TERRACE TALK: Arsenal - Maybe, just maybe, it’s not over ‘til it’s over

For pretty much my entire adult life, I’ve been able to tease my Spurs mates that the world continues to turn on its axis, so long as their greatest satisfaction was the Gunners’ misfortune.

Yet after last week, when I sat watching England, mainly in the hope of seeing one of the many Spurs players pick up a knock, and Saturday’s games, where seemingly like most Gooners, I was far more excited about the prospect of Spurs dropping points at Anfield than our own humbling of the Hornets, suddenly it feels like the shoe is finally on the other foot.

It is this ultimate ignominy that is most likely to cost Arsene his remaining credit among us Gooners, especially those of us who live in North London, and have to suffer the daily barbs of our bullish neighbours. If the Gunners can turn things around and, at the very least, restore the North London status quo before the end of the season, I wonder if this will be sufficient for Le Gaffer to get the majority back on side?

I found myself sat in the posh seats of the comatose prawn circle on Saturday, adjacent to a couple of Watford fans and they couldn’t believe how muted our crowd was, as the Arsenal sliced and diced our guests in such a clinical fashion.

At this point in the campaign in seasons past, one might have put the lack of noise down to a nervous tension among the crowd, but as we clocked up our biggest win of the season, sadly it felt as if everyone was merely going through the motions. But then it’s fairly typical of the Arsenal to begin to turn on the style the moment the pressure is off.

Admittedly this was nothing like the same, supremely focused Hornets side that ended our FA Cup ambitions only three weeks back. But as the scoreline ticked along on Saturday, I’m sure I wasn’t alone in my mounting frustration at quite how we contrived to lose that game.

Mind you, this was prior to the emergence of Alex Iwobi. The callow fearlessness of Jay Jay Okocha’s teenage nephew has been a breath of fresh air and he could and really should have added to his tally of one goal and one assist on Saturday.

The partnership between him and Danny Welbeck is full of promise, as the Gunners suddenly appear to have acquired the sort of explosive pace and power that is capable of troubling any defence.

What’s more, with the extremely mobile midfield base of Coquelin and Elneny protecting our back line, we seem to be far less vulnerable to shipping the sort of goals that have cost us so dearly to date.

When I think of this line-up standing next to the opposition in the tunnel before a game, I fancy they must appear a far more physically imposing proposition than the more diminutive Arsenal XI that we were accustomed to earlier in the season.

Indeed, should the likes of Cazorla or Wilshere regain match fitness, it will be interesting to see how Wenger manages to introduce them back into the fold because on current form, it would be a massive disappointment to see any of the first team dropped.

However, with both Everton and Watford failing to turn up, it would be wrong to read too much into our last two wins. I fancy it might well be the last ever London derby at the Boleyn next weekend, which will prove to be the acid-test of exactly how much fight remains in the Arsenal dog.

With Payet in such scintillating set-piece form, we certainly don’t want to go gifting the Hammers any free-kicks around the edge of the box. But if we can overcome the in-form Irons in next Saturday’s early kick-off and thereby maintain the pressure on the two teams above us, if there are any cracks in their armour, it is this sort of relentless game of catch up that might perhaps expose any such frailties.

The tantalising last vestiges of hope, but as they say, it’s never over until it’s over!