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.

Arsenal conclude transfer business with Gabriel, having let four strikers go

#WelcomeGabriel #WelcomeBielik #AFCvAVFC

At last we've signed a defender! Gabriel is a 24 year old Brazilian who cost £11.2million, from Villarreal. His arrival, along with that of Bielik, a young but physical midfielder, and the recent emergence of Coquelin, has gone some way to addressing the weaknesses in our squad in central defence and defensive midfield. Having also let four strikers (Podolski, Sanogo, Campbell and Afobe) leave, our squad is now looking a lot more balanced and less top-heavy. Hopefully one or more of the loaned out strikers can still return, more experienced, to make the break through at Arsenal.

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.

Spurs (H), Gala (H) and now Chelsea (A). 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1? Predicted line-up.

#CFCvAFC #COYG

Chelsea away is arguably the toughest Premier League game we will face this season, and follows a draw and a win in our last two games against Spurs and Galatasaray. This is a massive opportunity to show that we've improved compared to last season, particularly away from home against the big teams, and put to bed the demons still lingering from the equivalent fixture last season. It is also, however, a chance to go 9 points behing the leaders after just 7 games, effectively waving goodbye to our title aspirations already. There is a lot at stake here, to say the least.