Gunnerblog’s Christmas Wish
Add comment December 24th, 2007
My Christmas wish is ultimately very simple: to prove pretty much every pundit (armchair or otherwise) wrong, and go all the way to the Premier League title.
Before the season, a succession of big names in the punditry world wrote us off. Journalists were queueing up to proclaim Tottenham the next big thing, and a huge number of them suggested that Spurs would end up qualifying for the Champions League at our expense. We couldn’t handle the departure of Thierry Henry, our squad was too light, and of course, they had mega-signing Darren Bent.
After we started the season in decent form, including an impressive 3-1 win over Spurs, eyebrows that had been frowning in disapproval began to raise.
But still there were doubts. And even now, on Christmas Eve, as we sit at the top of the table, people still expect us to fail.
Why? We have come through games against Chelsea, United and Liverpool entirely unscathed. Our one defeat came at the end of a tricky run of away matches when we were without arguably our four best players. Our squad has proved its depth with Carling Cup victories over Newcastle and away at Blackburn.
When I look at our players, I see the spirit of Champions. To overcome defeat at Middlesbrough by beating Chelsea and Spurs shows the kind of mettle required to win trophies.
So let’s prove the critics wrong, and do it, starting with Portsmouth on Wednesday.
