Arsenal vs Manchester United: Gunners' Loss Completes Torrid New Year's Treble

The 2011 calendar year was a trying one for Arsenal, between choking away a shot at the English Premier League title, tripping up against Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final, faltering at Barcelona's hand in the UEFA Champions League and selling off Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas.

Things haven't exactly improved in 2012. The Gunners' 2-1 loss to Manchester United on Sunday capped a hat trick of EPL defeats to kick off the calendar year, with only a 1-0 win over lowly Leeds United in FA Cup play to cut through the storm clouds currently hovering over North London.

So much for New Year's resolutions, unless Arsene Wenger was keen to see his club collapse in January.

As a result of coming up without a single point against Fulham, Swansea and United, the Gunners have fallen from the icy edges of shouting distance to tabletoppers Manchester City to 18 points back of the league lead, 10 shy of North London rival Tottenham and in danger of falling out of the top four and missing the next iteration of the Champions League.

Wenger, who's guided Arsenal to Europe's top club competition in 13 consecutive seasons, is none too pleased about any of it:

"

"For me it would be [a disaster] because I want to play with the best. We want to be in there, in the top four, and to play in the Champions League, and anything else would not be good enough."

"

Little at the Emirates Stadium has been remotely good enough of late. Any semblance of an attack outside of Robin van Persie's prolific boot has gone by the wayside, especially since Gervinho took off for the African Cup of Nations.

Meanwhile, injuries continue to plague the whole of Le Professeur's first-team squad. Mikel Arteta and Thierry Henry joined Abou Diaby, Andre Santos, Kieran Gibbs, Bacary Sagna, Francis Coquelin and Carl Jenkinson in the Emirates infirmary.

And that's to make no mention of Jack Wilshere, who's yet to put cleats to pitch in an actual match while recovering from ankle surgery.

As a result, the Gunners' run of fearlessness from mid-October to late November seems but a distant memory now, if not an illusion entirely.

But as obnoxious as Piers Morgan's protestations for Wenger's head on a stick or Chicken Little's cries of falling skies may be, there remains reason for Gooners to hold out some semblance of hope for their beleaguered and beloved side.

Wenger's threadbare squad will gladly welcome back a number of players on the mend over the next few weeks, including Henry, Gibbs, Sagna, Coquelin and Wilshere. Arteta may be back within that same time frame as well, with Santos and Diaby due to return by March.

And with the Champions League set to restart in mid-February, the Gunners will have the opportunity to recapture some of the momentum and magic that continental competition afforded them in the fall.

What's more, amidst all the agony and acrimony, Arsenal sit just five points back of Chelsea for a spot in the top four and a berth in next season's UCL.

It'll be an uphill climb for Arsenal from here on out, to be sure, but even with the Premiership crown presumably out of reach, it's still too early to abandon these Gunners, bleak as the outlook may be right now.

After all, it's still January. The year has only just begun.

Follow @J0shMart1n