In one key way, Arsenal's build up to 2012-13 has been horribly similar to the one we had 12 months ago. Last year, Samir Nasri and talisman Cesc Fabregas went through long transfer sagas that unsettled the team before the pair eventually left the club. Our start to the season was terrible, and it took a successful trolley dash in the transfer market, along with a talismanic Dutchman, to eventually wrestle us back up the table and into the Champions League.

This year, Robin van Persie's transfer saga could once again threaten to destabilise the club and put us in disarray before the start of the season. However, this summer is slightly different. The squad has already been strengthened, the group seems united and the potential departure of our captain should only be a minor inconvenience rather than the cataclysmic event we originally feared it would be.

Even if Van Persie leaves, we can realistically look forward to a better season. We don't like to mention it, but the trophy drought still hangs over the club, and the big question at the start of every season is whether it will be the year that it ends. Partly because the beginning of the season makes me outrageously optimistic, but also because I genuinely believe it, I really think we can win a trophy this season. One of the cup competitions should be within our grasp as our squad is beginning to look strong enough to properly cope with the demands of having extra fixtures. The Premier League and the Champions League will be a much bigger challenge, but we should achieve the minimum target of the top four and making the knockout stages.

Although we've only made attacking signings, I believe we're stronger in most areas of the pitch for the new season. Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had a tough Euro 2012, but is young enough to learn and improve. In central defence, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny are all good enough to regularly start. Now Steve Bould is a prominent part of the coaching team, we have someone with real defensive know-how to help solve our problems from last season. Full-back is arguably our weakest area, with Bacary Sagna being our only outstanding player. He's still recovering from a second broken leg, so Carl Jenkinson will be under pressure to perform at the start of the season. On the left, Kieran Gibbs and Andre Santos are ok, but still have a tendency to make mistakes.

Meanwhile, the midfield is beginning to resemble the strength of successful Wenger sides of old. Santi Cazorla is the excellent signing we've been waiting for since the departures of Fabregas and Nasri, and Abou Diaby and Jack Wilshere will hopefully return to somewhere near their best following injuries. Alex Song, Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky, Aaron Ramsey, Francis Coquelin and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will all push hard for starting places and will benefit from their experiences last season.

The forward line has finally been significantly strengthened to either support, or replace, Van Persie as our main supply of goals. Lukas Podolski has 100 caps for Germany with over 40 goals, and Olivier Giroud was the top scorer in Ligue 1 last term. Gervinho had an average first season, but his excellent pre-season makes me optimistic that he'll have a big second season; just remember Robert Pires. Albeit without signing a new contract, Theo Walcott continues to improve, and Andrei Arshavin has returned from a loan spell at Zenit. If Van Persie stays, our front line will be improved further, and he won't have to prop it up.

Questions remain over the likes of Sebastien Squillaci, Nicklas Bendtner and Park Chu-Young, but they should be answered before the transfer window shuts. The bottom line is that most of the creaking parts of the team have been improved in some way, and that can only make us optimistic for the new season.

If we lose to Sunderland on Saturday, the nature of us as football fans will mean that the season will feel like a disaster despite it having barely started, and accusations of Van Persie unsettling things will inevitably start to fly around. However I now think the squad is strong enough for that not to happen. Grand predictions can be difficult, and my pre-season optimism means I always over-estimate how well Arsenal will actually do. However taking my severely red-and-white-tinted glasses off, I can still see the team doing well this season. Well enough to win a trophy? If we have a better year with injuries, then yes - whatever the result of our annual transfer saga.

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