Since the Official changeover of the Premier League Tottenham and Arsenal have had mixed results and Tottenham even finished above Arsenal in the 94-95 season. However as the Premier League grew so did Arsenal and we have been overshadowed by the red side of London for too long. Its history now so I am not too fussed.
Looking at the past 3 years we have been up there with Arsenal (although the 08-09 season, where we finished 8th and a large 21 points behind was a large difference).
Last year we were 1 point behind Arsenal, the previous years we had seen a difference of 6 points (10-11) and 5 points (09-10).
This year if we had of kept Redknapp we may have got 4th again, but for the future of the club we had to go with AVB. Yes some fans may see that we took a step back, but if we finish 5th it’s a third season without Champions League, so AVB in his first year has brought the club no less than Harry did last year (regardless of table position).
Ok I realise that we finished in 4th (but missed out of the C.L. spot due to lucky Chelsea), but no Champions League is no Champions League.
To finish below Arsenal for one more season is bearable when the coming seasons we can expect to see much better from our team in terms of where they will finish in the table. Wenger has not evolved with the league (confirmed by many Arsenal fans) and managers like AVB are well suited and proven to be able to shake the league up. So long term I am happy with where we are headed compared to Arsenal under Wenger.
I cannot stress again fellow fans that although finishing without Champions League will be frustrating it is not a step backwards it was a side step with next year being our step forward.
Let's wait and see what Sunday holds (I still believe a win for us and a draw for Arsenal) and then we have the summer where Levy has promised to back AVB in the transfer market and build a team around Bale and a team capable of challenging for a top 4 spot regularly. That to me is worth waiting for.
COYS!!!!
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