When the season kicked off in August, there was much uncertainty over Arsenal. The two previous seasons saw Arsenal struggle to finish fourth, and in the build up to this current campaign Arsenal’s record goal scorer Thierry Henry was sold to Barcelona. He was replaced with the unknown Brazilian born Croatian, Eduardo. Many pundits and fans alike predicted Tottenham would nudge Arsenal out of the top four. However, they failed to see Arsene Wenger’s master plan come into fruition.

Jens Lehmann made two errors in the first two games of the season, which made Arsenal fans wish this was not a harbinger for the rest of the season. However, Arsene Wenger decided to drop Jens and replace him with Manuel. And it’s proving to be a wise decision. Big Al made an impressive penalty save against Tottenham in December which helped Arsenal to victory.

Another player on the casualty list is Gilberto. He’s hardly getting any playing time. Partly due to him traveling and playing with Brazil in the summer, partly due to him aging, and partly due to how solid Flamini has been this season. The Flamster has been a revelation.

Arsenal got off to a blinder. Impressive wins against the likes of Spurs in September and Chelsea in December, along with crucial draws against Man Utd and Liverpool propelled Arsenal into first place.

As the season progressed, Arsenal became immersed in the Champions League and the Carling Cup. Easy qualification from the former, and a good run in the latter sees us into the Semi-Finals.

There are several possible reasons that may explain Arsenal’s improvement over the last year. Wenger did strengthen in the summer by buying a few players, but overall it’s the same team as last season. However, the loss of Henry proved to be the catalyst for the younger players to gain more confidence, along with naturally maturing. What’s stunning is that the players are now shooting from a distance and not always trying to walk and pass the ball into the net. This style was Arsenal’s fault in the last few seasons with them always trying to score the “perfect goal”. But now, Fabregas, Diaby, and Denilson have all scored a few stunners from several yards out. Most importantly, though, is the strong team spirit. Players will now get stuck in. The previous generation which included Pires and Henry were too soft. They were great players, but towards the end of their career with Arsenal they stopped tackling. But the fight and determination, and as Arsene always says “hunger”, is immense in these youngsters.

Arsenal head into the New Year sitting pretty at the top of the league, but only by two meager points. Arsenal have had a tough December which saw them lose their first Premiership game to Middlesbrough, stutter at Newcastle and Pompey, and struggle to victory over Everton – somehow scoring four goals. What’s important, though, is that Arsenal are now able to grind out results and win ugly due to the aforementioned determination.

Arsenal host West Ham on January 1st, let’s hope that they can ring in the New Year with three points, along with some party tricks from the flair of Fabregas, and Hleb’s dancing feet.

It’s been a successful first half of the season, and there’s all still to play for. There’s no reason why Arsenal can’t be champions this year.

Keep the faith. Arsene knows. He always has.