Now more than ever feels like a defining moment for us. We’re half way through the league slog and perhaps unexpectedly keeping pace.

But where do we go from here? Is this, like two years ago at this stage, a false dawn? Or are we ready to break that trophy drought?

The manager, for his part, looks refreshingly up for it. Never in the history of January transfer windows can I remember him admitting so publicly to being in the market for players.

Of course, Arsene being Arsene, it’s a striker that is the priority. Sod the fact we’ve scored bucketloads of goals despite injuries up front. Sod the fact too we’ve conceded a fair few in spite of no injuries at the back. If there is ever a choice between strengthening at the back and the front, you know which way we will go.

That’s not to say strengthening up front is senseless. It’s certainly not. It’s just you fear the worst were Gallas or Vermaelen to finally get crocked. Reports this morning say Big Sol could get a short-term deal. Blimey is all I’ll say at this stage til I’ve had a proper chance to think about it.

In midfield, if form and fitness continue, we suddenly seem to have five very decent players to fill those three places.

But in goal things remain a worry. Is the current incumbent really the man to take us to a title? Or not far short of 25, is Fabianski (who reassuringly seems a little less up for the mad dash), ready to usurp him?

What are we to make of what we’re seeing at the moment? On the one hand in four of our previous five league games there has been a fair bit to worry about. On the other, we’re in mid December and if we win our game in hand we’re two points behind United and five behind Chelsea. It could be worse.

The worrying thing is that you feel we’re only one dodgy performance away from things taking a sinister turn.

Much in the way they did when Hull came to the Emirates a year ago and won. On that occasion four wins from five before the game looked good, but two defeats after just six games after the match looked a lot worse.

And if we lose more ground this weekend, that will again be the case.

We’ll miss Cesc, not least because for 40 minutes on Wednesday he put in what I’d describe as his best captain’s performance yet for Arsenal.

He may have been more spectacular against Blackburn earlier this season but on Wednesday he really led by example, driving us forward continually and doing everything he could to ensure it wouldn’t be another grim night up north for us.

Other than the non-spitting storm last Spring against Hull when Cesc came onto the pitch wearing what I’ll generously describe as a Dunlop tyre converted into a jacket, captaincy actually appears to have done him no harm at all.

Gone are the times when he’s looked a few seconds away from losing it and all in all, I think he’s led us fairly well through some not always easy times.

It’s not that figure that suggests almost half of all shots on target go in with him between the sticks that tells the story. I’d suggest that figure means that people aren’t taking a whole lot of speculative shots.

Were they to, I’d suggest the 18 in 41 figure or whatever it is would soon be something like 20 in 80. So no, it’s not that.

It’s the indecision, the complete break-down of trust with his defenders, the flapping at crosses and the dreadful distribution (kicking and throwing) that puts us right under the kosh. It’s also the nothingy kind or reaction whenever anything goes wrong.

I hold up my hands: at the start of the season I thought a new keeper was third on our list of priorities behind a new midfielder and defender. It’s not. Whether it be Fabianski or someone else, the situation is becoming urgent.

Yes, he may recover and I hope he does but by then it could be too late for us.

I’ve always felt that draws are killers and their merits over hyped.

Sure, psychologically, they are better than losing but when youconsider they are actually two-thirds of a defeat or just one third ofa win, they suddenly don’t look so good.

And that said, the West Ham result didn’t exactly feel great.So given my disinterest in draws, what would be an acceptable return from the Liverpool and Burnley fixtures?

I don’t know, but I do know I’d rather lose one and win one than draw both.

So while the club’s claim that every attendance is above 60,000 appears disingenuous, I’m not sure it’s any more accurate to suggestthey simply can’t sell out.

Or that vast numbers of season ticket holders have simply stopped turning up.Were the latter point the case, then these people would have renewedover the summer and given up hope after one game, which if you thinkabout it logically just makes no sense.

The absence of Alex Song is a worry. It always seems to be the way that your most reliable performer picks up a knock or a ban when you need him most. I know I’ve said it before, but blimey, I can’t believe I’ve just written that.

When we were playing well the fact we were having to wait a while for the first goal (not one in the first 15 minutes all season), mattered little. Now it’s more of an issue because as we’ve seen in both the Chelsea and Spurs games, the first goal is vital.

The team I’d go with? Almunia (on the premise you may as well at least be consistent with who you choose), Sagna, Traore, Gallas, Vermaelen, Cesc, Denilson, Ramsey (not immaculate, but we could do with a bit of spark), Arshavin, Eduardo and Rosicky.

Forgive me if I’m being really, really thick here but surely the whole point of rankings is that they provide an objective representation of who the best teams are, precisely to avoid a stitch-up?

Yes, seedings for individual tournaments in tennis will vary from the rankings according to the surface it’s being played on. But in football’s case this system should have been worked out years ago and stuck to.

Have Arshavin and Luzhny become one and the same?

Fast forward 10 months and though all still at the club, none were available when the Blues came to Highbury. Seventeen year old Cesc Fabregas and Matthieu Flamini, starting his first league game, scrapped like mad but if not outclassed, they were certainly overpowered by the triumvirate of Lampard, Makalele and Tiago.

Truth be told ever since that day our midfield has always felt a bit inferior to theirs. Prettier perhaps, happy to scrap, but ultimately a little inferior.

This weekend, however, things may just be a little different. The pitbull like Essien and wily out Lampard are still there, but maybe, just maybe, we have the answers.

Cesc Fabregas is playing as well as he ever has. And then there is Alex Song, on form barely conceivable a year ago. It’s a massive challenge and opportunity for the thus far this season outstanding Song. It’s a chance to mix it with the big boys, particularly after his inexplicable admission from last season’s FA Cup semi final line-up.

I’m fascinated to see how it pans out and I’m beginning to think Denilson will be the third man in the middle. Perhaps I was a little hasty in asking exactly what he brings: those of you who argue it is greater solidity may have a point.

Either way, it’s a great test of our credentials.

But in terms of weighing-up the success of a period between international breaks goes, this one is still in the balance.

Birmingham at home, West Ham away, Spurs at home and Wolves away should be yielding at least nine or ten points really. Thus far we have seven from the three games.

West Ham away was two thirds of a defeat and so really only three points in the West Midlands tomorrow will do. Otherwise we’d have got a worse return than had we lost to Spurs and won the other three winnable fixtures.

Looking back at the week, there were some great moments. But I think one will linger for many a year.

Unlike a lot of people in the ground, I didn’t miss that Cesc goal last Saturday. Why? Because I’m such a paranoid freak that I refused to allow myself to watch replays of the first goal on the giant screen, so paranoid was I that my complacency would be copied by the team and that Spurs would score straight from the kick-off.

So I was watching as Cesc did his thing. Reading the papers you would be forgiven for thinking Cesc had been presented with the ball a yard in front of an open goal.

Sure he defending wasn’t great but how about a bit of praise for our man waltzing through the spine of their side from the half way line and then finishing under pressure from 18 yards?

There remain few sights as electrifying as seeing a player slalom through a defence and finish with (slightly unexpected) aplomb. Given the timing and opposition, it truly was one of those moments where everyone lost it.

Arsene and Pat Rice’s reaction is captured in the memorable photo below from the Arsenal web site.

For me it was a “hug thy neighbour” moment. Arseblogger called the roar “primal”, the man from East Lower described it as a “bundle”, an excellent last word that I last heard in the playground.

All in all, it was great, but in a way drawing at Wolves will be a bigger downer than drawing with Spurs would have been.

I’m no expert on these things. But I do seem to remember Usmanov’s right-hand man Farhad Moshiri telling anyone who would listen what a disaster the sale of Emmanuel Adebayor was.

Which to me makes Stan’s silence rather endearing.

NEXT week it’s ten years since Freddie was sent off for striking David Ginola after a home fan had thrown a coin that drew blood from his own player.

It will be ten years since Martin Keown followed him to the dressing room for two bookings of his own.

And ten years since Arsenal last lost to Spurs in the league. In fact, it would be a perfect decade, the noughties completed without defeat.

Whatever happens on Saturday it’s an astonishing record. I remember losing to Spurs (in a non Carling Cup game) and it ain’t fun.

If it happens on Saturday, then we should rightly analyse what went wrong and criticise if need be.

But it will be worth remembering just how much joy Arsene has brought us over the years in this fixture.

I know some people reckon we owe them after the 4-4 last year, but take a slightly longer view and you realise that actually it’s the other way round.

In fact it’s a minor miracle we’ve escaped defeat. Not so much at home, but at White Hart Lane where we’ve somehow escaped despite some pretty poor performances.

Robert Pires, Thierry Henry and Emmanuel Adebayor saved us so many times in so many derbies. But now all are gone.

Will new heroes emerge or will Spurs get to party like it’s 1999?

So why can’t we change the rules so that a referee has it in his powers to award a penalty for certain offences outside the box? It’s not like he doesn’t exercise massive discretion anyway in the awarding of penalties and it would greatly reduce the temptation to upend a flying attacker before he crosses the 18 yard line.

At the same time they could say that only fouls deemed deliberate would result in a red card for halting a goalscoring opportunity. Simple.

In a sense whichever side of the debate one comes down on hardly matters. The fact the question can even be asked seriously tells us just how far Song has come.

His improvement in 2009 (well actually since Spurs away last January) has been greater than anyone else’s in the squad.

Something suddenly clicked and he has gone from comatose and reactive, to clever and proactive.
His positioning is not perfect but it’s much, much improved. So too is his tackling. And his passing.

I think that like Flamini, to truly be regarded as a success, he needs to command a trophy winning midfield.
The centre of midfield is certainly interesting at the moment. Abou Diaby is purposefully being given a very decent run in the side, with the temptation to play Rosicky centrally resisted.

I think Diaby is improving and crucially I think his presence allows Cesc to mix up coming deep with darting forward.

With the more defensive Denilson in there, the temptation for Cesc is to spend longer periods of the game in attack, risking the kind of isolation we saw last season.

I’m not saying we have a perfect balance in midfield and some of the counter attack goals we’ve conceded attest as much.

But Cesc is by and large thriving from the looks of it, irrespective of the hiccough in midweek.

£2.99 of that was to go on the cost of the downloading the app and with the remaining £2.01 we were told to just go crazy. So what of the app itself?

Well on first glance its £2.99 well spent.

It turns the official web site into a very friendly iphone version, complete with free video highlights.
Pages load quickly – though on my phone opening up the app probably takes slightly longer in the first place than loading the official site.

I’m not clear on how much of the video you currently have to pay for on arsenal.com is free via the app, but match highlights certainly are.

So from that point of view, it’s money well spent. Now, if only they’d get round to plugging Goodplaya on Friday on their site.

It was Arsenal v Wimbledon in December 1990 and we were 2-1 up with two minutes to go when Benji’s Dad decided we were off. Being eight at the time, I could hardly argue.

Suffice to say, Wimbledon equalised.

But I can understand why some people do depart early. They have a once an hour train to catch from Paddington or Kings Cross and then a once every two hourly connecting train.

These are people who will, except in very, very exceptional circumstances, know in advance they are leaving early and not alter their plans.

What I can’t fathom is the thousands who make their decision based on how close the game is.

If it’s tight, they’ll stay til the end. If it’s not, they’ll nip out to avoid the 15 minute queue at Arsenal station, to ensure they are not kept back by the police at the Holloway Road crossing, to be first in the pub or even to escape the slow moving foot traffic on the station concourse.

It’s perverse in so many ways. For a start, because we rarely lose at home, it invariably punishes the team for winning well. None of this season’s six home games have been remotely up in the air with two minutes left this season, in contrast to the run of 1-0s and 0-0s in early 2009.

And yet some very decent performances are being applauded by banks of empty seating.

Equally, it is as if these people gain their pleasure not from seeing Arsenal win, but from viewing the performance much as you would a play. Whereas I and many others want to bask in the glow of a win, the early leavers see little point in being there once it is apparent the story has no more twists and turns to it.

Furthermore, even if the twists are over, as Bendtner’s goal on Sunday proved, you often miss the cracking encore.

The above is, undoubtedly, in part a product of the move to the Emirates, which came at a time when the economy was good, football high fashion and Arsenal the game’s fashionistas.

In a sense, the match going Arsenal fanbase needs cleansing. Out need to go Myles Palmer’s pal at the gym, who seemingly renewed his season ticket and after three straight home wins this season decided before the Olympiakos game: “I couldn’t be bothered, just watched it on telly. My mate, the guy I usually go with, was doing something at home with his girlfriend, he didn’t go either.”

And in need to come many of the thousands of fans who only really get to the Carling Cup games.

I also think the idea that the demand for tickets is completely soft is not entirely right. There undoubtedly seems to be a reluctance to pay high prices for upper tier tickets when down below is cheaper, more atmospheric and not always any worse a view. That is why you see gaps in the upper tier.

But I know from experience that if one of the people I go with can’t make it, we rarely have any problem flogging our £35 lower tier seat at cost price.

If you live near enough, here are the plus points: getting there, there is no risk of signal failures or traffic making you late and therefore no need to set off from home unnecessarily early. You can also park very easily within 100 yards of the stadium. There is the official club bike area which is locked and guarded or if you leave it on the street, sometimes you’ll even have a van load of police sitting there keeping an eye on your bike during the game.

Post match, there are no queues for the tube, no waits for the bus and no traffic. And so no reason to leave early either.

It takes me 20 minutes to get from the ground to home, instead of nearer an hour otherwise.