It is now exactly two weeks since Arsenal lost our midfield warrior Francis Coquelin to a knee injury in the Premier League match away to West Brom. Many of us thought that any realistic chances of us winning the title left the Hawthorns pitch with the combative Frenchman, so the news that he is back in full training is a massive boost for the Gunners.
An early comeback for Le Coq is just what Arsenal fans needed to hear after two away draws in a row at Liverpool and Stoke cut our lead and made the fight for the title look very tight again. While I think that Mathieu Flamini has done an admirable job of stepping in to cover, you will always miss your first choice players to some extent.
That extent has been significant as well, with a statistical report in The Mirror showing that with Coquelin this season the Gunners have conceded just 0.8 goals per game but that rises to 1.3 without him. And that is not just down to finishing or luck as Arsenal´s opponents only managed 10 shots a game with him but 15 per game without him.
Now that Arsenal have the main man back in front of the defence, or soon will, we will be a lot harder to score against and with Alexis Sanchez also back and Ozil in creative genius mode, are the Gunners now favourites for the title?