False hope

As you may have gathered by now, I am an Arsenal fan. For those of you who have not been following the football season, I would like to remind you that, before it started, Arsenal were considered a team in decline. 5 years without a trophy. No major signings and we just sold a key striker and our best defender for a competitor for £41m. In fact, I was absolutely sure we stood little chance of staying in the top-4. Surely there was no hope for glory.

In many respects my forecast was vindicated. Whenever we played a team of some strength we were completely hopeless; thoroughly thrashed by Man U, Chelsea & Barcelona. Away and at home. Moreover, our frailty of bodies and lack of depth have been mercilessly exposed. Van Persie - our leading scorer, out since November. Gallas, Arshavin, Song, Ramsey, Walcott and obviously, Fabergas, out on long term injuries. I didn't mention Rosicky simply because he does not deserve to be mentioned with the others. We were so desperate we brought back Sol Campbell from un-official retirement. As I said: no hope.

And yet, to my own and everyone else's surprise, Arsenal refused to give up. Mid-April, with 5 games to go we were still in with a shot. A game in hand and 2 points behind Man U in 2nd things were looking good. Believe it or not, I could see us winning the league. I had that cursed thing - hope.

No more. After 10 years, yes 10 years, Tottenham finally managed to beat us tonight and expose my hope for what it was - false. False hope.

So, doing a Carey Bradshaw, I ask: "is false hope better than no hope"? Different to Ms Bradshaw, I don't just annoyingly raise questions. I am here to provide answers, and I say: "hell yeah"! No hope is for people who are emotionally dead. Hope, even false hope, is what brings us to life. And for that reason, my good Arsenal, I thank you.

PS 325km down. 675km to go.