ansene wenger

By winning the prestigious English FA Cup in May, Arsene Wenger silenced some vicious critics that accused Arsenal of putting the financial health of the club ahead of winning trophies.

Even with the FA Cup trophy in the bag, some still mocked, saying the win was just a flash in the pan.

At the weekend, Wenger led his troops to victory over League champions Manchester City in the season opening Charity Shield at Wembley Stadium by an emphatic 3-0 margin. It was rated a five-star performance by the experts.

Note must be made though that Manchester City fielded a practically experimental team due to absence of their World Cup players, but Arsenal too were missing their German World Cup stars.

So, what can we expect from this Arsenal this year and is their hope for more trophies?

Wenger was relatively aggressive in the transfer market this year, nabbing the highly rated Chilean international and Barcelona winger Alexis Sanchez. In my opinion, a very good buy and a player that will add more steel and bite to Arsenal's attack.

Sanchez just seems to love playing in England. For those who are unaware, not only did he show class over the weekend against Manchester City (in my opinion he was one of Arsenal's best players on the night) but he practically ran rings all around the English national team's defence as Chile beat England at Wembley in a World Cup preparations friendly earlier this year.

Arsenal fans should expect more from him and we dare not forget that Theo Walcott is gradually working his way back to fitness. We can only salivate at the danger and problems this duo will cause rival defences when they play together.

Defensively Arsenal lost Bacary Sagna to Manchester City, which propelled Wenger to go shopping and he bought French international Mathieu Debuchy as replacement.

Having now officially lost Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona (though he was no longer a fully-fledged regular in the last campaign) Arsenal need to do something defensively or they could struggle...

Although Arsenal's defence shows some promise, I still feel there are frailties in their set-up. I am not convinced that Mikel Arteta can effectively give cover to the central defence all alone without constant help -- even more so when the offensive minded Mesut Ozil comes back into the fold.

The central defence also has a speed 'worry' and either Wenger will have to adapt to compensate for this or, who knows, since he is in a rare buying mood, we might not be wrong to suggest to him a new acquisition in this sector.

Winning titles, no matter what kind of title, is a great morale booster for any team as it builds huge confidence in a team, the individual players, fans and, most of all, the technical crew.

Having added this season's opening trophy to their shelve not only gives fans much sought-after bragging rights, but we should expect it to also make them more patient in their exigencies towards Arsene Wenger and the club. The eventual serenity can only offer us a much better Arsenal.

In all we should expect, if their defence is improved, a more audacious and ambitious play from Arsenal this season with optimism for better results.

The season could not have started any better for Arsenal. The Premiership is back!