Arsenal FC: Will the Gunners Challenge for the 2012-13 Premier League Title?

It has been a long season for Arsene Wenger.

From the lowest point—disappearing disconsolately up the Old Trafford tunnel after seeing his team thrashed 8-2—to the recent highs—engineering convincing wins against the likes of Milan, Tottenham, Liverpool and City.

You could forgive the highly-strung Wenger if he decided to pack it all in and head off to the Lake District this summer, vowing never to return.

Football, eh? Bloody hell!

But taking the good, the bad and the ugly and throwing them away to start afresh, can Arsenal honestly have any hope to win the league next season?

From fourth, to third, to fourth, to third, to probably third again, Arsenal have justifiably earned the "Underacheivers" tag over the last five years.

Every year there seems to be a new excuse for this consistent inconsistency, whether it be injury problems, high profile departures or internal squabbles. Arsenal just haven't had what it takes to put together a valid run at the title.

Will 2012-13 be any different?

The answer to this most valid of questions is easy enough, believe it or not—one word actually: consistency.

Can Arsenal eke out wins when the going gets tough?

A question asked so often and with such regularity since 2004 that the entire footballing community is probably sick of hearing it.

"Will Arsenal ever replace Patrick Vieira?" is another one.

But "consistency" is still the issue, as pertinent a question now as it was in 2004.

It's not about style, it's about winning—repeat that over and over, Arsene—It's not about style, it's about winning.

Because, as Manchester City and Tottenham have most ably proved this season, no team can play "lights out" football for a full 38-game schedule.

This isn't Barcelona.

Forget 2004, things are a little different now.

Memories of "The Invincibles" have begun to fade—some Arsenal fans are beginning to ask themselves if that magical season had ever really happened, or was it all a fantastic dream? United fans are still poking fun at Wenger's infamous, "I think we can go the whole season unbeaten" quote.

But perhaps this is for the best; let the past stay the past.

The present isn't so bleak—the likes of Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott, Thomas Vermaelen, Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song and Wojciech Szczesny are good enough players to lead Arsenal back to the top.

Not to mention Lukas Podolski or Clint Dempsey or any of the other probable offseason additions that will further enhance a talented young squad.

That's to say, lessons have been learned from the previous summer, the less said about Park Chu-Young, Andre Santos and Per Mertesacker the better—three very good examples of the perils of panic-buying.

Or maybe it's that extra little bit of luck that's missing?

Either way, next season will likely be just as long as this one has been, just as tough and requiring just as much fight for the reward.

Let's hope Arsene and his merry men have the bottle to stomach it.