This year’s winner will not necessarily be Premier League best

I received a lot of flack from several Arsenal fans last week for saying “it would be a disgrace if Arsenal won the English Premier League this season.”

And while I would be filled with joy if they did and I would celebrate because it is my right. I still believe it would be reflective of a league that is going down in quality.

Gideon Sumbeiywo pointed out that he didn’t agree with me when I asked what happened to the days when a team would win the league with just one loss. He rightfully pointed out how dull La Liga is sometimes because it is always a two horse race; and I agree with Gideon on this point.

A close league is a sign of great competition; but shouldn’t that great competition come when great teams meet each other? Shouldn’t the big teams be losing or drawing with each other. When Arsenal loses at home to West Brom early in the season and then draws with them in the return leg; when Arsenal loses a 4 -0 lead to draw 4- 4 with Newcastle; when Arsenal beats Chelsea 3-0 and then goes on to draw with Wigan in the same week; that isn’t a sign of great competition.

It’s a show of an inconsistent team with no spine to hold onto a big lead; or no character to finish off a game early in the 90 minutes. It is a show of a manager or his troops making silly errors; and we’ve seen many of those in the Arsenal of this season.

You can make all sorts of excuses from player fatigue to injuries, but a good manager plans. Several Arsenal fans on my facebook page including Samuel Muruga talked about Arsene Wenger’s quality as a manager.

I don’t doubt that at all. He is to-date the most successful manager at Arsenal and has won us just about everything; except the Champions League; although getting us to one final is a great feat. But Samuel you err when you say the club managers are the misers. That isn’t the case. The economist at Emirates is Mr Arsene Wenger himself; professionally and in every sense of the word. During both transfer windows in 2010, Wenger returned money to the board at the end of the transfer window because he didn’t feel the club needed to buy.

Not the other way around. Wenger is the miser here, not the board. If Arsenal does go on to win the league; and we still can; what with a game in hand and a home fixture against Manchester United still to come; it will also be down to an under-performing Manchester United and Chelsea.

The Red Devils have also had their share of shame, losing to Wolves and going through a series of draws in October and November last year. So it’s a fact that the winner of the league this season will not have had the best of seasons; and in my view, not because of great competition, but because of poor form all round.

Now an update on who is fit to play against Blackburn tomorrow. I’m writing this before Wenger’s online injury update but it appears that Robin Van Persie’s minor knee knock while on international duty was just that; nothing serious. Still waiting for the final word though. Also according to the latest injury updates on Arsenal.com, Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song and Theo Walcott should be very very close to returning. I’m quite relieved that they missed out on the international week because we always get a hoard of injuries from that. I’ll update you proper tomorrow when I predict the Gunners victory over Blackburn tomorrow. And by the way; our “saviour” Jens Lehmann let in two goals when our reserves lost 2-1 to Wigan early this week. I can’t help laughing… Talk to me on CAROL RADULL FRIENDS PAGE on facebook.