Money spent, being that of wages or transfer fees does not stand up completely, given the vast amounts spent by Chelsea as I have mentioned and of course the richest of the lot Manchester City. This hasn’t brought about consistency. Injuries to key players hasn’t really been a problem this season at least not long term. In fact it is most strange having a ‘normal’ injury season for a change. Abou Diaby aside and Tomas Rosicky at the beginning, we have had a few week injuries here and there but generally we

I watched the Manchester United match on my mobile phone last night whilst working on a new project. I wish I hadn’t watched it now as I ended up going to bed at stupid o’clock and suffering today big time due to lack of sleep. Seeing that bloke in that shirt, scoring the type of goals he scored for us was a pinch, watching the players celebrate at the final whistle was also a pinch but I think we need to try and cut that envious cancer out of our heads and focus on ourselves.

I have read so many talk about the gap between us and Manchester United and how criminal it is to be so far away from them. That is true to an extent but we are not the only team, I would assume that given the funds spent and the value of squad, Chelsea supporters must be asking that same question with a little more conviction.

We are currently five points behind last season’s title winners having played a game more which tells me that Manchester United have been incredibly consistent this campaign whilst every single other team have not.

The next question you could ask is why?

Money spent, being that of wages or transfer fees does not stand up completely, given the vast amounts spent by Chelsea as I have mentioned and of course the richest of the lot Manchester City. This hasn’t brought about consistency. Injuries to key players hasn’t really been a problem this season at least not long term. In fact it is most strange having a ‘normal’ injury season for a change. Abou Diaby aside and Tomas Rosicky at the beginning, we have had a few week injuries here and there but generally we have been fit and I pray to Dennis that this continues for the foreseeable future.

What stands out like a sore thumb though, at least in my eyes is stability. A word that I have banged on about for a while now. Look at the Manchester United squad, in the last 10 years, the only players who they have lost without wanting to are the following.

Cristiano Ronaldo and perhaps Paul Pogba who wasn’t even in the first team squad.

That is in 10 years. There has been hardly any adaptation needed from any of the individual players, the player understanding is already in place and has been for sometime, the players know exactly what the manager wants them to do.

In the summer they brought the best striker in the league who was in his prime. It is little wonder why they have had such a high level of consistency. Obviously stability is only a part of what made them champions, they are fighters that work hard and have spent a lot of money to purchase the talent that they have.

Football is often a game of small margins so every advantage you have is going to help you win matches.

I don’t think I need to give you a list of changes that we have made during the same period but we have more or less had to change a whole first team, you may want to argue why this is the case but that is another topic altogether, the fact of the matter is that we have changed.

I watched some of our first game of the season last week, if you want to know how far we have come on as a team then I would strongly advise you to do the same. We had zero spontaneity. Well Santi always has but it was worlds apart what we know we can and have played later on in the season.

Even in that superb 2-0 win at Anfield, we were functional, strong but not fluid very robotic in our passing and movement. There is little getting away from the time needed to grow a team.

Why are Chelsea below us in the table? A team that spent big once more in the summer buying quality like Hazard, Oscar, Moses etc. The exact same reason. They have had to blood new players, had to stop playing some of the old guard like John Terry, Frank Lampard for large parts, losing Drogba etc. Even for a club with a gigantic wage bill (the most popular sword used to slash Arsenal) and as much available cash as one could wish for.

Manchester City have been the biggest surprise given that they have kept everyone they wanted and have added new players yet they have massively underachieved. They should be much further ahead of us than they are at present.

It is going to be an interesting summer ahead with all the chasing pack looking to close the gap to Manchester United. The league could get a lot stronger with the new television money heading into Premier League team coffers.

But that is looking way too far ahead, we have our own fish to deep fry. I don’t care too much about the guard of honour. It is respectful and it is what they would do for us if we were at Old Trafford and had won the league.

Robin van Persie, like Rooney, Evra and the rest are Manchester United scum so let us treat them as such and beat them this weekend. For us, Arsenal are 5/4 to win with Ladbrokes and a win is a must, that is all that matters. Let us achieve our short term target so we can go into the summer with the best possible chance of doing well.