It is February and where do Arsenal football club sit in the table? Fourth? You guessed it. Year after year in recent times the Gunners have been in the fight for the Premier League up till christmas. Yet by the turn of the year and early spring the club have failed miserably to muster any sort of effort to stay at the top.

Arsene Wenger has been the man at the heart of the club since he became manager in 1996. Without doubt he has been a success with three premier league titles and  six FA cup trophies. However, fans no longer see a good cup run and champions league qualification guaranteed as enough. As ambitions have risen since Wengers successful early years.

The fan base seems split with banners rarely used this season and sparingly seen in previous years gone by. The argument to keep the Frenchman in charge is the legacy he has brought the club with stability rarely portrayed at many clubs nowadays. A longside the risk of sacking Wenger, in that would the new manager be successful.

A frustration for many surrounding the club is the lack of investment spent year on year. Every summer or January when pressure mounts for a big signing Wenger only at the last minute pulls out the big bucks, for example Mesut Ozil in 2013 for £40million and Alexis Sanchez a year later for £30million. Recently calls for a defender in order for the club to progress to become champions were answered in the form of Shkodran Mustafi in £35million this summer.

Yet this is isn’t enough for many, with the squad this year seen as title potential contenders. Once again though the Gunners have tailed off with a string of poor performances demonstrated against Watford at home and Bournemouth away.

Time seems against Wenger, especially if the club fail to finish fourth in what could their toughest year to do so. Yet the neutrals wouldn’t be surprised to see Arsenal manage fourth at the end of season scrape qualification to the champions league and win the FA cup, only for dejavu to strike for the gunners this time next year.