Wenger's Gunners fire blanks

I was a disgruntled Arsenal fan watching his team lose to Chelsea on Sunday. Arsenal's first loss at Stamford Bridge for 10 years had a certain inevitability about it when Drogba, the first of a £72 million pound bonanza of substitutions who was introduced at halftime (which included new 26 million pound man Mikel Essien), scored in the 72nd minute. In truth, Chelsea are a wee bit stronger than Arsenal.

It does hurt admitting that, but Chelsea have invested deeply in the past, and not been successful. In-fact, had Roman Abramovich not brought his Russian billions to the London outfit, they could have possibly been facing administration, they were in debt up to their eye-balls - the dream of lifting the premiership trophy looked more realistic in 2055, 100 years after their first league crown, rather than the 50 year exile which was ended so emphatically by Mourinho at Bolton in 2005.

How times have changed. Now Chelsea's players are seething with frustration at 2 semi final appearances in the Champions League in as many seasons, and are aiming to emulate Arsenal as the best ever Premiership side by going an entire season unbeaten. Sunday's game was proof of that, Arsenal's invincibility against their London rivals was extinguished with a less than convincing victory which saw Mourinho keep his calm and Wenger vent his anger.

For the long term, the consequences of the result are unknown. Arsenal have bounced back in the past from serious disappointments, in 2003 they surrendered the league to Man United, but then responded with an unbeaten season. One must not forget about what happened last season when Arsenal lost to their biggest rivals (Man Utd), they collapsed, and only took 5 points from their next 6 games, which probably cost them a shot at the title last season. If the latter is true this season, (if History repeats itself again) then the Gunners can forget the title.

Despite the horrific statistics against Arsene's players, Wenger still professes that the only thing that his team is not doing is failing to realize their potential. If this is true, then are Arsenal's players waiting to prosper like a bunch of All star chickens at a farm that are not hatching eggs? Forgive the analogy, but if Wenger continues to stress that breeding players of youth is all that he is interested in, then what will happen to the groomed professionals like Henry, Ljungberg, Pires, and Sol Campbell? Will they get a bit fed up of people reminding them that they are in their late 20's, as apposed to their late teens? Will they begin to question the club's ambition? Will they follow Patrick Vieira out of the Arsenal trap door for forgotten stars who are frustrated with the clubs lack of growth and consistency in success.

These questions that infuriate Arsenal's bewildered looking manager will continue as long as the quest for perfection goes on at Highbury. Yes, Wenger was talking up a perfect game ahead of the Chelsea clash, a perfect game that consisted of "4 chances", and an absent minded Swiss defender, and finally a cruel deflection that should have never happened because it is a sin to give your opponent the opportunity to have luck. Yes, I am confused too, some perfect game.

We will all have to wait and see how they respond against Fulham on Wednesday night, but Arsenal will have a monkey on their shoulder after the lethargic performance against Chelsea, in seasons gone by, that has ultimately been their downfall. Let's hope that this season's traditional lethal injection has come too early to cause the deterioration which has previously ended Arsenal's chances of contending for the League crown.