As many of us have witnessed this season, it’s been a little up and down performance wise.

Taking apart teams one week with some of the best football we’ve seen at the Emirates in years, and looking sluggish and moribund as an attacking force the next.

Frustrating? Certainly. Such is the journey we are on as Arsenal slowly but surely climb their way to the Premier League summit.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon. Trust in the process and all that.

For all of the media narratives that get peddled about this beloved club, the fact remains that it’s still on an upward trajectory.

The Ollie Watkins deal is dead in the water and the sooner that everyone moves on the better.

Of course the disappointment at missing out on another target will rankle, particularly when you consider Watkins’ well-known support of our great club, however, it’s not meant to be.

Mikel Arteta and the board can’t be blamed for Aston Villa’s failure to sell their talisman and, in fact, it speaks well of Arsenal that they are working hard right up until the deadline in order to strengthen the squad for the final push.

Had Villa not sold Jhon Duran to Al Nassr earlier in the week, there’s an outside chance that Watkins could’ve been the striker to make way in order for the Midlanders to remain on the right side of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.

Former Gunners ace and team-mate of Arteta’s, Kieran Gibbs has actually praised Villa for their actions, something that’s bound to get the blood boiling in N5.

With no transfers in so far in January, it’s obvious why most Arsenal fans will be sat at home with their heads in their hands and feeling a little downcast.

Especially when title rivals are spending money like it’s going out of fashion.

However, sometimes it’s worth taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture.

Ask yourselves… would you really want the club to be conducting their business in the same way that the likes of Chelsea and Man City, for example, are doing?

You can’t just buy a player for the sake of it.

With only a couple of days to go until the transfer window shuts for business, the need for a striker who is a virtual guarantee of goals has become more and more acute for Arsenal.

The likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Benjamin Sesko, Alexander Isak and Ollie Watkins are all names that have come up in dispatches, and they all share one characteristic apart from their on-pitch excellence; the Gunners haven’t been able to land them.

It can’t be overlooked that the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules will play a huge part in every club’s willingness to part with north of £100m in some cases.

Whether or not the fan base believe that’s a convenient excuse doesn’t escape the fact that signing players in the top bracket is becoming more and more expensive, and therefore more difficult.

That said, Arsenal have evidently working in the background to try and lay the foundations for a reliable hit-man to arrive.

Arsenal’s need for a striker is well known, but perhaps what has gone under the radar this month is that the Gunners have almost certainly made a bid for a long-term target.

Supporters will no doubt be mindful that losing out on Ollie Watkins is yet another tick in the ‘almost but not quite’ box.

The Watkins failure is particularly disappointing given his Gunners allegiance, but there’s still time to move on to other targets before the window closes.

Will they be a first or even second choice? Unlikely, but such are the difficulties of landing big names in this particular window.

It seems pretty clear that RB Leipzig’s £55m-rated (BBC) Benjamin Sesko remains a player of interest, and it appears that a cheeky attempt has been made by the club in January to finally acquire him.

Arsenal made a late attempt to sign Ollie Watkins in this transfer window, but their approach came too late to have any real chance of success.

Watkins, a lifelong Arsenal fan, has long been linked with a move to the Emirates, and many believed he could be the ideal addition to Mikel Arteta’s squad. However, despite Arsenal’s interest, the timing of their approach all but ended any possibility of a deal materialising.

Aston Villa had initially been open to selling one of their strikers in this window, with Jhon Durán attracting interest from multiple clubs. Once the Colombian sealed a lucrative transfer to Al Nassr, Villa no longer had a financial need to offload another forward. This significantly reduced Arsenal’s hopes of securing Watkins, and they have now been advised to forget about any potential move this month.

Unai Emery, naturally, was questioned about Arsenal’s reported interest and whether Villa would consider selling Watkins. Speaking to the Daily Mail, the Spaniard made it clear that the striker is not available.

“Yes, yes. We talked with him, and he is very focused on the message we have,” Emery said.

Arsenal and Manchester City have developed a fierce rivalry in recent seasons, and it could influence how their players interact both on and off the pitch.

While football is ultimately played within the confines of the pitch, and most professionals understand that it is just a game, emotions can sometimes spill over, particularly in high-stakes encounters. Not every player can separate the intensity of competition from personal relationships, especially when fighting for the biggest prizes in English football.

Over the past two seasons, Arsenal has emerged as the main challenger to Manchester City, a side that has dominated the Premier League in recent years. The Gunners have been working tirelessly to dethrone Pep Guardiola’s team, but City’s consistency has made them a formidable force. This season, Liverpool has also entered the title race, leading the way in both the Premier League and Europe, making the competition even fiercer.

Arsenal will face City in the Premier League this weekend in a match they simply must win. Memories of their last meeting remain fresh, as tensions flared in a heated encounter. That game ended 2-2, with City scoring a late equaliser against a ten-man Arsenal side. The full-time whistle did little to cool tempers, as Erling Haaland appeared visibly fired up, seemingly ready to confront several Arsenal players in the aftermath.

Ahead of this highly anticipated clash, Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was asked whether the growing rivalry between the two clubs would affect his relationship with his friend and international teammate, Haaland, he responded as quoted by the Daily Mail.

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