Wenger brings back the good old days but is it enough?

By Avenell Dave

It's funny how much difference a year makes.

This time last autumn, the pain of a hammering at Old Trafford still fresh in the memory, a team cobbled together after two high profile departures, there were few who maintained belief in the FFP model that the club continued to follow.

Whether it was down to luck or judgement, we saw experienced players coming in, players who could hold their own in a new team and although we fell away towards the end of the season, it was a reminder that with youth, you must have experience.

It went unnoticed that we signed Thomas Eisfeld during the season but if you look at the three players we signed last summer, all were established first team players, internationals perhaps with something to prove but certainly not also-rans in terms of status.

Having players who know how to fight, who know how to win matches and who take the rough with the smooth has been such a refreshing change and while most of us would like to have seen one or two more signings, it's hard to see where they would have fitted in.

All three new signings contributed to our win on Saturday, a victory against an obdurate West Ham side where we could quite easily have lost.

It's so simple to reminisce about our great sides filled with Henry, Vieira, Pires, Keown et al but it's important to remember that we won the title three times, not 10 times.

Being competitive is one thnig but there were seasons where we finished second and were still 10-20 points behind M*nure.

Now more teams are competitive and it's even harder to win the title and we have to hope that the title contenders start having a wobble.

It was great to see Olivier Giroud get his first Premier League goal on Saturday, a rich reward for his overall contribution to the side - whenever he plays, and his pass for Theo Walcott's goal was equally sublime.

Santi Cazorla has got much of the praise this weekend and that's no surprise, but as we saw agaiinst Ch*vski, close him down and we lose much of our impetus.

That's why it's so important for players like Aaron Ramsey to be given a run. 

It's easy to forget how bad his injury was and the fact that he is still only 21.

Yes, sometimes he makes rash challenges and he was 'done' by Diame for West Ham's goal, but just watch him over the course of a game. He never hides, he keeps running and some of his passing and movement is worthy of a player with far more experience than he does.

You would imagine he and Jack Wilshere will compete for the third midfield position with Mikel Arteta and Cazorla taking two berths and Abou Diaby crocked.

Whether we will contest the title this season depends greatly on how consistent we are and whether we can beat some of our rivals as well as the smaller teams where we've also struggled unnecessarily in the past.

Will it be enough? Who knows?

But one thing for sure is that this season, we look like a superb unit capable of contesting the biggest prizes and Arsene Wenger needs to take a lot of credit for the way he has turned things around.