Gunners defy January blues and are throwing a title party while rivals misplace the invite

WE'RE at the halfway point of the English Premier League season and the only wobble coming from league leaders Arsenal is in the leftover jelly from one festive meal too many.

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Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta gives Gabriel Jesus instructions ahead of his goal-scoring introduction in the recent 4-1 win over Aston Villa.. | AFP

(AFP)

While their rivals trip over banana skins of their own making, Arsenal have turned what is traditionally their most joyless stretch of the season into something that looks suspiciously like an early title parade.

The open-topped buses haven’t been booked quite yet, but the champagne is definitely chilling somewhere in north London.

January was once Arsenal’s bogey month, the graveyard of seasons when hope quietly slipped away.

Now, it’s becoming their power play - a chance to grind away results and pull clear while everyone else looks for excuses.

Six points clear, to be precise.

They are quietly dismantling the idea that January has to be miserable.

For years, Arsenal's relationship with the season’s midpoint has been complicated at best. January slumps, injury crises and confidence collapses have been familiar, with the labels of chokers and bottlers tossed around with gay abandon.