Belief Is Everything For Arsenal

When you go through a season of Premier League football, there are plenty of highs and lows that you have to deal with – but sometimes, if you get yourself on a really strong run of form, you can enjoy many more highs before the lows even start to factor into the equation.

That’s the case for Arsenal Football Club right now because after years of mediocrity, especially in terms of the top flight, they’re beginning to look like the team that many hoped they could become under the guidance of Mikel Arteta.

The Spaniard has spent a long, long time trying to form a squad capable of consistently mixing it up with the best of the best, and he’s had many setbacks – most notably the dozen or so times when fans and pundits were calling for him to be sacked.

Alas, this man isn’t a quitter, and he knows that you’ve got to give a little in order to get a little.

After 12 games, Arsenal are currently two points clear at the top of the Premier League table with ten wins, one draw and one defeat, and in the two games in which they did drop points, you could argue they should’ve gotten something out of it.

Their squad seems to have the perfect balance of composure, skill, experience and excitement, which is probably why they’ve kept up the pace with a third of the campaign gone.

There are some negatives, obviously, with one of the most notable being the inclusion of a midfielder who has been accused of some fairly serious crimes and probably shouldn’t be anywhere near a football pitch.

That isn’t something that should be swept under the rug and from a respect point of view, we don’t have a whole lot for Mikel Arteta in that regard.

If we’re just going to focus on the football, though, yesterday’s 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest alone just shows how much Arsenal have been able to grow and develop in years gone by.

They are, genuinely speaking, a force to be reckoned with at the elite level, which isn’t something that we’ve been able to say for a long, long time.

They still have to deal with Europa League football as opposed to getting back into the Champions League but if there was ever going to be a season in which that changed and they vaulted back up to the big time, it’s going to be this one.

We said back in August that a top four finish and perhaps a piece of silverware would be a really strong bit of work for Arteta and company.

We still believe that to be true but as it turns out, the piece of silverware may actually be the Premier League trophy – and even though there’s a long way to go, you can tell Pep Guardiola isn’t going to underestimate what they can do.

Buckle up, North London, because we have a feeling that things are going to get wild between now and June.