Realistic expectations for Arsenal's 2014/15 campaign

I have long stated that Arsenal are on the verge of big things. The foundation has been made, and this is the year we need to pursue success. And not the FA Cup or top four kind of success - but going for top prizes like the Champions League and competing for the league till the end. The expectations below, hence, may seem a bit extreme, but it's something a club of our standard have to go for; especially considering the buzz and morale in the camp.

Premier League: Top two

Winning the Premier League obviously is the club's primary target, but it would be remarkable if we actually achieve it. As good as our squad is, Chelsea's and Manchester City's are decisively better, and a lot of our title chances hinge on our summer deal(s). Fans are rightly clamouring for a defender and a DM, but I suspect Wenger will buy one player who will be neither.

I understand that we have a huge chance in recent years to win the league, but other teams have better. Pellegrini has quietly strengthened his depth and kept the core intact, while Mourinho is a class above Wenger tactically. I find it hard to believe Wenger has changed his tactical approach and man management, as much as he deserves credit for his adaptation to modern football.

Man City and Chelsea are tied as prime contenders for the league, so I believe our challenge must be to at least topple one of them bigshots and usurp second, if not first. As of now, even though I hope we win the league, my mind says we'll finish third.

Champions League: Semi finals

Aim for the stars, right?

Course, all of this will topple if we lose to Besiktas, but I feel it's about time we start to assert ourselves in Europe. We're in danger of falling into the 'Marseille-Napoli-Schalke' category; a team that is ever-present in the CL but are considered as fillers rather than contenders. We have the raw materials - a great attack, the philosophy of continental football, and the Emirates is turning into a bit of a fortress.

If this season isn't the time to have a genuine shot at the CL, then I don't know when is. After qualifying for the group stages, we need to make absolutely sure that we top the group, so that we likely face an easy team in the Round of 16. Hopefully, that'd send the ball rolling.

FA Cup: A ticket to Wembley

Last season's FA Cup run was fun. In fact, it was one of those things that made the whole season fun.

I have always looked at the FA Cup as a sort of consolation prize. But, even for a club like Arsenal - one starting to gain the 'big club' mentality - sometimes we have to make do. The FA Cup still remains a prestigious knockout competition and one that could hold decisive while judging a season. At least reaching the semi final should, for me, be the minimum requirement.

Capital One Cup: Who gives a shit?

As far as I'm concerned, whatever happens in the Capital One Cup is a complete irrelevance. If we win, it's a bonus. If we lose 5-2 to Tottenham in the first round with Adebayor scoring a hattrick, well, meh.

However, I wouldn't want the Capital One Cup to influence competitions like the Premier League, Champions League or the FA Cup. I don't want Alexis to rupture his ACL during an away trip to Leeds, and I don't want Mertesacker to miss a clash against United because he bollixed a player in the Capital One Cup.

Gosh, did I jinx it?

Win a trophy

The FA Community Shield has changed little. We still need to lift some silverware come May. If we falter in the Premier League, we must win the FA Cup to compensate that. If we get knocked out in the CL and the Cup, we must go all out for the league and win it. It's better to win one trophy and fail in the other two, than to reach mighty close on all three fronts but win peanuts in the end. Which season do you prefer - the 2010/11 season or the 2013/14 one? There's your answer.

And it's not like we don't have the potential to do it. Aside from a DM, the team is lacking quantity rather than quality. We're in a position where all of our players aren't dispensable and everyone offers something unique. I wouldn't even mind Squillaci back for depth.

All we need are a centre back (who'd play around fifteenish games anyway), and a decent defensive midfielder, if not world-class. Then, for me, we're good to go. All that's standing in our way are tactical blunders and injury crises.

The season starts on Saturday. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Come on Arsenal!

P.S. My apologies for those weirdly designed tabs at the top, but I'm facing coding errors with making drop-down tabs for well over a year now. I tried HTML, CSS and Java but none worked. If you have any advice, shoot a mail to santirambo1916@gmail.com or find me on Twitter.

-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]

Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea: Frustrating

It is irritating when you get eliminated from the League Cup when your manager doesn't field a strong XI. But it's much more frustrating when the manager gives the game importance and yet you are knocked out. Story of our night, as Arsenal were convincingly beaten 2-0 by Chelsea in a game which will have profound implications when we look back at the season.

I got the sense that we were going to lose the tie in the beginning itself. The game seemed like a repeat of the Dortmund one, where they dominated possession but failed to create any proper chances. I was getting the sinking feeling that we were about to lose the game even before they scored the goal.

The goal itself was another moment of self-destruction. A communication error between Jenkinson and Wilshere led to Carl heading it reluctantly to Fabianski. The header was bad, Fabianski's positioning was worse, and Azpillecueta had the simple task to poke home. True, it was partly Jenkinson's fault, but not to the extent of barracking him and him alone for conceding the goal.

We never really looked like equalizing, and the rare chances for Nacho Monreal and Cazorla created throughout the game were more out of desperation than the result of good football. In fact, the only notable chance that we created was Ryo Miyaichi's, where Ramsey put a brilliant over-the-top ball, but Miyaichi failed to capitalize.

We got on Ozil in the 64th minute, which felt strange to me. We didn't really need his aspect of play, we needed Olivier Giroud. Bendtner was awful throughout the game, which was compounded by THIS moment of madness.  However, I feel that it wasn't entirely his fault for not playing well. He did not get those kind of crosses to head in, for one. It was partly the team's fault that he didn't get those kinds of passes, but that's little excuse for a person who had a shockingly poor day at the office, especially after looking motivated in recent times.

Mata scored almost immediately after Ozil came on, through a fine strike. However, the game was already done and dusted to me, and that goal simply was a dull thud on my diminishing interest toward the game. They played out the rest of the game quite contentedly, and while we had our half-chances, overall it was another unconvincing performance which led to a bad result. After Dortmund, no lessons learnt.

Wenger speaks of the defeat:

"I think what we lacked is that we were 1-0 down and in a big game that is giving yourself a very difficult task to do because you give the opposing team a chance to counter-attack. We also did not create enough chances."

For me, the most worrying part of the loss was how poor we were in the final third. It's remarkable how a team with Cazorla, Ozil, Wilshere and Rosicky can be so clueless in the attacking stages. Maybe it's down to lack of movement in the box or fatigue catching up - I don't know. I refuse to blame the manager for this game, because he took the game seriously and fielded a strong side, but it was the players who let him down with some obvious passing near the box.

We have performed unconvincingly in the last 3 games now. It doesn't seem to me that the team is learning from its mistakes, because defensive errors are being continued, and the chances aren't flowing like they were before. Maybe it's because the wingers weren't there to inject pace, or maybe it's because a bit of overconfidence is seeping in, but whatever it is, it needs to be stopped. Now.

Two weeks ago, we were on top of the world. Top of the group stage in the Champions League, and on top of the Barclays Premier League. Ozil was doing great, Ramsey was popping in goals and we were active in all three competitions, set to end our trophy drought. What could possibly go wrong?

It's amazing how football changes so quickly. Ozil's performances are dipping, Ramsey's solo playing is getting counterproductive, and the return of Santi Cazorla isn't working out as well as people thought. There are doubts on our Champions League qualification, we are out of the Capital One Cup and a loss against Liverpool (which seems far from unlikely now) will mean that we will lose our lead in the Premier League.

Make what you will of this game. Maybe it was a one-off, maybe Arsenal is a team that have bigger fish to fry than the Capital One Cup, or maybe we were unlucky and Mourinho's side were clinical. However, if you ask me, at this rate, we are plummeting towards another trophyless season. Something must be done right now to stop this fall, or we might see a very different Arsenal at the end of the Manchester United game.

It's a harsh fall to reality, this. Let's rise again.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )

Arsenal vs Chelsea: Match Preview

We play Chelsea tonight in what should be a difficult Capital One Cup tie, even though it is at the Emirates Stadium. Wenger's insistence on playing a weakened squad leads me to believe that Chelsea is set to nick this match, even though they play 48 hours after a high-intensity game against Man City.

To me, the Capital One Cup must be kept at the highest priority and winning the title must be a firm second. It is still possible to win the Premier League if you lose 2 or 3 matches, but is it possible if you slip up in the Capital One Cup? I, like every other Gooner out there, want the shadow of the 8 years trophyless tag to get off from our backs, and what way to do it than in early March itself?

Winning the Capital One Cup will give a huge boost to the players and give them confidence for the run-in period of the season. Which is why it is essential we defeat Chelsea, especially because the odds are with us to do so.

This is an important clash, mind you, and one that we have to win, by hook or by crook. The Capital One Cup is a knockout, not a league. It is results, and ONLY results that matter here. Chelsea will most probably field their second team, but they have quality players like Mata, Willian and Ba in their second team.

Which is why Arsenal need to field a strong side to win this game. If Wenger loses this game by playing teenagers and says that he was resting his key men for the upcoming Liverpool game, then I shall spare no excuses for him. Chelsea is a significantly stronger team than Liverpool, and losing against Liverpool is acceptable, because we have till May to catch up. Losing against Chelsea is not acceptable.

However, it seems that Wenger is not giving this match the importance it deserves, which will undoubtedly be a factor should we lose tonight. Lukasz Fabianski is set to start as goalkeeper ahead of Viviano (don't ask me why). While Fabianski has improved over the years, Viviano is better than him, yet he hasn't played a single match this season. Arsene Wenger's man management "skills" strike again.

The back four will undoubtedly feature Jenkinson, Koscielny, Vermaelen and Nacho Monreal. I think Koscielny will start ahead of Mertesacker because Wenger will prefer to have pace in his center backs against a side like Chelsea. In midfield, I would love it if Frimpong gets the nod, because he seems like an Arsenal through and through, and will do anything for the club. However, Wenger has opted to go with Issac Hayden, which, to me, is the absolutely wrong decision. Frimpong has played and impressed in the Premier League, while Hayden struggled in the West Brom match earlier in the Capital One Cup. Anyway, let's see if Arsene has another trick up his sleeve.

Jack Wilshere might start alongside Hayden in the central midfield role, with Rosicky assuming the attacking midfield role. I think that Rosicky will have a massive game tonight, and will definitely be involved in one of our goals (should we score any). His freshness, flair and determination will be an important factor in the final third, which leads me to believe that he might have a bigger role than Jack in the game.

The attacking trio will definitely feature Serge Gnabry (who signed a new contract!) and Nicklas Bendtner. I think that Ryo should get a start in the left wing, but I have a sneaky suspicion that Wenger will overplay Ramsey and start him there. However, I am not complaining, because we need quality players to pursue a win. If it means overplaying Rambo, so be it.

We must keep a strong bench featuring Giroud, Ozil and Santi Cazorla if we're serious about winning this game. I have already emphasized the importance of this game on our season, and I don't want another silly or stupid reason to result in our downfall. Wenger, who is nominated as the Coach of The Year, talks about Mourinho:

"It was not a big surprise [that Mourinho returned to Chelsea] because there was talk about it many times. When he left Madrid, it looked to be one of his best opportunities to come back. What the Premier League wants first is the quality of the games and his teams give you always a tough game. That is what you want."

A load of polite praise from the manager to stoke the fires of an important game, if you ask me.

Whatever happens, this game has to be seen as a must-win, although I fear Wenger doesn't see it that way. Anyway, we'll find out how he views this game as tonight, in what should be a cagey match.

Come on Arsenal. A trophy is at stake.

-Santi (Follow me on twitter: @ArsenalBlogz )