Yesterday morning, I wrote the blog, I jumped on the pod with James, then I went to wake up The Management and said, “No football for me today. No watching, no social media, I want to avoid it all.”
Of course, I failed. I tracked the Chelsea v City game, and afterwards I just felt down.
I haven’t slept properly for two nights. That’s what this current malaise is doing. I am sad. I feel down. I am seeing a superb Arsenal team that has been brilliant for almost all of the season, suddenly look bereft of confidence.
I’m not here to police your emotions. I am only here to share mine with you. But I am really quite low today, and I don’t really feel like writing much.
I have secretly harboured the belief that we will get over the line and win ever since that Chelsea win at home, followed by the Everton win in the dying seconds. It felt like the stars were aligning. But I didn’t want to say it out loud.
But today, that dream, that internalised belief, feels so far away.
I tweeted this yesterday, but look at this record at their place. It is utterly wretched. All we need next weekend is a draw. But given their form, given our form, that feels so far away right now.
For today and tomorrow, I am going to try my darndest to avoid football. I failed yesterday, but today I can immerse myself in work, and I can spend my time doing other things. Today is not a day for Sky Sports News. It is not a day for YouTube comps. It is not a day for listening to Arsenal podcasts. I need to find something else to listen to on my run.
Arteta and his staff will have given the players the day off yesterday. But today they will all be back in training. The club should, as a collective, just pull up the drawbridge until tomorrow, when they are contractually obliged to speak ahead of Sporting Lisbon tomorrow afternoon. I genuinely hope there are no social media posts from the club. Just give it a media blackout, guys. The time for talking is not today.
Think I am going to leave it there for today. I chose a picture of a garden in bloom for the blog image because that’s the best one in my WordPress library that doesn’t have much Arsenal connotations to it.
Might be back tomorrow as we look ahead to Sporting.