Football experts doubted Arsenal’s chances after somewhat disappointing last season but Arsene Wenger’s men have had pretty good start of the season. They are doing well on all fronts and everybody at the club are hoping to end the trophy drought this term. Premiership title race is definitely the priority but we also have a good chance to fight for trophies in all other competitions.

Probably the biggest reason for such a good results this term is Wenger’s decision to switch to 4-3-3 formation that is working like a charm. Song Bilong has been impressive as a holding midfielder and his excellent defending skills allow both full-backs and other midfielders to go forward without any pressure of being forced to return to their own half as soon as possible once the ball has switched possession. Fabregas and Rosicky thus have more freedom to roam forward and no wonder the Gunners are scoring so many goals this term.

The arrival of Thomas Vermaelen has added a lot of stability to usually shaky defence and he now forms a formidable partnership with William Gallas. It is interesting that the boss opted to use Van Persie as the tip of the three-man attack, but only because the Dutchman usually drops deep and creates space for his teammates coming from the wings and midfield. As a result, Arsenal are leading the soccer stats charts with 29 goals in 9 league games and the interesting thing is that no less than six players scored 3 goals or more.

The situation with injuries is also improving as Rosicky, Walcott and Nasri are back in contention and Wenger finally has big enough squad to cope with the busy schedule. He will definitely need all the key players fit if the Gunners are to challenge for trophies this season. At the moment, Arsenal are looking very good and the team are playing with a lot of confidence, which is a very important thing. The team are also very consistent and if they keep their current run of form, then anything is possible. All things considered, this looks like a promising season for the Gunners.

Arsene Wenger’s plan of creating a team capable of competing with the best in England is slowly falling apart and things are not looking very promising for the Emirates outfit. Arsenal have just finished the fourth successive season without trophies and the title drought is likely to continue. Apart from Thomas Vermaelen, who is not really a world class player, Wenger failed to sign any new players, whereas a couple of Gunners are nearing the exit door. Hence, another disappointing season is on the horizon and Arsenal should be happy if they achieve a top 4 finish.

Arsenal fans have had a horrid time in the past few years and the only comfort is that Spurs are in even bigger problems. Four years without silverware is too much for a club like Arsenal and they fans have even turned against Arsene Wenger, and rightly so in our opinion. His stubborn policy of signing only talented youngsters is one of the reasons of club’s decline and that was evident when he finally gave in and signed Andrei Arshavin. The Russian playmaker did more in six months than Wenger’s kids did in the last couple of years and the French manager was expected to finally change his transfer policy.

Nevertheless, the only player Wenger has signed so far is Ajax defender Thomas Vermaelen, whereas he has missed out on a couple of players that could really make a difference at Arsenal. That last one of these was Felipe Melo, an outstanding midfielder, who chose Juventus even though Gunners had looked to be winning the race. It is no wonder that world class players no longer want to join the Gunners, and who can blame them.

Considering that Emanuel Adebayor is nearing the exit door and that Wenger has already stated that he would sell Fabregas if a good offer came in, Arsenal fans do not have much to hope for from next season. Top 4 finish is all they can hope for, although if City continue to reinforce the squad, Gunners could end up missing out on the Champions League as well. Therefore, you might consider overlooking Arsenal when trying to find best football picks next season.

Arsenal were given good chances to enter the title race before the start to the current season and they were ranked as third favourites behind Manchester United and Chelsea. The odds on Arsenal to win the Premier League were nothing special (5.50) as many pundits believed that Wenger’s youngsters have matured enough to mount a serious title challenge. However, numerous injuries to Wenger’s star players denied the Gunners a chance to enter the race with Manchester, Liverpool and Chelsea and they ended up fighting for the top four finish.

The Gunners had a very poor start to the season and they were unable to reach the form that had served them so well the previous season. Arsene Wenger’s team were quickly out of the title race, and people started criticizing Wenger’s coaching methods. He was blamed for sticking with his tactics of playing talented but too inexperienced players and even the fans turned against him. He was also blamed for letting the players like Flamini, Giberto and Hleb leave the club without bringing decent replacements. The French manager was going through the worst stages of his career at the club, and numerous injuries to the star players only added to the worries. At one stage to the season, Arsenal were trailing seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa and they seemed to be out of the race for the Champions League place but all that changed in the space of just few weeks.

Wenger seemed to have finally broken under pressure as he signed experienced playmaker Andrei Arshavin in January to boost his injury-depleted squad. In the absence of injured Fabregas, Walcott and Rosicky, the team desperately needed some creative spark and Arshavin was the perfect answer to the problems. The team started playing much better since his arrival and Gunners quickly closed the gap on Aston Villa. The injured players started returning from injuries and the Gunners finally played to their potential. What seemed to be a very disappointing season could still turn into one of the most successful seasons in club’s recent history as Arsenal will definitely achieve a top four finish in the Premier League, whereas they are still in contention for the title in both Champions League and FA Cup. You could argue that the Gunners are unlikely to win both Champions League and FA Cup, but not many people believed that Arsenal will catch Aston Villa in fourth, let alone create an eight-point advantage in such a short period of time. If you are a true Arsenal fan and believe that this is possible you may be interested to put your money where your mouth is as Expekt gives odds of 20.00 (1/19) on Arsenal to win both FA Cup and Champions League. With Expekt bonus (100% on the first deposit) for new customers you may even double that odds and eagerly await the end of the season.

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