2014: The year of the Gunners? Happy January transfer window!

I hope all my readers had a very merry Christmas and enjoyed seeing Arsenal enter the new year top of the Barclays Premier League. It's been a wonderful season so far for us Gooners and this year looks to be very promising indeed.

After suffering a recent dip in form, it looked as though we might be about to drop down away from the title challengers but away wins against West Ham and Newcastle respectively have kept up momentum.

New Year's Day itself saw us leave things late to seal a win at home to Cardiff but it was in a game which we dominated. The same happened yesterday against Tottenham with regards to our domination and we were full deserving in progressing to the next round of the FA Cup

It was one of the best midfield displays I think we've seen all season against Spurs on Saturday and it was great to see Rosicky score his goal! Walcott did well in the striker role and it is disappointing to see him be added to the injury list.

Bendtner has looked more impressive as he returns to the first team and will be incredibly frustrated in picking up his injury against Cardiff, Walcott has hurt his knee, and Podolski is still trying to find full fitness. Giroud will be back next week as he only missed the Totemham match through illness but with Podolski lacking in match fitness and Park our only other striker in the team, Wenger will need to bring in an on loan striker for sure while he has the chance.

The likes of Mandzukic, Chicorito Hernandez, Benzema, and Diego Costa have all been circulating around the media but any deals for these kind of players will be summer moves. Barcelona's Pedro has also been mentioned and he would make a great signing, with the 26-year-old reportedly unhappy with first team involvement at the Camp Nou this season.

Another position I feel certainly needs strengthening for sure is right back. Sagna is strong but he frustrates me a lot. He doesn't look natural on the ball, often looks to pass it back than get to the byline, and often possesses poor delivery when crossing. Jenkinson isn't a reliable back-up either and while he can put in two or three good displays, he is then inconsistent or is prone to mistakes at any point.

We need quality in quantity and so be able to call upon strong players and big names across all positions. This is where Chelsea are strong in being able to have almost two starting elevens. With injuries creeping in, we need strength in depth to be able to keep up with those around us if we are to continue mounting a strong title challenge for the remainder of the season.

Still things are looking good for now and this is an important month with the window open. It still remains anyone's title as our lead is only slender. We're playing good football still though, grinding out results too but we need more goals. 

Following the win against Spurs yesterday, Arsenal will play Coventry at the end of the month in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Arsenal v Chelsea - regaining top spot should be Wenger's priority

We take on Chelsea on Monday evening knowing a win will ensure we will be top of the Premier League by Christmas. This would be a great feeling!

Of course, we have been top for most of the season but now to have let Liverpool and Manchester City overtake us as things stand is very disappointing. Only a couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to go seven points clear but in typical Arsenal fashion, we now find ourselves looking up rather than beaming down with such confidence.

Perhaps the pace and strength of the English game has caught up with Ozil, Giroud is struggling to keep up regular high performances, and we aren't able to call upon top class midfield or attacking back-up. In some ways the January transfer window can't come quickly enough.

I will try to analyse the rumours circulating around the media as to who will may be linked with, and Wenger must surely act when the window opens at the start of the new year. The stubbornness of the man though will mean we are unlikely to go for players in order to have strength-in-depth.

Having said that we do have the quality to beat Chelsea, particularly on home soil, and they didn't exactly outplay us in every department during the 2-0 League Cup game earlier this year. Wenger put out a disappointing side against a very strong Mourinho starting XI which was ridiculous. This time we will go out with a very different side and Chelsea are very much an up and down team this year, unlike Man City.

We need to forget about the result last weekend and hopefully the long break we have had will be beneficial this time around.

After Chelsea we play away against West Ham and Newcastle respectively and, based on how we have played for the majority of this season, these are games we should easily be picking up points in. Of course there is the worry we are about to go on a downward spiral, but let's hope not. Let's get back to winning ways on Monday night and look to regain top spot by the end of the year.

Arsenal must pick themselves up against Manchester City

Wow...so we cut it fine in progressing to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, but we're through and now have a mass of tough matches as we look to see in the new year.

Perhaps not helped by Arteta's sending off, the thoughts of playing Manchester City next on Sunday, or knowing simply a draw would have been enough for top spot, we were undone eventually by Gonzalo Higuain and Napoli.

Rumoured as one of our major transfer targets last summer, Higuain gave Napoli the lead in Naples on Wednesday night, before Jose Calejon chipped in a last gasp second, but still we qualified from the group in second place with Napoli looking ahead to Europa League action instead.

Gonzalo Higuain opens the scoring.

Borussia Dortmund beat Marseille 2-1 in the other group match, scoring the winner in the last minutes, which edges them in front of us on goal difference. Of course for us, as runners up, we now have to face the reality of playing either Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG, Atletico Madrid, or last year's winners Bayern Munich and we shall find out when the draw is made on Monday (16.12.2013).

I've heard Arteta's tackles were "needless" which resulted in his two yellow cards. I feel the Spaniard is not on par with Flamini in the defensive midfield position and I would certainly continue to pick the Frenchman over the Spaniard any day of the week. Having said that I guess Flamini can be a little reckless but he gets more stuck in with a hard but fair mentality which we haven't seen for some years in an Arsenal midfield.

We just had to make sure on Wednesday night that we didn't lose by more than three goals and when the second went in, our hearts both slowed right down and quickened in pace all at the same time. But the referee ended the game to the delight (sort of) of Arsenal fans (perhaps more relief) that we had progressed to the knock-out rounds.

Face of disbelief: Arteta feels the bookings were harsh.

Yes it will be difficult whoever we face but we have done well to be in with a chance of facing those clubs I listed earlier, considering I and a lot others, thought we would struggle in our group as of match-day one. We've proved fans wrong time and time again this season though, so we should take confidence despite Wednesday night's disappointing scoreline.

Of course Wenger has enjoyed reminding us all of the fixture congestion and the trip to Manchester on Saturday will have been in his mind when picking his side to play against Napoli. After City on Saturday we play Chelsea the following Monday (23.12.2013); the first time we have a whole week between fixtures since our loss to Manchester United. 65 hours separate our kick offs from Naples and Manchester and it is certainly going to be tough for us, especially when Manchester City maintain a 100% home record so far this season!

With a trip to Etihad Stadium followed by our home match against Chelsea, we travel to West Ham and Newcastle in the Christmas - New Year week, before hosting Cardiff on New Year's Day. Our F.A Cup campaign will begin against our greatest local rivals Spurs three days later, before we play against Villa; the side against who our season began.

For now let us hope to see our gap at the top of the league increase with a point or three gained against City, and await our fate in the Champions League last 16 draw at he start of next week. The match tomorrow kicks off at 12:45pm, UK time.

Old Boys: Former Gunners Song and Nasri during an Arsenal v Manchester City fixture.

Napoli v Arsenal - Champions League Matchday 6, last 16 place up for grabs

Since my last post a couple of weeks ago (and where has the time gone?) Arsenal have continued their good form with wins in the Premier League against Hull and Cardiff, and most recently earned a 1-1 draw against Everton as we sit five points clear at the top of the table.

Tonight is all about the Champions League however, and we will qualify so long as we don't lose by three goals or more against Napoli. They looked pretty average against us earlier this season, but proved a tough side in our pre-season friendly all the way back in August.

Pre-season is never much to go by however and current form will certainly prove a vital factor. Rafa Benitez's side are third in Serie A with a number of wins, aided by their earlier seven match unbeaten run at the start of the season. They will enjoy playing in-front of their home crowd tonight and so I wouldn't expect us to find it easy. But we've been scoring for fun this season and we are going their with a mentality to get a win and qualify as top of our group.

That said so are Napoli, who have have scored eight in their last three games and they will have former Arsenal target Gonzalo Higuain ready to pounce on any opportunity tonight.

Walcott has returned, and was slowly being reintroduced back into the first team originally around the time of my last post. His pace has obviously given us more in terms of attacking and Bendtner has also featured with Giroud needing a much earned rest.

Fair credit to the Dane too for scoring against Hull. It was clear what the goal meant to him, as he was handed his first Premier League start for Arsenal in 1,005 days!

In our last match however, a draw was probably the fairest result with Everton putting in a wonderful performance against us (somewhat frustratingly), but Ross Barkley will certainly be trying to stake his claim in the England side for next year's World Cup in Brazil. Ozil opened the scoring late on before Everton equalised just two minutes later. They way our defence has been this year though Napoli will do well to break through us tonight.

It will be a great match tonight I am sure, and I fully believe we will progress as group winners. It could be tight but the result will help our momentum and morale as we head into a difficult fixture period.

Ozil scores a brilliant goal to open his Arsenal goal-scoring campaign
in our 2-0 vicotry over Napoli at Emirates Stadium.