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Not all the fixtures went in favour of Arsenal, but January has been an emotional rollercoaster for many. From laments about Alexis Sanchez to bidding an emotional farewell to Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud, January had been an extremely eventful month for the Gunners.
However, January has been a beneficial and good month for the team.
#5 Trimming the squad
With the promotion of academy players into the first-team squad, the strength of the squad improved and there was more competition for a place in the starting lineup. With so many players eagerly waiting for a chance to play, it was near impossible to give everyone an equal share of game time.
When Arsenal bought Alexandre Lacazette, Olivier Giroud had been forced to remain on the bench as a substitute.
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Since it is difficult to maintain the wage demands of players and their game time, it was crucial for Arsenal to examine the players they can afford to loan out or sell before deciding who will come in.
Four first-team players were deemed to be surplus. Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud, both forwards, left Arsenal in the January transfer window.
In June 2017, it was rumoured that Giroud had been looking for more opportunities to play, in order to secure a place in the French World Cup squad. Walcott had also been dropped from the lineup and fans were seemingly getting more and more discouraged by his performances. As a result, both were sold - to Chelsea and Everton, respectively.
Francis Coquelin was one of the four players that Arsenal chose to let go of. His playing time had been significantly reduced this season as compared to the last three seasons. Recalled from loan in December 2014, Coquelin impressed fans with his superb partnership with Santi Cazorla.
After Arsenal lost Cazorla to a long-term injury, Coquelin has struggled to regain his form and fans were increasingly impatient. He has since joined Gabriel Paulista, another former Arsenal defender, in Valencia FC. The French player left Arsenal without scoring a single goal.
The fourth player who left Arsenal is Mathieu Debuchy, who joined Arsenal from Newcastle United in 2014. He made ten Premier League appearances in his first season. For the next 3 seasons, he made just 3 Premier League appearances in total. His contract with Arsenal had been terminated prior to reaching the end, and he left Arsenal for St Etienne.
#4 Clearing the confusion
There was a great of confusion regarding Sanchez's future at Arsenal. Players were not sure if he was leaving or staying since the end of last season. Arsene Wenger had been adamant that he would rather run Sanchez's contract down than to sell him to Premier League rivals.
Arsenal preferred selling Sanchez to a club from a different league, but no club was willing to meet his wage demands. Manchester City came close to getting his signature with Sanchez looking to reunite with his former manager, Pep Guardiola.
That move did not work out as planned. Instead, Sanchez left for Manchester United in a swap deal involving the out-of-favour Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Sanchez joined Manchester United as the player with the highest wages in the Premier League while some believed that Arsenal were on the losing end of the swap deal.
It remains to be seen whether Mkhitaryan will flourish under Wenger, but at least with the uncertainty and confusion cleared, the team has players who are all fully focused on the competitions ahead.
#3 Tying down the main man
The main man who has been guiding the team to score goals will be staying with Arsenal. Like Sanchez, there had been speculation that the German may leave for a rival club. Fans were worried that Ozil may be heading to Old Trafford to join Sanchez, but shortly after the January transfer window came to a close, Ozil penned a new contract.
Negotiations in January had been a success and with new recruits from the transfer window, it looks like Arsenal have satisfied Ozil enough for him to pen a 3 year deal with the Gunners.
If Ozil had left for free in the summer, Arsenal would have had to spend another huge sum of money finding a central attacking midfielder with qualities as good as him or even better. It was good news that Arsenal were able to keep their assist-king.
#2 Getting a prolific goalscorer
If Alexandre Lacazette is not a striker good enough for the Premier League, I think Arsenal would be pleased with the name of the new striker the club had just signed.
Aubameyang, this name, is not foreign at all. Alongside Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski, they were the two most lethal strikers in Bundesliga. Both of them have a knack for scoring goals.
Arsenal are sorely missing goals away from home this season and need someone who can score on almost any occasion. Scoring goals at this stage is vital as goal difference may become a deciding factor in the position standings. Given that Arsenal have now lost Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal are in desperate need of someone who possesses all of their attributes.
This man may be who Arsenal truly require - while Lacazette will become the backup plan. Lacazette has worked hard in his first season at the Emirates. He is always trying to get himself onto the ball, trying to create something, but he has failed to score as many as Salah or Harry Kane.
It is still quite a long way before Arsenal can catch up with the Premier League's top striker, but Aubameyang can be the man to do it.
#1 Qualifying for the Carabao Cup Final
After a stalemate in the first leg held at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal overcame Chelsea 2-1 to make it to Wembley for the Carabao Cup Final. That is certainly something worth celebrating after Arsenal crashed out of the FA Cup, having lost 4-2 to Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal have had a hard time beating Chelsea for the last few season when Jose Mourinho was in charge. With the team now under Antonio Conte, Chelsea have struggled against Arsenal. It was joyous when Arsenal were victorious against them.
Although the current league leaders will be their opponents, Arsenal have a good record going into Wembley and will go all out to get their hands on the trophy.
