Arsenal: Arsene Wenger’s men are nowhere near winning a title due to their culture of mediocrity and money
Gunners enjoy luxury lifestyle and don't sweat the small stuff – that's why they aren't chasing success like Chelsea
NICE life, being an Arsenal player.
Finish training, head for Hampstead, settle down in a stylish coffee shop around mid-afternoon.
Cappuccino culture is alive and well at Arsenal. The frothy bits, such as the thumping 5-0 win at Southampton in the FA Cup last weekend, sure taste good to their players.
They tend not to dwell too long on the bitter experiences, with the steam rising from the stands during their 2-1 home defeat to Watford on Tuesday.
Arsenal’s squad, what with their £100,000-a-week salaries, topped up with bonuses of £15,000 a man when they do win, are on to a very good thing indeed.
Just finish in the top four, fellas.
Since then they have finished — on average — 13 points behind the champions. Four wins and a draw away from taking the Premier League down to goal difference is a lot of ground to make up.
Arsenal are no longer the nearly men. They are the nowhere men.
Finishing in the top four and qualifying for a competition they cannot hope to win is what being around Arsenal is about these days.
They are a monied, corporate monster, but winning the Premier League is out of reach. The closest they have come in recent times was in 2008, when they finished third, four points behind champions Manchester United.
There is no real pressure around the place, certainly not the kind of intolerable conditions that managers at Chelsea sometimes have to work under. They are into their tenth permanent manager since Wenger lifted the last of his three league titles 13 years ago.
Look around the dressing rooms before they meet at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.
Chelsea, whatever you think about them, have created a culture of success. The constitution of the place is geared towards success.
Four league titles (three secured by Jose Mourinho, the other by Carlo Ancelotti) and the Champions League (Roberto di Matteo) since 2004 is an impressive showing.
Wenger, who has been paid around £80million by Arsenal since 2004, gets off the hook with an FA Cup here and there.
His clever use of the competition, taking advantage of its fading interest to the top clubs to win it six times, has taken the heat off him. It is still a major trophy, just about.
With yet another favourable draw, this time at non-league Sutton, there is every chance they can go on to win it again.
The Premier League, the trophy the fans would dearly love to get their hands on again, is out of reach.
Petr Cech, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil know what it takes to cross the finishing line, but they have never done it with Arsenal.
Never will, either.
That says everything about the torpor around the place. Wenger, who will sit in the stands at Chelsea for the third of his four-game touchline ban, has lost his edge.
His decisions, such as the one to play Gabriel at right-back ahead of Hector Bellerin on Tuesday, are becoming increasingly erratic.
So, too, was the one to leave Danny Welbeck out of the squad. The striker, who scored twice at St Mary’s in the FA Cup win, reported he was 100 per cent fit to face Watford.
Whatever Wenger’s decisions were for leaving him out, the players failed him.
Arsenal will recover, they always do, because they are programmed to finish in the top four.
They are just far too nice to go on to win it.