The Premier League is dragged kicking and screaming into another international break with Chelsea v Arsenal and Liverpool hoping to stay on top before we all spend two weeks pondering the sheer mind-numbing futility of Lee Carsley’s Final England Squad.
Game to watch: Chelsea v Arsenal
Always looked a significant pre-international break game that would offer a stern test of a London club’s title credentials, and sure enough, just like we all predicted, we really are set to learn an awful lot here about whether Chelsea truly have what it takes to stick around on the coattails of the real major contenders like Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
Funny season this one, isn’t it? Lord knows Arsenal and their fraying manager Mikel Arteta could have done with an easier task than this heading into two weeks of much-needed rest and recuperation.
They come into this game with an identical record to their London rivals of five wins, three draws and a pair of defeats, but it’s hard to argue that Arsenal’s route to that record has been the more compelling or convincing.
They appear to be in the process of second-guessing everything as their manager tries desperately to find a way past Manchester City, who are themselves stuttering a bit as both allow Liverpool to sneak through. It’s all a bit like that 1500m final at the Olympics, isn’t it? But the 1500m final at the Olympics if one of the big two had just gone on the pitch and handled the ball for absolutely no reason other than his head entirely overheating under the pressure of his situation and the sheer stifling weight of all that unnecessarily dense hair.
It’s tempting to think that Arsenal could be happy enough to just emerge from Stamford Bridge with a solidly-won point and move on. That it would stem the bleeding and quiet the noise over a two-week period where somebody needs to be the crisis club and there won’t be the usual cover provided for the last year-and-a-half by Erik ten Hag and Man United.
Depending how the rest of the weekend has panned out, Arsenal really do need to win this game. They could very well start it 10 points behind Liverpool and eight behind Man City. Alternatively, they may start this game within something closer to striking range of both those teams in terms of points but somehow eighth in the table below Aston Villa and Brighton and even Spurs if they manage to avoid any Dr Tottenham behaviour against Ipswich.
The Gunners really could have done with something far, far kinder from that relentlessly mischievous fixture computer after a run of one point in three games and ahead of the year’s final international break.
Team to watch: Liverpool
For final, compelling proof that it is to Arne Slot’s Liverpool that the mantle of Man City’s Primary Challenger has officially passed, it is now their fans to once again be heard with the refrain of Arsenal’s over the last two years:
“We’re not favourites! Don’t say we’re favourites! That’s an absurd idea! Nobody is favourites against City! 115 charges!”
They really kind of do look like the best team around at the moment, though, and if they can take down Aston Villa on Saturday evening it’s going to be desperately hard to keep the noise down over the international break given the vulnerability on display in North London and East Manchester.
This noise-dampening attempt is in large part due to the same motivation that drove Arsenal supporters, of course: the simple dread fear of being accused of bottling it if they don’t win. There is no greater disgrace in all of sport than bottling it, and denying even the requisite conditions for a bottling are in place for as long as possible is the most powerful if occasionally desperate-sounding defence against such a charge.
But there’s something else specifically Liverpool at play here as well. Because we’re very sure they would be a lot giddier were Jurgen Klopp still in charge and delivering Slot’s results.
It’s not that they’re unhappy with what they’re seeing from Slot – very obviously – it’s just that there’s still such a deep affection for the former boss and all he achieved that a slightly subdued air remains around what is by any measure an outrageously good start to the season, one thrown into even greater contrast by the relative struggles occurring elsewhere.
It almost – almost – seems like some part of some Liverpool fans might almost not quite be comfortable with the idea of Slot rocking up and casually winning the Premier League in his first season – something that is now at the very, very least an extremely live possibility – lest it somehow be seen to detract from the achievements of their beloved Klopp.
