10 Things for Arsenal Fans to Look Forward to in 2015
Being an Arsenal fan is an extremely painful job. No team is as good at self-destructing or flattering to deceive as Arsene Wenger's Gunners.
But silver linings and genuine reasons for happiness are often lost amid the gloom.
It's a new year, and Arsenal are off to a decent start so far, despite their toothless loss to Southampton. The Gunners don't have to make up too much ground to win their annual fourth-place trophy.
To lighten things up in a relatively slow news week, let's examine 10 things fans can look forward to in 2015.
Theo Walcott Being Fully Fit
1 of 10
Theo Walcott's last start came exactly one year after his previous one—both FA Cup third-round ties.
2014 was essentially a written-off year for the Englishman, who had become one of the most essential players on the team before he tore his ACL. While he was injured, Arsenal bought Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck, making it harder for Walcott to find his way back to the starting XI.
But he is finally shaking off the cobwebs now, and there will definitely be a place for him. No one else has quite his combination of pace, incision and finishing ability—not even Alexis.
Arsenal fans will be reminded just how important Walcott was when he gets back to his best in the coming weeks.
A Working Ozil
2 of 10
We have not seen much of Mesut Ozil this season, and he was awful when he played.
Sure, the German had some redeeming moments and linked up well with Alexis on one or two occasions. But Wenger usually shunted him to the left wing, rendering his creative talent useless unless he drifted centrally and robbed Arsenal of any width.
Ozil is due back in a few weeks and will likely return to a side with Alexis and Theo Walcott both intact. Danny Welbeck and Olivier Giroud will also be available, assuming there are no further setbacks or injuries.
In other words, Ozil will have the most firepower that he has ever had during his Arsenal career. If he does not blossom now, he never will.
Healthy Competition
3 of 10
A team is always better off when players are forced to compete for their places. Everyone is incentivized to work a little bit harder to keep the competition at bay, and the end product is a squad that works harder for each other.
Yet Arsenal have not had much of it this season. Injuries to many of their best players, often at the same time, have forced Wenger to overplay the same bunch of players for most of the season.
The Gunners will start to get a few important players back in the next couple weeks, though, and some have already matriculated. David Ospina is finally challenging Wojciech Szczesny and might actually displace the No. 1.
There will hopefully be much more competition in attacking midfield and attack, too.
A Fruitful Summer Transfer Window
4 of 10
Arsenal have quite a lot of holes in their squad that need patching up. The good news is that Wenger has been mostly willing to do so during the last two summers.
He of course left the two biggest holes—defensive midfielder and center back—unaddressed, and fans will hope that he pulls out the checkbook at least once this month to right that wrong. But there is still the promise of improvement in seven months' time.
Wenger will probably be forced into reinforcing his midfield, with Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini growing older and slower all the time. He might also want to buy a central midfielder and perhaps an even better center back than whomever he gets in January.
No Summer Tournaments
5 of 10
It seems odd that one would look forward to not being able to watch international football during the summer, especially given the incredible drama of last year's World Cup.
But no summer football is good news for Arsenal: Everyone can have a proper vacation, rest up and train together.
No one will have to miss the first few games of the season and be rushed back into action thereafter. Doing so is obviously worse for the team and very likely for the player; it is possible that Mesut Ozil's knee injury was caused in part by the scanty rest he got after his exertions in Brazil.
Given how bad Arsenal's injury problems are, every minute of recuperative time is precious.
Wenger Battling His Jacket
6 of 10
New year, new kit maker, same jacket problems.
Arsene Wenger and long down coats simply do not mix. For years the manager, for all his master's degrees and decades of wisdom, cannot seem to find the optimal angle to zip one of those awkwardly long jackets he wears during the winter.
Win or lose, seeing Wenger fiddle with something so rudimentary never ceases to amuse. Rest assured that camera crews will keep their lenses peeled and fans will be provided with a completely necessary sideshow.
Young Players Developing
7 of 10
Due to Arsenal's comedically terrible injury crisis, Arsene Wenger has had to dip into his pool of young talent more than he probably anticipated at the beginning of the season.
Hector Bellerin has been called in to deputize at right-back when Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers are unavailable, Francis Coquelin was recalled from his loan spell to provide cover in defensive midfield, and youth team players like Chuba Akpom and Ainsley Maitland-Niles have gotten runs out.
The latter two will almost certainly not get enough minutes this season to really impress, but Bellerin and Coquelin have both shown massive promise. So has Chambers, who seems like a good right-back but potentially an outstanding central defender.
It gives Wenger a lot to think about for the future, and the youngsters will only get better as the season progresses.
Quitting Smoking
8 of 10
In a sense, you can understand why Wojciech Szczesny felt the need to smoke after he handed Southampton both goals in their 2-0 victory.
Smoking does supposedly provide stress relief after all, and it must be monumentally difficult for someone to watch their team verge on collapse for 90 minutes twice a week with their job hanging in the balance.
Perhaps that's why Szczesny is not the first Arsenal player to get caught lighting up.
Seriously, though, Arsenal need to eliminate the need for such unhealthy stress-relievers by playing more cohesively and with more toughness. And the club needs to get its players to stop looking to one of the least healthy habits there is.
Progressing to the Champions League Quarterfinals
9 of 10
It's been quite a long time since Arsenal made it past the Round of 16 in the Champions League—five years, in fact.
In each season since the 2009-10 campaign, the Gunners have been knocked out before the quarterfinals, due to several terribly unlucky draws against the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
This season, however, Arsenal got the easiest possible draw. They will face Radamel Falcao-less Monaco and really should secure progression to the next round.
While advancing is not a foregone conclusion and no one really expects Arsenal to win the Champions League, it will certainly add a bit of spice to a domestically lackluster campaign.
Ozil-Walcott-Alexis-Giroud
10 of 10
Doesn't that attacking lineup just make you drool?
Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott have rarely been fit at the same time, and the German did not get much playing time with Alexis Sanchez before he was forced off by a knee injury.
If and when everyone is fit, Arsene Wenger will be able to put Walcott on the right wing, Alexis on the left, Oliver Giroud in the middle and Ozil orchestrating everything behind them.
That is a delicious combination of speed, creativity, physical prowess to hold the ball up and essential finishing ability. Walcott and Alexis can make their own chances, but will likely not need to with such excellent support.
Arsenal's defense might be a shambles, but fans have been waiting for these four to be healthy at the same time and should soon see their wish granted.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
