Arsenal are definitely getting closer to competing for major honours, but just how far is there still to go?

A year on from winning the FA Cup we are in the Final once more. In the Premier League we could finish second for the first time in a decade – we’re getting closer.

The performances in 2015 so far have suggested we are more or less ready to challenge for the title next season. Wins against Manchester City, Manchester United, and Liverpool in particular have shown we can now compete with the best. Though uninspiring we never looked like losing in the recent 0-0 draw against Chelsea.

Those games have also seen us adopt varying approaches; failing to adapt our game for the opposition is something that has brought widespread criticism over the years. No doubt in my mind that we are closer than we’ve been for a long time.

Depth

Just look at the squad. What is our best eleven?

Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott don’t seem to get anywhere near it. Danny Welbeck would also struggle. Either Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain plays or Aaron Ramsey is used out wide.

The bench sees Gabriel joined by Calum Chambers, Kieran Gibbs, and first-choice French right-back Mathieu Debuchy. Well, actually it doesn’t.

Our squad has always been criticised for being too thin. Not anymore. Internationals will have to settle for a place outside of the matchday squad next season and beyond.

Arsenal now have the squad – and the resources to add to it – to compete with the best.

Further afield

That applies to our competition in England. Elsewhere? There’s a long way to go.

Watching Barcelona v Bayern Munich on Wednesday night hammered home just how far we are from the pinnacle of European football.

The major trophy that Arsène Wenger has never got his hands on is closer than in recent years, but it is still a long way off.

The pace the game was played at was incredible, and the intricacy of the details was incredible.

Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique had an army of superstars to use, even accounting for injuries. Our squad is getting better but we only have three players who could play at that level on the biggest stage of all. Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez have already done it, and Aaron Ramsey will one day. Hopefully he’ll do it in Arsenal colours. Other players aren’t far away. Santi Cazorla could probably do it and I’m convinced that Héctor Bellerín will.

The players are reaching that level but are yet to make it as a team.

Experience

Some of those players do of course have experience, as do the likes of Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker. Arteta is an expert of winning a free-kick to waste time or get us out of trouble.

When we nearly came back form 4-0 down against AC Milan in 2012 they managed to completely shut the game down at 4-3 by using every trick in the book.

With Mark van Bommel leading the cause Milan prevented us from finding any rhythm, winning and conceding fouls continuously when the game was in danger.

It’s cynical but it works. Arsenal did the same against Chelsea two weeks ago and it was encouraging to see. To beat the very best sometimes you have to play slightly beyond the rules, or at least bend them to your advantage.

Arsenal look ready to start doing that, ready to do whatever is required to stay in and see out big games.

Blueprint

With a new found ability to sit off the opposition (Manchester City) and press them (Liverpool) when that is required this Arsenal team is now malleable and willing enough to win the game with any approach.

Speaking in 2013, Ivan Gazidis said:

“We should be able to compete at a level like a club such as Bayern Munich.

“I’m not saying we are there by any means, we have a way to go before we can put ourselves on that level. But this whole journey over the past ten years really has been with that goal in mind which is why I say that this is an extraordinarily ambitious club.”

The ambition is there. The resources are now there, and a lot of the players are.

I believe the manager is there. In the last two summers he has made a real effort to take the team to a new level and he has to continue in that vein.

Patience is needed, but it’s a matter of time until Arsenal can compete on any stage.