REASONS WHY ARSENE WENGER MISTAKES HAVE COST ARSENAL FC THE PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE

Arsenal are already battling to claim a Premier League top-four place at best this season – and we reveal three ways in which Arsene Wenger has blown the title hopes at the first stage of the campaign.     Arsenal went into the last weekend before Christmas 13 points behind leaders Chelsea whereas this time 12 months ago, we were riding high in the summit.     Much has happened over the last year with the fortunes of Arsenal and Chelsea having diverged markedly, and we have identified the mistakes made by the manager, Wenger which have cost the club all chance of a first league title for 11 seasons. 1) Failing to sign an experienced central defender in the summer     There was no harm in selling Thomas Vermaelen even to Barcelona because the Belgian’s standard had dropped off alarmingly in the last couple of seasons, but not bringing in a replacement of similar stature was a big mistake. Instead, Wenger signed teenager Calum Chambers from Southampton, a player for the future but currently a boy being asked to do a man’s job when put alongside Per Mertens Acker and his naivety has been exposed. Laurent Koscielny has been troubled by injuries this term and that has meant the nightmare scenario for Wenger, who really must delve into the transfer market this month. Calum Chambers does not yet look ready to be an Arsenal centre-half. 2) Being tactically too gung-ho    Okay, so Arsenal’s strength is undoubtedly going forward because we have a formidable range of attacking talent. But we appear never to know when they should rein themselves in and keep pushing on when it is unnecessary in search of more goals, leaving the defence unprotected. That was the case when Swansea came from behind to beat us 2-1 and we were also picked off readily by Manchester United when losing by the same scoreline at the Emirates Stadium – and the manager has to take the rap for that . 3) Under-using Lukas Podolski      The German must have splinters in his backside given the amount of time he has spent on the bench this season, and it is difficult to understand why. Even when Arsenal have been losing games, Wenger has not turned to Podolski, sometimes even preferring unconvincing rookie striker Yaya Sanogo. When Podolski does get a chance he does the business and scored the winning goal in our Champions League match away to Anderlecht before bagging a double against Galatasaray.