Arsenal’s chances of winning a first Premier League title since 2003-04 were already decidedly remote as it was, but the 3-1 defeat to Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium extinguished the last remaining hopes.

There’s still plenty left to play for in the current campaign, with Champions’ League qualification via either a top four Premier League finish or by winning the Europa League now being the priority.

For the hopelessly optimistic among the Gunners’ faithful, you can now back Arsenal at odds as big as 125/1 (with Bet Victor) to win the Premier League.  More realistically, a ‘Top 4’ finish can be backed at 6/4 with Paddy Power, whilst Europa League success is a 6/1 shot with William Hill (which looks less than generous with the likes of Atletico Madrid, Napoli and Borussia Dortmund all potentially destined for the competition via the Champions’ League).

Anyone predicting a fourth FA Cup success in five seasons will be tempted by the 10/1 offered by Bet Victor and you can get a tempting 7/1 with Unibet for Carabao Cup glory.  All those betting odds will be subject to change over the coming days and weeks, so be sure to check out the Freebets.co.uk Arsenal team page for all the very latest bookies prices and football news from a Gunners perspective.

Events off the pitch could be equally fascinating at the club over the coming months, with changes clearly afoot at the Emirates Stadium.

It seems increasingly unlikely that either Alexis Sánchez or Mesut Özil will still be Arsenal players by the time the 2017-18 season gets underway.  Speculation that either player could be sold in the New Year seems wide of the mark, with Arsène Wenger being unlikely to sanction any sales with so much left to play for this term and with the January transfer window being notoriously difficult to sign top quality players should he require replacements.

From the player’s viewpoint, both Sánchez and Özil could almost certainly get better personal terms by moving at the end of the season on free transfers (and they can of course agree a pre-contract from January), so there’s little benefit in either seeking a move prior to then.

The summer transfer window could be hugely significant for Arsenal’s future, with the comings and goings being a good indication as to how the club will operate post-Wenger.

With Aaron Ramsey, Petr Cech, Danny Welbeck, Nacho Monreal and Theo Walcott all out of contract in 2019, the club will want to avoid a repeat of the contract situations with Sánchez and Özil, so there could potentially be some significant changes to the Gunners squad on the horizon should the players they want to keep not put pen to paper on new deals.

The imminent arrivals of Sven Mislintat as head of recruitment and Raul Sanllehi (Barcelona’s former Director of Football) as head of football relations, added to the earlier appointments of Jens Lehmann (first-team coach), Darren Burgess (Director of high performance) and Huss Fahmy (contract negotiator) are further signs of the club’s gradual transition process towards the eventual departure of Arsene Wenger.

Wenger’s announcement that he is set for an end of season review was seen by some as an indication that he might be leaving halfway through his current (and surely final) two-year contract, but this is just his customary annual review and is unlikely to signal anything more contentious taking place.

There’s no clear favourite in the managerial betting odds as to Wenger’s successor as yet, with Thomas Tuchel, Diego Simeone, Patrick Vieira, Massimiliano Allegri and Carlo Ancelotti being among the market leaders at present.

Recently, we’ve experienced an incredible match when the Gunners clashed against the Red Devils of Manchester United. As you all know, Arsenal was able to end the 25-match unbeaten streak of Manchester United in the Premier Leagues with a great score of 2-0 at the Emirate Stadium. At the same time, Arsenal has revived all hopes of securing a spot on the top four of the league after the goals scored from Danny Welbeck and Granit Xhaka.

The game was indeed Arsenal’s first competitive win over Manchester United under the management of Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese coach preferred to keep his players fresh for their Europa League match instead of keeping their chance of staying in the top four position in the Premier Leagues alive. The last time United lost a match was in October, and rotating the life-up for the Arsenal Vs Man Utd match has proved to be fatal for Mourinho.  Now with just a couple of matches left, the Gunners are keeping their fingers crossed to move up a rank on the table.

The Gunners managed to stay in the hunt for this much coveted fourth place in the Premier League during their awesome match against Southampton lately. The goals came in from Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez in the second half. This was Arsenal’s 4th win in their last five matches and if they can move within just one point of Liverpool, they can beat Stoke City.

It was Sanchez who played fabulous in the second half and slotted home in the box after wrong-footing two of the defenders. Giroud later came in as a substitute and nodded one in from a close range. Southampton was not threatening, with only one chance in the first half when Gabbiadini got a close range shot and forced Petr Cech to make the save. After this defeat, Southampton stays in their tenth position on the table. On the other hand, Arsenal has moved up to the fifth position, with only three points separating them from Manchester City, who are currently clinging to their fourth spot.

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Arsene Wenger seems to be handling the pressure well and has made his team deliver on the pitch despite many fans wanting him to step down. This short recovery of the team could mean that we will continue seeing him manage the team. He would most probably have to prove that he can still make Arsenal reach the top -four position in the Premier League for the twentieth year in a row. With their confidence boosted after their last few wins, we can only expect to see them bring out the best of football for this end of season.

It’s time to sit down, accept Arsene Wenger will be the manager of Arsenal for next season, and focus on what we need in the team to be Champions come May. There’s going to be a lot of talk about possible players coming in, with Kylian Mbappe and Riyad Mahraz looking real possibilities, but before we start getting excited about the new action men we need to clear some space in the toy box. There were some real disappointments last season but who should be cast aside and who should we hold on to like a Macron handshake?

Goalkeepers

So, an easy kick-off, as Petr Cech must stay. He hasn’t had the best of seasons, but Liverpool’s costly errors between the sticks proved what a tricky position this can be to get right. David Ospina should also remain and have game time in the Europa League and League Cup, shared with the young rookies Damian Emiliano Martinez and Matt Macey.

Defenders

Talk of Hector Bellerin moving is disturbing and, as one of the best in his position in the world, he must be retained. Laurent Koscielny is also a keeper and Nacho Monreal has done enough to be retained but shouldn’t be the first choice at left-back. Carl Jenkinson seemed to be out the door in January and should certainly be gone this transfer window. He’ll likely be joined on the bus out of Emirates Stadium by Kieran Gibbs, Mathieu Debuchy, and Calum Chambers. All of whom showed some promise but are unlikely to be representing a Premier League club with title ambitions ever again.

It’s been a long time since Per Mertesacker showed promise but his performance in the F.A. Cup final coupled with his experience and voice in the dressing room make him a valuable squad member. With Sead Kolasinac arriving on a free transfer from Schalke, we’re left with Shkadran Mustafi, Gabriel Armando de Abreu, and Rob Holding; of those three, Gabriel should be moved on.

Assuming Wenger continues to play three at the back, that gives us Koscielny, Mustafi, and Kolasinac, with Mertesacker, Monreal, and Holding as back-up. Bellerin is superb at right wing-back and we require someone of his quality to be brought in to take up the left wing-back role.

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Midfield

Who knows how our season might have turned out had one Santiago Cazorla not been so needlessly risked and subsequently injured. Hopefully, those injury woes are a thing of the past and he can form a midfield partnership with Granit Xhaka, with Aaron Ramsey and Mohamed Elneny providing cover in the centre. That leaves no room for Francis Coquelin, who has not been up to standard, and Alex Iwobi, who looks unlikely to ever make the grade.

Theo Walcott is still a great player, with a good goal and assist ratio and should obviously be retained along with Lucas Perez, who didn’t really get a chance last season. I would have been in favour of keeping Ales Oxlade-Chamberlain but if The Ox has had his head turned and is unsettled, we should get as much as we can for him. The same is true of Jack Wilshere; if you can’t hold down a place in Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth team, you’re not going to walk into the Arsenal team.

That leaves us with a few youth players to get some minutes in the cups and the elephants in the room, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. It goes without saying that they should be retained and a marquee signing or two early in the transfer window might just be enough to convince them that their future with the Gunners has the prospect of glory, despite what the bookmakers might think; Arsenal are an outside 12/1 for the 2017/18 title in the early football betting.

If they can’t be retained, Arsenal should make sure they don’t ply their trade in the U.K. next season and spend an obscene amount of money replacing them.

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Attack

This is easy; Yaya Sanogo is on his way, Danny Welbeck and Olivier Giroud remain at the club, and we spend big on a colossal centre forward who can guarantee twenty plus goals per season.

It’s crazy season for transfer gossip and rumours but let’s sort our house out first and only retain those that can make a meaningful contribution to the team. It’s a make or break season for Wenger and, without European football to really worry about, he needs to sculpt a team that’s capable of making up an 18-point gap and he can’t do that with deadwood lolling around the club.