There is a school of thought amongst many Arsenal fans that, although we are up challenging for the title right now, Wenger’s teams have a consistent history of dropping away from the top and ending up in a dogfight for third or fourth place. The fact is that this has happened so many times that it is a little difficult to argue with these pessimists.
But surely this year will be different? We have a much bigger and more talented squad than in previous seasons, and we should be able to cover better if we get our usual injury glut. The Telegraph Sports writer Jeremy Wilson usually gets the scoops on what is happening at the Emirates, and he believes that this year could be Arsenal’s for a change.
“There is a strength in depth about them that there hasn’t been before,” said Wilson.
“He’s deliberately holding [Aaron] Ramsey and [Olivier] Giroud back and giving them a full pre-season almost. I feel like it’s ready for what happens in November when they lose two or three players and normally things unravel to some extent at that point of the season.
“If you go through the squad, the team they played in the EFL Cup against Nottingham Forest, and the team they’ll play against Reading, it’s full of internationals.
“From one to 23, it’s hard to find a better squad. Whether they’ve got the best team, and that striker – if [Alexis] Sanchez can carry on – is maybe the question, but they have a squad that is as strong as any in the league, and stronger than anything they’ve had in a few years.”
“This thing about ‘they’ll bottle it’, you could level that at the [Cesc] Fabregas group of players – Denilson and all those lot.
This lot, if you go through the team; [Petr] Cech has won everything, Ozil’s won the World Cup, Sanchez has won Copa America twice.
“Arsenal as a club have not won the league for a long time, but those players have won everything in the last five or ten years, so we will see what happens.
“We know the history is that come April or May that they are not still up there but they look like they should be.”
So do we all really believe, like Jeremy, that this year will be ours? Has Wenger finally got the balance right?
Darren