Arsenal FC: After Draw in Dortmund, What's to Come for the Gunners?

Just recently, Arsenal played their first Champions League group stage game against Borussia Dortmund. In the end, the Gunners didn't get a bad result, but it wasn't the best one they could have gotten.

Right before the end of the first half, Robin Van Persie netted in a nice goal to give the Gunners a lead. From then on, the score line didn't change until sometime towards the finish of the match.

Arsenal were just minutes away from a big win when Ivan Perisic scored a marvelous goal from a volley. So the match ended as a draw. The Gunners will take this both positively and negatively, but conclusively, Arsenal need to focus on not conceding any goals no matter who their opponent is.

Before the Dortmund match, Arsenal had a Premiere League showdown against Swansea. All the odds were in favor of the Gunners taking this one, but who knew what could happen at the time?

In the match, Andrei Arshavin nicked in a nice finish from some horrendous goalkeeping. Even though Arsenal won the match, Swansea had its fair share of chances. The good thing is that Arsenal managed to keep a clean sheet. The Gunners' defense managed to remain solid along with the help of new signing Per Mertesacker.

Even before this match, Arsenal faced an onslaught against the Red Devils, Manchester United, in an 8-2 demolition. Arsenal knew that they had various flaws that needed immediate fixing. That is when Arsenal got some defensive and midfield reinforcement, along with some attacking players.

Now Arsenal have some reasonably difficult matches in the Premiership, the League Cup, and the Champions League. Their first face-off is against the Blackburn Rovers.

Last season, Arsenal did fairly well against this team, winning one of the matches and drawing the other. Arsenal will certainly have to toughen up on both sides of the pitch if they are to leave Ewood Park as winners.

Defensively, Arsenal will have to execute their plays perfectly because any mistake could lead to a goal for the opposition. Per Mertesacker will have to be a brick wall on defense, and needs to use his height advantage over others to make use of set pieces as well as for clearing.

In the left back position, whether it is Kieran Gibbs or Andre Santos who starts, they need to tighten up defensively. They will add attacking depth to the Gunners play, but they need to use their tactical abilities on the defense as well.

With the injury of Thomas Vermaelan hurting Arsenal, the other position will most likely be filled by Laurent Kocielny. He needs to play great defense and use his head on corners. He has proved to be a decent weapon on corner kicks, as well.

On the right side, Bacary Sagna needs to play the way he's been playing both defensively and offensively. On the offense, though, he needs to cross less, as he has proved that his crosses are ineffective.

If an attacker has found a gap in the defense, then he should cross. Other than that, Arsenal should be confident for this fixture. I predict that Arsenal will win this one 2-1, scoring one early on in the first half and one about halfway through the second half.

After that, Arsenal have a Carling Cup match against Shrewsbury. Honestly, I haven't even heard of this football club, but either way Arsenal should play their regular style of football along with the defensive fixes mentioned above. Arsenal should be able to win this one with some pretty large scoring numbers.

Following this match, the Gunners will face off against the Bolton Wanderers in the Premiership and Olympiacos in the UCL. These matches shouldn't be too challenging, but the Gunners still need to keep on the lookout when playing these two matches.

I predict that Arsenal will win these two matches, scoring around two-to-three goals and conceding a maximum of one.

All these matches will be played throughout the month of September, so it would be good for Arsenal to have a first full month of play that ended well. That way, they could have a boost in confidence when playing their October matches.

So, do do you think Arsenal will be able to finish the month well?