Samir Nasri Injured, No Transfers: Arsenal Still In Trophies Race ?

Arsenal have had an unenviable record over the past several seasons with injuries, more often than not at the most inopportune of times. The latest victim of the Arsenal injury hex is one of the Premier League's better players this season, Samir Nasri.

That this happened in the middle of the January transfer window did not seem to affect Arsene Wenger one bit. No one understands the innermost workings of Le Professor's mind, but even the best among the managers would look concerned at an injury to the season's best player of their team, especially at a time when there are critical games approaching.

When you couple the fact of there being no factual return-from-injury date for the team's best defender, to an injury-led absence of the team's best attacking player, who, to make matters worse, is a versatile midfielder as well, one tends to panic buy, or at least, shows an intent to do so. Wenger's reaction to all this in one word: unmoved.

Comparatively, Chelsea and Manchester City strengthened their squads for both the short and the long term:

Chelsea, by buying Fernando Torres and David Luiz, addressing both of their weak points, and

Manchester City, by buying Edin Dzeko and letting Emmanuel Adebayor go out on loan; at once buying a better player for the same position from which the player was moved, and removing a disruptive dressing-room influence in the process.

Manchester United bought for the long term, with Anders Lindegaard the only purchase of the window. It's a different matter that they are placed well in all the tournaments they are in, notably the Premier League, in which they have every chance of winning.

This is not to say that Arsenal are too far behind, however, the Gunners, at least for the next month, now look more vulnerable than ever this campaign.

As most Arsenal fans will say, Arsene knows. But, taking a look through the squad, does Arsene Wenger really know?

For all the mobility inherent in Arsenal's midfield and forward players, no one has matched Nasri's intelligent movement, incisive passing, and clinical finishing this season.

In Arsenal's system, Nasri had become ever-present: it did not matter at times that Cesc Fabregas was not playing, because Nasri was virtually unstoppable.

Tomas Rosicky no longer plays at the same level as the Frenchman, and while Andrei Arshavin is an explosive player when on form, he is too inconsistent.

In the best scenario without Nasri, Arsenal would play a 4-5-1/4-3-3 system involving Jack Wilshire, Alex Song, and Fabregas in midfield, with Robin van Persie as the lone striker and Arshavin and Theo Walcott on the wings.

This might even change to have Marouanne Chamakh as the lone striker, and van Persie playing on the right and Arshavin on the left.

Such a system also allows for substitutions to involve Walcott, Bendtner, Diaby, and Rosicky, all good attacking players, but not great.

Apart from maybe Walcott, none of them is a game-changer as good as Nasri, and it is a game-changer who is needed at the business end of the season.

Fabregas' increasingly common temper tantrums, coupled to a reduction of options on the bench (if Wilshire or Fabregas are injured or suspended, no one is good enough to control the midfield as effectively as the two of them), means that Arsenal's season is once again on the edge.

One slip, one mistake, and it might all come apart, a harrowingly common feature from previous campaigns.

Whether it is down to a lack of mental strength or players, it does not matter because increasingly, this season has been seen as a watershed by Arsenal fans, and they would not want to be denied a major piece of silverware this season.

It might not matter whether Arsene knows, because the fans would not understand.