It's not been an entirely Happy New Year for Arsenal. The defeat to West Ham on Saturday provided a huge blow to their top-four ambitions.
After their brilliant unbeaten run, there are emerging signs that Arsenal's season could be unravelling.
It isn't a bed of roses off the pitch, either. Mesut Ozil - the club's biggest earner - is being frozen out under Unai Emery.
Similarly, the upheaval within the club's technical department - which is likely to result in head of recruitment Sven Mislintat leaving - is another issue hanging over the Gunners.
What's going on at the Emirates? Sportsmail takes a look…
Problems are mounting for Arsenal on and off the pitch as they look to salvage their season
December 22 - Arsenal 3-1 Burnley
December 26 - Brighton 1-1 Arsenal
December 29 - Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal
January 1 - Arsenal 4-1 Fulham
January 12 - West Ham 1-0 Arsenal
And it was all going so swimmingly. Twenty-odd games without defeat had supporters asking: Arsene who? But there were numerous warnings during their encouraging start to life under Unai Emery that all wasn't necessarily well.
Poor starts to games - underlined by the fact they did not hold the lead at half-time of a Premier League game until December 22 - became problematic. Emery's second-half substitutions often helped the Gunners secure points - he deserves credit for that. But the fact he made substitutions so early in games suggests an acknowledgement that his team selection was wrong in the first place.
Players have bought into his high-octane, pressing style. But it appears they are running out of legs. Emery has reduced the intensity of his sessions in recent weeks, even giving certain players days off to help combat fatigue. But the most worrying concern in recent weeks is their lack creativity.
Emery has taken the decision to freeze out Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey, arguably Arsenal's most artistic players. The way they are playing right now, that decision is questionable. Add that to the fact they've kept just three top flight clean sheet all season, it's not hard to see why their season is starting to stutter.
After an encouraging start to the season, they're now in danger of missing out on the top four
Unai Emery has made bright substitutions but it also implies he's got his team selections wrong
Mesut Ozil (second left) is currently being frozen out of the matchday squad by the manager
Meanwhile, Aaron Ramsey is only seeing some action in a substitute role at present
The post-Wenger era was always going to be a period of instability. The changes implemented to the behind-the-scenes operations has also caused a degree of problems.
Former chief executive Ivan Gazidis, the man at the forefront of the changes, has gone - taking a role at AC Milan. Without him, the club's joint figureheads Raul Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham are facing a number of issues. None more so than resolving the future of head of recruitment Sven Mislintat, who is ready to walk away from the
