Arsenal: The hard part of the season is already over

Arsenal’s second international break comes at a time of intense questioning, but the good news is that the hard part of the season may be behind us.

Any self-respecting Arsenal fan should be thrilled with the way this season has gone. Not the most convincing of performances, but through thus far, we’ve only one loss in eight matches, and that was at Anfield to Liverpool. And it wasn’t a 5-1 stomping either. It was remotely acceptable.

Performances aside, we are third place, just a point behind Manchester City and so far ahead of Manchester United and Tottenham that we should be literally losing our minds in anticipation of what’s to come.

Because the worst part of the season may well be over and done with now. If you look at what we had to weather to start the season, we had a battered defensive corps, which was the biggest question mark of the season.

We knew early on we were going to be confined to David Luiz and Sokratis, and even before they took the pitch, not that many people were thrilled with the idea.

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But that’s behind us now. Rob Holding is coming back. Calum Chambers is shining. Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin are ready to round out what should be a young, exciting back four as long as Unai Emery doesn’t retain this strange trust in Luiz.

And that injury to Alexandre Lacazette? Also behind us. He’s going to be fit and ready on the return to action against Sheffield United.

Nicolas Pepe may not have caught on yet, but we know he is going to and, in the meantime, Bukayo Saka is plugging the gap that Pepe’s lapse in form is causing, and that figures to carry through as Lacazette returns as well.

Maybe there’s still the midfield to sort out, but with a young, thriving back line and the same attack that scored so easily last year, two pieces of the puzzle will be in place as we return to action, whereas no pieces were in place before that. Or what pieces were in place were battered and broken.

We’ve got the hardest match and the worst injuries behind us and we’re sitting in third place, well in control of our own destiny. Whatever tumult is at the club is nothing compared to what’s going on at our not-so-beloved rivals. We are in good shape, and the hard part is behind us.