Are Arsenal Peaking At Just The Time To Nick The FA Cup?

By: Rob | April 16th, 2009

He’s got an awful lot of stick this season, Arsene Wenger. There was even talk during the dark winter period that the man who’s job saftey is only second to Alex Ferguson might be soon to part company with Arsenal.

To be fair the dismal run that saw them briefly fall out of the top four had a number of obvious causes; inexperience perhaps was a big issue, but mostly it came down to injuries. Cesc Fabregas was obviously a big miss, Theo Wallcott picked up a big injury just as he looked like he was about to fully blossom, Robin van Persie was in and out, and Tomas Rosicky well…do you even remember what he looks like?

So with Theo, Cesc, Van Persie back, and after a very good performance midweek against Villarreal, are Arsenal peaking at exactly the right time to nick a trophy at the end of the season?

The answer, as always is maybe. On the plus side, Wallcott, Cesc and company all look pretty fresh having done a few months less running than every one else. Andrei Arshavin is begining to approach something close to match fitness, Adebayour has got his mojo back (admittedly this is mostly due to Fabregas’ ability to feed him the ball) and even Fabianski looks a match for Almunia, at least.

On the downside, they have alot of injuries at the back. Almunia is the first choice and he’s injured, ever-controversial former-captain William Gallas is out for the rest of the season, and Arsenal’s make shift back-four on Wednesday looked very suspect on paper.

Having said that, they looked fine in the game. Song did a good job protecting them, while young Gibbs had a good game, and Eboue was actually playing in his right position. Silvestre isn’t ideal at centre-half, but he does provide Arsenal with a bit of experience at the very least.

They have an FA Cup semi-final on Saturday which could prove pretty vital to thier season. Its against a Chelsea side who are very, very hungry for some silverware after last season’s washout. But if they can attack and attack that Chelsea side, because lets be honest, for Arsenal attack really is the best form of defence, they more than stand a chance.

I wonder you know, is Wenger going to prove the doubters wrong over the next month? I wouldn’t bet against it.