Is Consistency what Arsenal need?

If you ask people what Arsenal need to challenge for the Premier League title next season, there are bound to be a variety of answers.

Some will say that the addition of that mythical "world class" striker is the missing piece of the puzzle; for others, that competition for the defensive midfield position currently held by Francis Coquelin is most important; while there will be some whose preference would be for another creative forward, perhaps someone in the mould of Robert Pires, who could add extra goals and assists from the wide areas.

It's certainly true that any one of those additions would help Arsene Wenger's side as they look to make up the gap on champions Chelsea, as well as keep up with the two Manchester clubs who are spending freely (United, it should be said, are trying to play catch-up after the David Moyes era saw them crash out of the top four for the first time in over 20 years).

Those very tangible options aside though, there have been signs in the last two seasons that the Gunners are developing into a team which is ready to fight for the title. In 2013-14 they got off to a dreadful start on the opening day against Aston Villa. The backlash was immense, but good results followed, boosted by the £42.5m signing of Mesut Ozil.

During that 2013-14 season, Arsenal spent more time at the top of the table than any other team -- 128 days in total. Of course it's all about who's there at the finish, but it was a vast improvement on previous years when they fell behind sharply way too early in the campaign. As ever, injuries took their toll, some heavy defeats engendered heavy legs, and in the end they finished fourth, three points behind Chelsea and seven behind winners Manchester City.

Last season saw a return to a familiar failing: the start of the season was so indifferent that the chances of mounting a proper challenge were done and dusted as Chelsea's early form saw them open up an insurmountable gap. Although Arsenal only lost one of their opening 10 games, they drew five, dropping 10 points and leaving themselves with just too much to do over the course of the season.

After a disappointing New Year's Day defeat, results improved dramatically, with just two defeats in the following 18 league games. There were only three draws also, bringing a 42-point haul from the other 14 fixtures. It showed that this current Arsenal side was capable of the kind of form required to win a title -- that is, if they'd managed to do it in the same season.

With that, a combination of the first part of 2013-14 and the second of 2014-15 now has to be the target. Speaking on Tuesday, defender Per Mertesacker outlined the need for a good start: "We need to be at our best," he said. "We have shown in the [FA] Cup that we can be consistent for six games. We want to extend that and show that we are real title contenders from the start, not only in the second half of the season."

The key thing for this Arsenal side now is to find that consistency. Having players fitter and healthier will go a long way to making that happen. It's no coincidence that their best form last season came when the fewest players were missing. The likes of Theo Walcott could barely get a look in due to the form of others in his position.

Not only that, Arsenal's young players no longer have to carry the burden of so many trophy-less years with them. That pressure was intense for so long, but now most of them have two FA Cup winners' medals under their belts. Many of the recent additions have come from clubs with histories of winning (Ozil from Real Madrid, Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona, Danny Welbeck from Man United and Petr Cech from Chelsea).

The whole make-up of the squad is radically different than it was just 24 months ago, and that has been evident in the way they've performed in the league. They often say that football is a game of two halves, and while we might think of it over 90 minutes, the Gunners have two pieces of two seasons to put together in one next time around, and if they do, they'll be in with a shout come next May.