Lost hope? Think of this…

Saturday’s draw at West Brom was a dent in Arsenal’s title fight but definitely not its hopes.

Indeed, that point Van Persie snatched came with the benefit of keeping Arsenal’s fate in their own hands.

Yes, as hopeless as it may seem at the moment with the Gunners’ declining form and United’s rising ability to grind out results, Arsenal actually don’t need to follow results elsewhere but only their own to secure the Premier League title.

Indeed, Wenger’s men will be guaranteed the crown IF, and only IF, they were to win all their nine games left (including the home clash with United at home).

Now, that IF is made very huge by several factors which range from the difficulty of Arsenal’s remaining fixtures to the Gunners’ ability to challenge which was questioned again by more defensive hiccups from Almunia and Squillaci.

But in the unlikely but certainly not impossible event of Arsenal going on a nine-game winning streak, they would win the title by one point even if United fought as hard and also won all their run-in games – excluding the visit to the Emirates of course.

Hmm…one point. How vital was Van Persie’s goal then?

Now let’s see what the possible returns of Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott might do to help.

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