With the Premier League fixtures being announced yesterday for the 2014/15 league campaign it gives us the chance to analyse Arsenal's previous end of season struggles and pose questions as to why the North London side have failed to mount a successful title challenge for over 10 years.
Arsenal started the 2013/14 campaign poorly, after losing at home at the Emirates Stadium to Aston Villa 1-3, thus sparking the fan fury that many argue fueled the signing of Mesut Ozil and sparked the Arsenal revival.
Although starting the season with a loss, Arsenal went on an eight game unbeaten run and pick up a total of 13 points from a potential 18 in their opening six games of the season.
Arsenal faced a number of mid-table sides at the start of last season, picking up wins against Fulham, Sunderland, Stoke City and Swansea City and the club hosted the season's first North London Derby in the 1-0 win over fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Similarly to last season, Arsenal will start the 2014/15 campaign at home, this time welcoming Crystal Palace to the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal's fixtures look somewhat more challenging from the opening six games of last season. The FA Cup holders will travel to Everton and newly promoted Leicester City, before hosting current Premier League champions Manchester City at home. The club will then travel to Aston Villa before hosting the North London Derby at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
Arsenal have often fizzled out towards the end of previous seasons, many can argue this is down to key injuries of in form players, others argue it is due to the lack of squad depth Arsenal have. However, there isn't one sole reason Arsenal haven't won a league title in over 10 years.
We take a look back at the 2007/08 campaign where a strong, ambitious Arsenal side spent over half the season at the top of the title race, went on a 28 game unbeaten run and failed to lose at home all season.
With Arsene Wenger's side looking almost certain to win their 14th league title of the club's history, flashbacks of a certain game against Birmingham City on the 23rd February 2008 would prove to be a turning point in the club's season. Arsenal were five points clear at the top of the Premier League table with just 12 games left to play, but everything changed when new-signing Eduardo da Silva, who was brought in by Wenger as Thierry Henry's replacement, suffered a career-threatening injury when a late challenge by defender Martin Taylor would lead to the horrific leg-break suffered by Eduardo, which would evidently stun the Arsenal players surrounding him on the pitch.
The game finished 2-2 and Arsenal had not only dropped points, but lost their influencial striker to a shocking injury and Wenger somehow had to deal with the infamous tantrum of one William Gallas. Arsenal failed to lift themselves after that game and went on a four game winless run and many Arsenal fans see this as the turning point in what was before hand, a fantastic season.
Arguably, Arsenal haven't had enough strength in-depth in their squad to cover potential injuries, with the club failing to cope with injuries to Eduardo in 2008, Ramsey in 2009 and the injuries to Walcott, Gibbs, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey and Ozil in the previous 2013/14 campaign. Whether its due to bad luck, or simply not having the squad depth to cope with these injuries, Arsenal will be hoping they endure an injury costless season for the upcoming 2014/15 season and will look to build on their FA Cup win.