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Arsenal welcomes Huddersfield Town to the Emirates on Saturday and will be looking to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 21.
The Gunners defeated arch-rivals by four goals to two at the Emirates, before drawing away at Manchester United, in a game they could have easily won, no thanks to some good goalkeeping by Manchester United's goalkeeper David De Gea and some costly errors in defence.
On the other hand, six points from those two massive games are not something the Gunners can complain of. They have massively improved under Unai Emery and you can only feel that this team will get better and better as the season progresses.
However, as Unai Emery pointed out in his press conference on Thursday, the players are disappointed to have come out of the game against United with only a point. He did mention that the only way they can look back at Manchester United game with more positivity is to pick all three points against Huddersfield Town.
Emery was quoted as saying:
"This is a very big challenge this week. We are going to finish Saturday against Huddersfield. At the moment we have a good feeling after a good result, but we need to close with a victory on Saturday".
Let's take a look at two reasons why Saturday's game against Huddersfield is a massive game for the gunners.
#1 Potential slip-ups by other top four rivals
This is one of the reasons why Arsenal's game against Huddersfield Town has become more important than the two previous games. Arsenal lost their opening two games of the season against Manchester City and Chelsea.
They have recovered remarkably from that and are looking like a team that could clinch one of the champions league spots at the end of the season.
In their quest to achieve this, not only will they need to pick points off their rivals when they play them, but they also need to capitalize on possible slips when their rivals play other teams.
This week presents a massive opportunity for the gunners to do so. Arsenal is currently in 5th position in the premier league, although they are tied on 31 points with Chelsea in 4th place with the Blues having a slightly superior goal difference and just two points off Tottenham in fourth place.
Chelsea host league leaders Manchester City at Stamford Bridge and Tottenham travel to the King Power Stadium to take on Leicester City. Chelsea has a massive job on their hands to keep out a rampaging City side who have been impeccable this season.
Tottenham cannot afford to take Leicester City for granted, even if they are favourites to win the game. It is a potential banana-skin fixture for Spurs.
#2 The need to build momentum and confidence
There is no doubt that winning games gives a team more and more confidence to push on for greater things. This is what the gunners need especially going into a period where the games will be coming thick and fast. In the next four fixtures, Arsenal play teams in the bottom half of the table, and in some cases, teams who are battling relegation.
Although it does not represent a win 'cast in stone' for the Gunners, it offers them the opportunity to play lesser opposition with a better chance of picking all three points.
As we have already seen this season, the Gunners seem to be very adept at beating this kind of opposition and you have the feeling that this period could help them build confidence as well as capitalize on any slip-ups by teams above them in the table.
If Unai Emery's team can muster up maximum points in these games, Arsenal could be in for a shout as a premier league title contender before the turn of the year, especially when they have a massive game against Liverpool on December 29.
This should give them confidence going into the game. Indeed Unai Emery and Arsenal have every reason to be cautiously optimistic of a potential push for the title or at least, a guaranteed top four place finish by the end of the season.
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