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.

What a season eh?

Officially just over half of the season gone and currently, well before this weekends set of games anyway, Arsenal are top of the Premier League.

Who could have predicted that after the 3-1 defeat against Aston Villa on the opening day of the season.

On Monday night, Arsenal have their chance to exact their “revenge”, and a win at Villa Park will see us regain top spot (if Manchester City and Chelsea do what we expect and win against Newcastle United and Hull City).

But our road to the top of the table hasn’t been all plain sailing.

We’ve suffered big injuries this season to big players, like Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Abou Diaby, Thomas Vermaelen, Lukas Podolski, Tomas Rosicky, Mesut Özil, Mathieu Flamini, Aaron Ramsey, Mikel Arteta, Olivier Giroud, (and don’t laugh) Nicklas Bendtner during the course of the season so far.

And the biggest problem that seems to be concerning Arsenal fans is the striker situation.

Olivier Giroud has cemented himself as the man we can’t do without. He has improved on his scoring record already this season, and proved to be a valuable member of Arsenal’s first team. But after that, what are our options?

Nicklas Bendtner represents our best like-for-like replacement, and to be fair to him he has scored vital, opening goals for us against Hull City and Cardiff City. He has had his problems in the past but seems to have got his act together in some sense. But after injuring himself against Cardiff, he’s out for a couple of weeks.

Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski are two players would could fill the striker void for a few games, but Theo is out for the rest of the season which is devastating news. I don’t care what people say, having Theo injured is not good news at all and there is no silver lining to that situation. He offers something unique to this Arsenal side, and in several games this season (Manchester United away for example) someone with his guile and pace was badly needed to open up the game in our favour.

Lukas Podolski’s return is a massive boost, but it’s unsure where Arsene’s preferred position for him is. From the left, his pace and extremely accurate crossing is the perfect foil for Olivier Giroud, and he has shown that he can score goals from any distance. Hopefully, with Theo out Lukas gets more of a chance in the first eleven.

Serge Gnabry and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are both young players with a lot of pace, but aren’t in the same mould or position as Theo. They are deeper, midfielders who like to play further back. They also have a lot to learn and don’t have Theo’s composure in front of goal so it would be unfair to put any real pressure on them.

So what happens if Olivier Giroud gets injured? And Nicklas Bendtner isn’t performing?

We are weak in terms of backups but maybe that doesn’t matter. I’ve mentioned several times this season that it might not matter if we don’t have backup for our strikers. Spain have shown in Euro 2012 that teams, if they have the midfield personnel, don’t need to start with a traditional striker.

On that day against Spain, they started with a “midfield” of Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, David Silva, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas. They played some excellent football and in that game they, having some of the best passers in the world, managed to have a whopping 65% possession. That’s against an Italian side which is hardly a minnow in International terms.

So why can’t we do that? Our midfield roster, when fully fit, looks like this:

Mikel Arteta, Mathiew Flamini, Abou Diaby, Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Serge Gnabry, Tomas Rosicky, Mesut Özil and Lukas Podolski.

Out of the 11 options available to us, 10 would be regularly available (minus Diaby of course) and from those, I would say that at least 7 of those are top, top class. And of course, we have one world class operator in Mesut Özil who is more than capable of pulling the strings.

Tactically, playing with 6 midfielders would be a big advantage for several reasons. Firstly, defending teams would have no idea who to mark, as the midfielders would be moving all around the pitch and would have no fixed position. Also, unlike in other leagues in Europe it has never been done in the Premier League before, at least not by a side who are so good in possession as Arsenal.

To make the system work, you need players who are willing to run beyond the oppositions defence and players who are willing to provide width. Without this, playing with 6 midfielders becomes boring and ends up self-defeating – in the end it just becomes to congested in the middle of the pitch. When Spain tried this with Italy they had these problems, as they fielded too many playmakers. Arsenal however, have midfielders with pace and an eye for goal.

Lukas Podolski can certainly provide width and definitely has pace, as does Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Serge Gnabry. Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey are more central players but have shown already this season that they are willing to run beyond the main striker and get in behind the defence – and they’ve scored goals already doing this. Santi Cazorla and Mesut Özil are your more typical playmakers, who will pull the strings in the middle of the park.

And of course we have Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini who are the anchors in our midfield, protecting the back four and organising the team from a deeper position.

So has Arsene considered this yet? Maybe not, but it would definitely be a unique way to win the Premier League and give opposing teams something else to think about when they play Arsenal.

With the devastating news that Theo Walcott is now out for at least 6 months, our luck on the injury front gets from bad to worse.

At the start of the season, we suffered a terrible injury to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, About Diaby was once again out for a prolonged period and last week we saw our only real backup to Olivier Giroud out injured with an ankle problem after scoring a huge goal against Cardiff.

Now, the only other real option we had to play up top if Giroud was out for any reason, Theo Walcott, has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament on his left knee.

Nevermind about England, this is a huge blow to Arsenal’s title chances.

Aaron Ramsey is also out, Giroud and Özil have been missing through illness and I have no idea what’s happened to Yaya Sanogo.

But the bottom line is, Theo’s injury has forced Arsene’s hand. He has to buy in January. There’s no doubt about it.

There is no way in hell he can leave the January Transfer Window and possibly believe that we would still be able to fight for the league. We’ve come this far, so it would be devastating if we didn’t kick on and really challenge.

We all know Chelsea’s weakness – Jose Mourinho repeatedly tells anyone who will listen – and you can be sure they will be strengthening with a top striker in January.

Manchester City have the strongest squad in the league, and Liverpool might invest in a central defender. Up front, they have no worries with Luis Suarez in sensational form.

Manchester United will apparently only spend big in the summer, so it depends if Moyes has already written this season off.

But Arsenal are top of the league and in with a real shout of challenging for the league. But in recent weeks, we were 5 points clear and now only one above Manchester City. We need to kick on and it would be suicidal if we didn’t sign a quality striker who could lead us to the title.

Will Arsene do it? We’ve supported Arsenal long enough to know that if you were a betting man, probably not.

But how much money do Arsenal have to spend? That’s another question we don’t know the answer to. All summer we heard about the massive spending power we had, and now we’re in January all of that talk has stopped. Have we spend all we can already? Or do we have another big war chest for January?

Who knows, and I guess we’ll have to wait and see!