Finally, to round off the seven suspects, is Gonzalo Higuaín – 64.1% of Marca’s respondents would be fine to see him go. His future certainly wasn’t aided by his performance against Bayern in the Champions League Semi, second leg – where he disappointed the crowd to the point of hearing whistling when he was subbed off. Not to mention Benzema’s comparable game-changing addition to the side, too-little-too-late. Higuain was given a muted reception when he came on against Valladolid this weekend; he was applauded into his warm-up and onto the pitch – but pleasantries soon returned to impatient whistling, as he offered a tame shot to complete a well-worked counter attack. Patience is waning with the Argentinian, particularly when strikers like Falcao and Cavani are being mooted as possible new additions.

He is rumoured, after seven years at Los Blancos, to be a target for Juventus – although would surely find himself in a similar position as an unconfirmed starter, seeing as Fernando Llorente will be playing there next season and will be a direct competition for his place up front.

I hope we do not see the back of him at The Bernabeu, as I have quite a soft spot for Pipita – and he was linking fantastically with Messi for Argentina.

Lucky Number CR7 – 200 Not Out

A small word that I am still very against Ronaldo moving anywhere – let alone back to Manchester United! How much better do they even need to be?

Ahead of keeping Mourinho, and any other player at Madrid, keeping Ronaldo has to be the prime target for the summer transfer window – no matter who they buy with that €100 million fund. His 53 goals in 52 games is outstanding – and the reason RMA have been so competitive this far into season, despite all the in-fighting that has distracted the side for the most part. His brace against Valladolid saw him reach the 200 goal milestone for Real Madrid, almost prematurely for any other player, considering he has achieved it in only 196 games.

200 Not Out – beyond mere mortals

Let’s Stay Together… (for another 10 days)

So everybody knows the Real Madrid garden is not rosy – but Perez is eager for the squad to stick together for the sake of the Cup final on May 17 – and then they can start thinking about the ins and outs for the summer.

A (second) truce has been called for in order to re-focus on winning a trophy this season. And moreover, to ensure the board are still discerning when it comes to the extent of the clear-out this summer. Mourinho is visibly frustrated with being boss at the club, having pointed an accusing finger at almost every squad member – from captains Casillas and Ramos, to even Cristiano Ronaldo. It feels time for Jose to find pastures new – or more accurately, pastures old if he is to return to Chelsea – and most of the team are counting down the days.

His only apparent allies are Essien, Diego López and Modric – the former expected to leave this summer, and the other two are not senior, influential, members of the squad. They’re hardly a help for empowering Mourinho within the squad.

If the team are to beat Atletico – which, on form, still seems a reliable cert, considering Real beat Atletico quite comfortably with a weakened squad only a couple of weeks ago – the team will have to do it off their own backs. Be it a desire to win a trophy this year, or to put in a good display for the ‘shop window’ sake.

Disharmony in the squad

Boo Hoo Mou

He is a funny one, Mourinho. He loved courting the controversy after the Bayern defeat, hinting this way and that, that he might be leaving Madrid and returning to Chelsea, probably.

He said in the presser that he didn’t feel loved in Spain, by the press. Not like how he was loved in Britain and Italy – although one assumes he has rather fractured memories, as he caused controversy in both of these countries back pages too. He wanted the Spanish press to show him more respect for his former glories, and has felt too much pressure, too quickly, for success in the capital – and has not handled their, inevitable, criticisms well. Similarly, he did not react well to being whistled by the highly-expectant Bernabeu crowd on more than one occasion. God forbid he is not idolised like he was by Chelsea fans.

And by the club. Despite being given more free reign at Real Madrid than most previous managers, Mourinho still desired more power – I don’t think he could get over The Special One not being bigger than Real Madrid. This was not helped of course by being undermined and unsupported by some of the players throughout the course of the season. His fall-outs with Casillas and Ramos have been the most notable, as the captains have told him his faults to his face. Now, even Pepe has waded in – voicing a defence for Casillas not being shown deserved respect, and surely signing himself out of the door at Madrid? He wasn’t in that top seven candidates to leave – but he’s hardly the defender one relies on in a crisis. Varane has stepped in to deliver performances at the back that belie his years. Madrid can afford to do much better than Pepe – who Mourinho originally fought to keep in the first place!

Mourinho has made sure to undermine and inherently fracture the morale of the squad – for what purpose, who really knows if he had limited plans to extend his stay as manager. All said, Real almost exceeded their potential by reaching the semi-final stage in Europe, a secure second-place in the league and, hopefully, a Kings Cup trophy – as a team united more by their off-field disharmonies than by on-field success, it’s quite a wonder they haven’t imploded.

It will make for an interesting end to the season, summer, and potentially 2013/14 season.

Frustrating draw keeps Top Four battle tense

Frustration. That is the overriding feeling I shall take away from last night’s game.

It felt back to same-old-Arsenal that we’ve seen and sighed at time and again, in terms of strikes on goal (lack thereof), quality strikers (lack thereof) and ability to counter aggressive opposition (again, lack thereof).

It wasn’t all bad, don’t get me wrong. I think I’m just ruing previous results and performances this season, which has left two-dropped-points against Everton feeling like such a drag.

We pulled it out of the bag at the weekend to snatch three-points in an ultimately flattering score line, but last night’s match couldn’t provide the same favour to our top four chase.

Granted, with Everton hanging on the coattails of fourth-place, we were prepared for a tougher game. And Moyes’s side made it clear early on that ugly football was a fine means by them of trying to win three points. Hence why so much of the game was spent battling it out in the middle of the park. Everton’s dogged defending and our ineptitude upfront last night ensured a 0-0 was all but inevitable.

Still, the pressure we forced in the last 20 minutes or so was enough to inspire us rose-tinted Gooners into thinking we could pull off another last-gasp feat. Like on Saturday, the arrival of Oxlade-Chamberlain was a key factor to boosting our attacking threat – his presence coincided with our boosted morale, and he set up two great chances that on any other day – or with perhaps any other (top quality) striker – would have found the back of the net.

Alas, this was not Giroud’s day, and he found himself bearing the same wrath Gervinho endured at the weekend. (NB. Feel free to read ‘as the weekend’ as a synonym for ‘all season’). To be fair, the Everton defence seemed persistently a split-second ahead of us; timing blocks and tackles perfectly to cancel out the few chances we created.

That said, I couldn’t help but bring Giroud’s 17 debut-season-goals to mind, as I winced at his failings last night. Somewhere, there is quality there – but I resent relying on him as our main striker. Coupled with Wenger’s adverseness to starting supposed ‘central striker’, Podolski, we are crying out – still, again – for another forward to be bought this summer. A high-lined striker, better than all of our current players in that position – which shouldn’t be hard, albeit the money we’re likely to spend will make it so.

When Meatloaf said ‘two out of three ain’t bad’, he certainly didn’t have our forwards in mind. Our links to Cavani et al are merely tabloid fodder – I don’t expect us to blow anyone out of the water with a big transfer coup, that’s for sure.

It’s a shame this draw has deflated me so much. I think it just re-exposed all the areas in which we are lacking, desperately clawing for points to finish third, when we are a sobering 20 points behind United.

Alongside Little Ox, Aaron Ramsey stood out again last night, as on Saturday. He’s improved from the galling misplaced passes and slow-thinking he was guilty of earlier in the season. Jack, perhaps not fully fit? Certainly under the kosh from the Everton midfield and not as hot on forcing a creative surge forward as we like to expect from him. Same for Santi last night – he seemed to make small miracles happen in tight spaces, but couldn’t break through enough to question Everton’s harrying defenders.

And perhaps I was seeing things, but I’m quite convinced Arteta resisted a couple of decent potential chances on goal? Devil’s advocate, maybe. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, with hope he decides to attack instead of force a moot pass, at the next similar opportunity.

It’s all very well ruing these missed chances, but when we look back at the end of the season – hopefully from the giddy heights of third-place – I don’t think Everton is going to be the game we look to with most regret.

We are in that unsatisfying and helpless position of relying on the failings of others (Spurs, Chelsea) in order to succeed. Our North London rivals are playing City this weekend, and still have Chelsea to come, away, on May 8 (a midweek game sandwiched between Southampton and Stoke). Chelsea, similarly, have United still to come on the May Bank Holiday weekend, and close the season vs Everton. Not to mention their European distraction. (Hopefully far enough to harm their PL form, but not far enough to win.)

This all said, moaning aside, we are actually on a pretty good run of form – six games unbeaten is a feat for us. Until now, Spurs away aside, we’ve won all seven other PL games since February. That’s the form we are after this end of the season. It’s vital we keep the winning mentality to take three points from Fulham. We are the form team of the third-place battle and cannot afford to lose face. Nor can we afford the arduous mental shake-up of letting Man United win the Premier League title at the Emirates.

With Robin there.

Didn’t really want to end on that note. Let’s return to celebrating the return to form of Little Ox. He’s done well coming off the bench last couple of games. Been a real threat and revived the excitement his presence brought last season.

Also, someone tell Theo to buck up a little.

And so to Fulham… I’m convinced we can add three more points to the tally. Then all we need to worry about is United.

PS. What’s everyone’s views on Number One ‘keeper? Because I’ve – yes, really – thought Fabianski has done well since he’s been drawn in. And the little Chesney had to do yesterday didn’t satisfy me he wasn’t going to make more errors as the end-of-season pressure ramps up…