Wenger promotes Arsenal title challenge ahead of Everton clash

This is a Guest Post by Thomas Rooney for ArseSpeak

Arsenal currently sit 4th in the Premier League after two defeats in seven games has left them four points behind current leaders Liverpool. Despite this though, Arsene Wenger is confident that his young side can emerge victorious in the Premier League title race. The Gunners boss says that he still thinks it is ‘manageable’ to reclaim top spot in the coming weeks.

Something Wenger did admit though was that there is very little margin for error in the remainder of this season. When asked how many games his team can afford to lose from now, his answer was ‘zero’ – he believes Arsenal have already made too many mistakes in this year’s Premier League campaign. In all honesty, I can’t disagree with this.

As long as too many games aren’t drawn, perhaps Arsenal can afford to lose one or two more matches and still win the title. However, no one would have anticipated defeats to Hull and Fulham in the first few games so there is no doubt the team is already playing catch up. Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United won’t be losing too may more games between them, so it’s vital Arsenal start to put a run of wins together.

Taking this into consideration, I would say that tomorrow’s clash with Everton at the Emirates is a must win. The last home league game was the embarrassing defeat to Hull and there can be no repeats of that this weekend. If Wenger’s hopes of a title challenge are to be realised, then tomorrow is when the rest of Arsenal’s season begins as there is no more room for mistakes.

As for the game itself, well it has to be said that Arsenal are favourites to record their third home win of the season. Everton have had a very poor start to the season by their recent standards and although their away form is much better than their home form – it’s only two wins in the opening seven games for David Moyes’ men. Throw in the fact that they haven’t won on Arsenal turf in the Premier League since 1996, and it really is advantage Arsenal.

There is no way it will be easy though. Everton have established themselves as a top six side in recent seasons and will not go down without a fight. They may miss the suspended Tim Cahill and have several other players such as Joesph Yobo and Phil Neville set to have late fitness tests.However, Arsenal have their own injury problems with William Gallas, Bacary Sagna and Nicklas Bendtner set to miss out. Overall, Everton will come into the game believing they can get something.

Wenger needs a strong home performance from his side to 100% banish the demons of the Hull defeat, which was another home game Arsenal were expected to comfortably win. The players should back their own abilities though and recognise that if they play to their full potential – a low in confidence Everton side won’t be able to cope with them.

This is a guest post by Thomas Rooney – A sports writer who blogs about football betting