Match Report
Barclays Premier League
Derby County
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Arsenal
This is an encounter between the two Premier League sides with most to ponder.
Arsène Wenger admits he is still struggling to come to terms with the fact his side have played so beautifully, lost only three times but, barring a miracle, will not win the title.
On the other hand, Derby manager Paul Jewell would love to be kept awake with such problems. His side looked doomed before he took the reins in November. After slipping to an early relegation, their only target now is to avoid racking up the lowest points tally in Premier League history.
However, on deeper reflection, is overachievement at the heart of the disappointment both sides are feeling right now?
Wenger argues Derby were ahead of schedule when they won the Play-Offs last May and they could never have been ready to bridge the chasm between top flight and second tier. At the same time, had Arsenal not started the season with such powerful panache then perhaps more observers would be pointing out their capabilities rather than their fallibilities right now.
Last season Arsenal had 11 dead games after their title challenge ended. Tonight's encounter is one of four this term. Also, in the previous two campaigns, Wenger's men have been 24 and 21 points adrift of the champions in the final table. Victory tonight would see them four short of the leading pair with two games still to play. Of course that does mean their title challenge is still clinging to life.
Admittedly its pulse is weak but if Manchester United and Chelsea fail to win next weekend and Arsenal beat Derby then Everton then Wenger's side would go into the final game with a chance of winning the League.
Saturday's result at Stamford Bridge may change Wenger's team selection at Pride Park but it won't affect his attitude overall. The Frenchman works in a world where achievement is everything and mere improvement will never be enough.
"I worked harder than ever this year," he said. "Of course I question myself but I do not question whether I have the fire and desire.
"Certainly, this team has moved forward. I'm not pretentious enough to say I didn’t make mistakes but this season we only lost three games and yet we are not really competing for the title. And in two of those games we were leading.
"I don’t want to talk too much about the decisions but look at the first goal at Chelsea and against Middlesbrough we still wonder how [Adebayor's] goal could have been offside.
"For a while the team felt every decision went against us for game after game. We were under pressure suddenly and, on top of that, we felt decisions went against us which only increased the pressure.
"But I feel we could have won trophies despite some of those decisions. For example against Liverpool it was no penalty but we should already be qualified. I don’t say we did not win because of the refs because we needed to be strong enough to deal with the decisions."
This week, Bacary Sagna (ankle), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring), Abou Diaby (thigh) and Alex Hleb joined Eduardo (broken leg) in the 'season over' category. Manuel Almunia (wrist) is available and Mathieu Flamini (ankle) may be fit but it is possible that neither will play.
Before the weekend Wenger was talking of handing out some experience tonight with Lukasz Fabianski, Denilson and Nicklas Bendtner mentioned as possible starters. That might have changed given Chelsea's win over Manchester United on Saturday leaves the title still mathematically possible.
But one would suspect that even an Arsenal side with a distinctly Carling Cup flavour could be enough against a Derby outfit who have become the Premier League's whipping boys in recent weeks. Wenger has sympathy for their position.
"We have dealt with a few disappointments recently," he said. "Imagine what is it to go from disappointment to disappointment. Defeat becomes normal and, just to survive, you accept it.
"I feel Derby have paid the price for having overachieved last year. When you go up you think 'we can play there' then suddenly you analyse the names every week and you think 'oh that will be a difficult game'. It is the same for us so we can only think what it is like for Derby. They have been punished because they did not have enough resources to build a Premier League team."
As for Arsenal, whatever side he puts out, Wenger wants professionalism. The 58-year-old has his sights on a little milestone before the end of the campaign.
"We said after the Man United game that we want to finish with pride and dignity and as well as to be faithful to the kind of football that we have produced until now," he said. "We wanted to finish with four wins and we achieved one against Reading.
"We had a good game against them, we responded very well to our disappointment. Now the aim is to finish with more wins than the year we were unbeaten in [2004]."
That would be a minor bauble for a side who, according to their manager, are destined for greatness and will win major trophies in the future.
But surely not this year?
