Will Gunners take league medals to Brazil?

Arsenal’s multi-national dressing-room will have been busy working out permutations after the World Cup draw on Friday.

But whether Gunners stars like Germany’s Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla of Spain head to Brazil next summer as Premier League Champions is being hotly disputed.

TV pundits have been queuing up to question Arsenal’s merit as genuine title contenders.

But they’ve been top of the table since September 22, and have been by far the most consistent team in the opening third of the campaign.

It was all doom and gloom back in August following the 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day. But 11 wins from the 13 matches since have the Gunners riding high at the top, ahead of today’s game with Everton at The Emirates.

The three favourites before a ball was kicked Chelsea and the two Manchester Clubs have been jostling for position behind the leader.

All three have had major setbacks, but confidence remains high as they expect Arsenal to get the jitters.

But while they fight amongst themselves, could Arsene Wenger’s pacemakers build up a lead that will be too difficult to catch?

The perceived wisdom is that Arsenal won’t last the distance. The pressure of nine seasons without silverware will be too much.

Look more closely at their squad, though, and their soft centre may be a thing of the past.

Ozil, Mathieu Flamini, Tomas Rosicky and Lukas Podolski have won League titles in Spain, Italy and Germany. Cazorla has twice been a European Champion with Spain, while Per Mertesacker has 96 caps for Germany.

Suddenly, there appears to be substance to go alongside their continued style. And this winning mentality could rub off on young British stars like Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere.

However, we’ll have a good idea before we sit down for Christmas dinner whether Arsenal are the real deal.

Today’s match is followed by Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Napoli before successive League matches away at Manchester City and home to Chelsea.

If they are still going strong in Europe, and have maintained or even increased their lead in the league, Arsenal’s credentials will be there for all to see.