I think we've actually been fairly unlucky this season - to say we've been horrible in the past 3 games is absolute rubbish.
The games we have lost, have all seen unfortunate circumstances surrounding them. The first 2 against the Manchester's, we had the Modric thing hanging over us, meaning we couldn't play him in one of them and in the other we took him off when we would never usually do that. We also didn't have Parker or Adebayor, and while it's really our choice to conduct business late in the window, it means we play two of what should be our closest rivals with a seriously weakened team. The Modric thing is definitely a factor though, and not our doing. That's Chelsea unsettling him.
Then we go on a great run. And we can completely done out of the game at Stoke by the referee. We then have Lennon injured and not able to play against Chelsea. Fair enough, we should have a deep enough squad to be able to cover if we want to compete at the top of the table, but it's just another example of bad luck and not being able to play our strongest team against the clubs closest to us. Bad luck.
We then keep doing well enough and we get to Emirates Marketing Project away. We are playing ok, but find ourselves 2-0 down. We then do brilliantly to claw it back to 2-2. Then, in what would probably be the last kick of the game, Bale squares the ball juuuuust beyond Defoe with too much pace when a simple tap in should have been able to hand us an amazing victory. But it misses Defoe, they go up the other end and score. The margin between us still being in the title race at that point (as well as an extra 3 points ahead of Arsenal and Chelsea) to them pulling further away is fag paper thin. Hugely unlucky.
We then do ok and get to Liverpool away. A point is a good result at Anfield, although our manager is in court and thus our coaches set us up to park the bus which isn't the way we would usually play. There's also the point of not having Redknapp there to motivate the players or make decisions to benefit us during the game, which is unlucky against a top 6 club. Once again we have no Lennon in an important game, and this time Sandro can't even come into the team. And even considering all that, we play well, Liverpool don't really trouble us too much whatsoever, and in the last 5 minutes Bale gets sent clean through on goal, one on one, and hits the ball straight at Reina. He had no-one around him, and should have buried that. It would have been 2 extra points, potentially keeping us in touching distance of the title and also pulling away from Arsenal and Chelsea. But no, we create the clearest chance of the game yet again and it doesn't fall our way.
We then continue in 3rd and get to the run we are on now. Arsenal was a game we didn't deserve anything from, of course not. However form does play a huge part, and so does psychology. Arsenal took a battering from everyone leading up to that game, and they could not have gone any lower. We on the other hand were media darlings after a 5-0 drubbing of Saudi Sportswashing Machine. We would have been more likely to get a result had Arsenal been on a good run, I'm absolutely certain of that. Even at 2-0 up, we never for a second looked like we would win that game. And it was because Arsenal simply could go no lower, the only place their confidence could go was up, and it has to happen in a derby where form goes out the window. This then hands them the confidence to come from behind and win their next 3 games after us, and coincides with our worst run of the season to close the gap between us. Once again, there is no Lennon in an important game. Maybe he wouldn't have made much difference in this game, but yet again we can't play our strongest team in the big games against the clubs closest to us and it costs us.
We then come to Man United, and despite missing Parker through suspension (not unlucky, our/his fault for getting the bookings) and Bale through illness (pretty unlucky, how can we stop that?) we play so well against Man United that SAF hasn't gotten out of his seat so much in years. And yet we lose, somehow. Unlucky against a club close to us in a big game. Again. Then we go to Everton, and fair enough the first 45 minutes was bad. However they scored from their one real chance and the second half was compeltely one way traffic. We hit the post with a chance from about a yard out, and the ball just wouldn't fall for us. A point would have been more than deserved. And that completes our bad run (so far).
We've been unlucky this season when it matters the most. I haven't even mentioned the amount of times Adebayor has somehow had goals disallowed due to being wrongly offside or through some phantom hand ball (Chelsea, a big game, and a game where Ashley Cole's handball in the buildup to their goal goes unpunished - the luck just isn't with us when it matters again). The margins are so fine, and in another year we could very well still be in the title race. There's probably other thing's I'm forgetting that have gone against us too.
As for luck that has gone our way, I'd say the only result that we managed to get when it was pretty clear we didn't deserve it was Fulham away. They had a lot of chances and we were lucky to hold on. I also won't count Wolves at home as us having bad luck (although did we not have a good goal disallowed in that one too?) as they came for a draw and got it, fair enough. Although if the goal I'm thinknig of should have stood then it is bad luck on our part! I'm not going to count Cahill getting sent off for Bolton as luck going for us because we would have probably won that much anyway, it's not a 'fine margin' piece of luck that has gone against us. The luck we have had against us has had a much greater impact because it usually involves teams close to us and therefore the swing is greater.
On the other hand, our luck seems to have all been placed in the FA Cup this year. Favourable draws, other big teams getting drawn against each other, and poor performances where we still seem to manage to get results has seen us in all likelihood book a Wembley appearance. Maybe we will start playing better starting from Bolton in the cup, and maybe we will get some luck in the league. That's what I hope.
I wouldn't be too hard on our management or players though. When it has really mattered to get the rub of the green this season, we just haven't got it.