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On the days Giroud has a bad game, that performance is taken to be his “usual level” and the general opinion on whether or not he’s a good or bad player is taken usually using that game as the sample. Take Giroud vs Besiktas. To be fair, that’s probably his worst game for us. Is it coincidence that his worst games are the same games where our midfield is totally disconnected from him and he’s isolated? Giroud is still building his match fitness but the Giroud treatment allows for us to disregard the fitness and the fact that he was isolated and get at him. It’s happened with Arteta before. Remember the New York Redbulls friendly? Arteta had been injured in preseason training and played his first game in 3 months against NYRB. He’s 32, of course he was going to be off the pace seeing as he clearly wasn’t fit. Twitter used this as a reason to justify us “needing a beast

Özil is criminally underrated for a player who allows the Arsenal to tick. He may not be the direct route to goal but his scenic route tends to get us there quicker when the motorway is jammed.  And it is not only in our players in which he influences, his movement impinges on the shape of the opposition, gently swaying them from side to side with his pendulum like grace until a hole is found and punished by our onrushing midfielders or our forward options.

The often maligned Frenchman has a chance to show what he can do with a compliment of players around him that he simply did not have enough of last season. An isolated Giroud is a different Giroud to the one who has players to combine with and with Alexis added and hopefully Theo returning to add to the lung bursting runs of Ramsey, this could be a big season for the handsome Frenchman. But before any of that he needs to shine and surpass a hungry and confident Yaya Sanogo.

The only problem here is Chambers' age and the notion that Arsenal, contending seriously for a league title for the first time in a nervy, frustrating decade, can't risk one point here, two points there, in the league table to the learning curve of a 19-year old center back, much less when we've already got an excellent first choice pairing in that position for the first time in years.  At 19 years a center half has only experienced a relatively small number of game situations at full speed with the first team in which to hone those critical instincts that have him feeling rather than thinking his way through a match. Better, the thinking goes, to entrust that critical backup role to an old head.

Leadership is something that Mertesacker has become renowned for, so much so that he was most Arsenal fans’ pick to become the new captain following Vermaelen’s departure to Barcelona. Alas, Per will have to settle for vice and Arteta was duly given the armband. Returning to my point, there is no doubt that Mertesacker’s leadership qualities and organisational skills are mainly down to experience, and experience is something that Chambers currently lacks. Despite this, Calum still demonstrates the assertiveness and awareness of an organiser and, quite rightly, doesn’t let his age or short time spent at the club stop him barking orders to teammates. His time as captain of England’s U19s side has certainly helped in that respect. Eventually, I can see Chamber’s maturing into a very competent and intelligent defensive leader.

Furthermore, Yaya Sanogo finally unearthed his shooting boots. Usually I don’t judge on a pre-season game – as they’re focused on assessing current squad players, and building up match fitness. Sanogo took his goals very well the other day, but previous performances against Bayern Munich and Liverpool assured to me that was always going to be a handful for opposition defences. I’m just glad he’s finally off the mark, and is not viewed as such a comical player now. So on paper; that’s Giroud, Sanchez and Sanogo. A healthy trio, and a fairly consistent injury record (excluding Yaya) between them

As an Arsenal fan, you simply can’t underestimate the importance of keeping your team together. For too long we’ve had the foundation of our team ripped out from underneath us; every year in which it seems like we are beginning to grow and learn from our mistakes, our leaders and most valuable players are lured away by big bucks, trophies and bacon sarnies. And yet there seems to be something different about this team, there is no doubt that we’ve had unified teams in the past but it seems to me that we have a squad that are generally delighted to play with each other. There is a strong British

Instead of relying on the backing of, what is for some clubs, an endless pit of money via an obsessed sugar daddy, Arsenal try to live within their means and thus rely much more heavily on commercial deals (e.g. The kit deal with Puma which is currently second only to Man United’s (future deal) in world football). Ivan Gazidis and his team have really stepped up to plate in terms of securing a) the level sponsorship we require and b) improving and growing the Arsenal brand and it’s appeal. The combination of big commercial deals and constantly making the club more and more of an attractive business proposition is a winning one and one that enables Arsenal to structure deals in such a way that they have room for improvement in order to keep on fulfilling the money-making potential that the club has and will have. Referring back to Arsenal’s kit deal with Puma, the timescale of the deal itself (5 years) puts Arsenal in a good position for not-so-distant future negotiation and renewal. It’s essential details like this that slip under

Alexis Sanchez, obviously. I could go on and on about Fabregas, his purchase/departure, his attitude, the implications of his purchase, his ugly rat face etc and so on, but I'll just keep it very short. Nobody that I talked to was really depressed about Fabregas leaving. Sure, some people were justifiably angry over the selling price, but I think most fans were happy to see the back of him. Again, I can go on all day why and how Cesc struggled, but at the end of the day, he simply didn't fit our system. He was NEVER the Xavi heir. Poor second half of seasons, combined with disappearing during big matches meant that by the end of last season, many fans were ready to see him go

Twitter doesn't really give that type of breathing space for such scenarios to happen. You're instantly exposed (sometimes indirectly) to many who want and wish for heavy attention and you may often find them saying outrageous things that they themselves do not believe just because they like measuring reaction and receiving interaction, or worse, to get enough of a reaction so that they can sell awful merchandise. And this does not stop at a click of a button, (you can easily log off or block every Arsenal fan as an alternative), or you can let go of a subject right there and then, and even leave Twitter. But if you come back the next day, someone who has just woken up on the other side of the world will give you his/her side on the exact same overtalked, overdiscussed issue and it is replicated, often following the similar pattern of others.