Bacary Sagna yesterday insisted that Arsenal must beat Manchester United next Monday in order for the club to be considered as serious challengers for the Premier League title this season…but is it really a ‘win or bust’ game like the Frenchman says It is?

Arsenal moved to the top of the Premier League table last Saturday with a 2-1 win over Fulham, and next on their domestic schedule is a trip to title rivals United. However, prior to their Old Trafford outing, the Gunners must beat Partizan Belgrade this Wednesday to guarantee a place in the Champions League knockout stages.

In light of this, Bacary Sagna has called upon his Arsenal team-mates to send out a warning to the rest of Europe with back-to-back wins over the course of the week. He told the Daily Mail:

‘If we want to be successful, we have to win these big games. In our first of the season, against Chelsea, we dropped points. We have dropped so many points at home that we need to win these games.’

Sagna finishes off by saying:

‘At United, we want to play our game and win. We do not want the season to be over at the end of December. We want to win these next two matches and give even more power to the team.’

I must say that I do agree with Sagna’s latest comments, but only to some degree. This Wednesday’s Champions League clash at the Emirates against Partizan Belgrade is a must win, no questions asked. However, I don’t think we actually need to beat Manchester United (as Sagna claims) to be considered challengers for the Premier League title, because in my eyes I think we already are.

Of course it would be great to see Arsenal grab a victory at Old Trafford, but a draw would also go down well with the Arsenal faithful. A loss would be awful in terms of league standings, and most importantly team morale. However, we have already lost to Chelsea this season and are better of than them by 2 points.

Big games do measure teams’ ambitions and abilities for the season, although these are not the games that determine championships.

Arsenal are certainly capable of recording back-to-back wins in their next two fixtures, and I’m hoping Bacary Sagna’s war cry echoes around the Arsenal dressing room until next Monday.

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