The current Arsenal squad is a shadow of the 2003-2004 squad which went through the entire season without a single defeat. The squad back then boasted a number of world beaters like Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires. Sadly, the only world beaters at the club now are arguably Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott with a possible argument being made for Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski.
From being a club fighting against Manchester United for every trophy possible year after year, they are now fighting tooth and nail against the likes of Tottenham Hotspur for a place in the top 4 of the league table. One can understand the lack of finances at the club in the recent past as they financed a new stadium and all that entails, but that problem now seems to have been dealt with as a huge amount of money is now available to Arsene Wenger to bring in proven and world class players to the Emirates Stadium.
Also, with the Gunners signing bumper deals from sponsors like Fly Emirates and the recently reported kit sponsorship deal with Puma, there is going to be a huge amount of money being pumped into Arsenal Football Club moving forward.
Therefore, there are huge expectations from the fans to finally see their team lift that elusive first trophy in a long time. Wenger echoes these expectations as he spoke prior to the game against Wigan, where he said that the fact that a club as big as Arsenal is only fighting for a top 4 berth is unacceptable.
He was reported by Metro as saying, “It [finishing fourth] is the minimum required. You could see that when Chelsea’s Champions League position was under threat, they came out quickly and said “no, what is most important for us is to be in the Champions League next year”. It is difficult to achieve, but we have done it over the years. Is it enough? No. We want more but this year, Manchester United was above everybody else.”
We shall see if next season Wenger is able to take advantage of the numerous management changes in the League and spend wisely to bring a trophy to Arsenal’s trophy cabinet.