So the exam period rather got in the way of regular updates to the blog, but as the season and my exams have finished I thought I might pen a few thoughts on the year gone by and the year ahead.

Firstly the West Brom game, which needs little comment, other than to say thank god Ben Foster, who had played all 37 of the Baggies' previous league games, injured himself in the warm up. His replacement, Marton Fulop, was presumably thinking about where he would spend his summer holidays instead of what to do when you receive a back pass under pressure, so instead of hoofing long he dallied and allowed Yossi Benayoun to swoop in and score the opener. Despite facing a season in the Europa League, Arsenal were playing like a team with nothing on the line, so it was no surprise when West Brom grabbed two in quick succession, the first admittedly scored by a player in an offside position, but the second merely a consequence of lax defending. With Spurs leading at White Hart Lane, Arsenal were in fourth, and a goal for Newcastle at Goodison would have dumped them out of the top four altogether. Circumstances conspired to prevent that from happening; firstly André Santos hammered a shot in at the near post to make it 2-2 at the Hawthorns, while Everton took a commanding lead against Newcastle. When Fulop accidentally punched a corner straight to Laurent Koscielny four yards out the Gunners took the lead for the second time that afternoon, and this time they held on to guarantee Champions League football in 2012-13.

Spurs will join us on the condition that Chelsea lose in Munich this Saturday, whilst the two Manchester clubs  complete the quartet. Said Wenger: "If you look at the season as a whole we only lost two in the last 16 games, we had a fantastic run and finished with a respectable 70 points and qualified for the 15th year in a row for the Champions League and we are proud of that. Only three clubs in the whole of Europe have done that. It shows it's not as easy as it looks." He is right; the football landscape has been constantly shifting under his feet, and while Arsenal have not looked capable of sustaining a title challenge in recent years, the club has remained amongst the European elite without sacrificing financial stability. Pointing out Arsenal's fiscally prudent transfer policy as a measure of success feels a bit too much like an excuse, and the evidence of success  amongst the spendthrifts of the league, specifically trophies, is a lot more tangible. It also feels like Arsenal fans have been waiting for the payoff for more than a few years now: the board have promised on more than one occasion that funds will be made available to the manager, and it feels like this is the summer that Wenger will finally buck the trend of a lifetime and flash the cash.

The grand youth experiment has failed, even Arsene has admitted as much. Building a team around a core of raw, inexperienced talent was difficult enough when he tried it 5 years ago, and with teams like Manchester City just waiting to offer inflated wages to any player unsatisfied with a single trophyless season, a long term project like that simply isn't feasible anymore. That's not to say that investment in young players is not important, but it's plain to see that success will only come by meshing youth with experience. The first transfer of the summer was sealed some time ago now; Lukas Podolski will join Arsenal from Koln, where he managed a haul of 18 goals despite playing for a team destined for relegation (see this Guardian article for a description of Koln's disastrous season: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/may/07/koln-raphael-honigstein)

The question is, who else will follow him into the club? Moreover who else will leave, and what gaps need to be filled before the start of next season? The transfer rumour mill, normally abuzz with speculation about who Arsenal will pursue during the window has been remarkably quiet in the past few months. Constant chatter about Dortmund's Mario Goetze has dried up, although his team mate, striker Shinji Kagawa is supposedly a target. Wenger has allegedly also been eyeing up Rennes midfielder Yann M'vila for 17 million, although recent reports suggest that Arsenal's interest was being exaggerated by the player's agent to force Inter Milan's hand. American Clint Dempsey has also attracted attention after a breakout season that saw him score 23 goals, and there's little to suggest that he would not be a useful addition to a team which struggled to ease Van Persie's burden in front of goal this season.

The Dutchman's future is still a concern. Guaranteeing Champions League football next season will definitely improve the likelihood of him staying in North London, but his comments after the West Brom game suggested that the issue was far from decided. By all accounts officials at Arsenal are confident that he will stay, and according to the BBC, his wife has told reporters how happy the family are in London. Manchester City have an irritating knack for convincing players of the merits of a move to their city (something to do with the wonderful climate I suppose, I can't imagine what else they have to offer) so nothing is certain yet.

If Robin does elect to stay with us (and as I've said before, he owes us at least one more injury free season), then the truth of the matter is that this team is not a million miles off challenging the Manchester hegemony. Injuries to Jack Wilshere and almost all of our full backs were the difference between finishing closer to the team in fourth than the team in second. With a fully fit squad, we wouldn't necessarily have challenged for the title, but we would have celebrated St Totteringham's day a damn sight earlier than the 13th of May. Saying that a season without injuries would have pushed us closer to the summit is a bit like saying the addition of Messi would improve the quality of our finishing, but it's still true. A defence of Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen and Gibbs/Santos protecting Szczesny can only get better as they play more games together, while a midfield of Song, Wilshere and Arteta is amongst the best in the league. Moreover a front three selected from Gervinho, Van Persie, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Podolski would be lethal. Finally cover would be provided by the likes of Rosicky, Diaby and Ramsey in midfield, while Mertersacker, Djorou and Jenkinson would reinforce the defence. That's a genuinely good team with decent squad depth. Can it be improved upon? Definitely. Will it be? Maybe. We await Wenger's next move with baited breath.

PS - just a quick note about Pat Rice, faithful servant to the club for decades and a consistent presence on the touchline for as long as I've been a fan.You've earned your pension and then some - enjoy your retirement and hope to see you at the emirates soon.

6 from 6 turns into 7 from 7 - the adventure continues apace in North London as the gap widens between third and fourth. Whilst champions league rivals Spurs and Chelsea played out a dreary goalless draw in West London, Arsenal comfortably saw off a poor Aston Villa team to run out 3-0 winners in a game remarkable largely for the absence of one Robin Van Persie on the score sheet

Villa came to North London off the back of one win in their last six matches, but they still had the best record of any visiting team at the emirates, as well as having scored 2 goals in an FA cup fixture between the two teams in January (albeit in a match they lost 3-2), so nothing was certain. Wenger's team selection was nothing if not unsurprising: Van Persie would be accompanied up top by Walcott and Gervinho, whilst Arteta and Rosicky would play behind them. Song would shield a back four of Gibbs, Sagna, Vermaelen and Djourou, Koscielny unfortunately ruled out during the warm up. Alex Mcleish meanwhile chose Agbonlahor and Albrighton to flank Emile Heskey, the premier league's least competent striker, in a front three which someone in public relations might call 'quick, powerful and dynamic' but the rest of us would probably just call 'crap'.

Prior to Sunday the Villa defence had in fact conceded 4 goals fewer than Arsenal, but they'll face few sterner tests than they did on Saturday: the home team started brightly and it quickly became apparent that their movement and one touch passing were too much for the visitors to cope with. Arsenal's efforts were rewarded after just sixteen minutes; the rampaging Kieran Gibbs received a pass from Gervinho inside the box, and with the Villa defenders inexplicably failing to follow his run he had a clean sight of goal. His shot was turned into the net by the hapless Shay Given who one sensed knew his afternoon was only going to get worse. The lead was doubled nine minutes later after Walcott controlled an excellent through ball from the increasingly influential Alex Song and the winger slotted into the corner. Earlier in the season Arsenal seemed to make it their business to piss away leads in the most outrageous ways possible, but we seem to look more and more comfortable defending them these days, and at 2-0 the game seemed sewn up, even with 65 minutes still to play. A third was finally added in the dying moments of the third half when a Mikel Arteta free kick flew in from something like 30 yards out and few would argue that it was any more than Arsenal deserved.

Villa threatened just twice during the entire game; first at 0-0 when Marc Albrighton was allowed to run almost the length of the pitch following a clearance from a corner, but his shot fizzed just over, and again in the 69th minute when the returning André Santos gifted the ball to Andreas Weimann but his ball across the 6 yard box went untouched. The Arsenal defence deserve some credit for picking up a clean sheet in a campaign that has seen alarmingly few of them, but truth be told the game seemed more like an exercise in damage limitation for Mcleish's men than an opportunity to pick up points.

For once we needn't dwell on the negatives because there were none. Instead we can bask in the success of a team whose momentum continues to build when they need it most. The only cloud on the horizon are the absence of Laurent Koscielny although, according the most news sources the defender should be fit for next weekend, when we travel to Loftus Road to battle one of Wenger's nemeses in Mark Hughes and his scrappy band of relegation battlers, QPR. For the first time in a long time there are no players misfiring, no mystery injuries to worry about and with the return of André Santos we once again have cover at full back; moreover in Rosicky mk. 2 we practically have a whole new player in the midfield. The law of averages would suggest that we're due a stroke of bad luck, but maybe for once things will keep going right for us. If results go our way, in a fortnight's time we could be just 6 points off Man City. But that's getting a little ahead of ourselves...isn't it?