#pierre knows it will just spur him on further if he says anything | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mish-tique · 3 years

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NSFW - drabble/teaser (?), Max/Daniel, Charles/Pierre

Note: based on this post by @abedsmessedupmeta - This is a drabble that suddenly came up in my head while dreaming about the fact that I should have time to write this fic completely next week. And instead of my brain listening to that schedule, it came up with a plot bunny right now that's the part of the fic that's more based on Charles & Max's friendship.

So this ain't the highest quality, just a first draft idea. Hit "read more" to read it.

CW: slight kink-shaming

Charles is so, so flustered about the incident. Max is still talking with Daniel over the phone and Charles can't seem to get it out of his mind that Max calls his boyfriend daddy. It's like he's in a daze. Sure he heard about it, saw shit online that had him scrolling further without letting himself even read a word.

"Charles, Charles you there?"

Max wakes him from his daze and the words leave his mouth before he can even register saying them. "Do you really call Daniel daddy?"

"Yes."

It somehow spurs on a conversation in which they're spilling all the beans about their own sex life. Charles' cheeks end up Ferrari red because, holy shit, he never thought Max would be into this and Max is lowkey surprised because he had no idea Charles could be so.. innocent?

And Max apologizes quite fast about that because he doesn't want his friend to be ashamed of it, he doesn't want to judge Charles because it's perfectly okay. They might not have been the best friends in the past and even now that they're friends they aren't the closest (it's a surprise this conversation even happened) but he does want to make sure Charles feels safe discussing sex. It shouldn't be a taboo topic.

Which only makes Charles blink. "Dude, you've said worse things to me in the past, I'm not going to hate for you for that."

"Ouch."

"Well, it's no lie."

But this conversation has made Charles really interested in the whole thing even though he had never considered it before. Having talked about it with Max makes it feel less alien, less strange and more okay. It got him really, really interested. But it was scary.

And of course Max notices, Charles grumbles because somehow the Dutch always notices the things he feels somewhat insecure about so he hands Charles the phone without saying anything.

"What's this?"

"Dude, it's a BDSM test, just take it. It will help you."

"...MAX WHY ARE THEY ASKING ME IF I WOULD LIKE TO ACT LIKE A DOG??"

"Charles we're in public for fucks sake! And I don't know why I like it okay."

"That's not what I asked - wait you're into that too?"

"Yeah. We don't always do the daddy thing, you know. Sometimes you want something else."

A few days later and Max is half-asleep in his driver's room. This weekend had sucked all the energy out of him. He doesn't even notice Charles sneaking into his room until the man is next to him on the couch, scaring the living daylight out of him. He's fully alert when the man even snuggles into him.

Like he said, they're friends but not this close. So something must be off and he patiently waits.

"Max," Charles is already hesitating, "how did you tell Daniel.... How did you tell him you wanted to try the BDSM stuff in bed?

It makes him chuckle because it brings back quite fond memories. "I sent him a meme once, he took it seriously. Daniel showed up at my door within ten minutes and then we were discussing it. So it wasn't really me who asked, more Daniel introducing me."

"Seriously, was it that easy?"

"Yeah, it doesn't have to be hard. Though I imagine it can be scary."

"Forget scary, talk about humiliating," the Monegasque mutters and it has Max's full attention when he seemed to get more frustrated, "I tried three times already! The first time he didn't hear me, somehow. The second one he didn't understand me - just blinked and went on with what we were doing before I could explain and the last time he thought it was a joke!"

Max understood his friend's frustration but somehow the picture looked so funny to him that he couldn't help but chuckle himself.

"Seriously? Never thought Pierre could be that thick when it came to sex."

"Dude, could you like stop laughing and start giving advice, I'm at risk here."

"Charles, the only two things at risk are your driving career and your sex life."

"Those are two very important things."

"You got a point there."

"Only points I appear to be scoring."

(the fic will most likely be quite maxiel focussed but I couldn't help but throw in the chax friendship bc it just. has so much potential.)

(or: charles seeks comfort after his boyfriend doesn't get his hints for wanting to try kinky stuff)

#your number is called daddy in my phone and that traumatized my best friend #fuck it im tagging full name #for the au #max verstappen #charles leclerc #daniel ricciardo #maxiel

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gwaciechang · 4 years

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A Very Pierre Interlude

Have some arm porn, praise kink, arm porn, cunnilingus, and did I mention arm porn? As well as just straight-up porn porn. This one starts right where the last one left off.

As usual, feel free to point out grammatical and stylistic error to me. The content itself you will leave alone unless you want to be blocked.

When you wake up the next morning, he’s still asleep. You’re not surprised, since he must still be recovering from the day before. You place your hand on his stomach, to check the bandages as much as to feel him breathing under your hand. He must feel this, because in between one breath and the next, his eyes slam open and he tenses. But then his gaze lands on yours and he softens entirely.

“Morning, darling,” the word is clumsy in his mouth, but the intent is warm is sincere, and you feel a smile grow across your face as you snuggle into his shoulder. Your fingers draw shapeless figures in the hair on his chest, lower and lower, pausing when they meet the bandages. You look up at him with a question in your eyes, and his answer is a growly, “Hell yes.”

He pulls you flush against him, and you pause one more time to ask if he’s sure. The only thing that comes out of your mouth is a gasp when his fingers find out exactly how wet you already are. Suddenly, he's everywhere around you. His arms circle you completely and hold you up in the air as he adjusts his own position.

“You think you can hold me up, big guy?” you shoot him a smirk that you know he won’t be able to resist. You’re rewarded by feeling his arms tighten around you. You wrap your legs around his hips and rub yourself against him until you feel his eagerness for events to progress. He growls at his own chest before reaching downward. You get a good grip over his hair and tug until he freezes. “Not yet, not yet,” you snarl. “Not until I tell you.”

He gives one, two, three full-body shudders before finally becoming still. You line yourself up with him and sink down. You feel muscles jump in his thighs and stomach as he strains not to come. You take him in slowly until he’s fully buried inside you and his breaths have turned to whimpers.

“What do you want, darling?” you bring one arm to brace against the wall in case his legs actually do collapse under him.

“Want to move,” he nearly sobs.

“Alright,” you whisper into his ear.

He thrusts once, twice, and suddenly you’re wincing at the sun in your eyes.

You thank whoever owned this house before you for planting soft grass. You look past the trees to find Pierre climbing out of a hole in the wall that definitely hadn’t been there a second ago. “Jesus, what the fuck?” you wince when you sit up. You were going to have plenty of bruises on your ass when this was done, that’s for sure. “What the hell did you do?”

He fidgets and refuses to meet your gaze. “I, uh, I might have fuck you through the wall.”

You know you should punish him, but you’re having difficulty focusing on anything other than how much your body is throbbing with heat from those words.

You can’t help but snicker. “If you wanted to fuck a hole so badly, I have two you could use.” He smacks your shoulder playfully, even as he laughs. You love his face when he laughs, so open and light.

Then his laugh changes, and a darkness gleams in his eyes.

“You’re not going to fuck me here, are you?” You glance nervously over your shoulder for emphasis, “Anybody could be watching us.”

“Let them see,” his response grumbles in his chest. “I want them to see that you’re mine.” He grabs your shoulders possessively and pulls you down on top of him. “Comfortable?” he smirks.

Of course you are. He’s surprisingly soft for someone who’s lived the type of life he has. You reach forward to stroke his beard. It’s not unlike stroking a cat, in how soft he is and how a purr rumbles in his chest at the sensation.

His hands hover on the back of your head like he’s not sure if he’s allowed to touch, but he desperately wants to. You do what you’ve seen him do, which is bump your head into his palm and then suddenly his hands are all over you, setting you on fire. You keep one arm on his chest for balance (and to keep him from straining his injuries too much, not that you would ever let him know) and lean down to kiss him. His hand reaches down, finds your stomach, finds your hip, finds your-

He breaks the kiss to look you in the eye. “Are you ready?” he asks, unsure.

You resist the urge to roll your eyes by reminding yourself that he’s not actually doubting his own prowess, he just knows exactly how poorly people can treat each other, and he never wants to be part of that again. You adjust his fingers until he presses on the right spot, and wetness coats the top of his finger.

“Keep going, and you'll see how sure I am,” you manage to say.

His fingers are magical. Coarse, but gentle, and they don’t feel like any of your other lovers’. You close your eyes to ride out the wave until, suddenly, they’re gone, and you open your eyes to glare at him. But you’ve already been lifted into the air, and soon his tongue replaces his fingers. His hands are now in yours, and you grip them so tightly that you must be hurting him, but you can’t let go either. Your legs shake with the need to slam closed, this is too much, then suddenly his hands are on your thighs, stroking fiery paths up and down. Arousal tightens in your stomach and you grind down until you can feel his breath on your folds, until all of a sudden, you can’t.

He doesn’t stop, and you can’t stop the gasps and keens coming out of your mouth, the little forward thrusts that he somehow manages to keep up with, and then the tight spool in your middle unravels and spills down.

He keeps going, but you can barely keep yourself upright. It’s like all your muscles have turned to warm water, and all you want to do is drape yourself over him. You must eventually tilt too close to the ground, because he picks you up again with those steel bands he calls arms, and settles you over him like a blanket. He gives you a lazy, messy kiss, and you can taste and smell yourself on him. His cock throbs against your hip, sending an answering throb that picks you right up.

Oh, hey muscles, nice to see you working again, you think as you shakily line yourself up. You manage to cover the head of his dick, but you’re not quite slick enough to take more than another inch, even if you were more coordinated. You press down on his hip as an unnecessary warning, but he's completely still save his rapidly rising and falling chest. You take one of his hands and place it on your breast, his other hand follows suit. They squeeze warmth up into your head, and when strong, careful fingers rub your nipples, you feel yourself pulsing and sinking down, down, until he’s fully buried inside you.

His eyes are laser-focused on you now, like the rest of the world doesn't exist, and he's still not moving. “Good boy,” you murmur to see him blush all the way down to his chest. You pet the top of his head and he honest-to-god whimpers as he leans into the touch. You keep one hand there and lower the other down his cheek, down his neck, across his shoulders, down his pecs, leaving a trail of goosebumps and flushed skin in your wake. “You’re so good for me,” you say into a kiss.

He squeezes his eyes shut, and a single tear sparkles down. Amazing how a few kind words could wreck him more utterly than twenty blows with a flogger.

“You’ve been so wonderful,” you keep going, hoping he’ll accept one more before his own self-loathing makes him reject your words. “I think it’s time for your reward.”

It’s like a flipping a switch, how quickly his eyes snap open and he rolls the both of you over. He’s grinding you so hard into the ground that you feel some less-than-pleasant things poking you, and you grab his hip to force him to slow down.

Worry starts to creep into his eyes, so you wiggle around until you’re in a more comfortable groove before you wrap your arms around him and pull him down. He seems to understand, putting his own arms around your back so you’re lying more on him than the ground. Only once your hand moves to play with the hair at the top of his neck does he start to thrust again.

You feel his hands feeling around your back even over the rising temperature in your core. You realize that he's checking for cuts and bruises from flipping you over and fucking a hole into your poorly-constructed wall. He finds a scab just under your right shoulder, and he looks away when he begins to soften. Your own temperature drops too, when you think about how your darling sees everything he does as a failure to you.

The cold is replaced by steel, and you stroke his back with one hand and play with his sweaty hair in the other. “You’re the best I’ve ever had, darling. You think I would ever fuck anyone else in the woods, wild, like this? You think any other man has ever thrust so hard that the wall broke? Pierre, come on, wear a groove into the ground deeper than the ones I wore into you.”

Spurred on by praise, Pierre doubles his effort. You feel him swell inside you, and you feel him shudder when you clench. He lets out a scream when he comes, which vibrates against your shoulder. Funny, you’ve never considered your shoulder an erogenous zone, but the vibrations travel straight down, and you come with a moan seconds later.

“And here I thought my muscles were water before,” you murmur. Pierre looks down at you with a line between his eyes. You would be worried, but your brain is just as mushy as the rest of you, so all you can think about is how the hair framing his face looks like a halo in the rising sunlight. “My angel,” you don’t mean to say.

Your angel takes two tries to pick you up in his sweaty, trembling arms, and a further two attempts to actually stagger to his feet. He has to brace himself against what remains of the wall when he reaches it, and then again on the edge of the hole, before he carries you to your bed.

Pierre takes care to tuck the blankets around you before lying down next to you. Unfortunately, despite the rising sun, the air is still so cold that you shiver when the wind blows. Your darling angel notices, and after a second of glaring at the hole in the wall as if he could scare it away, he gets back up again.

He’s cold too, you can see his suppressed shivers as he picks up the biggest piece of whatever the wall was made of and tries to put it back in place. It’s clearly not going to work, not unless he has nails and a hammer, and you’re only going to let him do one type of hammering while naked. You tell him so, because he’d keep trying to fix the wall until he freezes otherwise.

“Come back to bed, darling, and keep me warm,” you add, flipping the blankets over despite the cold so he can see you. He growls and yanks the blankets out of your hands, but rather than tucking you in, this time he wraps you entirely in the blankets like a burrito, trapping your hands and legs as you futilely try to wiggle out.

“Where are you taking me?” you protest. You trust him, you really do. He’d flog himself without your input if he actually did anything to hurt you, but he does sometimes have interesting ideas about what’s best for you, and right now is probably one of those times.

He picks you up, and even through the blankets, you can feel the strength in his arms. You really shouldn’t be so surprised, after all, he literally fucked you through the wall, and if you squint as he carries you past the hole in the wall, you can see a groove in the grass where he fucked a hole into your backyard.

It turns out you didn’t need to be worried. He simply carries you to the couch in the living room, all the way across the apartment. Despite having been flogged within an inch of his life, his arms hold you steady. You start wiggling just to mess with him, see if he could keep a hold of you in your slippery, silky sheets. It turns out his hands are talented in many, many ways.

He throws you over his shoulder, places one hand over your ass to secure you in place, and continues walking. Now, if you wiggle, there’s a pretty good chance you'll actually slip out of the sheets. You wiggle just enough so you can cross your arms and curse at him, which just makes him chuckle. The sound bounces off his shoulders and into your hip, which you pretend you can’t feel.

He shrugs you off when you reach the couch, and for one breathless second you’re in freefall for much longer than you expected to be, but then Pierre’s arm catches and dips you, and you realize he was messing with you, too.

“You fucking dick!”

“I thought you liked being fucked by my dick,” Pierre pouts. And oh, now you’re done for, done for by the fact that he just made a joke and he’s pouting, how is that fair?

He places you down on the couch so gently that you don’t even realize his arms have left you until you see them by his sides. Now you’re wriggling in earnest, trying to find purchase against your blanket cocoon so you can-aha! There!

He stands and he’s starting to go back the way you came, and you call his name so that he'll look down. God knows what duty he thinks he has to fulfill right now while you’re all cozy on the couch, but it’s not nearly as important as cuddling with you right now.

It works, he crawls into the blankets with you, and you-

You-

You jerk up on the bed together when you hear something clatter in the kitchen.

#knightfall fanfic #pierre you dick #joey i am literally begging you not to look through this tag

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gadgetsrevv · 5 years

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Just how bad are Tottenham? Arsenal will test Man United’s defence

All you need to know about this weekend’s Premier League action, all in one place.

THE WEEKEND’S BIG QUESTIONS

Just how bad are Tottenham?

It was instructive to hear Mauricio Pochettino’s response to Tottenham’s defeat at Colchester in the Carabao Cup this week. His postmatch comments basically waved a broad hand of blame at these unnamed malcontents in the squad and the club’s failure to buy more players in the summer, as if the reason his side lost to the team 10th in League Two was because Christian Eriksen fancies a move to Real Madrid or they didn’t get the Paulo Dybala move over the line, rather than anything to do with him.

Pochettino may have a point in the wider scheme of things, but the result on Tuesday and their general performances throughout the season have been so devoid of inspiration and direction that it’s impossible to think there aren’t deeper problems at Spurs. Like water collecting on a flat roof for months before eventually the ceiling falls in, Tottenham allowing their squad to go stale could ultimately manifest itself in a spectacular collapse this season, unless they really turn things around. That needs to start at Southampton on Saturday.

Will Liverpool use some sensible rotation?

Liverpool are currently in the middle of a run in which they play seven games in 21 days. Then it’s the international break, which is fine in theory, but most if not all of their players will then embark on long trips with their countries. After that it’s another seven in 21 days before the next international break, then we’re into late November and before you know it, the madness of the Christmas schedule.

Liverpool have a good enough squad now that Jurgen Klopp can afford to rotate a little, to give his most overworked stars a bit of rest, but he will have to choose the times to do that judiciously. So will he regard a trip to Sheffield United — a newly-promoted side but one who have proved ticklish to say the least so far this season — as a time to do that, or does he play it safe and use the big guns, in the knowledge that there might not be another good time to rest them on the horizon?

Will the return of some first-choice defenders boost Arsenal?

Not many reliable conclusions can be drawn from Arsenal flexing aside Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, given the performance of their Championship opponents. But one plus from the game was the return to fitness of Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin, the latter of whom set up a goal within a minute of coming on as a substitute.

Admittedly, neither man can do much to solve the chronic issues the Gunners have in the centre of defence, but Arsenal can only benefit from the addition of what could potentially be the best full-back pairing in the division outside of Liverpool. Against a fragile Manchester United, even that could be enough.

THE GAME YOU’RE NOT PLANNING TO WATCH … BUT SHOULD

If you’ve got room on your DVR or in your busy schedule for one match this weekend away from the title race, we’ve got you covered.

Wolves vs. Watford

Broadly speaking the reason we watch Premier League football is to see good quality play, to witness the sides at the top of their games display their skills. But sometimes you also want to see a couple of desperate sides scrapping away for whatever they can get, and that’s what you’ll find at Molineux on Saturday afternoon. The last two sides without a victory meet to see who can clamber out of this spiral of incompetence, with the very real possibility that whoever loses will graduate from “poor start” to “actual relegation battle.”

A TEAM THAT NEEDS A BIT OF LUCK

Luck is everything in sports. Get acquainted with ESPN’s Luck Index as we pick out the team most desperate for good fortune amid a difficult run. Here are the big takeaways from the 2019 edition as explained by Gab Marcotti.

Everton: It wasn’t so long ago that Everton watchers were purring after their side beat Wolves, but two avoidable defeats in their last two games have awoken discontent in the Goodison Park stands. Questions are inevitably being posed about Marco Silva’s tenure, about his selection and balance of his team, so they could really do with a straightforward game to get their heads right. No such luck: Manchester City are in town on Saturday, fresh from sticking eight past Watford last weekend. If Everton get a bit of luck, maybe they can sneak a result against City…but they will need that luck.

FANTASY TIPS

Kieran Darcy has some tips for the weekend action. Read his full preview here and set your team line-up!

Must-have player: Sergio Aguero, Tier 1 forward

Last week Aguero became the first player to score in each of the opening six games of a Premier League season. He only notched one of Manchester City’s goals in their 8-0 thrashing of Watford, but he deserved more, hitting the woodwork twice.

Worth considering: Raul Jimenez, Tier 2 forward

Wolves are 19th in the table, but they host the only team below them in Watford on Saturday. Raul Jimenez has just two goals so far this season, but had 13 (and seven assists) last year, and could break out this week.

Avoid at all costs: Bernardo Silva, Tier 1 midfielder

Silva was promoted from Tier 2 to Tier 1 following his hat trick against Watford, but he only scored seven goals in 36 appearances last season. There are much better options in this tier, including teammates Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne, and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.

ONE THING THAT WILL DEFINITELY HAPPEN

Manchester United’s defence will get a chasing from Arsenal

Despite spending north of £130 million on defenders this summer, Manchester United’s backline has hardly been watertight. Even a 16-year-old from Rochdale got the better of them in midweek, and while the personnel will be very different for the visit of Arsenal on Monday, you can be sure that they will be in for a difficult night against whoever plays in attack for Arsenal. Alexandre Lacazette won’t be around, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe will provide a handful enough for the likes of Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof: if United can keep them quiet, that’s half the battle.

– ESPN Premier League fantasy: Sign up now! – VAR in the Premier League: Ultimate guide – When does the transfer window reopen? – Premier League winter break: All you need to know

STATS OF THE WEEKEND

Information provided by ESPN Stats & Information Group

– Liverpool have a 15-game winning streak in the Premier League, tied for second longest in English top-flight history. Only Man City has a longer streak having won 18 in a row in 2017. The Champions League holders have outscored opponents 42-13 during the streak and last dropped points in the league on March 3 vs Everton.

– Chelsea have won all eight of their league meetings against Brighton. A win on Saturday would set the English record for the most wins against an opponent without a loss or draw since the Football League began in 1888.

– Tottenham have won seven of their last eight Premier League home matches against Southampton, losing the other 2-1 in May 2016. Meanwhile, Southampton are looking to win three consecutive away road matches in the top flight for the first time since February 2015, when they had won four in a row.

MAN TO WATCH

Christian Pulisic: Admittedly, Frank Lampard was not involved in Chelsea’s decision to buy Christian Pulisic in January. It’s nevertheless slightly odd that the £58 million signing has only thus far made three starts under Lampard, especially when you would think this is a team that needs all the inspiration it can get. Pulisic stayed on the bench against Liverpool last weekend and started in their 7-1 thrashing of Grimsby Town. But he could play against Brighton on Saturday, and with Callum Hudson-Odoi returning to fitness with a fat new contract in his back pocket, might this be Pulisic’s last big chance for a while to make his case for more regular selection?

OUR BOLD/RECKLESS PREDICTIONS

Sheffield United 1-3 Liverpool: The Reds train should keep on rolling Tottenham 2-2 Southampton: This draw will feel like a loss to Spurs Wolves 1-2 Watford: Hornets will be buzzing after shipping eight to City Aston Villa 1-0 Burnley: Villa will climb out of the relegation zone Bournemouth 1-2 West Ham: In-form Hammers will continue to rise Chelsea 3-2 Brighton: Elusive clean sheets continue for the Blues Crystal Palace 2-1 Norwich City: The Man City win seems a long time ago Everton 1-4 Manchester City: The holders will pile on the Toffees woes Leicester 3-1 Newcastle: No shock to see the Foxes stay in top four Manchester United 1-3 Arsenal: Further proof of United’s poor form

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zeroviraluniverse-blog · 6 years

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Faith in Wenger dwindles further after Arsenal's no-show vs. Tottenham

Visit Now - https://zeroviral.com/faith-in-wenger-dwindles-further-after-arsenals-no-show-vs-tottenham/

Faith in Wenger dwindles further after Arsenal's no-show vs. Tottenham

North London derbies are usually tight affairs. Over the years there have been some emphatic scorelines — usually in Arsenal’s favour — but the history books will show that the Wembley showdown on Saturday was decided by a single goal.

Harry Kane’s header won three points for Tottenham, but the scoreline didn’t really reflect the game, and the second half in particular. Were it not for a string of outstanding saves by Petr Cech and some real profligacy in front of goal by the home side, the margin of victory could have been even greater.

And yet, despite Arsenal’s serious defensive deficiencies, Spurs’ wastefulness meant Arsene Wenger’s men could have salvaged something from the game in injury time. Twice Alexandre Lacazette had the chance to equalise, twice he spurned the opportunity, and the second chance in particular — when he was played in behind by Alex Iwobi — is a miss which looked like it would haunt him.

The French international has had a difficult time of late, scoring just once in his last 13 games, and his confidence is unquestionably low. What better way to restore some of that by grabbing a goal which would have meant so much given the occasion? Sadly, he was found wanting on both occasions and on such fine margins games are won, drawn or lost.

Whether Arsenal deserved anything from the game is irrelevant. There’s no such thing as justice when it comes to top-level sport, and the Gunners had a glorious opportunity to make the old enemy regret missing so many chances. As the ball trickled wide of the far post, and Lacazette clutched his head in horror, you could almost see what was left of his confidence evaporate from him.

It’s a worry for Wenger, because with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cup tied for the Europa League, Lacazette has a big role to play in the competition that holds Arsenal’s last chance of real success. Yes, they play in the Carabao Cup final in two weeks’ time, but without downplaying the significance of that competition, a European trophy and the chance to qualify for the Champions League is far more important for the future of the club.

Arsene Wenger during Arsenal’s North London derby defeat to Tottenham. Photo credit should read IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images

It’s very difficult to delve too deep into individual assessments of players when the team is unable to function on any consistent level. This Arsenal side is capable of playing some excellent football on their day, but equally the carelessness and lack of defensive awareness that has caused so many dropped points always seems to be close to the surface.

It’s not to say players aren’t without accountability, but to focus on them as the root cause misses the point. There is a fundamental flaw to the Gunners this season, and the problem is not new: it’s the away form. Wenger has tinkered with tactics, formations, personnel as well as adding to and subtracting from his squad, like a scientist looking for the perfect formula, but nothing has worked.

This season they have just 13 points from a possible 42 on the road, and going back to last season, they’ve won just seven of their last 26 away from the Emirates. Why there is such a disparity between their home form — only the two Manchester clubs have better records this season — and away is hard to understand, but whatever the underlying cause is, the one thing that can be stated with some certainty is that the Arsenal manager has yet to find anything close to a solution for it.

By the time they play again in the Premier League on March 1 — the Carabao Cup final and lack of involvement in the FA Cup next weekend sees them go almost three weeks without a league game — Arsenal could be 11 points off the Champions League places with just 11 games left to play.

It would require something verging on miraculous for them to finish in the top four, and the worry will be if Wenger can keep his team motivated for games they know will have little difference on the overall outcome of their season.

The focus will almost certainly be on the Europa League, knowing that a win provides both a trophy and Champions League football, but it’s going to be a delicate balancing act for a manager in whom there is ever-diminishing faith. Arsenal’s recent record in cup competitions augurs well, but the Premier League underachievement remains a dark cloud that hangs over North London at the moment.

#Football

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