Following Arsenal’s morale boosting and much needed win against Bolton at the weekend, we face Manchester City at Ashburton Grove this evening in a game we would be expected to win.

Granted, Man City have found a bit of form recently, but after the victory against the Trotters we really need to pick up three points here, and playing at home we really should.

Should that happen then confidence will be high going into the final four games of the season. The games are by no means easy, we have to play Spurs (away) and Chelsea (home). This season, however, we’ve proved that when our confidence is up and we’re playing well we can beat anyone, on the flip side we’ve also proved that we can be beaten by anybody.

After the up and down season we’ve had, a strong finish would be very welcome indeed. However, could it also handicap us next season.

Yes, a good finish and a place in the top four, and therefore Champions League football next season is vital. Should we finish well, confidence will be high ready for the new season. We would also have the financial benefits which come with playing in Europe’s top competition and we’ll be able to hold on to our big players, who require Champions League football year in, year out.

However, some of the noises that have been coming out of the club recently have been concerning, particularly those coming from Arsene. Now we know that he is an idealist, he wants his teams to play the beautiful game and that he also likes to build his teams rather than buy his teams. These are admirable ideals. They are also ideals which haven’t won us the Premiership since the 2003-04 season.

Rightly or wrongly, Arsene has come in for criticism recently from a lot of Arsenal fans for these, and other reasons. Saying that he doesn’t feel the squad needs strengthening is a worry for many fans. After saying that he would try to sign ‘super, super class’ players in the summer, he now believes the young players have the potential and just need more experience to become a great team.

Now I don’t think that there is any doubt that this squad does have massive potential, however it also has some rather big flaws. A few of our youngsters gaining a bit of extra experience will not remedy this.

It’s certainly possible that Arsene may be bluffing, keeping any deals out of the public eye and behind closed doors. I really hope that this is the case, as I feel we need investment this summer, not massively, but we certainly need to build on what we already have. I believe we need a new keeper, a wide player and another striker who can take their chances. I’m not going to go into details of who we should sign, as everybody has their own opinions. Hopefully, Arsene knows.

Clearing out some of the underperformers also needs to be considered. Wenger has showed ruthlessness in the past, he needs to do the same this summer.

My concern however, is that Wenger doesn’t want to spend. We don’t know whether the money is available or not, but if it is he may choose not to spend it anyway. I believe a strong finish to this season could justify in his own mind that this team is good enough and doesn’t need strengthening.

As we know, Wenger can be stubborn, something many fans are frustrated by. If the team were to win all of their remaining games, Wenger could go into the summer believing that his squad is strong enough, and not spend any money strengthening, meaning that all of the weaknesses we’ve shown this season, will more than likely raise their ugly heads again next season.

Now I’m not saying that a poor finish would be beneficial to the team, club or fans, or that a finish outside the top four could shake up the players, I want us back to our best and playing at the top level. However, I believe it’s important that Wenger isn’t able to forget the problems and the poor performances that we’ve seen over and over again this season, just because we may happen to finish what has been a very disappointing season, strongly.