This season, it seems like pundits have been queuing up to banish Arsenal's title chances. After initially suggesting the Gunners would not even make the top four of the English Premier League, a lot of experts have now turned their attentions to Arsene Wenger's men not being good enough to challenge for the title.
Michael Owen has been the harshest and most public critic of Arsenal's Premier League winning hopes, and another former Liverpool player in Stan Collymore has joined the bandwagon.
According to the ex-Premier League striker, Arsenal just do not have a strong enough squad to cope with the travails of the EPL, with Theo Walcott's season-ending injury only further diminishing their chances.
"Outside of Chelsea potentially making a big splash, I can't see any of the other Premier League top-four contenders throwing their money around [during the January transfer window]," Collymore wrote in his column for Bleacher Report.
"For me, that rules Arsenal out of the title race. Theo Walcott is injured, and the combination of Nicklas Bendtner, Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski is simply not good enough to produce the firepower you need to win the Premier League.
"The title race will come down to those two clubs [Chelsea and Manchester City]. I've said it from the start and there's no reason to change now. They have the two strongest squads in the Premier League."
Arsenal seem to have done OK with just Giroud, Bendtner and Podolski, and that too despite having the German international injured for the majority of the season so far.
Picking up 45 points from 20 matches is no mean feat, and if there is one thing that is true in football, particularly after more than half of a season, it is that the league table never lies.
Yes, City have a better squad, which is why they have been rightly chosen as the favourites for the title. Chelsea are growing from strength to strength under Jose Mourinho, with the Portuguese reverting to a more solid defensive formula.
However, Arsenal have done pretty well, despite injuries to some of their key players, including Aaron Ramsey, who along with Luis Suarez, was the best player in the Premier League before his injury.
While the Gunners are definitely a pure central striker short, they do have plenty of goals to come from other departments, owing to their plethora of ball-loving playmakers.
Arsenal deservedly find themselves top of the Premier League table as of now, and there really is no reason why they cannot be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.
