TERRACE TALK: Arsenal - Vital points and players dropping like flies

Instead of which, not only have we ended up throwing away seven potentially massive points in our last three league outings, but perhaps far worse, we witnessed Alexis and Koscielny, two of our most influential players, limp off with injuries that might well prove far more catastrophic.
I live in such dread of the Gunners dropping into the Europa League, by finishing third in our Champions League group, that I was quite ambivalent about beating Dynamo as I headed to last Tuesday night’s encounter.
However we’ve been so lacklustre of late that I soon forgot about the permutations and the need for us to have to go to Greece and win by a couple of clear goals to avoid this disastrous consequence, as soon as the opening whistle blew.
It felt far more important for us to restore some badly needed confidence, by putting on a bit of a show.
As it turned out, we produced such a sparkling display against the Croatian champs that we were all left scratching our heads, as to how on earth we’d contrived to lose out in Zagreb (cue all the wisecracks about the opposition being on drugs!).
Sadly it turns out that Tuesday’s win must’ve been due to the paucity of the opposition, as instead of bringing this incisive brand of footie to Sunday’s game and turning on the style against Norwich, the Gunners were back to being the same jaded looking outfit that lost to the Baggies last weekend.
In fact the script was almost identical. For half an hour we were by far the better team and after taking a deserved lead, we completely switched off and only had a miss by Hoolahan just before half-time to thank for the fact that we didn’t end up 2-1 down again at the break.
We at least made some effort to rectify matters in the second half at the Hawthorns, but as if we didn’t already know just how influential Alexis is, it was brought home to us at Carrow Road.
After he disconsolately trudged off on the hour mark, the Gunners promptly lost all forward momentum.
With all due respect to the likes of West Brom and Norwich, I’m sure I’m not the only Gooner tearing what remains of my hair out at the frustrating travesty of carelessly throwing points away against the league’s less illustrious lights.
With this season having proved so remarkably unpredictable to date, there would be little shame in losing to worthy opposition.
Yet in truth, both these two teams were there for the taking by the sort of talent we had out on the park.
Whether it’s down to fatigue, or a lack of focus, when you combine our failure to win these sort of games with the costly injuries, it feels as if what previously looked like a promising campaign is imploding before our very eyes!
It’s all the more disappointing because after our midweek win and the return of Ramsey and the Ox, there was guarded optimism that the Gunners might have begun to turn a corner.
Yet once again the weekend’s result pales into insignificance as we await a medical report.
With rumours that Coquelin might well be a long-term casualty, we face the horrifying trauma of losing our only viable holding midfielder, our best defender, and our most potent attacking threat in the space of eight days.
Such a challenge should soon tell us what this Arsenal squad is really made of, but I suspect the only people rubbing their hands together will be my Spurs pals and Sam Allardyce, as the Black Cats’ masticating messiah will doubtless be choking on his chewing gum at a chance to stick the boot in next Saturday.