When Unai Emery announced that Arsenal would only be able to sign players on loan in the January transfer window, fans had every reason to feel a bit down in the dumps.
But an impressive 2-0 win over Chelsea over the weekend will have lifted spirits and now there’s a sense anything can happen.
And over the last few days Arsenal have been linked with a number of high-profile players; there are rumoured loan deals for James Rodriguez and Gelson Martins in the pipeline, while Denis Suarez’s anticipated move from Barcelona is gradually getting closer to completion.
However, there was one setback from the Chelsea win.
Right-back Hector Bellerin is set to miss the rest of the season after rupturing his cruciate ligament.
Emery will now have to reshuffle his team as we get to the business end of the season, so how might the Gunners line up at the end of the January transfer window?
Below you can see talkSPORT.com’s potential Arsenal XI taking into account the latest transfer news and gossip…
Goalkeeper
No change required between the sticks for Arsenal as Bernd Leno is likely to be the No.1 for a number of years after joining the club last summer.
The 26-year-old also has experienced head Petr Cech to mentor him – but that will only be until the summer after the Czech Republic international announced he will retire at the end of this campaign.
There are also some reports Arsenal could land Juventus youngster Emil Audero, currently with Sampdoria on loan, and have him as No.2 to Leno when Cech leaves.
Defence
It’s still not clear when Nacho Monreal will be fit again while the long-term injury of Rob Holding has made Arsenal look a bit depleted in defence.
The Bellerin injury could not have come at a worse time and it’s going to require a huge effort to fill the boots of the Spaniard and his marauding efforts on the flank.
Emery has a choice of either Stephan Lichtsteiner or Ainsley Maitland-Niles to play right-back, and we’ve gone for the youngster with Lichtsteiner unlikely to be able to play week in, week out for a club still competing on three fronts.
Maitland-Niles, 21, is learning his trade well and scored a goal against Liverpool last month – albeit Arsenal went onto lose 5-1 to the Premier League leaders.
Sokratis Papastathopolous and Laurent Koscielny worked well to keep Eden Hazard quiet last weekend while Sead Kolasinac is an adequate stand-in for Monreal at left-back.
Midfield
An exciting piece of business could be in the offing at Arsenal with reports of the club “making contact” with Real Madrid regarding a loan move for James Rodriguez.
The Colombian was one of the stars of the 2014 World Cup but has been rebuilding his career on loan at Bayern Munich over the past year and, as a natural No.10, he would be an ideal replacement for Mesut Ozil who Emery clearly doesn’t rate.
Rodriguez’s presence just off the front line could be accommodated well if Emery played dogged defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira, who’s given Arsenal some much-needed steel since joining last summer, in the middle of the park.
Meanwhile, the loan move for Barcelona midfielder Denis Suarez still appears to be on but negotiations are reportedly moving slowly. He would play alongside Torreira but is likely to be the more adventurous of the pair, having shown his attacking quality during his time at Camp Nou.
Attack
Although Emery is often reluctant to play more than one man up top, the system would be crying out for a three-man strike force if the Gelson Martins rumours are true.
Although Martins only moved to Atletico Madrid from Sporting Lisbon in the summer, rumours have surfaced that he could join the Gunners on loan for the rest of the season.
However, there appears to be competition for the right winger, as the latest reports suggest Arsenal legend Thierry Henry wants to take the Portugal international to Monaco.
But if Martins goes to the Emirates, he could join the exciting partnership of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Emery rarely plays the pair together, but the performance at Chelsea proves Arsenal are at their best when they’re going after teams, meaning Lacazette and Aubameyang need to be playing together more often.
Adding the Portugal international to create an Aubameyang-Lacazette-Martins triumvirate would add even more firepower and pace on the counter to Arsenal’s attack, and make them a fearsome proposition for any defence.