Despite the loss of Robin van Persie, manager Arsene Wenger's move for Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla helped Arsenal fans keep the faith at the start of the season. After results such as their 6-1 hammering of Southampton and a win against Liverpool, the Gunners manager even allowed himself to speak of Arsenal's title chances.
However, things look drastically different now. Some blame a lacklustre defensive showing for their loss against Manchester United but after that game and their previous fixture against Queen's Park Rangers, the entire team must hold their hands up to take responsibility for putting on one poor performance after another. The Gunners have become shadows of their former selves and almost seem too disillusioned to fight.
Naturally, Wenger has not escaped criticism, some sections of the Arsenal support placing the blame for the club's slide on him.
Arsenal might be able to grind out a win at the Emirates Stadium against Fulham today but are no longer good enough to have any chance of winning the title.
Defending champions Manchester City find themselves two places behind the leaders but third place is a good position for Roberto Mancini's men. The City squad has been ravaged by injury, so the best is yet to come from them, so long as they do not allow expectations and the neverending media circus surrounding the team to affect them.
Much has been made of Mancini's tactical tinkering and his discussions to take over AS Monaco last summer. The Italian appears to be ruffled by all the attention but with a player like Mario Balotelli in his squad, one would expect Mancini to have become used to his team being in the headlines for the wrong reasons. With the squad struggling in their Champions League campaign, a season without a major piece of silverware would likely spell the end of his time at City's helm.
Andre Villas-Boas' Tottenham squad are the visitors to the Etihad Stadium tomorrw and Spurs will go into the game in dire need of points after suffering a shock loss to Wigan. The Portuguese made some bizarre tactical decisions in that game, like taking off Jermain Defoe for Emmanuel Adebayor despite being a goal down. Any team chasing the game should play two strikers instead of just one.
Spurs boast some impressive attacking talents in Clint Dempsey, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Gareth Bale, on top of Defoe and Adebayor, but their manager has not found a good enough system to bring out the best in them. Villas-Boas needs to improve both his tactical and man-management skills if he is to halt what could be the start of a drop down the table.
Without Luis Suarez's form, Liverpool might have slipped all the way to the bottom of the league. The striker has been an absolute livewire for the Reds in recent games, and he remains the team's best chance of getting anything out of their clash with Chelsea.
While Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is not wrong to maintain that his team have not taken the points they deserve for their efforts, he must find some way to rectify a lack of firepower up front. Suarez is doing an admirable job of shouldering the goal-scoring burden and other players must step up to the same, at least until the January transfer window.
After draws with Everton and Newcastle, Liverpool will struggle against a Blues team that is clearly superior to them in all departments. Reds fans must pray Suarez stays fit and in-form from now until the turn of the year because it is hard to see Rodgers' side climbing until they strengthen the squad's quality.
Catch former Liverpool and England player Steve McMahon on ESPN's The Verdict at 8pm