A guest Post by @Wilsheristic that looks at the promise that this team holds.

“This is the Real Arsenal!” This hair-raising statement from the commentator resonated among the fans as we celebrated the showcase of spectacular football during the game against West Ham. Arsenal had showed us all a teaser of the movie we have all been waiting to watch. In those twelve scintillating minutes in the second half, Arsenal unleashed the fury of its wrath. On the press. On the critics. More importantly, on the cynics. Fan ecstasy dominated all around while pessimism crumbled.

The performance against West Ham was exhilarating, but I intend to use it more as a reference point than as a focal point for this post. Arsenal is on the cusp of reaching the light at the end of a tunnel and I do not say this without reason.

Lets first foray into the exhausted topic of player exodus. Arsenal’s colossus, Arsene Wenger, had recently claimed that he had in his hands a near-finished product in 2010 – a team which was on the verge of having the potential to replicate the performances of Arsenal’s best teams and one oozing with class and chemistry. This dream was shattered when the procession started. Regardless of the reason, a lack of loyalty among these exiting players was painful to see. You thought loyalty along the lines of “Other clubs never came into my thoughts once I knew Arsenal wanted to sign me” (Bergkamp) was a thing of the past.

Then came Wenger’s masterstroke: Tying six British players down. Six players from the same nationality contracted to play together for the better part of the next 3 years (at least). The move doesn’t guarantee the fact that all these players are going to end their careers at Arsenal but it does, unquestionably, breed loyalty. The list includes Wilshere, who is destined to be the captain at some point and who will no doubt demand loyalty himself and Jenkinson, who has an Arsenal DNA in the true sense of the word (Take that Fabregas!). Add to this list, Cazorla, Podolski, Giroud and Arteta, the last of whom had taken a massive pay cut to join Arsenal. Think about it, all these players are in the first (2nd for Arteta,Per) years of their contracts and if Newcastle and West Ham games are anything to go by, boy, this team has got some potential! Suddenly, you have got newly contracted players who are saying “When I heard the song the fans made for me, I felt I could die for them” or “I don’t kiss the badge and go to another club. I am here to stay.”

Sure, you might argue that our season with these players hasn’t been the most remarkable. To understand that, you have to consider the aspect of team chemistry. Wenger’s teams have always played well given time to gel (The Fabregas-Nasri-JW connect didn’t develop overnight). Giroud’s defence-dwarfing passes to both Poldi and Gibbs gives you a glimpse of a budding partnership. Poldi’s passing to teammates despite being one-on-one with the GK gives you a glimpse of a budding partnership. Santi congratulating Gervinho for scoring a goal in AFCON gives you a glimpse of a budding partnership. So, be patient. Good times are waiting.

Next, our strike force. Lets make a few things clear. We are the fifth most prolific scorers in Europe this season. We average over 2.2 goals a game. We have scored only one less goal than Manchester United after selling our main striker for £23m. And, we are just getting started. Let’s discard the possibility of a new striker for the meanwhile. People have been quite critical of Giroud until now and he showed them who’s Boss at Brighton and WHU. At least for the meantime. The near miss against Chelsea at home earlier in the season derailed his confidence. He rounded Cech to have an open goal but didn’t hit the target. Happens. But this is a guy who has top scored in his previous two leagues – one of them being Ligue 1 (Fun fact: Only one goal from headers). That his confidence is growing with every game and that he absolutely loves Arsenal fans, can catapult him into a lethal weapon. I think people have read or seen enough of Walcott to form a positive impression on their own. The dark horse here is Podolski. The importance of his partnership with Gibbs was highlighted when the latter was injured which coincided with the our lack of chances going forward and our defense starting to leak goals. Once the partnership was restored, the goals magically started to reappear and the defense presented a better picture. Surely not a coincidence? Podolski contributes immensely to our offense (part of that thanks to Gibbs) and has become the ultimate assist machine. Him and lazy? No thanks. There’s also the small matter of Joel Campbell and Gervinho, who is in roaring form in AFCON.

Imagine adding David Villa to this fold. *Goosebumps*

Our defense and midfield have been examined enough for me to jog past them, although, I would like to highlight a few points along the way. Prior to injuries to Diaby and Gibbs, our team resembled a fortress. Unfortunately, their injuries exposed an area we were found lacking in: “top quality” injury backups. With Ramsey moulding into the new Arteta (Wenger: CDM position is made for Ramsey), Jenkinson excelling as Sagna’s understudy, an impressive Coquelin on the horizon, Rosicky providing cover for Jack and Santi and a new DM imminent, Wenger has hit the nail on the head. Santos has drawn abuses from almost every section of our fans so much so that we have all conveniently forgotten how critical his goal against West Brom was last season. True, he has had a succession of poor games but in no way does that imply that he is inept. If Wenger, the man who orchestrated the Invincibles run, trusts him, so will I, blindly.

Finally, finances. A lot of people have spoken about this and I will try to have a piece of the pie too. It is safe to say that a part of the reason we haven’t exactly splashed the cash over the past few years is the stadium debt. However, if recent bids are anything to go by, we are on the way back. A bid for Hazard valued at  £32 million in the summer and a mysterious  £30 million do give you an impression that we are starting to flex our muscles. Though I am no expert, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are not far away from  £45-60 million bids. That we managed to finish in the top four whilst having a heavy constriction of finances and whilst being burdened by debts, speaks volumes about our manager and his players.

If the midfield trio of Wilshere, Cazorla and Arteta doesn’t breed optimism, I honestly have no idea what will.

I hope I have proffered a convincing insight into our bright future because I, as an ardent supporter, believe we are on the rise. Let’s galvanize the rise. Cynicism (read Piers Morgan) will only serve to pile on the pressure. Let’s cheer the players on their road back to glory instead of booing them on their way to the tunnel.  I will leave you with one of Arsene Wenger’s quotes which, sadly, emphasizes his own situation.

“The biggest things in life have been achieved by people who we would have judged crazy. And yet if they had not had these crazy ideas the world would have been more stupid.” – Arsene Wenger

For those who travel to Arsenal games by canal there is great news, the Department of the Environment have banned water fern, parrot’s feather, floating pennywort, water primrose and Australian swamp stonecrop from these shores. Don’t put your machetes away yet though, these plants are pretty prolific. Only last Sunday Camden looked like a scene from ‘The War of the Worlds’. And several dogs, children and small adults have gone missing whilst walking beside the Serpentine and the lake in St James Park….though the latter might be down to pelicans.

Liverpool next, which is always special and full of memories, like the time I almost got divorced over that bottle opener that came as a ‘gift’ in the season ticket pack a few years back. I am told that a woman can only take so much of, ‘…Thomas its up for grabs nowwww..Thomas..’, every time her worst half opens a bottle of beer, which happens quite often. Either way even now, after my bottle opener was found broken into four pieces in a fish pond four houses away, she goes into an uncontrollable rage at the mere mention of the name Michael Thomas and it has wrecked our relationship with close friends John and Tina Thomas and their son Patrick……..oh and their youngest son,  Michael..

Anyway that was an away game and the last time we played Liverpool, at Anfield (on September 2nd 2012) I remember wishing that I could watch the game in Saint-Denis in Paris, or Aubervilliers to be precise. Not far from the Stade De France. The game would have been screened in any number of bars in the area. There they love their football, particularly games featuring Parisian players and this game starred one of their own, for Aubervilliers is where Vassiriki Abou Diaby was taught to play football.

What a player. The last of the old French guard, Abou has restored my faith in football players. Although I have to say there were many new heroes on display that Sunday and I thought they were all superb. Abou though, has a special place in my heart. I was as enthralled by his display that day as I was in the games preceding the May Day match against Sunderland in 2006. I think it was David Pleat, but I might be wrong, who was waxing lyrical about Arsene’s ability to find ‘another Patrick Vieira’ just minutes before that horrendous Dan Smith tackle. ‘Dan went for the ball, unfortunately Diaby was quicker than him’, was the pathetic response of Kevin Ball. Unfortunately several other Arsenal players proved to be ‘quicker than’ their opponents in the seasons following including Eduardo and Aaron Ramsey, the career of both of whom was adversely affected by horrific leg breaks. The effect on Abou’s career has been palpable and is well documented and painfully followed by me and thousands of other Arsenal supporters.

Abou was imperious at Anfield. The whole team were superb and every one of them deserved a mention, including Olivier Giroud, whose movement was very impressive even then, of course we now know that he is a superb finisher and maker of goals and his ability to head the ball on is second to none. Vito Mannone, Carl Jenkinson, Thomas Vermaelen, Per Mertesacker, Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain, Mikel Arteta, Santo Cazorla, Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny, Aaron Ramsey, Andre Santos all stepped up that day. But for me, that Sunday, Abou was back, though not for long as it turned out. The imbalance caused by the leg break leaves him susceptible to muscle injuries, a condition which, I am advised, need not be permanent but requires a huge amount of hard work and patience.

In the event I watched that game in Pimlico, without my passport. Sorry about the passport bit but Pimlico always conjures up images of that film. Never fails. On TV in an apartment near to Tate Britain, that is where I watched the game. After and much later I came upon a fellow from Liverpool sitting on the kerb outside of a Peabody Trust building. He was singing ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’. I could tell he was lost and looking for Victoria Coach Station, they always are around those parts. I’ve lost count of the number of people who have asked me the way to Victoria Coach Station. They come from all corners of the world, even Liverpool.

‘Where are you heading’ I asked, with a wry smile on my face and feeling generous, as I always do when we win.

‘Home’ he said

‘Where’s that’ I asked, knowingly, fiddling with my long johns which I always wear to watch games even on TV and noting that I had put them on back to front again.

‘Camden…..now fuck off, Gooner’ he replied

I could just hear the strains of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ fading into the distance as he wandered off into the night weaving his way down the middle of the street to the tube……alone.

I seem to have told this story without mentioning a single Liverpool player, not even S….or G….and I am not going to because this game is about my team. I hope Abou will be playing he is improving by the game and is part of a fabulous group of players who to me look set to achieve greatness. Don’t care where Liverpool are in the table or where we are in the table partly because it is still January but also  because playing Liverpool is always one of those special occasions particularly as they have performed very well in recent fixtures only conceding three goals to Oldham Athletic who are in…errrr…League 1. I think that Liverpool will know they are in a game.

I love going to the football to watch Arsenal.

Frank

Guest post by Matt Windmill (@MattWindmill)

The sense of anticipation building as you catch the train, the odd glimpse of a red and white here and there, the knowing looks and acknowledgement from like minded strangers.

The breeze as you enter the fragrant air of North London, a sea of red, white, yellow and blue as the hustle and Bustle builds.

You can almost taste the nervous excitement as you walk along St. Thomas’ Road, weaving in and out of one way pedestrian traffic, the odd snippet of the same conversation heard, the smell of various international culinary delights filling your nostrils.

The glow of the floodlights of Highbury visible after dusk, like a homing beacon drawing hypnotised souls towards it centre.

The unmovable smile as you catch a first glimpse of 11 heroes in red & white jogging on to the immaculate pitch preparing to play the beautiful game just for you.

OK, OK, you caught me being a bit of an old romantic!

I still remember the first time I made that journey as a young boy, the smile and sense of awe not leaving me throughout, feeling lucky to be part of the greatest tribe in existence.

These days the walk is slightly longer, but no less atmospheric as the crowd assembles, flowing across the bridges to the greatest stadium in Club Football.

The current day is an interesting time, full of transfer tittle-tattle, stories on every medium imaginable of the next great player to pull on an Arsenal shirt, and of the one that got away.

Some of us are even ancient enough to remember when the first you knew of a new signing was the excitement of reading about it in the Evening Standard, I know, hard to believe for the younger generation permanently on the grid.

Loud voices from every angle, Football management experts, telling us who we should sign, mixed with so called ‘in the know’ character’s angling for more follower’s by tweeting the latest name of our next superstar.

Endless debate about what our great manager should be doing, the irony lost on those who think they can do better.

Amidst the madness it got me thinking, when did we forget to just support?

There is a clue in the title for those who are not sure what it means.

Unbridled support – through the good and the bad times, and before the doomer’s start, there have been plenty more good than bad.

Did a whole generation become bored of just supporting?

Are the negative souls amongst us just a reflection of today’s ‘want it all now’ society, or have they simply been spoilt over the last 15-odd years,  becoming so used to the high standards set and maintained by the greatest manager  in our history, that any slight drop is met with a teenage like strop?

You tell me, but in the meantime, if you see a guy walking along St. Thomas’ road with a big grin on his face ignoring all of the surrounding nonsensical conversations about the failings of Ramsey, or the limitations of Djourou, it might well be me, seeking to recreate the simple pleasure of going to see The Arsenal for the very first time.

I know I probably will never to be able to, but believe me I will get pretty damn close and I suggest those of a negative disposition give it a go sometime, you never know, you might even enjoy it.