goal.com
The Gunners are well placed to challenge for the league title but with the squad ravaged by injury and reliant on the Germany international, it is unlikely to be a stroll to glory.
Arsenal are in a fabulous position to challenge for the Premier League title and end a 12-year wait to be crowned kings of England.
The omens are good. The last two times the Gunners have sat in second place going into the festive period they have ened up winning the league.
Goal looks at what needs to happen over the coming months for history to repeat itself.
The Arsenal playmaker, even if he fell short of admitting it himself in the wake of another masterclass against Manchester City, is in the form of his life right now.
Ozil is turning into everything Arsenal fans hoped he would be when his signing was so rapturously received in the summer of 2013 and he is finally justifying the club record fee it took to prise him from Real Madrid.
Whether he is capable of maintaining such excellence throughout the season remains to be seen, while there is a significant chance he will fall victim to the Arsenal injury jinx at some stage.
In Wenger’s first double season, Robert Pires was enjoying similar demigod status before a knee ligament injury cut him down in his prime. Arsenal found a new hero in Freddie Ljungberg who carried Arsenal to league and FA Cup success that year, and if Ozil does go off the boil it will be up to the likes of Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey and Alexis Sanchez to step up to the plate.
Even the Arsenal manager admits his reputation as a careful spender is an accurate one but he insists he is ready to do business next month if the right player is available. The Frenchman is not averse to spending in January as the recruitment of Gabriel and Nacho Monreal in recent years attests.
Were Arsenal able to boast a clean bill of health the clamour to spend next month would not be quite so incessant. But with Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin out until March at the earliest and no fixed dates set on the returns of Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck, Arsenal are one more key injury away from a fully blown crisis.
Relying on the starting XI that have won three key games consecutively against Olympiakos, Aston Villa and Manchester City over the Christmas period could well have repercussions and force Wenger’s hand, regardless of whether the right player is on the market or not.
The last time Arsenal were in a position to challenge for the league title they were blown away at Anfield, Stamford Bridge and the Etihad Stadium, conceding 17 goals in three games in which they displayed staggering levels of defensive ineptitude.
The Gunners still must visit Liverpool, Manchester City and rivals Spurs - where they lost to a Harry Kane double last season - on the road, and face challenging trips to Everton and Manchester United.
Wenger’s men have already lost at Chelsea this season. They were blown away at the Allianz Arena and even their 5-2 win at Leicester was flattering. A 2-0 victory at Manchester City last season demonstrated Arsenal have it within them to pull off a big performance away from home but at present it remains an isolated result amid a series of worrying defeats.
The ultimate Marmite striker, you either love him your you hate him. Jamie Carragher struggled to articulate on Monday Night Football where Giroud stands in the modern game right now, while Thierry Henry infamously suggested in the past that his fellow Frenchman would be unable to drag his team to the title on his own.
Right now, however, he is pretty much all Arsenal have got, and will have unless backup arrives in January, or Danny Welbeck returns to full fitness earlier than expected.
Despite a chronic lack of pace and the ability to throw in a stinker when you least expect it - witness his display at Norwich last month - Premier League defences are struggling to cope with the former Montpellier man right now.
Whether this is a classic Giroud-esque purple patch or the start of a season-defining spree could well determine if Arsenal end up as champions or not.
Even if, as almost everyone anticipates, Leicester run out of steam, it is hard to imagine Arsenal will stroll to the title, despite the state of flux that their rivals find themselves in.
Manchester City will always have the capacity to spend their way out of trouble and surely a run of more consistent form will follow once Vincent Kompany returns to full fitness. Even as it stands, a gap of four points to a side which has won the title twice in the last three years hardly represents an almighty chasm.
The form of Manchester United and Liverpool hardly suggests they are in a position to put a run of form together to challenge the current pacesetters but they are both likely to be very different beasts come the new year, while the fact Tottenham have only been beaten twice this season has to be respected.
Undoubtedly, however, Arsenal are incredibly well set to end their wait for a Premier League title. They are justifiable favourites and they are unlikely to ever get a better opportunity.
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