Posted by Guest

Entering the Premier League season, just a few short weeks ago, hope was relatively high for Arsenal and its followers. Sure, the offseason went by without much in the way of events, and with no notable improvements made. But despite that fact, the club entered league play with, by most people's reckoning, the 4th best odds to come out as champion (behind Man City, Chelsea and Man U).

The, on the Saturday of opening weekend (August 17th), Arsenal stumbled out of the gate with a start nothing short of disastrous, and fans everywhere scrambled for the proverbial panic button.

Opening the Premier League at Emirates Stadium against Aston Villa, Arsenal came out of the gate with energy. Olivier Giroud tapped in a low, short entry pass from a streaking Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and the crowd was in an instant frenzy in the 6th minute. However, just 16 minutes later, Christian Benteke scored on a rebound from a blocked PK, and just like that Aston Villa were off and running. Despite the tied score, Arsenal looked as if it were playing catch-up from that point on, and when Benteke converted a second penalty in the 61st minute the feeling became a reality. Sealing the deal, Luna converted an 86th minute breakaway score to cap a 3-1 Aston Villa. Simply put, a horrific start for Arsenal.

The immediate narrative following the match, from everywhere from casual fans to the BBC, was that the defeat highlighted a failure of an offseason, and the mood turned quite negative, quite quickly. However, before fans despair too much, they should take heart in what appears to have been a quick turnaround. Arsenal have rattled off 2 straight convincing wins, and a glance at the Betfair news sports exchange shows them still with the 4th best odds to win the Premier League.

Just 4 days after the defeat to Aston Villa, Arsenal delivered a very strong performance in Champions League qualifying, handily defeating an overmatched Fenerbahce 3-0 behind goals from Gibbs, Ramsey, and Giroud (on a PK). Fenerbahce may not be a particularly deadly opponent at the moment, but Arsenal made it look easy, and in Istanbul no less. Another 3 days later, this past Saturday the 24th, Arsenal notched its first win in Premier League play with a very strong 3-1 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage. Giroud scored for a 3rd straight match, and Lukas Podolski scored once in each half for Arsenal, who suddenly look as if all is well.

Now ultimately it will take more than a couple of wins over the likes of Fenerbahce and Fulham to truly put Arsenal in the thick of the race. But following the awful start to the season, the strong play in the past week has lead to increasing optimism. A rematch with Fenerbahce on Tuesday and a weekend showdown with Tottenham Hotspur should provide a clearer indication of where this club is headed.