As 2010 draws to a end what a year it has been for us loyal arsenal fans. Another year where we fall just short in the title race and another year without a trophy. Add England\’s dismal World Cup campaign into to the mix and 2010 was looking like a year to forget. But at the start of every season Arsenal are the front-runners for every competition and with the addition of a decent striker in Chamakh and two solid centre halves in Squillaci and Koscielny things were looking up.
Four months have passed since the season began and it is already noticable where Arsenal have improved and what they must work on. Firstly they can now mix it up physically with other teams and seem to have more strength in depth in the squad. The drastic improvement of Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs has seen them make their England debuts. Plus yet more talented youngsters are coming through in Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Havard Nordveit and Wojeich Szcesney. All of these factors has helped Arsenal into the semi final of the league cup, second in the premier league and practically into the last 16 of the champions league. What we have seen this season though is Arsenal\’s inability to kill games off. Spurs at home is unfortunatley an example of that. Another is the lack of clean sheets, a run of 16 games away from home without a clean sheet is a mid-table type of team form. While teams come to the emirates now looking to punish arsenal on the counter instead of parking the bus.
However i am fully confident Arsenal will earn from games such as spurs, west brom and newcastle. But can Arsenal win the premier league? The christmas games against Man United and Chelsea will be a real test to see if we can, we all remember what happened the last time those two teams came down to the Emirates. Another question is can Arsenal finally end their trophy drought? Yes we can. The league cup although not a bigger trophy than the f.a cup, premier league and champions league may be the boost we need to drive forward and suceed towards the end of next season, so winning that should be a huge priority next year and the teams remaining are teams we usually beat every year. And who knows the way Chelsea and Man United are currently playing Arsenal could be parading round Islington on an open top bus celebrating another double!
Keep The Faith. Onwards 2011.