Reading 1-2 Arsenal (AET): Through to face Villa in the final

#RFCvAFC

We made hard work of it but eventually saw off a brave and battling Reading, thanks to two goals from Alexis. They weren't great goals, but Alexis has the determination that we so desperately need in these kind of tight games, and the directness that we so often lacked last season. While Alexis' opportunism got the goals and drew the attention of the pundits, I was impressed by the performance of Özil. While Reading were determined to give us as little time on the ball as possible, Özil was great at finding space and seemed to have the awareness and speed of thought to make the right decisions under pressure. Both Alexis and Özil are really beginning to look at home in this team, whether against the top teams or when battling against teams lower down the league(s).

Walcott needs to improve on practice run before Monaco

#AFCvWHU #MONvAFC

Since the huge disappointment of our loss to Monaco, our performances in winning our next four games have been really encouraging. Professional performances against Everton and QPR enabled us to brush them aside without needing to play our best, and against Man United we deployed a very similar system to the one that we used so successfully when we travelled to Man City.

Which Arsenal will turn up today?

#AFCvEFC

So our frustrations continue...

Wenger often speaks of the importance of consistency, yet we've struggled to find much this season. Just when things were starting to look up, we lost to Spurs, and we've had to fight to win subsequent games against Leicester, Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace. Then, having won three games, we seemed to expect to be able to brush Monaco aside with ease, giving them less respect than we gave Palace in the previous game.

Expectations shifting again, as we emerge from a turbulent November and December

We began the season with high expectations, having won the FA Cup and gained 79 points in the league last season. On top of this we made some excellent signings, including Alexis, who could provide the cutting edge and directness that we lacked, so it felt like we had the foundations on which to build a genuine title challenge.

And yet, only a few months on, having had our worst start to a season many years, it was becoming harder and harder to defend Wenger's decision not to strengthen the squad in defence and defensive midfield. We began the season with only 6 defenders in the squad: Debuchy, Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal and Gibbs. Suddenly, our expectations had shifted from potentially challenging for the League, to having to really raise our game to retain hope of finishing fourth again.

Arsenal 5 - 0 Aston Villa: Composed team performance with five different goalscorers

#AFCvAVFC

As is so often the case in football, a few good performances quickly silences the critics. The media's tune has quickly shifted from questioning Wenger's ability to take the club beyond aiming for fourth place, to suggesting that Coquelin is the player to complete our team, providing all that we were missing against the big teams, while the return of Özil and Walcott means that we have too much attacking talent for just one team.

Today was the perfect opportunity for us to slip up again; so often we feel we have improved, having dug deep in an important game, only to go and underestimate the team we face next and be brought back down to Earth with a bump. Instead, however, we performed with a confidence and composure to suggest that we are improving and can tentatively look forward to a positive end to the season.

Brighton 2 - 3 Arsenal: Arsenal capitalise on the weekend's games with hard-fought victory

 #BHAvAFC

Arsenal line-up (4-3-3): Szczesny; Chambers, Koscielny, Monreal, Gibbs; Rosicky, Flamini, Ramsey; Walcott, Giroud, Özil

This was a game where the result was much more important than the performance. The first half was comfortable, but Brighton really made us work for it in the second. The result, however, never really looked in doubt, and puts us in a great position to retain our trophy, with Chelsea, Man City, Spurs and Southampton all going out this weekend. It was great to see the return of Özil and Walcott to the team, as their creativity and pace (respectively) could potentially add a lot of options to our team for the remainder of the season.

Thoughts on Man City 0 - 2 Arsenal, and predicted line-up against Brighton

#MCFCvAFC #BHAvAFC

So, after a turbulent couple of months, things are beginning to look up again! How quickly expectations have risen as we demonstrate the discipline required to fell one of the giants.

Arsenal 3 - 0 Burnley: Alexis the main man again in improved performance

#AFCvBFC

Arsenal line-up: Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Arteta, Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alexis, Cazorla; Welbeck

That's now three good results on the bounce, and it was nice to see a half-decent performance for a change. Our last two performances against Anderlecht and Sunderland have been very poor, but this demonstrates that it is getting the three points that is the most important thing. Despite poor performances, good results give the team confidence, which then leads to better performances, hopefully allowing us to build further upon this sequence.

Anderlecht 1-2 Arsenal: Alexis wasn't celebrating after that shambolic performance!

#ANDvAFC

Arsenal line-up: Martinez; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Flamini; Alexis, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla; Welbeck

This game was in contrast to both of the last two games against Hull and Chelsea. This was the worst performance of the three, and yet the best outcome, putting us in a strong position to at least qualify for the next round of the Champions League. Wenger considers it important to win your home games, and then pick up one or two results away from home too. So far we are on track to do this, although at the moment it's impossible to see us getting a result against Dortmund, even at home.

Arsenal 2 - 2 Man City: Thoughts on Özil, defenders and 4-1-4-1

#AFCvMCFC

So the six first team defenders we had, to cover the back four positions, has now become five, following a nasty looking sprained ankle for Debuchy. We don't yet know how long he'll be out, but Chambers is an able deputy for Debuchy, which actually makes us better prepared for an injury at right back this season than we were last. However, a further injury at right back, or any injury at centre back, will force us to call upon the 19 year-old Bellerin to play at right back. Having recently broken Walcott's club record for sprinting 40m, Bellerin certainly doesn't lack pace, and is effective going forward, but he has next to no Premier League experience.

Post-Leicester thoughts on formation and transfer jealousy

#LCFCvAFC

 So, after a disappointing result away to Leicester, it's transfer deadline day, and calls for Wenger to sign a striker have reached fever-pitch.

Firstly, some thoughts on yesterday's game:

Starting line-up: Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Flamini; Alexis, Ramsey, Cazorla, Özil; Sanogo

So it seems that 4-1-4-1 is here to stay, and Özil remained on the left side, despite revealing in a recent interview with the Telegraph that he feels strongly that his best position is the 'number 10' playmaker role, through the middle. He also mentions that he prefers the right, where he has played for Real Madrid, to the left, where he was positioned for Germany in the World Cup. This makes Wenger's insistence on Özil playing on the left all the more strange. Some possible explanations are that Özil is just positioned there while he is regaining full match fitness, that Wenger wants to make space for both Wilshere and Ramsey to play in the two central midfield positions, or that Özil is positioned on the left as this allows Arsenal to break more quickly when we regain possession of the ball in our own half.

Everton 2 - 2 Arsenal: Match thoughts and a defence of @_OlivierGiroud_

#EFCvAFC

 I went into this game hoping for more than a draw, as this was our first real chance to demonstrate that we've improved from last season, away from home against a top-five team. Having watched the match, however, I feel that this is a point gained rather than two points lost. I'm not sure that our performance demonstrated much improvement, but in the same fixture last season we got thoroughly beaten. We certainly demonstrated some heart and desire to get anything from this game, and I'm left wondering whether we had one eye on the more important Besiktas fixture on Wednesday.

Starting line-up: Szczesny; Debuchy, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal; Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil; Alexis

New signings provide positives in tough game against Palace. 3 points gained

#AFCvCPFC

 A 2-1 win at home to Crystal Palace means that we are now 3 points better off than we were at the same stage last season. We had plenty of possession throughout, but made really hard work of forcing a win. Going forward we really struggled to create any clear chances, partly due to Crystal Palace's organisation, but also because we lack match sharpness.

Team line-up: Szczesny; Debuchy, Chambers, Koscielny, Gibbs; Arteta; Sanchez, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla; Sanogo

Change to 4-1-4-1 offers new solidity in Man City victory

#CommunityShield #AFCvMCFC

 How good does it feel to come away with a 3-0 win against a top Premier League team?! The main thing that we need to improve from last season is our results against the top teams, having been on the wrong end of some severe drubbings last season. On that front, this latest result is undoubtedly a step in the right direction and that, for me, is more important than the fact that we picked up our second piece of silverware in 3 months.

While beating any Man City team is no mean feat, there is no doubt that they were missing several top players, including Aguero, Kompany and Fernandinho, among others. What had a bigger impact though, was that Man City didn't look at all interested! It's difficult to tell if this was due to Toure and Fernando being overrun in the middle of the park (us playing well), or City not being ready.

First our hopes are raised. Quickly followed by questions!

#EmiratesCup #Sanogoal

So it's difficult to read too much into friendly games, but it's always nice to get a taster of how the new players might fit into the team, and how existing players might change their roles for the season ahead. It's also our first chance to see us against first-class opposition.

On seeing the team-sheet for the Benfica game, I was excited about seeing how the new players would perform - Chambers, Campbell, but also Sanogo, Bellerin and, to a lesser extent, Martinez in goal. However, the main things that struck me were that Monreal was playing centre back, we were lined up in 4141, without the double-pivot of 4231, and that Oxlade-Chamberlain was positioned on the left. It seems to me that in our first 11, Ozil will start in the CAM role, with either Giroud or Sanchez up front, and the right will be taken by Walcott or Sanchez. Our left-sided forward position is up for grabs with neither Podolski or Cazorla entirely convincing in the role last season. So the main question for me, going into this game, was whether the Ox could make this position his own.