By the time we get to the end of February Arsenal should be in the quarter-finals of the FA cup and we will also have a much better idea if we have got any chance of getting to the same stage of the Champions League as Barcelona will already have been to north London for the first part of our two legged tie.
But even though we are all desperate for the Gunners to do well in these cup competitions it is the prize of the Premier League trophy that we are really after. And Arsene Wenger reckons that the month of February is a massive one for Arsenal in the quest to regain that title of champions.
In a report on the Arsenal website the Frenchman explains that he is targeting a very positive month and that the return of key players like Alexis Sanchez and Francis Coquelin from the injury list should help the team to push on and take control of the title race. He admitted that January was not the best month in terms of points gained but he also thinks that the performances have not been too bad and that as long as the players can cope with the pressure of expectation then we should end the month in a very good position.
Wenger said, “The [coming weeks] can be pivotal but not decisive. They will give a clear indication of the strength of the teams and who can cope with the importance of the games. At the end of the day somebody will win and the team who will win has to go through the important games with strong performances.
“It’s a big month for us. I am quite confident, having everybody available, that we can do very well. What is important now is for us to be capable of focusing and coping with that kind of expectation level.
“I don’t feel that we have really struggled recently because we had two difficult away games with Stoke and Liverpool and we didn’t lose. We had a bad result against Chelsea and of course, if you put the three results together, it looks like we’ve struggled but overall the Chelsea result is under special circumstances.
“If you take the history of our season, we started with a defeat against West Ham and the way we responded and where we are today shows that this team has the capability of responding under pressure. I’m sure that we will show that in February.”
The schedule for Arsenal this month is Southampton at home tonight, Bournemouth away on Sunday and then a week off before Leicester come to London the following Sunday. Then it’s Hull City in the FA cup the next weekend, Barcelona at home on the Tuesday and the month ends with Man United away.
How happy do you think Arsenal fans will be after all that?