Look now to the Champions League, Arsenal. That is now your only chance of honours this season. But it won’t be easy. Get past Liverpool, and 2 juggernauts may be lying in wait in the semis and final – Chelsea (probably) and then Manchester United (hopefully).

If Arsenal go down to a heavy defeat at Chelsea and United win, you may not be too wide of the mark as to what Wenger would do in the next game up away to Bolton. This is likely to be a bruising encounter.

Wenger might then reckon that being 6 points behind United with only 7 games left, the odds had shifted against them catching United. He might then gamble with using 3 or 4 of his Carling Cup side so that he can rest some of his top players for the season defining triple header against Liverpool, which start just 4 days after the Bolton game.

By Sunday night we’ll know whether Arsenal’s best chance of honours this season lie in the CL. If so, with only 4 games between Arsenal and another CL final, might be best just ot concentrate on the CL games.

“i sense we can get all the 3 points at the bridge

i am also definate that libafool will beat manure at oldtrafford by a solo torress goal, then we will be level with manure”

Well you can but dream, for a few days at least.

What time are you expecting the Easter Bunny??

Looking at the points available, Liverpool definitely can’t win it even if they won every single game to the end of the season. The maximum points they could end up with is 83. United already have 67 points with 9 games to go. So, United ought to be able to manage 5 wins and 2 draws (or 4 wins and 5 draws)from their remaining games to reach at least 84 points.

Rather, Liverpool’s continued good form could help Chelsea push Arsenal into third place (so no automatic qualification for CL next season) and if Arsenal implode Liverpool could even challenge them for 3rd place.

So the question remains, with Arsenal’s triple header against in mind, just how well do you want Liverpool to do against United on Super Sunday?

It’s good to see that your mood has lifted. But surely, you’re now beginning to dream a little (or is that a lot?). Both United and Chelsea to get beaten on the same day in home matches. When is the last time that happened?

If the unlikely events you’re praying for were (with the intervention of the Gods) spectaculately to happen on Super Sunday, you might not be too happy with the result ultimately.

Liverpool winning at Old Trafford would leave them only 8 points off the top of the league and enthused with great confidence. With that form and that confidence they’d not only knock Arsenal out of the Champions League but could also go to The Emirates in the EPL and take all three points. Then, they’d definitely be back in the title race, and you’d be out the CL. Do you really want to turn what is a three horse race into a four horse race? After they play Arsenal, Liverpool probably have the easiest run-in of any of the Big Four.

With an eye on the triple-header against Liverpool, wouldn’t your best result at Old Trafford be a draw between Liverpool and United, whatever your result at Stamford Brige?

i hope wenger plays 4-5.1 with Hleb behind adebayo, RVP on the left, eboue on the right, cesc and flamini in the middle and i want to see RVP switching with hleb in the second half, then we can introduce walcot around the 60th minute for eboue and drop hleb in the middle with flamini and play Cesc a bit forward

i sense we can get all the 3 points at the bridge

i am also definate that libafool will beat manure at oldtrafford by a solo torress goal, then we will be level with manure

I believe that Sunday’s match at Chelsea is a defining game in Arsenal’s season. Lose it and they’re gone, regardless of other results. Pyschologically dropping 11 from 15 points and seeing Utd and Chelsea (almost certainly) ahead of them with just 7 games to go would be too hard to take for most teams but this young team probably don’t have the experience to overcome this.

It’s interesting to see Arsenal fans on here lamenting their strength in depth when earlier in the season it was all talk of brilliant young players and the talent in their reserves.

I think teams have learnt how to play Arsenal as the season has progressed. Just look at the fall off in goals lately from Fabregas and Adebayor.

Unfortunately, a capitulation in the league could negatively impact their chances in the CL. It’s likely that when they meet Liverpool their confidence will be low while Liverpools will be high.

Considering how much they have contributed to this season it will be hard on the team to crash and burn with a few weeks still to go but that’s what looks like happening right now.

we used to have nigel winterburn, tony adams, martin keown, david seaman, ian wright, but that was when we could afford to buy home grown talent but ever since chelsea’s roman abromovic came to the EPL the price for our home grown players has rised up and thats cut out teams like arsenal from buying home grown talent because the team is broke as it appears

how much did theo cost us? around 18mil but look at what we spent on sagna, eduardo, cesc, flamini, toure, clitchy, almost less than what SWP cost to chelsea

and once again you should also remember that the arsenal policy is that we dont give a contract more than 2 years to players over 30 years, so that rules out the likes of viera, pires, bergkamp, thierry, freddy, campbell etc

so frankie i still maintain that the downfall of arsenal is fatigue there is no depth in the squad, wenger must come out tell us that the team has got no money to beef up the squad simple, our season is over, remember that chelsea has never lost a game at the bridge for like how many years now 3? and it will be a hard ask for arsenal to go there and win, and remeber that we have liverpool to play and its on hot form, torress is scoring left right and centre, we still have to go to oldtrafford, we still have to play bolton our hoodoo team its gonna be really tough for the young guns

arsenal will be luck to be on position two atleast for automatic qualification for the champions league

its tough reall tough

You talk about the size and experience of the Utd squad, but there may be one factor that you are overlooking.

Man Utd have British players who’ve been at the club since they were schoolboys. This is one factor which makes it more likely that they’ll remain at the club even when they’re no longer able to command an automatic place in the side every week. United have Giggs, Scholes and Gary Neville as the best examples of this phenomenon, but you’ve others like John O’Shea who you could see going the same way. The likes of Ronaldo, Anderson and Nani are likely to be on their bikes mid/late twenties; the likes of Rooney (albeit recruited as a teenager) is likely to remain at United for his entire career. What’s the difference? One’s English, the others are not.

The problem with Arsenal’s non English/British recruitment policy has been that too many of their players have a loyalty not to the club, but to the pound (£). When these foreign players reach a certain stage they’ll be off elsewhere to maximise their income during what is a relatively short professional career. You can’t blame them. If we were in a foreign country, we’d all do the same. Particularly if you could swop a cold, wet, grey country for the sun and a Mediterranean life-style (and the babes!).

But wouldn’t Arsenal be better off with a few more homegrown players like Tony Adams, Arsenal men through and through, man and boy? Imagine if Vierra, or Henry or Pires or Wiltord (or any 2 of them) had remained at Arsenal like Scholes, Giggs and Neville have at United? Imagine the additional options that would give Wenger, the experience they would bring to the dressing room of winning big titles, and the help they could give to the younger players in the first team squad. In a squad you need the mix of youth and experience, the foreign and the home grown.

By all means recruit and play good players from all over the world, but what’s wrong with a little English heart? Chelsea regularly play 5 or 6 Englishmen: Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Lampard, Bridge, Terry, Wright-Phillips. United regularly play 8 or 9 Brits: Ferdinand, Brown, Neville, O’Shea, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Rooney and now have the boy Foster who looks a real quality keeper. Arsenal on the other hand regularly play none. Is it mere coincidence that the last 3 titles have gone to Chelsea (twice) and United?

The moral of the story is that if you want to keep experienced players at the club it might be worth trying harder to develop and keep your own indigenous talent, or alternatively it could simply mean that you’ll just have to sink your hands into your supposedly deep Emirates pockets and pay them more!

Having said all of that, I repeat: this year’s title race is not over yet (I’m beginning to sound like a broken record!). It’s too early to start cussing out the Arsenal board and manager. One victory at the weekend at Chelsea would change perceptions once more. Is this Arsenal side capable of winning at Stamford Bridge? Yes, they are. Will they? This time next week we’ll know the answer. Until then at least, put off the suicide!