Looks like we are down to a 3 horse race for the EPL title with Arsenal dropping points yet again. Chelsea still has the games in hand but Man City is right on their back and could prop up past Chelsea in the next fortnight. The bottom of the table is still a scrap worth watching as no-one wants to be relegated, both money wise and ego wise.

Paul Scholes has come out this week explaining to the world how Jack Wilshere has not developed under Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. Lets get one thing straight. Paul Scholes was a champion player. Absolute class act. Him and Giggsy together were a pleasure to watch, even though they were at United. What I don’t understand is his timing and nature of him comments. Sure Wilshere hasn’t had the season he dreamed of and probably last season as well. He has been injured a fair share of the time since he first burst onto the scene as the saviour of English footy at 17 years old.

After successive ankle problems which have kept him off the field for the best part of 2 seasons, no shit he hasn’t developed as he or the rest of England/Arsenal supporters would have hoped. It takes time to get back to where you left off after an injury, and every time Jack gets a good run of games in people start talking about how sharp he looks once again. Unfortunately the sticks haven’t tumbled his way and he has had a couple of road blocks along the way. Give me a season where Jack starts 25 or more games and he will hands down be the best English midfielder in the game. Geez half injured he probably is still one of England’s top 3 midfielders, if not the best. Will he develop if he’s injury free? Hell yea he will if he is able to stay injury free.

His confidence will grow, his strength will increase and he will start build more consistent partnerships and patterns with both England and Arsenal and this ‘development’ will shine through. You can’t develop without consistent game time. Sure you can train as hard and as often as you like, but there is no substitute for game time. Lack of this time on the field will always stymie ones progression. Scholes should spend more time worrying about Tom Cleverly and his ‘development’ and players of the like before he starts picking on players who have obviously caught the short straw a number of times in the last 2 seasons.

Arsenal vs Man City:

Oh how the mighty have fallen. It’s an all to familiar time for of year for us Arsenal supporters as once again we are staring down at another fight for 4th place. After the season the Gunners have had, it is disappointing to see the lads fall off the place, but it was semi inevitable considering the depth of the squad. They say money talks and it looks like occurring here as well. Arsenal could have spent and decided against it. Shrewd? Maybe. But it has cost Arsenal a shot at the title this year.

I reckon if Mr Wenger had his time over again he would spend more money in the window and not relied on others to come back from injury. If you take out Ramsey since early January and Walcott soon after, you've lost 20 goals between them and a bucket load of character. It’s like City losing Yaya Toure for 3 months or Liverpool losing Suarez for a period of time. May only be a couple of players but they are key players. Coming into this game against City they are on a major burnout. Thrashed at Stamford Bridge and conceding an injury time equalizer at home. This game may be coming at the wrong time. Hopefully Laurent Koscielny will be back for the Gunners because he is a big miss in the backline. Mesut Ozil will still be unavailable too. The main target for Arsenal is to keep this match as close as possible for as long as possible. Concede early like they did against Chelsea and its lights out, thanks for coming. Put the pressure back on City to make the pace.

They need the 3 points, Arsenal just need to stop the rot. With the likes of Toure and Nasri leading the assault there’s no doubt Arsenal fans will be anxious. Toure is in splendid form. He is seriously the best midfielder going round in the EPL this season and has been for a fair while. Stick him in any club world XI and he wouldn’t look out of place. Pace, power and precision. Without him there is no way City would be where they are now. If City can keep their shaky defence in order then they should have too much attacking power for Arsenal. However they have been known to be complacent. I would love to see their attitude in this one. Will they be up for this after the Manchester derby? Surely with a chance to get one step closer to the premiership they will be up for it, but you never know.

Prediction:
Another game against a top side and another loss for Arsenal?? I think they will put all hands on deck this weekend and actually show some grit. 3 bad games back to back don’t happen too often for Arsenal so I’m thinking a draw will be a result. Optimistic? Hell yes. 1-1.

Further predictions:

Man United vs Aston Villa – Man United
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea – Crystal Palace
Southampton vs Newcastle – Southampton
Stoke City vs Hull City – Draw
Swansea vs Norwich – Swansea
West Brom vs Cardiff City – West Brom
Fulham vs Everton – Draw
Liverpool vs Tottenham – Draw
Sunderland vs West Ham - Sunderland