Three Wins In As Arsenal Gain Some Momentum

A few weeks ago I tried not to go overboard when Arsenal had lost two of their first three games and that's the case again now. At rhe time we were on the back of consecutive defeats to Stoke and Liverpool in which we had failed to score and conceded five goals. Since then we have turned things around with 10 points from four games, not a goal conceded and three wins in the League Cup and the Europa League too.

The latest win was 2-0 at home to Brighton on Sunday when Nacho Monreal and Alex Iwobi got the goals to see them off. Like the previous wins we didn't really hit top gear and didn't go on to really punish Brighton when we were well on top. I think we're still a little short of confidence and we're holding back a little when it comes to finding the ruthless streak some of the other top teams are showing at times. We're in the middle of a pretty good run of fixtures which we are expected to win, but we've seen Arsenal slip at times like this all too often in the past.

After conceding eight goals in our first three games I didn't think we were going to go on a run of four consecutive clean sheets, but it's been a very welcome bonus. I had hoped we would get something from the game at Chelsea and we were good value for our point, but the other games in our run were all games we should have won. Our home form is holding up and five wins from five in all competitions is all that you can ask for at home.

Our away performances hadn't been so good until that Chelsea game, but the point we got seemed to give the players s little more confidence and they went on to score four away to BATE in the Europa League. It might have been more or less a second string team against BATE, but the performance and the four goals were still very welcome. Some might say we were a little lax at the back, but you can't expect a home team not to have a go against a second string Arsenal in a European game.

We could do with a performance like that when we come back after the international break with three away games in a row. First up it's a Watford team who have started the season very well with exception of a 6-0 defeat at home to City and that's quickly followed by a soujourn to Red Star Belgrade and a trip to an Everton team who have started the season badly. If we can keep our momentum going we can not only continue to climb the table, but we can virtually secure our spot in the knock out stages of the Europa League too.

As good as things might be going and could be if we continue on our winning ways it still has to be remembered that our fate will rest on how we do against the rest of the top six and that's where we fall down time after time. It's too early to even consider title talk and I still think a top four finish is the best we can hope for. When you consider the strength in reserve of City and United in particular we're going to have to be incredibly lucky with injuries to get anywhere near them and we all know what our injury record is like.

On a worrying note it has been widely reported that Stan Kroenke is planning to buy out the shares of Alister Usmanov and that it would be a leveraged buy out too. When you consider how all of his American sports franchises have faded under his stewardship it's worrying to think he might have complete control of the club. I can't see any way it could be a good thing for us fans and our future will be very uncertain under him.

Who knows what he will decide to do with the club or what money he might decide to take out of it if it suits him. We made a profit on our transfer dealings in the summer when we really needed to spend big and that could be the way of the future. When the previous owners decided to sell to Kroneke they thought it was in the best interests of the club, but the majority of them should be turning in their graves right now.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.