Our margin for error has been much reduced
Two spectacularly unappetising games need to be dispensed with before we can do that and I write hours before the first of them, against Middlesborough. For there is still the business of second place to be dealt with, although this means more to the bean-counters at the Club than it does to the fans. Frankly, I couldn’t care less at this moment, even if it is the hated Liverpool who are breathing at the neck. After all, when it comes to the Scousers, I am just overwhelmingly relieved that they didn’t scab their way to another ‘flukey’ Euro triumph - and they are welcome to the FA Cup.
Similarly, the decline of Manchester City — and especially their failure to progress towards their first silverware in three decades — has removed another horror show possibility from the horizon, leaving only Arsenal’s Paris rendezvous as a potential irritant. In truth, I can’t get too worked up about that either: after 50 years of failure on that front, London is about due, I suppose. Plus, any Gooner success will get right up Abramovich’s nose, which can never be bad.
