Getty Images Here is a great question as you prepare to watch (or DVR) today’s Monday’s EPL special – a match between two clubs that haven’t been much of that this year. Special, that is.
Arsenal makes the short trip west of London to meet Reading (a short match preview is here), the club currently holding the dubious distinction as 20th among 20 clubs in the Barclay’s Premier League.
Arsenal, meanwhile, is 8th. There’s certainly no relegation danger afoot – but you might not know so by listening to some of the sky-is-falling sentiment reverberating around the stately and modern Emirates today. For the storied likes of Arsenal, 8th may as well be 20th.
The trophy drought – that’s a word we see with increasing frequency around Arsenal and embattled manager Arsene Wenger – reaches back to 2005. The volume of rancor grows annually.
And woven into those previous two sentences is the question to be pondered here. Because Wenger isn’t really “embattled” so much as he is “perennially embattled” these days. And that volume, at some point, simply cannot grow any louder.
Arsenal meets Reading at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Between then and now, consider Jacob Steinberg’s premise from this UK piece in The Guardian:
It’s difficult to know where to begin with Arsenal, a team so perpetually in crisis that there will surely come a point where the crisis is no longer a crisis, but merely the norm. There’s a philosophical poser for you, all right: a crisis can only last so long before everyone’s used to the mediocrity and they’re not angry, they’re just tired. Although they probably will be quite angry if they contrive to lose to Reading, a team so useless that they managed to Arsenal up a four-goal lead against Arsenal the other week …
That was a reference to an absurd 7-5 verdict back in October, when Arsenal beat back a four-goal deficit to prevail in a Capital One Cup contest.
Just for hoots, where are all 12 goals in that one:
.
-
A real injury concern for Portland as Darlington Nagbe falls
May 18, 2013, 8:05 PM EDT
The young Timbers’ attacker is having an outstanding season for the Jeld-Wen Field bunch:
-
Federico Higuain steals the show for Columbus in a win over Toronto
May 18, 2013, 7:38 PM EDT
Higuain created the game’s only goal and was masterful in possession at BMO Field:
-
PSG president confirms Saturday was likely David Beckham’s farewell match
May 18, 2013, 6:44 PM EDT
Reuters
An appearance next week in Paris Saint-Germain’s final match 2012-13 season doesn’t seem to be in the plans for the retiring superstar:
-
As Alex Ferguson says goodbye, Manchester United’s cupboard remains stocked
May 18, 2013, 3:15 PM EDT
Reuters
Depth at United will allow David Moyes to hut big game this offseason.
-
Wherein MLS expansion becomes the new David Beckham transfer rumor
May 18, 2013, 2:40 PM EDT
David Beckham’s not dropping off your radar anytime soon.
-
Roberto Mancini takes out full page thank you ad in Manchester Evening News
May 18, 2013, 1:17 PM EDT
Manchester City’s former boss reaches out to his supportive fan base – his first public comments since his Monday dismissal.
-
Bayern Munich finish German season 25 points ahead of Borussia Dortmund
May 18, 2013, 12:28 PM EDT
Getty Images
Mercifully, the season’s come to an end for the 17 clubs who tried to keep pace with Bayern Munich.
-
Ferguson, on Mancini’s Manchester City dismissal: ‘It is quite amazing’
May 18, 2013, 11:40 AM EDT
Manchester United’s outgoing boss was amazed but not surprised at his rival’s dismissal.
-
England’s top four: Games that matter in the English Premier League’s last round
May 18, 2013, 10:22 AM EDT
Relegation’s decided. So’s the title and two of the league’s Europa League spots. All that’s left? The battle for top four.
-
AP
Russian oligarchs, third-party ownership, tax havens, and €60 million moves. This one has everything.
-
Jamie Carragher set to close out his 16-year career at Anfield
May 18, 2013, 8:11 AM EDT
AP
One of the Premier League’s one-club men says goodbye at Anfield.
-
Getty Images
Brest and FC Lorient will be the opposition for retiring midfielder’s final two pro matches:
-
Getty Images
David Beckham has an option to purchase an MLS expansion franchise, and that has zero to do with Chivas USA:






