With the end of the first half of the EPL season upon us, with Arsenal’s visit to Newcastle being their 19th league match, the club are in a good position with their current position on the ladder and the club getting through to the knockout stages of the Champions League. With this, a survey of 100 Arsenal fans was undertaken to look at who they thought has been Arsenal’s best player in the first half of the season, who they want to see Arsenal sign in January amongst other questions. The answers were surprising in some categories and expected in others, with those answers below.

1. Who has been Arsenal’s best player in 2013/14 so far?

With his start to the season, it isn’t surprising that Aaron Ramsey was voted as Arsenal’s best player in the first half of the season. Ramsey picked up 52% of the vote from the 100 fans. Central defensive pairing Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny picking up 26% and 12% respectively, to come 2nd and 3rd in the vote for this question.

2. Who’s going to be our most important player in the second half of the season?

With Arsenal’s position in the EPL and upcoming European tie against Bayern Munich, it’s important for Arsenal players to have a good 2nd half of the season. The fans surveyed felt that Theo Walcott (39%), Mesut Ozil, with 15% of the vote, and a player who will be signed in January, which picked up 11% of the vote, will be the most important player for the club. Surprisingly, Aaron Ramsey, who fans felt was the best player in the first half of the season, only picked up 1 vote out of the 100 fans in this category.

3. Which position should Arsenal strengthen the most in the January transfer window?

As has been talked about by many Arsenal fans, the strong majority at 90% of fans surveyed believe that Arsenal must strengthen the clubs strikers in the January transfer window. Coming in at tied 2nd, at a measly 3% of the vote each, were the defensive midfield and winger options.

4. Which one player should Arsenal focus their attention on signing in January?

With little surprise due to the previous question being so resounding, the main position which the fans seem to want are a top class striker. The main man which the 100 fans surveyed want is Diego Costa, the Atletico Madrid striker, who attracted 40% of the vote. Coming in 2nd was Robert Lewandowski, who Arsenal know from versing him in their Champions League group, at 16%, whilst Jackson Martinez, from Porto, received 6/100 votes.

5. How much should Arsenal spend in the January transfer window?

This one is an interesting response, with only 37% of fans thinking Arsenal should spend whatever it takes to win the league. With our current position, many felt this may be higher to ensure our success in this current, and future, seasons. A further 26% of the fans surveyed want the club to spend somewhere between £20 and £30 million in January, whilst another 20% of fans want to see the club spend somewhere between £30 and £45 million.

6. With only the current players available, who would make your first choice team? Please pick 11 players.

Wojciech Szczesny 99%

Bacary Sagna 99%

Per Mertesacker 96%

Laurent Koscielny 97%

Kieran Gibbs 96%

Mesut Ozil 98%

Aaron Ramsey 79%

Mathieu Flamini 51%

Theo Walcott 95%

Olivier Giroud 83%

Santi Cazorla 67%

This side may not surprise many but perhaps the percentages for some players may be a surprise. The back 5 are almost a given, with Arsenal’s form so far this season. The midfield was the hardest for the fans to agree on, due to the quality of players which Arsenal have in this region of the pitch. The front 3, Walcott, Giroud and Cazorla, wasn’t too much of a surprise but perhaps Podolski could count himself unlucky having been out injured for much of this season so far.

7. Which competition is most important to do well in?

With Arsenal’s current position in the English Premier League, there can be little surprise to see a resounding 96% of the fans surveyed want to see the club focus on the domestic league title. With the European tie coming up against last year’s champions, Bayern Munich, only 3% of fans want to see the club focus on this competition. With Arsenal also still in the FA Cup, only the single fan wants to see the club focus on the domestic cup competition.

8. Who’s your favourite Arsenal player?

This question is always just a fun one to answer and interesting to see the fans opinions. Out of the 100 fans surveyed, there were a few players which polled highly. Per Mertesacker polled 15%, Aaron Ramsey amassed 13% of the vote, Jack Wilshere attracted 12% of the surveyed fans vote and Theo Walcott received 10% of the vote.

All answers were received from a recent survey which was carried out by me. There were 100 responses which were put together to show a number of trends, which became apparent. This doesn’t mean all Arsenal fans will agree with each answer or that the percentages will be the exact same if another 100 Arsenal fans were surveyed.

For full results of the survey, please see them at Results of the 2013/14 Fan Survey.