Arsenal need to shine in November

October has been an epic month for the Arsenal. It was the month that saw them turn around their fortunes. It was the month during which they’ve prospered in Europe and they’ve clawed themselves back up the league. Three wins on the trot have put them within a stone’s throw of the top four. Wins against tricky teams like Stoke and Sunderland, as well as that rousing victory at Stamford Bridge, have given the players some of their confidence back.

However, November is going to be much more important. If the Gunners don’t consolidate their good form then it’s all for nothing. A win on Tuesday will see them qualify for the knock-outs of the Champions League. That’s the first step. The next step is to put together a run of wins that will see them back into contention for a European place. West Brom, Norwich and Fulham are the three teams to play; all of them beatable. 9 points from those games and not only are Arsenal out of their ‘crisis’, but they’re back in business.

There are many positives to take away from the last few days, but there are also reasons to keep our feet on the ground. The defence still looks weak; we can’t rely on Robin van Persie and Gervinho to score more than our opponents every week. We need to stop set-pieces being such a problem. Apparently, Arsene Wenger doesn’t bother spending much time on set-pieces in training, but it’s become an obvious Achilles heel and teams exploit it.

We need to look at the ongoing situation regarding player fitness and injuries. Yes, some of our problems are to do with the rough-and-tumble approach that teams take against us, but it also has to have something to do with how hard the players are pushed in training. We can’t be so unlucky that we’ve constantly got half a dozen players on the physio table, can we?

We need reinforcements in January. What happens to us if/when Van Persie gets his inevitable injury? What happens when we lose another key midfielder or when two more defenders get injured? We still need a couple of new faces brought in. Gotze keeps getting mentioned, as do Vertonghen and Hazard; also the rumours that we’re intent on signing M’Villa just won’t go away. Players of this calibre are always welcome at the club, but Wenger needs to choose wisely if he is to develop the team instead of stifling the development of players like Wilshere and Ramsey.

We can all be satisfied with recent results and, for the first time in a long time, we can be truly optimistic about the month ahead. Yet we also have to keep our feet on the ground and remember that we’re still improving; we’re not the finished article just yet.

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