Arsenal may have drawn a blank for the second home game in a row, leaving us languishing at around the halfway point of the league table, but there are some positives to be taken. I may be over optimistic or simply naive here, but I do think that the Gunners are close to clicking into the sort of form we saw in the second half of last season and in pre-season.
One major positive is that our makeshift central defensive pairing of Chambers and Gabriel survived that horrible first half against Liverpool. It could have been so much worse for us and a real blow to their confidence if Coutinho had found the net with one of those shots off the woodwork.
Another major positive is the form of Petr Cech, who has quickly put his nightmare debut to one side and started to prove why he will be so important to Arsenal, while at the same time reminding the gobby Chelsea fans that they have done us a big favour.
For me though, the most important part of our game is the creative and goal scoring side, and while we are still not quite clicking into top gear, there are real signs that we are close. That sublime through ball and finish from Cazorla and Ramsey should have won us the game but we should be encouraged by it.
Alexis is getting closer to 100 percent and Ramsey and Ozil are starting to find their passing range. I don’t think we need to worry too much about Giroud as when the players around him start to create then he will come into his own.
I know that it has been frustrating so far and that we have not got much time to get going, but I would not be surprised to see the Gunners start to fire more than blanks this weekend.