The draw at Southampton left Arsenal fans divided; some saying it was a good point while others argued that it was the start of a “downward spiral” of results, especially with the challenging fixture pile up we have over the next month or so. Our fixtures over the next 2 months, as you will probably already know, consist of the following matches:

February:

Crystal Palace (H) Sunday 2nd
Liverpool (A) Saturday 8th
Manchester United (H) Wednesday 12th
Liverpool (H) Sunday 16th
Bayern Munich (H) Wednesday 19th
Sunderland (H) Saturday 22nd

March:

Stoke City (A) Saturday 1st
Swansea City (H) Saturday 8th
Bayern Munich (A) Tuesday 11th
Tottenham Hotspur (A) Sunday 16th
Chelsea (A) Saturday 22nd
Manchester City (H) Saturday 29th

Out of the 12 matches games we have over the “crunch” period in our season, you would say that 8 of those were “blockbuster” games. Most teams are lucky to get that many massive games over an entire season, nevermind over the course of 8 weeks.

There’s no doubt that February and March is a huge period in Arsenal’s season and you can see why a lot of Arsenal fans are wary of how we’re going to do over the next 2 months.

Let’s start off with the negatives.

The first one is injuries. We have Theo Walcott out for the season, and there’s no doubt that we will miss his impact in the title run in. Aaron Ramsey is out for longer than we all thought, and Rosicky and Jack are still out with an ankle and nose problem respectively.

Mathieu Flamini is also out for 4 games now, after his stupid two-footed challenge against Southampton. Mikel Arteta is the only recognised “defensive midfielder” remaining and he’ll have to put in some exceptional performances against Liverpool, Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

Another problem is the striker position. Olivier Giroud is our only real good option up front – and Nicklas Bendtner the only backup. I know a lot of us have made fun of Bendtner but to be fair to him whenever he’s been called upon he’s done okay. But I just don’t think that’s enough firepower to lead Arsenal to the Premier League title.

Defensively we don’t look as solid as we used to. The back line of Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Gibbs looks excellent and really strong, but as Monreal showed against Southampton, he’s not good enough to fill in for Gibbs. Hopefully Arsene will have a slight re-shuffle and put Thomas Vermaelen at left back, as he’s a player who is desperate to play games and you know he’ll give 110%.

So now to the positives.

Our squad isn’t as strong as Manchester City’s or Chelsea’s but one area where we are well-catered for is in midfield. Even with the players mentioned out of action, we still have Mikel Arteta, Santi Cazorla, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Serge Gnabry. We also have Lukas Podolski and Mesut Ozil, who can be used in slightly deeper positions.

With those players in the side (and others to come back), we still have a lot of guile and creativity in the team.

And another big positive is the form of Szczesny. This season he has been outstanding. Apart from a couple of terrible “clearances” from the back which almost cost us goals, he has been sensational. By far the best goalkeeper in the league this season, he has kept us in numerous games this year with some stunning saves. As the teams form has dipped in certain games, Szczesny has been consistent and excellent between the sticks.

And he’s going to have to be on top form going into our killer run in.

There have been many narratives to Arsenal’s season so far – how will Arsenal cope with Olivier Giroud as our only “real” centre-forward and can we go the distance this season?

But another story is about Lukas Podolski.

We have Nicklas Bendtner out injured, and Olivier Giroud needs resting now and then. And even if that wasn’t the case, Podolski usually plays out wide anyway, and we have Theo Walcott out for the season and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has only just returned from serious injury.

But yet Podolski can’t seem to get a game.

The German has been out himself for the best part of 3 months and now he’s come back to full fitness and we’ve got important players out for whatever reason, he still can’t get into the starting line-up.

He has a phenomenal shot on him, he scores goals and possibly more importantly, his delivery from wide positions is excellent. With him in the side, Olivier Giroud is always going to get 2 or 3 great chances to score from a cross.

So why can’t he get into the first eleven?

Against Aston Villa, we saw an annoyed Lukas Podolski on the bench when he was overlooked to replace Tomas Rosicky. Podolski is also a fans favourite and always seems to be laughing and joking with the rest of the lads. So what is going on?

From the outside, he is a dangerous player who can give a lot to the team. He also has Özil and Mertesacker playing on a regular basis so there’s the German contingent there, much like the Cazorla-Arteta-Monreal links.

I find it hard to see why he isn’t played more. Does he not press or defend as much as Arsene Wenger likes? Arsene has always talked up Podolski whenever he’s been asked about him but it seems like Serge Gnabry and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are already ahead of him in the pecking order.

Does anyone know why Lukas has been left out in the cold? Answers on a postcard please because I don’t know!

Most experts or pundits say that after 10 games of the season you can judge a team on how well they’re going to do that season. After 10 games of this season, Arsenal were first in the table with 25 points. Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham were 5 points behind in 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and Manchester City were in 5th position on 19 points.

Now we have reached 22 games and where are Arsenal? Still top.

But despite this, most people still think that the title is going to Manchester City or Chelsea.

Liverpool and Tottenham have dropped off since then, while Manchester City and Chelsea are only within 2 points of Arsenal.

We have lost the 5 point lead we had earlier in the season but every time we’ve needed to win to stay top, we have. Manchester City are raving about scoring 100 goals this season, but the fact of the matter is you still only get 3 points for a win in the Premier League.

Arsenal are sitting top of the Premier League after 22 games, and that’s with a lot of injury problems on the way. Manchester City have spent obscene money and have squad which is probably cost 5 or 6 times more than ours did to assemble. Chelsea have spent a lot of money as well and this season alone, we’ve lost many key players. Diaby, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo, Rosicky, Podolski, Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Gibbs, Sagna, Mertesacker, Özil, Giroud and Bendtner have all missed games due to illness or injury.

And we’re still top!

I’m not sure what else we can do to be considered “serious” title challengers.

We’ve won games when we haven’t played well, we’ve played some scintillating football this season, we’ve had a solid defensive attitude and reduced the number of goals we concede over the last 12 months, and scored goals from all over the pitch.

Szczesny has been the best goalkeeper in the league this season, we have a good mix of experienced and young players, and our best player Mesut Özil is currently playing okay but still has a few more gears to get through to reach his peak – and that only has to be a good thing going into the second half of the season.

So what negatives are there?

The only one I can think of is our “record” against the top sides. We beat Liverpool and Tottenham already this season, drew against Everton and Chelsea but lost to Manchester City and Manchester United. The only grumble I have out of those 6 matches were the games in Manchester.

Against Liverpool and Tottenham we got our game plan right and played a high tempo game which got us the 3 points. Everton were fortunate to nick a point and Chelsea parked the bus. But against Manchester United, we were to cautious and should have really taken the game to them. And against free-scoring Manchester City, we probably should have played a similar system to the one in Dortmund and tried to steal the game on the counter-attack.

With only a one point lead at the top, I suppose it will be the remaining games against the top sides which could prove decisive.

But then again, we seem to be the only team who have a consistent record against the rest of the league, so in the end that may be enough.

There has been a lot of speculation about Arsenal splashing out somewhere in the region of £37 million on German International Julian Draxler.

Does anyone else see this as pie in the sky?

Why on earth would Arsene Wenger spend that kind of money on a 20 year old attacking midfielder?

We need backup or competition for Giroud, not someone we need to “mould” into a top class striker.

Never mind the fact that he needs time to settle into the Premier League, he is a lot of money (by Arsenal’s standards) and just because we spent £42.3 million on Özil doesn’t mean we’re suddenly going to spend crazy money here, there and everywhere.

Another issue is that we need someone to boost this seasons title challenge, and some reports are suggesting that he is out injured until March with a ruptured tendon.

So signing him, especially for that money, makes no sense whatsoever.

Also, you have the fact that the “expert” where this story originated from was the same person who said Gonzalo Higuain was “definitely” going to Arsenal. Not just a maybe, but 100% signing for Arsenal in the summer. He then promptly signed for Napoli instead.

Whenever the transfer windows open we always get these crazy rumours that have no substance.

I can see Arsenal spending around £12-£15 million on a new addition this January, not something mental like £37 million. We haven’t just turned into Chelsea or Manchester City.