With this being my last column for 2017, I’m going to try and answer the three biggest issues facing Arsenal in 2018, as they try to keep up with their rivals and not let another season slip into the abyss that is Europa League football.

Will they keep being sentimental?

Jack Wilshere had his best game in an Arsenal shirt since scoring ‘that’ goal against Norwich four years ago when he ran the show against Crystal Palace.

He controlled the tempo of the game, beat defenders off the dribble, and Tiger Woods would have been proud of the lob wedge he pulled out to set up Alexis Sanchez for Arsenal’s third goal.

He’ll never be as quick as he once was, but that was as close to ‘the old Jack’ as we’ve seen in a long time.

Can he play there regularly in the future? Yes, but the player beside him has to be able to cover for Jack defensively.

In Arsenal’s last two games, they’ve conceded almost identical counter-attacking goals to Phillipe Coutinho and Andros Townsend, mainly because neither of our central midfielders could keep up with play.

It’s bad enough that the defence treats the 18-yard line as if it’s the coffee creme in a tin of Roses and avoids it like the plague, but when the midfielders can’t fill in the gaps, then the opposition will always have chances on the counter.

If Jack is to play more often, then he needs someone who can do the hard work beside him so that it frees him up to push further forward.

The problem Arsenal have is that the exact same premise applies to Ramsey, who has excelled this season because of the freedom he has to make attacking runs whenever possible.

Having both of them play centrally denies them of the one thing they both need; freedom.

When faced with a similar problem in 2015 because Santi Cazorla was undroppable, Ramsey was shifted out to the right.

But when Arsenal play 3-4-2-1, that option doesn’t exist, because you have Alexis, Mesut Özil and Alexandre Lacazette in those forward positions, and they aren’t being dropped.

Unless……

Will Arsenal sell Alexis in the January?

There are two viewpoints that I hold about Arsenal that I know put me in the vast minority.

The first is that Thierry Henry shouldn’t have a statue at Arsenal.

The second is that Arsenal were right to sell Robin van Persie to Manchester United in 2012.

I’ve elaborated on the first in last week’s column, here’s why the second isn’t as awful as it seems;

Seeing van Persie virtually romp his way to the league title, carrying Man United on his back as if he was Dora the Explorer walking through England, sucked balls.

There’s no denying that.

But as soon as van Persie said he wasn’t signing a new contract with Arsenal, any leverage the club had to get ‘market value’ disappeared. Yet, even though van Persie was 29, with one year left on his deal and a history of ankle injuries, Arsenal indeed got market value for him.

Here’s the list of players bought by all 20 PL clubs in the summer of 2012 that cost more than the Dutchman;

• Eden Hazard – £32m

That’s it.

Manchester United offered £24m. Juventus offered £8m.

That £16m difference is what brought Santi Cazorla to the club.

Van Persie wasn’t going to win the league in his final year at Arsenal, just like Alexis isn’t now.

With Liverpool spending £75m on Virgil van Dijk and Tottenham about to move into their new stadium, Arsenal need all the financial might they can muster in order to keep up.

That means taking tough decisions and selling Alexis in the middle of a dogfight for 4th place is one of them.

But if that money is spent on improving the team (Here’s an idea; buy an actual defensive midfielder so that you can play both Wilshere and Ramsey in the same team!!!) then it’ll be worth it.

At least with Özil, there’s a possibility he might stay, and if you’re going to be paying a 33 year old £275k a week, I’d rather it was on the player who doesn’t rely on his pace as much like Özil, than someone who relies on explosive dribbling like Alexis.

Will they save Hector and buy a fullback?

I actually feel sorry for Hector Bellerin.

He’s 22.

With Arsenal’s formation switch to 3-4-2-1 and Özil nominally playing at RW, Bellerin is literally playing on the right hand side for Arsenal all by himself.

He has to do all the defending, AND be an outlet for possession, AND provide overlapping runs for to help attacks. It’s a ridiculous workload, and he looks pretty much exhausted by it.

Again, he’s 22. It’s not like he’s the finished product or anything like that.

Occasionally, he’s going to have runs of bad form and during those periods, he needs backup.

Right now, he has nothing.

Mathieu Debuchy is the nominal replacement for Bellerin, but saying Debuchy can do the same job demanded of Bellerin is like saying Donald Trump can do the same job Barack Obama was asked to do.

Debuchy is too small to play centre-back and injuries have robbed him of the athleticism required to play wing-back.

Arsenal’s treatment of this situation has been nothing short of bizarre.

Playing Ainsley Maitland-Niles as a left-back when you have Nacho Monreal fit and available is bewildering, especially as Rob Holding and Calum Chambers are in desperate need of game time.

Maitland-Niles, to be fair, hasn’t looked awful as a full-back, but he’s right footed, so would probably look more comfortable at right-back, but hasn’t been picked there. Yet.

Arsenal need a right-back capable of doing the running Bellerin is asked to do, or another left back so that Maitland-Niles can play on his stronger side.

Either would do. Just as long as it’s before Bellerin gets hurt from having to run a half-marathon every game.